m0t0, thanks for the info, I can stop frustrating myself now.
Dark_Light, I add xbx images the same way as I do for the skin.xip file. I convert images I make in Photoshop to xbx format and then add them in using WinXip. For the Icons I then change the default.xap file to accomodate the new image names that correspond to the emulator directory names. Eariler in this thread I think you can find my initial questions about custom icons for emulators and the help I received.
In [ApparenceMainMenu] on line 13, there is an option for choosing icon, and that is what gives me the spinning cube, inside the orb. I know now thanks to m0t0 that this icon cube can't show icons as yet.
13=icon
I also did this for my Emulators submenu, and my icons that I put into Icons.xip show up for each emulator.
[ApparenceMenusDD02]
5=icon
I made these changes in my Skin.ini file because that file overrides any appearance options in the config_pro.ini.
I hope I have answered your questions.