diff --git a/vtm-gdx-desktop/build.gradle b/vtm-gdx-desktop/build.gradle
index ed3d2cf9..2591ade3 100644
--- a/vtm-gdx-desktop/build.gradle
+++ b/vtm-gdx-desktop/build.gradle
@@ -9,28 +9,19 @@ apply plugin: 'application'
 
 mainClassName = 'org.oscim.gdx.GdxMapApp'
 
-// need to include themes for the example executable
-// TODO should be removed someday
-task copyAssets(type: Copy) {
-  from "${rootDir}/vtm-themes/resources"
-  into "${buildDir}"
-  include '**/*'
-}
-
 // package vtm native libs into jar
-task copyLibs(type: Copy) {
-  from(zipTree("../vtm-ext-libs/gdx/vtm-jni-natives.jar"))
-  into("${buildDir}/assets")
-}
+//task copyLibs(type: Copy) {
+//  from(zipTree("../vtm-ext-libs/gdx/vtm-jni-natives.jar"))
+//  into("${buildDir}/assets")
+//}
 
-tasks.withType(JavaCompile) { compileTask ->
-  compileTask.dependsOn copyAssets
-  compileTask.dependsOn copyLibs
-}
+//tasks.withType(JavaCompile) { compileTask ->
+//  compileTask.dependsOn copyLibs
+//}
 
 sourceSets {
   main.java.srcDirs = ['src']
-  main.resources.srcDirs = ["${buildDir}/assets"]
+  //main.resources.srcDirs = ["${buildDir}/assets"]
   output.resourcesDir = 'assets'
 }
 
@@ -40,11 +31,7 @@ dependencies {
   compile "com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-backend-lwjgl:$gdxVersion"
   compile "com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-platform:$gdxVersion:natives-desktop"
   compile 'org.slf4j:slf4j-simple:1.7.5'
-}
-
-eclipse.project {
-  linkedResource name: 'assets', type: '2',
-		 locationUri: 'PARENT-1-PROJECT_LOC/vtm-themes/resources/assets'
+  compile files('../vtm-ext-libs/gdx/vtm-jni-natives.jar')
 }
 
 run { ignoreExitValue = true }
diff --git a/vtm-gdx/src/org/oscim/gdx/GdxAssetAdapter.java b/vtm-gdx/src/org/oscim/gdx/GdxAssetAdapter.java
index 6af06f06..2c58fe87 100644
--- a/vtm-gdx/src/org/oscim/gdx/GdxAssetAdapter.java
+++ b/vtm-gdx/src/org/oscim/gdx/GdxAssetAdapter.java
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ public class GdxAssetAdapter extends AssetAdapter {
 
 	@Override
 	public InputStream openFileAsStream(String fileName) {
-		FileHandle file = Gdx.files.internal(fileName);
+		FileHandle file = Gdx.files.internal("assets/" + fileName);
 		if (file == null)
 			throw new IllegalArgumentException("missing file " + fileName);
 
diff --git a/vtm/build.gradle b/vtm/build.gradle
index beee9872..45747427 100644
--- a/vtm/build.gradle
+++ b/vtm/build.gradle
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ dependencies {
 
 sourceSets {
   main.java.srcDirs = ['src']
+  main.resources.srcDirs = ['resources']
   main.compileClasspath += configurations.providedCompile
 }
 
@@ -21,4 +22,4 @@ eclipse.classpath {
     classpath.entries.findAll { entry ->
       entry.path.contains('annotations') }*.exported = false
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}