Most of the 1.8 Port.

src/main/java/appeng/items/AEBaseItem.java

@@ -22,18 +22,22 @@ package appeng.items;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Optional;
-
+import net.minecraft.client.renderer.texture.TextureMap;
 import net.minecraft.entity.player.EntityPlayer;
 import net.minecraft.item.Item;
 import net.minecraft.item.ItemStack;
-
+import net.minecraftforge.fml.relauncher.Side;
+import net.minecraftforge.fml.relauncher.SideOnly;
+import appeng.client.ClientHelper;
+import appeng.client.texture.IAESprite;
 import appeng.core.features.AEFeature;
 import appeng.core.features.FeatureNameExtractor;
 import appeng.core.features.IAEFeature;
 import appeng.core.features.IFeatureHandler;
 import appeng.core.features.ItemFeatureHandler;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Optional;
+
 
 public abstract class AEBaseItem extends Item implements IAEFeature
 {
@@ -93,4 +97,27 @@ public abstract class AEBaseItem extends Item implements IAEFeature
 	{
 		super.addInformation( stack, player, lines, displayMoreInfo );
 	}
+
+	@SideOnly(Side.CLIENT)
+	protected IAESprite myIcon = null;
+	
+	@SideOnly(Side.CLIENT)
+	public void registerIcons(
+			ClientHelper proxy, String name )
+	{
+		proxy.setIcon( this, 0, name );
+	}
+
+	public IAESprite getIcon(
+			ItemStack is )
+	{
+		return myIcon;
+	}
+
+	@SideOnly(Side.CLIENT)
+	public void registerCustomIcon(			
+			TextureMap map )
+	{
+		
+	}
 }