diff --git a/examples/data/palette.png b/examples/data/palette.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 7270bef..0000000
--- a/examples/data/palette.png
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:85ecc6adab02f5242af3258d38784a1bc6beb6fdc638d11966e2dd0f672aeada
-size 6279
diff --git a/include/renderer.h b/include/renderer.h
index 152617c..c232c38 100644
--- a/include/renderer.h
+++ b/include/renderer.h
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ struct render_state
 	bool is_debug_draw;
 	SDL_Handles handles;
 	camera cam;
-	util_image palette_image;
 	// TODO: this needs to be initialized outside struct because calloc
 	GLuint palette_id = UINT_MAX;
 	util_RGBA clear_col;
diff --git a/src/renderer.cpp b/src/renderer.cpp
index c982d10..0bd0ab7 100644
--- a/src/renderer.cpp
+++ b/src/renderer.cpp
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
 #include "default_shaders.cpp"
 
 #define MAX_LIGHTS 10 // NOTE: needs to match the fragment shader source
-#define DEFAULT_PALETTE_DIR "../data"
-#define DEFAULT_PALETTE_FILE "palette.png"
 #define CLEAR_COL_R 55.f / 255.f
 #define CLEAR_COL_G 55.f / 255.f
 #define CLEAR_COL_B 55.f / 255.f
@@ -33,7 +31,6 @@ void openglDebugCallback(GLenum source, GLenum type, GLuint id, GLenum severity,
 bool initSDL(SDL_Handles& handles, v2i& viewport_dims);
 bool initContext(SDL_Handles& handles);
 bool initGL();
-bool initPalette(uint palette_id, util_image& image);
 bool initDebugRenderGroup(render_state* rs);
 void setDefaults(render_state* rs);
 
@@ -50,7 +47,6 @@ renInit()
 		initContext(rs->handles) &&
 		initGL() &&
 		rgInitShaderProgram(rs->default_shader, DEFAULT_VERTEX_SHADER, DEFAULT_FRAGMENT_SHADER) &&
-		initPalette(rs->palette_id, rs->palette_image) &&
 		initDebugRenderGroup(rs) )
 	{
 		return rs;
@@ -64,7 +60,6 @@ void
 renFreeBuffers(render_state* rs)
 {
 	utilSafeFree(rs->lights);
-	utilFreeImage(rs->palette_image);
 	glDeleteTextures(1, &rs->palette_id);
 	rgFree(rs->filled_hex_render_group);
 	rgFree(rs->hex_line_render_group);
@@ -209,19 +204,6 @@ initGL()
 	return true;
 }
 
-bool
-initPalette(uint palette_id, util_image& image)
-{
-	image = utilLoadImage(DEFAULT_PALETTE_DIR, DEFAULT_PALETTE_FILE);
-
-	if (!rgInitGLTexture(palette_id, image)) {
-		LOG(Error) << "Error creating texture\n";
-		return false;
-	}
-
-	return true;
-}
-
 bool
 initDebugRenderGroup(render_state* rs)
 {