Can i use a "Image texture" node as a "colorramp" node? I kind of know how to change a models shading with a color ramp but most of the time I'm in a situation where I have to use a gradient that isn't in a gradient format like png or jpg. i have no way to recreate the gradient with the color ramp. is there a way to make a image texture get recognized as a gradient/color ramp in blender?
no idea if image links work.
i have a model from a game that uses gradients, something i want to do is to bake a texture with the gradient colors so i can use it in other games just in case they don't use gradients(this one game only supports gradients)

This is what the texture looks like.

This is what gradient i want to use, i can only have access to a png format, not something i can even use in photoshop.
Sure.  If you have an image describing some gradient, you can use a texture lookup in the exact same way you'd use a colorramp:

This technique is actually pretty common with some old game techniques.