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Resource Tuner: Frequently Asked Questions

For your convenience, a list of frequently asked questions is provided below. Please be sure to review this list, as it is very possible that your question has already been answered here. If the solution you seek is not here, please feel free to contact our Technical Support. See also our Tutorials and How to articles.

Also note that another important source of information is the extensive Help system that has been provided with Resource Tuner. The Help system is well-organized and very easy to use. Moreover, by taking a few moments to review the help, you will better familiarize yourself with the program and learn more about all the features available.

Questions

Common Questions

File Open

File Save

Resource Editor

Plug-ins

 

Common Questions

What is the difference between the trial version and the full version?

Your evaluation copy of Resource Tuner is a full-featured release. This means that the same capabilities available in the registered software are present in the non-registered software. This allows you to try out all the features in Resource Tuner to confirm that they work to your satisfaction.

Is this a developer tool, or is this something a general computer user would use?

Both ways. Anyone can play with the file resources and learn a lot from it. Training for the initial use is almost not required at all. No programming skills required. See also: User testimonials

I downloaded Resource Tuner for getting some music and pictures from an exe file (a game). But it only shows application icons, few dialogs and other data (strings) files. Why?

This only means that the game exe file doesn't contain music and pictures in the resources but stores this data somewhere else.

File Open

I got an immediate error of something like "This file is likely damaged, packed or compressed". What can I do?

Nothing. This is not viewed as a bug. We are not going to defeat the security attempts of other software authors. Resource Tuner unpacks only files compressed with UPX using the Plug-In subsystem.

What are packers?

Packers are utilities that compress Windows portable executables (EXE, DLL, etc) significantly while leaving them 100% functional. Most of them encrypt data and resources and protect exe files from reverse engineering.

I got an immediate error of something like "Incompatible" and "of type NE". What is a "NE" type file?

Resource Tuner works with PE files only. A NE (or "New Executable") file is a 16-bit application intended to run on Windows® 3.xx.

What is a PE file? I heard of them but thought my OS couldn't run them?

"PE" stands for "Portable Executable". The term "Portable Executable" was chosen because the intent was to have a common file format for all flavors of Windows, on all supported CPUs. A PE file is a 32 bit executable developed by Microsoft for NT (and Win95). The other notable executable types that run on MS platforms are "MZ" (DOS), "NE" and "LE" - but those formats are obsolete (but they will still run). Open an exe file in a hex editor or binary viewer and the first two values in the file will be 'MZ' - yes the DOS header is still there. Scan down 128 bytes and in most cases you should find the values 'PE' - this is where the PE format takes over. For greater detail download PE Explorer, our flagship product, and consult the help file.

Not all PE files have the 'exe' extension. Other notable PE files have the extensions "dll", "mun", "scr", "sys", "cpl" and "ocx", and even "msstyles" featured in Windows XP. Also note that not all PE files will run on their own - dll's for example. PE files that run on their own include exe, scr and cpl.

Will the Resource Tuner work with NE and other 16-bit files?

No. The NE format is obsolete.

If Resource Tuner doesn't work on NE type files, do you have a product that does?

No. At any rate, knowledge of 16-bit format makes less sense especially since the 64-bit processors have hit the market.

Does Resource Tuner handle .NET resources in managed assemblies?

No. At the moment, Resource Tuner works only with the unmanaged 32 and 64-bit PE files, and does not support for .Net assemblies. Though, some .Net files are the same old good PE files, and Resource Tuner handles them.

File Save

If I open an executable with Resource Tuner and then go to SaveAs and save the executable under a different name WITHOUT making ANY changes to it, and then I compare the two files with a hex editor, there are MANY changes to the file. Why are there changes even though I didn't make any?

Resource Tuner provides two functions that are automatically performed when opening a file: unpacking files compressed with UPX using the Plug-In subsystem, and error checking.

If your target file was packed with UPX, it was unpacked automatically and saved unpacked. Resource Tuner does not re-pack the previously packed files. That is why the original file size is increased. Check out the logfile for details.

The next thing Resource Tuner does is re-compiling the file resources according to the MS PE File Specification. That may also be the reason why the original file size is changed after a simple "Save as..." operation.

If you don't want any changes to be made, just do not save.

When I try to save my DLL I get the following error: "Can't create new image file, the original file has been probably packed". Any hints?

Most likely, you are trying to save the file under the Program Files. For protection against malware, Windows 7, 8, 10 (and newer) doesn't allow users to save files in the Program Files folder.

Please be advised that your dll might be really packed! Resource Tuner unpacks only files compressed with UPX. So if your dll was packed by any other third party packer, you have to unpack it manually before modifying. Otherwise the chances are you can't create a new image file and save your changes.

Resource Editor

How do I change the Icon in an EXE file? How do I get started with editing the PE file resources?

The Resource Tuner Tutorials cover some of the most popular features of the Resource Editor and show you how to open EXE, DLL, or MUN files and edit resources buried in Windows executables. Find out how Resource Tuner can help you have a personal touch on your favorite applications.

How do I export all resources, edit them and import them back?

The current version of the Resource Editor has no import feature. We recognize the potential value of this feature, but this will be available only in version 2.

It seems to only handle regular Win32 resources. Do you have a version that handles .NET resources in managed assemblies?

No. Or not yet.

Why does Resource Tuner tell me that the icons I have selected to replace do not have the same size and the same bits and color depth? I keep getting a mismatch error. Can you fix it?

This is not a program error. When replacing icons, you must make certain that the replacement sources are the same size and have the same number of colors as the item to be replaced (e.g. a 16x16 4-bit icon can not be replaced with a 32x32 8-bit icon).

Why? Because there are more than just one icon inside an EXE, even though they all may look the same. For example, this is how the Icon Group from our beloved Notepad looks like:

Notepad IconGroup

Each Icon Group can contain multiple icon images, each with a different size and/or color depth. Common sizes include 16, 32, and 48 pixels square, color depths include 32-bit (24-bit with 8-bit alpha channel), 8-bit (256 colors) and 4-bit (16 colors).

When Windows prepares to display an icon, a desktop shortcut for example, it chooses an icon from the Icon Group based on specific criteria. Carelessly swapping out the icon sizes may result in The Big Icon Mess: when you mess with icons they cease to be right icons.

I can't copy and paste icons from any file, including .exe and .dll files. Any ideas?

The clipboard does not support copying/pasting .ico files. They look like graphic images but have their own format. To extract icons, use Save to disk. To replace icons, use Open the source file from disk instead Paste from the clipboard.

Resource Tuner displays all the text as "??????" Am I overlooking something?

Ensure that your global Windows locale is set to a locale that supports the language you need. Otherwise, if you save the file while running as the locale English (US), all the foreign characters will be converted to ????

Is there a possibility to change the Windows Start Up Video?

The start up Windows video is a series of PNG images which are embedded in \System32\authui.dll file or \SystemResources\authui.dll.mun file (latest Windows 10 builds are using *.MUN files for storing resources). Just open this file in Resource Tuner, extract the images, edit them, or replace the PNG images with your own PNGs, and you are done.

How can I edit resources from the command line?

We offer Resource Tuner Console, a script driven command-line version of the resource editor. This command-line tool for editing resources in Windows 32- and 64-bit EXE and DLL files combines a robust resource editor with intelligent script capabilities and full Unicode support.

I need a command-line tool to change the Icon in an exe file. Do you have that?

Yes, we have Resource Tuner Console. Since there may be more than one icon in an exe file, the tool supports Icon resource files (files with a .ICO extension) that contain one or more images which may be at different pixel sizes and/or color depths. If an .ico file contains more than one image, the whole icon set will be added or changed (depending on the EditMode and ChangeMode settings) at once. RTC accepts input from a script file. Sample scripts can be found within the Resource Tuner Console package.

Plug-ins

How can I write my own custom plug-in for Resource Tuner?

Download Resource Tuner and consult the help for the plug-in API: you can write your own custom start-up processing plug-ins for crypted files handling and unpacking the packed files.

 

 

Give it a trial run!
Give Resource Tuner a trial run for 30 days free! Once you try it, we think you will find it hard to go back to other resource hacking utilities. So if you decide to purchase it, it's only $49.95 for the Personal License. The Business license is available for $89.95.