Resource Cracker

Icons, cursors, and bitmaps

Preview the picture. Paint in the image editor. Export as PNG, BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, or WebP. Replace the image by dropping a file on the preview.

Icon and cursor groups own the individual images. Editing the group updates those images together. In a command-line mask, ICON means the icon group and CURSOR means the cursor group, not a single image.

An icon group exports as .ico. A cursor group exports as .cur.

Dialog preview

Select a dialog and the preview draws it from the resource template: controls, captions, and styles.

The same dialog can be opened in the visual designer or as an .rc script. Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, and Ctrl+3 move between the views that are open for the selection.

Dialog designer

Arrow keys move the selected controls. Hold Ctrl to move by one dialog unit. Hold Shift to resize. Ctrl+click or Shift+click adds to the selection. Drag on empty space to draw a rubber band.

Del deletes the selected controls. Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V copy, cut, and paste them. Esc clears the selection and leaves tab-order mode.

Delphi VCL forms

Delphi stores VCL forms as dialog-style resources. Open the executable, select the form, and edit it in the designer or as script, the same way as a standard RT_DIALOG.

Menus, strings, accelerators, version

Menu. Preview the menu. Edit items in the menu editor or as script. Alt+Up and Alt+Down move an item. Alt+Left outdents it. Alt+Right indents it. Insert adds an item. Del removes it.

String table. Blocks hold sixteen strings. Edit the strings in the grid.

Accelerators. Edit the shortcut table.

Version. Edit the fixed VS_FIXEDFILEINFO fields and the string tables (comments, company, file version, product name, and the rest).

Manifest editor

RT_MANIFEST is shown as XML. Edit the document in place. The editor flags common problems in the assembly identity, compatibility section, and requested execution level.

16-bit NE executables

A 16-bit New Executable can be edited and saved. Save rewrites resources in place. If the new resource table or a resource does not fit the NE format, the save stops and the original file stays as it was.

Preview and the structured editors work on the same types as on a PE file: icons, dialogs, menus, strings, and version info.

Hex editor

Every resource can be edited as raw bytes. Ctrl+G goes to an offset. Insert switches insert and overwrite. Bytes per line and grouping are set under Tools, Options, Hex.

Custom types (a number or a name that is not a standard RT_ type) are shown as #number or as the type name. They open in the hex editor and can be dumped as raw bytes.

Edit a resource as an .rc script

Scriptable resources (dialogs, menus, string tables, accelerators, version info) can be edited as resource-script text and exported as an .rc file.

The script view and the visual editor write the same resource. Use whichever is shorter for the change.

Compiled .res files

A .res file is a resource directory without a PE header. Open it, edit any resource, and save it back. You can also copy resources between a .res file and an executable.

Resource scripts

Open an .rc script in the window and edit it as text. From the command line, -action compile compiles an .rc file (-open) into a .res file (-save). Compile is used on its own, not together with other actions, and it is not a step inside a script file.

Export

Ctrl+E writes the resource in another format when one exists. Bitmaps, icons, and cursors can be written as PNG, BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, or WebP. An icon group can be written as .ico and a cursor group as .cur. Scriptable resources can be written as an .rc script.

Ctrl+D dumps the stored bytes unchanged. File, Export all writes every resource of the current file. Drag a resource from the tree onto Explorer to export it.

Options

Tools, Options covers language, theme (System, Light, or Dark), .bak backup before the first save of a session, recent files, editor font, the default view for each resource type, hex layout, picture fitting, checkerboard colors behind transparent images, and background work.

The theme follows Windows when it is set to System. A language change takes effect after you confirm the options.

Dark theme

Light, Dark, or System. System tracks the Windows app theme. The tree, editors, and hex view use the same theme.

MUI language files

.mui and .mun files are resource-only modules. Open one and edit its strings, dialogs, menus, and the other resources the same way as in the main binary.

F2 renames a resource or changes its language id. Language 0 is Neutral. Other languages use the Windows language id, such as 1033 for English (United States).

Supported resource types

Standard Win32 types are listed under a friendly name and the RT_ constant. A file can also contain a custom type. Add one with Action, Add resource and type a name or a number.

Type	Constant	Id	Editor
Cursor	RT_CURSOR	1	Preview, image editor, export
Bitmap	RT_BITMAP	2	Preview, image editor, export
Icon	RT_ICON	3	Preview, image editor, export
Menu	RT_MENU	4	Preview, menu editor, script
Dialog	RT_DIALOG	5	Preview, dialog designer, script
String table	RT_STRING	6	String grid. Blocks of 16 strings
Font directory	RT_FONTDIR	7	Hex editor, raw dump
Font	RT_FONT	8	Hex editor, raw dump
Accelerators	RT_ACCELERATOR	9	Shortcut table
RCData	RT_RCDATA	10	Text or image preview when the bytes match; otherwise hex
Message table	RT_MESSAGETABLE	11	Read the messages
Cursor group	RT_GROUP_CURSOR	12	Preview every image. Export as .cur
Icon group	RT_GROUP_ICON	14	Preview every image. Export as .ico
Version	RT_VERSION	16	Fixed info and string tables
Dialog include	RT_DLGINCLUDE	17	Text preview or hex
Plug and Play	RT_PLUGPLAY	19	Hex editor, raw dump
VXD	RT_VXD	20	Hex editor, raw dump
Animated cursor	RT_ANICURSOR	21	Preview, image editor
Animated icon	RT_ANIICON	22	Preview, image editor
HTML	RT_HTML	23	Text preview or hex
Manifest	RT_MANIFEST	24	XML editor with a problem check
Custom type	name or number		Hex editor and raw dump

What you can do with it

Command line

A filename by itself opens the window. Any switch runs a batch and does not open the window. A switch starts with - or /. The name can be shortened as long as it stays unique, so -o is -open and -a is -action. A value follows the switch as the next argument, or after = or :.

-open is required, except that -help does not open a file. -save is required when the command changes the file. Saving over the same path updates it in place. A different -save path writes a copy.

If you omit -log, messages go to Resource Cracker.log in the current directory. CON writes them to the console. NUL writes nothing.

The mask is Type,Name,Language. Leave a part empty to match every value. Commas are required when a later part is present. A type may be a number, an RT_ name, or a word such as BITMAP, ICON, DIALOG, VERSION, or MANIFEST.

"Resource Cracker.exe" -open app.exe -action extract -mask ICON -save C:\out

"Resource Cracker.exe" -open app.exe -resource logo.png -action addoverwrite -mask BITMAP,1,1033 -save app.exe

"Resource Cracker.exe" -open app.exe -action delete -mask VERSION -save app-noversion.exe

"Resource Cracker.exe" -open script.rc -action compile -save script.res

"Resource Cracker.exe" -open app.exe -action changelanguage(1033) -mask DIALOG,100, -save app.exe -log CON

"Resource Cracker.exe" -script commands.txt

[FILENAMES]
Open=C:\in\app.exe
Save=C:\out\app.exe
Log=C:\out\app.log

[COMMANDS]
-add logo.png, BITMAP,1,1033
-addskip extra.res, ,,
-addoverwrite picture.ico, ICON,1,0
-modify note.txt, RCDATA,NOTE,0
-extract C:\out\icons, ICON
-delete VERSION
-changelanguage(1033) DIALOG,100,

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