Resource Hacker FX: the improved Resource Hacker

Note: The most recent version of Resource Hacker incorporates most of the changes that this patch offers. Therefore, Resource Hacker FX is considered obsolete, and the post is here mostly for historical reasons.

Remember the good ol’ Resource Hacker?
It’s a popular Resource viewer/editor, I use it to quickly view and edit resources. I tried to find an alternative, but I did not find any that I liked, so I decided to just improve Resource Hacker.

Here is a patcher that needs to be used on the original Resource Hacker v3.6.0.92:
zip Resource Hacker FXer.zip (117.97 kB, changelog)

Here is how it looks:

What does the patcher change:

  1. Partial Unicode support.
    More details.
  2. A new interface with modern icons and a manifest.
    Icons by Yusuke Kamiyamane.
  3. Resource Hacker FX does not create tree nodes for every language. Usually only one language is used anyway, so it makes it much faster to navigate through resources.
  4. Resource Hacker FX uses the new open and save common dialogs instead of the old outdated ones. Also, some saving as parameters got improved: the directory of the current file is initially shown, the file name gets filled, the extension is automatically added if not specified.
  5. If you have a modified file open and you close Resource Hacker FX, you have a Cancel option when asked whether you would like to save the file. Also, if you choose to save it, it just gets saved instead of saving as.
  6. The Hex viewer shows only the first 10 KB of the binary resource by default to prevent hanging Resource Hacker FX. I could not really fix it, as it’s the Rich Edit control’s fault, it’s quite slow with large texts. Well, it’s not too smart to use Rich Edit to view a Hex dump, but that’s how it works. 10 KB should be usually enough to understand what the resource is about. If it isn’t, you can hold shift to load the whole resource.
  7. Other minor additions, like e.g. double click to replace resource, minimizing/maximizing effects.
  8. Lots of bug fixes.
Posted in Releases, Software by Michael (Ramen Software) on March 13th, 2011.
Tags:

395 Responses to “Resource Hacker FX: the improved Resource Hacker”

  1. Ricky says:

    thank’s. is amazing software..

  2. v1.4.5:

    * Fix: dialog editor text was treated as UTF-8 instead of ASCII, which prevented from correctly translating Resource Hacker FX.

  3. samsam says:

    It’s really useful and saves a lot of time (eg shell32.dll), no more tree, or “out of system resources” ! really, thank you !

  4. v1.4.6:

    * Fixed a crash when viewing specific bitmap images.

  5. v1.4.7:

    * Fixed AVI preview loop abortion (stop failed if you triggered it on the last frame).

  6. modernmaid says:

    Resource Hacker FXer.exe doesn’t seem to work for me. I put it in the install directory for Resource Hacker and ran it. When the little box opened, I browsed to ResHacker.exe and opened it. The message “Ready to fix” appeared, so I clicked on “Fix it!” and the message ” Could not copy file” appeared.
    Did I go wrong somewhere ?

  7. bob says:

    Hi, is there a way to see the explorerframe.dll from Windows 8 as text an not as hex code?

    I mean UIFILE –> 4096

    thanks für RH FX

  8. Stamimail says:

    Hello, how can I extract all [IMAGE] resources to PNG files?
    the program has a script that make all as *.bin files…
    Do I need to convert them to PNG? How?

  9. Jonas says:

    You just made it even more fun to mess around with my windows 7 😉

    Thanks !

  10. Tony Kaz says:

    It gives me the message “file doesn’t look like resource Hacker” but I am pointing it a the installed reshacker.exe file. I’ll try to uninstall and re-install to see if that fixes it.

  11. Tony Kaz says:

    Yep. That did it. I guess my version must have been old or something. Sorry to double post, I just wanted anyone else with the same problem to know the solution. Thank you!

  12. Jacker says:

    is it for windows 8 too??

  13. DX says:

    hey awesome friends, i’m still having a problem, i still get “out of memory” error when trying to replace an exe’s icon with any other icon with smooth transparency (those png’s with alpha-transparency) no matter if it’s a 256 or 96 pixels wide. Any other non-transparent png-renamed-ico will work fine no matter of the file size. Only answer if you have loads of spare time, i’m not hanging on strings, just thought there’s no harm in asking 😀

    • DX says:

      [solved] by using proper .ico files made out of those cool alpha-png’s. although, it was pretty hard to come by a free tool to do that, found my salvation in Evanold’s dll plugin for Paint.NET

  14. This is almost two years old, but when I saw someone else was still working with ResHacker, I went ahead and recompiled its help file as a .chm rather than .hlp, and reformatted it to be a bit less ugly. I put it and the source up on my dropbox for now; if you’d like to add it to a repository of any sort you’re welcome to it.

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uicb9p2ytrdr48q/I-q_p2n9X5?m

  15. OLAF da Confuzed says:

    Righteous stuff here Mr. RaMMicHaeL ,thank you Sir. Skoal also to you Mr. Bowman..Im hoping that those help files were meant for all to use, cuz I snatched up a set of those as well. If either of you men ever make er out to the forbidden lands of Wyoming look me up as I owe ya each a burger and a frosty nug. O.d.C

  16. Scoox says:

    Thank you for your software!

    Quick question, are any of the following original files needed afterwards or can they be deleted?

    – Dialogs.def (what is this for?)
    – ResHacker.cnt (is this the helpfiles buddy?)
    – ResHacker.hlp (helpfile does not work in W7)
    – ResHacker.exe (original ResHacker.exe file)

    I have deleted them and ResHacker FX seems to work just fine.

  17. Apu899 says:

    how to use Resource Hacker FX as default right click extension?

  18. Yahya says:

    Whenever I try to open it, this error shows up:
    http://im40.gulfup.com/0cnco.png

    Please reply me back at my e-mail.

  19. Ivan says:

    “modern icons” look terrible when system color of window is not white.

    • I’m aware of that, but I don’t think there’s an easy way to fix this. The format Resource Hacker uses for the icons is bmp with a special color for transparency. The “modern icons” require real transparency.
      You can always edit Resource Hacker and put back the original icons. Fetch Bitmap -> SMALLICONS from the original executable, and put in in the FX exe.

      • Ivan says:

        It doesn’t work.
        Old icons are displayed with opaque background (dark cyan).

      • Zero Dubby says:

        I think the easiest way to fix it, is to use real icons.. just override the Imagelist creation.. 🙂

        • Easiest, not necessarily easy.
          Do you have a simple solution to this?
          I thought ImageList_LoadImage might support icons, but apparently it doesn’t.

          • Zero Dubby says:

            sometimes you need to think out of the box.. 🙂
            of course it doesn’t support icons. just redirect it some where, then dynamically load some API, such as ImageList_Create, ImageList_ReplaceIcon , then return the imageList…

            If I remember correctly ImageList_LoadImage is called only once at application start up. but to be sure, make some guard before overriding it..
            hope this helps.. 🙂

            • Done in v1.4.10 🙂

              of course it doesn’t support icons. just redirect it some where, then dynamically load some API, such as ImageList_Create, ImageList_ReplaceIcon , then return the imageList…

              Actually, an old WinAPI documentation I have (from 1996) says that ImageList_LoadImage supports icons.
              I don’t know whether it was really supported in the past, or if it is an error.
              Anyway, I did it with ImageList_ReplaceIcon.

              I’ve encountered an issue, though.
              Apparently the icons get redrawn every time focus is gained/lost, without clearing the previous icons behind, which screws up the transparent pixels.
              The TVS_EX_DOUBLEBUFFER seems to fix it, but it isn’t available in Windows XP, so the bug still presents there.

              Tell me if you know how to fix it.

              P.S. I’ve also tried it with the Explorer visual style, but I didn’t like the way it looks:
              http://i.imgur.com/6ayo1k6.png

    • v1.4.10 fixes the issue – now the icons look good on every background.

  20. Chris says:

    Bug Report

    Try to save a BMP from a .res file for example a skin for dUP (diabolo’s universal patcher) forum.tuts4you.com/files/category/2-dup-skins/
    to replace the file with RLE BMP compressed one.
    To reproduce:
    load the .res in Resource Hacker
    save a bigger BMP (the first and last BMP usually) from the .res
    Optimize the BMP to RLE BMP (best use Hypersnap and save as RLE bmp or FilesOptimizer).
    Import/replace the smaller in file size BMP file and you get an error message.

    Do the same with the not patched Resource Hacker (original) and it works! The patched Resource hacker can not replace the bmp and show an error.

    Here a sample to test it. Plastic skin (Plastic.res.res): ge.tt/1c9cXfd/v/0?c

    The first and last BMP editing/replace with RLE BMP

    My result with original Reshacker: ge.tt/4xcsYfd/v/0?c

    The plastic skin is part of the official distribution of dUP (official wesite seems to be down at the time (diablo2oo2.di.funpic.de), I mirror it here:
    ge.tt/4SbLZfd/v/0?c

    Is it possible to fix it so that the modded Resource Hacker from you can do that too same as the not patched original one?

  21. Jacker says:

    I tried to use Resource Hacker FXer, new interface with modern icons and a manifest is still showing same?? Why is that?

  22. Horacio says:

    Me sale este error al intentar “parchear” el Resource Hacker original que tengo (v.3.4.0.79).
    Resource Hacker FXer me dice que el ejecutable de ResHacker.exe no se parece a si mismo????
    ———————————————–
    I get this error when trying to “patch” the original Resource Hacker I have (v.3.4.0.79).
    Resource Hacker FXer tells me ResHacker.exe executable does not look like himself????

    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/errorrh.jpg/

    http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/5614/errorrh.jpg

  23. Horacio says:

    ¿Y donde descargo esa versión? (la v3.6.0.92), o la version que tengo (v.3.4.0.79) no necesita parchearse?

    And where release that version? (the v3.6.0.92), or the version that I have (v.3.4.0.79) need not patched?

  24. Horacio says:

    Gracias!
    Thank you!

  25. pitoloko says:

    ResHackerFX is crashing.

    I’ve tried for first time this application and in lees than 5 seconds crashed, really is full of bugs.

    I’m here to report a important bug not to critic (but obviously this don’t happens with normal reshacker),
    resHackerFX Hangs and need to kill it from taskmanager.

    How to reproduce this hang:
    1. Get Windows 7 x64 (I don’t tested it with other OS)
    2. Load the “Shell32.dll” file
    3. Navigate to “AVI” folder and open the resource name “162” to see it, then open the “163” to see it and then the “164”.
    4. voilá! that’s a hang.

    Normal ResHacker says “No MCI device open” error but at least don’t hangs.

    Thankyou for read.

    • ResHackerFX is crashing.

      Does it crash, or does it hang? There’s a difference.

      I tried to reproduce the bug, and for me, ResHackerFX hangs only for a couple of seconds. The same happens with the original ResHacker.

      The “No MCI device open” error is something I fixed.

      • pitoloko says:

        @RaMMicHaeL
        Thanks for support

        It hangs (don’t crash) but not for an X amount of seconds, it hangs forever and need to be killed from taskmanager, latest version of ResHacker does not hangs in that avi’s, reshacker only shows the “MCI” message but don’t hangs in any second (at least in my case).

        PS: sorry for my english

        • The “No MCI device open.” message shows for me only when you switch from an AVI video to a folder.
          Try switching them directly with the mouse, and you’ll see the original ResHacker hangs as well.

  26. pitoloko says:

    Please say if this is gonna be fixed in next release.

  27. PROBLEMCHYLD says:

    Can you add 16bit support. That would really be helpful. Thanks

  28. B Padhee says:

    Hi, Friend,

    Pl. add exe decompress-er to work with compressed files.

    Thanks in advance.

  29. Jacker says:

    I use the Resource Hacker FXer.exe, and I don’t like to keep original file, do I need to delete the original file???

  30. Olivier says:

    Keep up the good work! Love this resource hacker… “hack”

  31. Dmitri says:

    Hi! Great work!

    Tested on Win7 x86,
    seems like a bug:
    1. Opened EXE-file
    2. Selected one of RCData forms
    3. Clicked View > Find text, then Cancel
    I repeatedly get the same:
    Access violation at address 0043F90D in module “reshacker.exe” (it’s FXed version!)
    Read of address 015C0118

    And also I would like to ask you, if it is possible to implement Find & Replace a string in all the text-based resources like RCData Delphi forms.

    Thanks

  32. davis60 says:

    Hi,
    The resource hacker FX is not working, it says “could not copy file” using 7

    When I had XP back then in the beginning 2012, it worked and I liked it. Now it doesn’t seem to work

  33. Nuance says:

    on windows 8.1×64 ,i run the ResHackerFX.exe and system says can not run it on ur PC,please cantact developer sort of…

  34. Adam says:

    Is the source code available.

  35. Angel says:

    is it possible to add change language option, setting e.g. from 1033 (eng.) to 0 (neutral) at icons, cursor and cursor group – like it is already in group bitmaps?

    if you can add it, that will be great and very helpful 🙂

  36. Jacker says:

    I am Windows 8 x64 user, if I opened the shell32.dll file c:\windows\system32\ folder, if I click the AVI folder on Resource Hacker FXer, if I keep clicking numbers like “150 [1033”, the Resource Hacker FXer freezes up, is it possible if you can fix the bugs?

    I appreciate it!

  37. DartKane says:

    RaMMicHaeL, не очень удобно, когда изменяемый диалог всегда поверх всех окон. Неудобно, когда окно изменения элемента, находится под изменяемым диалогом.

  38. Dragos says:

    Thanks for this update 🙂 Haven’t tried it yet but it looks pretty good

  39. John says:

    Hi! I’ve noticed one small issue with Resource Hacker FX v1.4.11, which I don’t remember happening in older versions. Not sure with which version the issue started though, sorry.

    It will not save its settings if it’s not in a folder it can write to. Older versions couldn’t save directly into their own folder either, but they used VirtualStore successfully instead. However, the latest version won’t do this, and any changes to settings just disappear.

    Thanks for all the work you’ve put into this patch!

  40. Ellen says:

    I have no experience with Resource Hacker, so please excuse me if this question does not apply. I would like to increase the size of the icons in the system tray and also to increase the size of the default font in dialog boxes that are not affected by the usual way of changing the system font. Would I be able to accomplish this with Resource Hacker?

    Thanks

    • increase the size of the icons in the system tray

      You won’t be able to do that with a resource editor.

      increase the size of the default font in dialog boxes

      You should be able to do that by changing the font size of the dialog.

  41. Ellen says:

    I’m still way behind the curve here. I applied your patch, then I opened Resource Hacker, and it looked the same as before. What am I not understanding?

    Thanks

  42. Angel says:

    Hello there,

    I have downloaded the patch and tried to apply it, when I press fix it button it said could not copy file…

    Why is that???… T_T

    Thank you

  43. Ellen says:

    I have a very basic how-to-use question: when I have located a resource I want to replace, I’ve only gotten as far copying it, pasting it into a graphics editor and changing it. Once it is changed, how do I get it back into the exact place in order to replace the original resource?

    I have gotten as far as Action > Replace a resource . . . Then I’ll open the file, but I have no idea how to fill in Resource type, Resource name, Resource language.

    Another question: does the file have to be in .bmp format?

    Thanks,
    Ellen

  44. Dead says:

    Doesn’t work.Same old stuff.

  45. Ellen says:

    OK, unless I am missing something again, it seems that it doesn’t allow me to replace PNG files, in, for instance, aero.msstyles (resources listed under “images” are PNGs). When I try to replace a resource that is a PNG, I get as far as getting the name of the resource and filling in the type, name, and language, but it does not allow me to replace. Other types of graphics files work fine.

  46. Ellen says:

    I tried all that. I also tried the trial version of Restorator, and it does work in that program, but I am extremely reluctant to shell out all that money when it is essentially the same program as ResHacker and on top of that the support doesn’t seem very good. But it does show that it is possible.

  47. base_t says:

    Hi RaMMicHaeL!

    When i load in ResHackerFX a RC file, that contains a dialog resource, then all ä ö ü from german language are stripped from the title string of dialog controls. Ä Ö Ü are missing in the text of the RichEdit in ResHackerFX (version 1.4.11) and so also not seen in the dialog preview window.

    To test this behaviour, you can copy the following text content in a file dlg1.rc an open it with ResHackerFX.exe.

    — content of file dlg1.rc ————————————-
    MYDLG DIALOG 0, 0, 261, 174
    STYLE DS_CONTROL | WS_MAXIMIZEBOX | WS_CHILD
    CAPTION “”
    LANGUAGE LANG_GERMAN, SUBLANG_GERMAN
    FONT 8, “Tahoma”
    {
    CONTROL “Automatisch erhöhen”, 5106, BUTTON, BS_AUTOCHECKBOX | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 10, 37, 84, 10
    }
    —————————————————————–

    The line

    CONTROL “Automatisch erhöhen”, 5106, …

    is decoded as

    CONTROL “Automatisch erhhen”, 5106, …

    I have tried to open this RC file in the original ResHacker.exe (version 3.6.0.92) and there is the character ö not missing.
    It would be very nice, if you could correct this bug (if possible).

    Thanks in advance!

    • Hi base_t!

      Resource Hacker FX expects the RC file to have the UTF-8 encoding. While this may be seen as a regression, I believe it’s actually an improvement, as it can now handle Unicode RC files of multiple encodings.

      Ideally, ResHackerFX should probably autodetect the encoding, but I believe that’s not worth the effort.

      RaMMicHaeL.

      • base_t says:

        Hello RaMMicHaeL!

        Thank you for reply. You are right, unicode is much more important. With your help (to use a UTF-8 encoded RC file) is works. ResHackerFX can export this: I loaded a DLL with dialog resources and choosed in the treeview context menu ‘Save [ Dialog ] resources …’. The saved RC file is UTF-8 encoded (testet with Notepad in his Save As dialog) and can be re-opened with ResHackerFX (with all german ä ö ü preserved).

        Missing these characters it came, because in ResHackerFX i firstly exported only one dialog resource with the treeview context menu entry ‘Save [Dialog : 4039 [1031]] …’. Then the saved RC file is ANSI encoded. I don’t know if this is intended or if you want here also to export a UTF-8 encoded RC file?

        base_t

        • You’re right, that’s an inconsistency.
          The result is different because when you save all the dialogs, it rebuilds the text from the binary format, and I’ve made that function to output text in the UTF-8 encoding.
          When you save a single dialog, the text is grabbed from the RichEdit control. This function saves the file in the ASCII encoding.

          I don’t plan to fix that. If that’s a function you’re using often, you might want to consider a different resource editor.

          • base_t says:

            Thanks for hint! But to find a stable different resource editor without heavy bugs (corrupted files, …) is not so easy for me and ResHacker FX is small and fast.

            Now i simply export a single dialog as RES file, then re-open it in ResHacker FX und export again now with ‘Save all resources …’. So i have my RC with UTF-8.
            Thank you for helping!

  48. Sudharsan M says:

    I want to remove which i marked in red color in some case and i want to change with my name how it is possible can you please explain. Please find the attachment.

    http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u673/due3die/ResHack_zps91556b43.png

  49. hackazer says:

    how do yo edit the resource hacker name in the mainform ?
    i want to edit the name just like you, i have made some changes too on resource hacker 😀

    i couldn’t find any strings as ‘resource hacker’, so i couldn’t edit the app name / label

  50. hackazer says:

    is there any consequences if i changed the name a bit more long than before ?
    i mean if did that, the program may not work anymore or something considered as error.
    e.g the name was “rs” that written as “7E 54” and i did changed that to something like “rs test 1” .

    • It depends on the structure of the executable file. It may have important information right after the string, but as far as I remember, ResHacker has nothing there.
      If you want to understand these things better, you might want to read about the PE executable file format.

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