Kilmatead wrote:As for a GUI, you are out of luck - all these people who eat in MacDonald's need to learn that killing cows is a bloody business in real life - so sometimes you have to get your feet wet and do things the hard way... but the idea of a GUI is a little too nicey-nicey for real life.
<Sigh>. As usual, one thing leads to another and before you know it you're married with children, nagging in-laws, mounting debts, and all the things you swore you wouldn't put up with when imagined the future back when you were 18, innocent, and free.
So it goes with this nonsense as well: about a month ago I needed a project to help me learn AutoIt (it seemed like a good idea at the time), so I decided to rewrite the x2ResHacker script from the beginning and turn it into what it should have been in the first place. Largely the basic function is the same, except now the GUI adds the complete ability to manage the resources in any way you choose, without trusting a fairly complex command-line script to do what it's supposed to, with little to no feedback.
(The original post and the links/screenshots at the top of this thread have all been rewritten/edited to reflect the new changes.)
For those already familiar with the original scripts, aside from the extensive GUI integration,
the main change is that you no longer need a foreign-language DLL to start with, as the script generates one all by itself from scratch for both foreign and domestic consumption.
As you can see, the blank DLL structure itself is created in a simple 1024-byte block which contains no executable code whatsoever - it simply contains the combined embedded windows struct identifiers (in binary form) which are necessary to identify it as a resource container. Ordinarily there's a few other superfluous details (like compiler/linker timestamps) which I've simply zeroed-out as they serve no real purpose to the end-user and do not impact on its simple functionality and ultimate purpose.
So, this Blank.DLL is recreated in purpose both ecumenically and ad hoc (to seriously mix our imageless metaphors) each time the main translation DLL (foreign or English) is to be built (garnering its other contents from the x2 executable as usual, or the pre-supplied language DLL in the case of foreign users), thus solving one of the main stumbling blocks for world domination. (It still has the ResHacker dependency of course, as my script is nothing more than a fancy wrapper for it, but as that programme is intrinsic to resource hacking in the first place, this is no real limitation.) Easy now ladies, even Elvis didn't have this much clambering of overwhelming public support and demand.
Basically (aside from reinventing the wheel), I decided the world needed yet one more Monument to Meaningless Pursuits, much like my ashtray which is filled with a million stubbed-out cigarette butts necessary for the creation of this madness. The problem with looking for meaning in details is that you have to get your nose closely stuck into whatever mudpile you're studying, and that inevitably allows the Lilliputians to get their trebuchets ready to ensnare your nose despite your legs. :shock:
In any event, enjoy the toy, for those users who may be interested (if any).
<Echoing sound of whistling ensues>, like that special reverberation you get from under the viaducts in Paris when it rains at 4 in the morning. It's just one of those things.