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- How to open a DLL or EXE file
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- How to edit text strings in the EXE
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How to open a .DLL or .EXE file
DLL and EXE files are not plain text files
EXE and DLL files are not plain ASCII files that you can easily edit. You cannot simply open up an .EXE or .DLL like a text document and start editing. They are not intended to be editable by users, neither are DLLs meant to be opened separately from the program they belong to. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you cannot modify the actual code in any way. You can only see what's inside an executable.
A good news is that a Windows application's resources are separated from the program code, letting you make significant changes to the program interface without recompiling your entire application. This means you can tweak any program's text, pictures, buttons, icons, etc. - you can completely customize the look of any program you own.
Open an EXE or DLL file in Resource Tuner
Resource Tuner contains a number of methods for opening EXE and DLL files.
To open a file for browsing or editing resources, click the toolbar button or click File > Open [CTRL+O].
The dropdown menu next to the toolbar button gives you quick access to recently open files. To open a recently used file, you can also choose File > Recent Files, and select a file from the submenu.
You can open a file in Resource Tuner by right-clicking it in Windows Explorer and selecting Open with Resource Tuner from the context menu.
Alternatively, you can drag and drop a file from the Windows Explorer onto the Resource Tuner icon or running Resource Tuner.
You can also open a file from the command line.
Usage: restuner.exe <filename>
It is recommended to perform all file operations with copies of the originals and then only after you have moved the copies to a separate directory other than the parent or home directory of the executable.
File Open Errors
1. Error: This file is likely damaged, packed or compressed.
There is a good chance the executable has been compressed to appear smaller. Since our software detects and unpacks only files compressed with UPX and Upack, you have to go through the trouble of manually unpacking this compressed exe before you can view or change it.
This is not viewed as a bug. We are not going to defeat the security attempts of other software authors. And we cannot support decompressing few hundred packers and protectors available on public.
2. Error: This is an NE Executable. Not supported!
Our software works with 32-bit PE files only. An NE (short for "New Executable") file is a 16-bit application intended to run on Windows® 3.xx. The other notable executable types that run on MS platforms are "MZ" (DOS), "NE" and "LE" - but those 16-bit formats are all obsolete.
We have no intention of supporting 16-bit files.
3. Error: This is NOT an EXE or DLL File
Resource Tuner does not care about a particular file extension whether your file is .exe, .dll or .txt. You can rename your file with any file extension or even leave it without an extension: when opening a file, Resource Tuner performs reading and analyzing of the file header within the file.
With all of that being said, if Resource Tuner says your file is NOT a dll file, this is a naked truth. Don't let extensions trick you.
Take a look at 
Resource Tuner Screenshots
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