Change an image inside a Delphi compiled executable

Question

I've been asked to do a complicated job, I do not know if it can be done. A company had an application developed in Delphi (not that version) and asked me if I could change some images that appear inside the app.

With the "Resource Hacker" I could see something, but I do not know if that will be useful.

I give you an example:

object AboutBox1: TAboutBox1
  Left = 218
  Top = 74
  BorderStyle = bsDialog
  Caption = 'About...'
  ClientHeight = 510
  ClientWidth = 539
  Color = clActiveCaption
  Font.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET
  Font.Color = clWindowText
  Font.Height = -11
  Font.Name = 'MS Sans Serif'
  Font.Style = []
  FormStyle = fsStayOnTop
  OldCreateOrder = True
  Position = poScreenCenter
  OnCreate = FormCreate
  PixelsPerInch = 96
  TextHeight = 13
  object Image1: TImage
    Left = 193
    Top = 448
    Width = 153
    Height = 49
    Picture.Data = {
      0A544A504547496D616765EF0A0000FFD8FFE000104A46494600010100000100
      010000FFDB0043000C08090A09070C0A0A0A0D0D0C0E121E1312101012241A1B
      151E2B262D2C2A2629292F35443A2F32403329293B513C4046494C4D4C2E3954
      5A534A59444B4C49FFDB0043010D0D0D12101223131323493129314949494949
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      FFC4001F0000010501010101010100000000000000000102030405060708090A
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  end

I think that Picture.data is the image, but I don't know how to convert that string of letters. What can I do with this? How I can change that image?

Thanks!!

Answer 1

1. Create a new VCL forms application.
2. Add a TImage component.
3. Save the project.
4. Paste the TImage property text from the question into the .dfm file.
5. Run the application and check that it shows the expected image.
6. Next, in the Delphi IDE load the new image into the image control.
7. Paste the updated .dfm text into the form resource in your resource editor.

You may find that a different resource editor like XN Resource Editor is even able to understand Delphi TImage and let you modify the image directly.

Answer 2

I will try to provide a walkthrough for those that may have no idea on how to to this or just want to get done with this as fast as possible.

This is how I changed the embedded images on the code, just as the OP showed on the question.

Note: The accepted answer that says that XN Resource Editor can understand Delphi TImage, this seems to be wrong or may not always work!

---

You will need the following free software:

• Lazarus IDE (http://www.lazarus-ide.org)
• Resource editor: Resource Hacker (http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker) or XN Resource Editor (https://stefansundin.github.io/xn_resource_editor)

You may also need image editors, there's free software options:

• Raster: GIMP (https://www.gimp.org)
• Vector: Inkscape (https://inkscape.org)

---

Finding out which image is to be replaced

If the program has many images, you can find out which is the correct image by following these steps:

1. Make a backup copy of the original executable (.exe) file.
2. Using a resource editor, open the original executable (.exe) file containing the image you want to replace.
3. For every image you find under RCData, check the image size and other details, this can give you the correct image right away or at least reduce your scope. If you are looking for a huge image for example, you will just ignore small images.
4. Remove all image data, just delete all that is between brackets under the Picture.Data property so it would look like Picture.Data = {} and compile the script with the Resource editor and save the exe with the changes.
5. Execute the application, if the image you want to replace is missing during program execution, then you know that the image data you just removed is the image you want to replace.

You can also check which image is the correct by replace the image with another one, like a blank image, but then you would have to embed the image first into another Delphi program, and the copy and paste the image data from the new application into your own application, see bellow.

---

Changing the image

1. Open the Lazarus IDE, as soon as it opens it should already present you with a new desktop application, including a form (Form1).
2. Create a new TImage on the form (Form1) and then choose an image file by selecting the new TImage and on the Objects inspector window selecting the Picture property and then clicking on the three dots button [...]. After loading the image, it should appear on the form. The image size and other properties are not important.
3. Save your Delphi application project with the new image somewhere and compile it.
4. Using the resource editor, open both the original executable (.exe) file containing the image you want to replace, and the executable (.exe) you just compiled using Lazarus.
5. Browse on the new compiled executable (RCData -> TFORM1) and you should locate the new image data under Picture.Data, copy everything between the brackets in Picture.Data and paste on the Picture.Data of the original executable.
6. Now that the original executable, has the new image data, compile the script with the Resource editor and save the exe with the changes.
7. Run the application and check if the image has been replaced successfully.

Note: Applications may only accept a specific image file format, if the image you used on Lazarus is a .png image and your original executable didn't show anything after replacing the TImage Picture.Data, then this may be the problem. You can try using a .bmp on Lazarus and then copying the .bmp Picture.Data to your original application.