Game Development Community

Changing your EXE icon (Windows) for release

by Greg Squire · in Torque Game Builder · 07/18/2006 (3:20 pm) · 5 replies

How does GG recommend changing the icon of the .EXE in your newly package directory built by the Packaging Utility? Also is this the same icon used int upper left of your game window as well (in Windows)? If you have the binary version of TGB, there appears to be no way to do this (at least inside of TGB). You could do this if you have the source and compile the engine, but even then you might not want to deal with that headache if your game code is entirely in script.

I heard that there are some third-party utils that can change the resource icon in a Windows EXE. If this is the only way to do this, then does anyone have a recommendation on a utility that does this (preferably for free)? Also is something like this needed when creating a Mac version as well?

It would be nice if the Packaging Utility did this for you as well. Maybe someday.
NextNext Thread
PrevPrevious Thread
More from Torque Game Builder


Torque Owner Apurva Amin
#1
07/18/2006 (4:38 pm)
Not sure if GG recommends changing the icon, but I don't see why it should be a problem. However, I have the pro version, so the EULA might be different. As for any utilities that you could use, check out Reshacker. To change the icon, do the following:

1. Open your EXE from Reshacker
2. Action > Add New Resource...
3. Locate the icon file you want to add.
4. In the dialog box, call the resource "ICON" (without the speech marks).
5. Click OK.

Hopefully that should work.

Torque Owner Scott Johnson
#2
07/18/2006 (7:35 pm)
Just because it's related, is it possible to change/hide the "windows" border and title bar, and control boxes etc? If you've got some good art, it really detracts from the overall appearance of the game "window"

What would be excellent is if we could use our custom art for all of the above widgets (border, title, min/max/close button etc...

Any feedback folks can provide on this would be nice.

Thanks.

Torque Owner Thomas Buscaglia
#3
07/19/2006 (3:40 am)
@Scott - Have you considered making your game fullscreen? If you don't want the windows interface to interfere with the look of your game, why not hide it?

Torque Owner Gary Preston
#4
07/19/2006 (5:34 am)
To change the window border etc have a look in the platform code for where the CreateWindow and RegisterClassEx calls are made. You'll want to change the style property, refer to MSDN for the functions and you'll see a list of valid styles.

However, I find it very irratating when a game runs in window mode yet has no minimize/close buttons. I guess if you made the window borderless/menuless and added your own version then the end user would be none the wiser, just make sure you keep minimize and close in similar locations and with a "similar" graphic.

As Thomas says though, maybe starting it off in fullscreen and letting the user later change to window mode if they wish will be better for you?

Torque Owner Scott Johnson
#5
07/19/2006 (9:27 am)
@Thomas,

Yeah, I love fullscreen myself, and use it quite often.. I was just wondering if it were possible without changing the underlying C++ code...

@Gary, using replacement artwork for min/max/close/resize handle etc.. would certainly be the goal in this case... I think it might be difficult to "drag the window" though...

Also, currently if I right click the title bar of the game window, the game engine seems to "hang" until the context menu goes away.. this might be disconcerting to the user who might accidently click there during game play... Anyone else noticing this? it happens on all of the samples, so I figure its 'built in'

Thanks for the feed back guys.