Export properties not baking into the EXE

ondesic

I noticed today that when I open the Export window and fill out the info (Name, Company, version etc.) it doesn't transfer to the EXE. Instead, inside the Details window, the EXE created always says Product Name: Godot Engine, Version 3.4.4.0 etc. Is there a setting I need to activate, or is this a bug?

GlyphTheWolf

Hi,

You need install additional program (rcedit) and set its location in settings to change that data for Windows or you need custom export template.

You can find more about that here.

ondesic

Thank you. The problem is, rcedit does not allow me to package all content into the EXE. I believe there is a bug currently. Perhaps all of this just has to be done manually.

cybereality

You have to use separate PCK + EXE if you want to edit the EXE properties.

ondesic

Do you know if this will always be this way, or is this something that Godot is fixing?

cybereality

It's the way the exports work. They are pre-compiled (the export template is the entire engine). The only part that is your game is the PCK file. So every single game with the same Godot version has the same EXE. Mostly, it's not a huge issue, you can just change the icon in the project settings and this is usually enough. But if you edit the EXE manually (like with rcedit or Resource Hacker) then it will corrupt the PCK embedding.

Calinou

If you want both embedded PCK and custom metadata, you can build your own Windows export template with the icon and metadata changed before building.

In Godot 3.5 and later, you can also use an hex editor or a custom tool that replaces the icon data directly in the executable, without relying on rcedit: https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/57850

cybereality

I would recommend not ever using embedded pck files. If you ever want to upload your game or sell it, for example on Itch or Steam, the embedding messes up the patching system. So every time you release a small update, even if it is 100kb, the server will need to push the entire game (since it's one exe and cannot be diffed). If you have a large 3D game, this can mean users need to download several GB each time for a 100kb code patch, which is a huge inconvenience, on top of making the upload on your computer slower as well. So it's not worth it.