IDB to Visual Studio symbol injection

[The_GTA]

Tutorial: Put IDA Database symbols into GTA executable

IMPORTANT: We switched to Visual Studio 2017. Now you have to copy the correct "MSPDBCORE.DLL" file into the "output" folder or else the tool will not run.

This tutorial shows you how to put your IDA database (.idb file) symbols into a PDB file that is linked to an executable, such as a GTA engine. By doing so you will see named callstacks in Visual Studio as well as symbols in the disassembly view, hopefully greatly enhancing your GTA modding experience.

dumpinfo.idc: https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/support/freefiles/dumpinfo.idc
Source code of tool: http://pefrm-units.osdn.jp/pe_debug.html
TortoiseSVN: https://tortoisesvn.net/

Quick Step-by-Step Guide

• download dumpinfo.idc onto your desktop
• scroll to the bottom, disable OPT_IDC_FILE (example file, download)
• open your IDB, click File -> IDC File..., select dumpinfo.idc
• click OK, output file name should be "symbols.txt"
• checkout the tool source code to the desktop
• go inside the "build" folder, open the solution
• set working folder to "output" folder in repository, set program arguments to path to EXE file (GTA3, GTA VC, etc)
• compile the program in Release mode
• put "symbols.txt" into the "output" folder in repository
• run the tool by launching it without debugging through Visual Studio

Precompiled symbols.txt files
Thanks to public database resources such as this I have compiled a list of symbols.txt files to save time.

• GTA3 (gta3_20141007.rar): OneDrive, mirror
• GTA:SA (gtasa_20141007.rar, US): OneDrive, mirror
• GTA4 (gta_iv_104_20091001.rar): OneDrive, mirror
• EFLC (eflc_1120_20141007.rar): OneDrive, mirror
• Bully (bully_102_20141007.rar): OneDrive, mirror
• GTA:SA compact (by iFarbod): OneDrive, mirror
• GTA:VC (by aap/The Hero): OneDrive, mirror
• Have fun!
  
  Thank you to...
  • aap (great symbols)
  • Microsoft (PE file docs + PDB SDK)
  • documentation of mangling
  • Chris Remers
  • Silent
  Other great PE tools: Embed DLL into EXE, run EXE with fixed base address, run EXE compiled with /DYNAMICBASE
  
  Do you like what I am doing for the GTA community? Do you want to support modders like me that do this for you? Have I made you happy with my work? Please consider donating then. This tool took about a month of endless research to make. I am also working on Magic.TXD and Eir. By modders for modders.
  
  
  
  Feel free to ask or say anything
  - Martin

Edited October 30, 2017 by The_GTA

[iFarbod]

Awesome, Needed something like this since I use VS as my debugger.

 

 

 

Why did you use IDA's old logo 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by iFarbod

[The_GTA]

Awesome, Needed something like this since I use VS as my debugger.

 

 

Why did you used IDA's old logo

 

 

Glad you like it! You can do the same thing for GTA 3 and Vice City by the way.

 

 

 

About IDA. One could assume that I did not choose to display the commercial product because of the $$$$$$ required to use it.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2016 by The_GTA

[Silent]

This breaks III/VC EXEs because of .bss section It's getting raw size/address after the EXE is touched, and both are 0 in stock EXEs. Correcting this with CFF Explorer fixes it, though!

[The_GTA]

This breaks III/VC EXEs because of .bss section It's getting raw size/address after the EXE is touched, and both are 0 in stock EXEs. Correcting this with CFF Explorer fixes it, though!

Thank you for notifying me, Silent senpai! I have fixed writing of export directory ordinals as well as the PE optional directory "SizeOfHeaders" variable. I missed those details in the big cave that is Microsoft PE documentation. Sorry for the inconvenience :3

 

Update the repository to get the fix.

Edited November 14, 2016 by The_GTA

[NarutoUA]

Some updates in eirrepo broke entire build. Had to rollback to recent revision to be able to build solution.

Edited October 28, 2018 by NarutoUA