SAGA-ResExplorer/README.md

SAGA-ResExplorer

A small Windows-focused GUI tool to explore, extract, preview, and repack SAGA engine .RES archives (tested with I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream via ScummVM).

Features

• Browse extracted .RES contents in a tree (RES → records)
• Guess file types (WAV/PNG/MP3/OGG/FLAC/…)
• Preview:
  • PNG viewer
  • Audio playback (WAV via Windows winsound, other formats via VLC)
  • Hex preview for unknown files
• Extract all .RES files using ScummVM tools (saga_unpack.exe)
• Repack .RES files and override specific records (for fandubs / audio replacements)
• Optional: install patched .RES back into the game folder with automatic .bak backup

Requirements

• Windows
• Python 3.10+ recommended
• ScummVM tools (Windows build) from:
  • https://www.scummvm.org/downloads/#tools

Optional (for MP3/OGG/FLAC playback in the inspector):

• VLC media player
• python-vlc:

  py -m pip install python-vlc
  
  

WAV playback works without VLC (uses the built-in winsound module).

Setup

1. Download ScummVM tools from:

   • https://www.scummvm.org/downloads/#tools

2. Extract the tools archive somewhere on your PC.

3. Place the Python script from this repo (res_browser.py) in the same folder as the ScummVM tools .exe files (so it can find saga_unpack.exe), e.g.:

   scummvm-tools-...\
     saga_unpack.exe
     ...
     res_browser.py
   

Running

From the tools folder:

py res_browser.py

Usage (IHNM example)

• Click Choose Folder…

  • Select your game folder (the one containing VOICES*.RES), or the ScummVM folder from the GOG layout (the app will try to detect ..\ihnm.ini and use its path=).

• Click Extract All .RES

  • Extracted files go to: <game folder>\extracted\<RES name>\

• Find the line/record you want in the left tree and use Play in the inspector.

• To replace a line:

  • Select the record (e.g. 123.bin)
  • Click Override selected record…
  • A rebuilt file is written to: <game folder>\patched_res\<RES name>.patched.res

• To install:

  • Click Install patched RES…
  • The original .RES is backed up as .bak.

Notes / Tips

• For safest compatibility, use PCM WAV (16-bit) for replacements.
• If you only want to replace one monologue/sequence, override just the relevant record(s) and install the patched .RES.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0).