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Gnownoskcid's Tutorial on:
How to add a "Show My Contact Card" button in contact list

In this tutorial, I'll talk about how to add a button that display your contact card. This button will be added next to (or replace) the "MSN Today" button & "E-mail" in your contact list.

There are a two things you need to do before you get your hands wet:

First you will need the program "Resource Hacker" which you can obtain from http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/ and install it

Now, you need to backup your original copy of "msnmsgr.exe" and "msgslang.dll" which are usually located in you msn messenger directory (ie. "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger"). Create a new folder in your messenger directory and rename it "backup". Copy "msnmsgr.exe" and "msgslang.dll" to this folder and you are ready to get started.

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Now that you are ready, make sure your messenger is unloaded, then load up your copy of Resource Hacker and choose File->open, browse for "msnmsgr.exe" in your MSN Messenger directory.

On the left side you will find a list of folders; expand UIFILE. Expand 923, and select 1033.

Now, on the right side, scroll down until you get to line 1529 (the line number is shown on the bottom left), it should say:

code:

---

<element id=atom(idMeAreaButtons) layout=flowlayout(0,1,0,1) padding=rect(0,0,2,2)>

---

The next lines should read:

code:

---

<cmdbutton cmdid=40198 id=atom(mailbtn)............
      ............  }
      ............  }-> 3 lines
      ............  }
</cmdbutton>

---

After those 5 lines, if the following lines exist, remove them:

code:

---

<cmdbutton cmdid=40234 id=atom(msntodaybtn)
      ............
      ............
</cmdbutton>

---

Now, go back to line 1529 and press enter at the end of the line. Paste the following lines in:

code:

---

<cmdbutton cmdid=40400 id=atom(msntodaybtn) class="ToolbarBtn" layout=flowlayout(0,2,0,2) AccName=rcstr(4231) AccRole=57 AccDesc=rcstr(4230) ShortcutString=rcstr(4229)>
      <png flip=false idres=1009 class="ToolbarIcon" />
      <element id=atom(suppress) padding=rect(3,0,0,0) content=rcstr(4229) contentalign=bottomleft | endellipsis/>
</cmdbutton>

---

After that, press compile on the top, then select File->save

Press open, and choose "msgslang.dll" from your MSN messenger directory.

On the left side, expand "String Table", expand 265, select 1033

for each string id, change the strings (the words)  respectively:

code:

---

4226,     "E-mail"
4229,     "My Contact Card"
4230,     "Click here to see my contact card"

---

click compile on the top of the page, press File->save
now close Resources hacker, and you have just modded your MSN messenger without using a patch!

Note: If somewhere along the way, you have messed up, all you have to do is close Resource Hacker, copy your backup copy of "msnmsgr.exe" and "msgslang.dll" back to your MSN messenger folder and start over again.

The only thing holding me back from posting on the Messenger-skin forum is that I still haven't received my confirmation email for a new account on that forum. Thus, I can't post anything there