Photoshop Splash Screen Hack

Hacking the Splash screen in Photoshop CS3 – Speed Hack: Time 90min

I thought it would be a good idea to change the names to the opening credits to include my own. Using Rezilla to edit the resource file it was an easy fix. But then I found something better.

Inside the resource file, there was a little-known easter egg called the Transient Witticisms. They have been included since Photoshop 3.0 and are now a tradition at Adobe and offer valuable insight to Adobe’s design process, such as “I hates cruft.”, “Whip me, beat me, make me know love.”, “Alex, get back in the box!”, and the classic “Son, it’s always a choice between a douche and a turd.”. So instead of seeing the credits with you name on the top, you can hack the splash screen information to randomly grab a few of the witticisms and display them on startup. Here’s how to hack it to your liking.

How to add your name to the Photoshop Splash Screen

• Download Rezilla – A free resource map editor
• Right-click on the Photoshop icon in the dock and select Show in Finder
• Right-click on the Photoshop icon in this folder and select Show Package Contents
• Open the Contents folder.
• Open the Resources folder.
• Make a backup of your Adobe Photoshop CS3.rsrc file. (important!)
• Open this file in Rezilla.
• Scroll down to the field labeledSTR*
• Edit the field credits
• Now add your name or message to the beginning of the list of names
• Save both the window you opened and the rsrc file
• Restart Photoshop. Voila!

How to add the Transient Witticisms to the Photoshop Splash Screen

You can watch the fullscreen HD version on Vimeo to see what’s happening.

Choice Witticisms

• I hates cruft.
• “Design Eye for the Engineering Guy”
• “More cowbell!”
• Process is the antithesis of Progress.
• “Photoshop: The number 1 choice of fake news makers around the world.”
• “I reject your reality, and substitute my own!”
• Download a txt file of the full witticism list from here