# SRWE resizes a windowed game by pretending you dragged its border

> SRWE is a Windows program that attaches to a running application and manipulates the size, position and window styles of its main and child windows, so a game locked to a small window can be run at a higher resolution for screenshots. It works by sending the window the resize messages a manual drag would have produced, which is also its limit.

**dtgDTGdtg/SRWE** — Simple Runtime Window Editor

- Repository: https://github.com/dtgDTGdtg/SRWE
- Stars: 557 · Forks: 48
- Language: C#
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-10-22 · Updated: 2026-10-22 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/dtgdtgdtg-srwe

## A window manipulator, and the reason it exists

SRWE stands for Simple Runtime Window Editor, and the README describes it as a program that allows you to pick a running application and manipulate the size, position and styles of its main and child windows.

The purpose is stated next, and it is narrower than a general window tool. SRWE was built to maintain games that run in windowed mode, so you can get the fullscreen effect on a windowed game, or get the fullscreen effect with a visible taskbar. Since it lets you set up any window size or position manually, it is also useful for taking high resolution screenshots in games that support windowed mode.

The mechanism is the interesting part, and it is not a hook, an injection, or a driver. SRWE attaches to a window and sends it the messages a user would generate by dragging its border. The README is explicit that SRWE simply mimics a user's resize actions on a windowed game, and that if the game does not anticipate resize actions, which is the case for most games, SRWE cannot add that functionality, only the game developers can.

That limitation is stated plainly and it is the defining constraint of the tool. The primary language of the repository is listed as C#, the licence is MIT, and the repository layout is a Visual Studio solution with SRWE.sln and a SRWE/ project directory, plus a Profiles/ directory that comes back to this later.

## Hotsampling, and the manual test that tells you if it will work

The technique has a name in the README, hotsampling. To take screenshots from games it is often better to run the game on a high resolution, which will likely make the game run slower than normal, but for screenshots that is acceptable.

The catch is that the game has to resize its viewport, the area of the window which displays the game's graphics, when the window itself is being resized. A lot of games simply stretch the viewport or create black borders around it. Some do resize it, and for those, SRWE can resize them when you want to take screenshots.

The README then gives you a manual test, and it is the first thing to do with any title. Run the game in windowed mode so there is a border around the viewport, then drag the border with the mouse to increase the window size. When you release the left mouse button, the viewport of the game should resize. If the viewport adapts to the new window size, the game can be hotsampled. The README names Skyrim SE, all frostbyte games and Rise of the Tomb Raider as games that support it.

This test is the whole evaluation. It takes a minute, it needs no tooling, and it removes the guessing from the rest of the process. A game that fails it will fail with SRWE too, no matter what you do in the tool.

## Attaching, then typing a resolution and removing the borders

The operational sequence is short and worth following exactly, because two of the steps are about privileges rather than about the tool.

Run the game in windowed mode, which means selecting that mode in the game's own graphics options. Then run the game as administrator, start the game, press alt-tab, and as administrator also start SRWE. The administrator requirement applies to the game as well as to SRWE, and the README states it as an additional step rather than an aside.

In SRWE, click Select running Application from the toolbar. A window pops up listing the game's .exe process, you select it and click Open. SRWE is then attached to the game window and shows you the characteristics of that window, its size and position, and also the flags which Windows uses to define how a window looks. Those flags are on the Windows Styles tab, and you can change whether the window has a title bar or min and max buttons by checking and unchecking WS_SYSMENU and WS_DLGFRAME. For games the README says these are not that important.

To set the window to a high resolution, type the resolution into the Width and Height text boxes and SRWE updates the window immediately. For most games that is enough. To get rid of the borders around the window, click the Remove borders button.

The whole flow is a handful of clicks once the game is running, and the state of it is remembered, which is what makes the profiles worth having.

## The EXITSIZEMOVE checkbox, where the trial and error lives

Some games do not seem to work with SRWE even though they passed the manual resize test, and the README explains why. Their internal window handling code waits for a sign from Windows that the user has finished resizing the window. This sign usually comes when you release the left mouse button after manually resizing the window, and these signs are called messages.

With SRWE, the tool basically tricks the attached window into thinking a user has resized it manually, by sending those messages, such as a size message that the window size has changed. For some games that is enough. For others it is not, because they deliberately wait for the I am done message, which is called WM_EXITSIZEMOVE. You can tell SRWE to send that message as well by checking the Force EXITSIZEMOVE after window resize checkbox.

And then the catch. For some games, like Dragon Age: Inquisition, it is required to check this checkbox. For others, like Rise of the Tomb Raider, checking it actually causes resizing through SRWE to be stretching. So whether to check the box is a trial and error process per game, though the README notes it is easy to find out, since you just try whether checking it helps, and that SRWE remembers the state of the checkbox.

That last point is what makes profiles work. Since the checkbox state is part of what SRWE remembers, a profile can capture not only the resolution and border setting but also the per-game answer to the EXITSIZEMOVE question.

## Profiles, and the example set you can start from

Typing in a resolution each time, and clicking borders off and on, is tedious, and the README addresses that directly. SRWE allows you to save the current state as a Profile, by clicking Save Profile. Any saved profile is added to the list of Recent profiles, so you can quickly pick one from that list instead of typing the resolution in again.

To get started you can choose any of the profiles in the Profiles directory of the SRWE repository and load them with the Load Profile button after you have downloaded them and stored them in a folder. The README points at the Releases tab on GitHub and the SRWE-Example-Profiles.zip file. They are just examples, so if you want different resolutions you load one, alter the resolution, and save it under a different name.

So the workflow is: test a game manually, find a resolution that works, decide whether EXITSIZEMOVE is needed, save that combination as a profile, and from then on you pick it from the recent list. For someone who screenshots the same handful of games regularly, that saved state is the entire value of the tool, and it is a small thing to carry in the repository since the profiles are just files.

The repository layout backs this up. There is a Profiles/ directory at the top level, next to SRWE.sln, the SRWE/ project directory, and an SRWE.v12.suo file, which is the Visual Studio user options file that older Visual Studio versions create.

## Where SRWE is the wrong tool

Three cases, and only one of them is about the software.

The first is a game that ignores resize messages. The README says most games do, and it says plainly that SRWE is not a piece of magic that can enable functionality in a game that is not implemented by its developers. If your title does not react to a manual border drag, nothing in this tool will make it react to a programmatic one, and you will spend an afternoon in trial and error before concluding what the manual test would have told you in a minute.

The second is anything that is not a windowed game. SRWE is a window editor, and it manipulates the main and child windows of a running application, so in principle it applies to any Win32 application, but the feature set, the hotsampling workflow and the profiles are all built around games and screenshots. If your need is an application that will not open at a resolution you want, the same technique applies, but you should expect to work out the right window styles yourself, since the README's guidance on WS_SYSMENU and WS_DLGFRAME is aimed at games.

The third is the administrator requirement. Both the game and SRWE have to be started with administrator rights, which means the tool cannot be used in an environment where that is blocked by policy, and it means a game running with anti cheat or a launcher that refuses to run as administrator will not work with it.

One more point about the state of the project. The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-08-03, so the source is being touched, but the recent release tags are old: v2.3.6 from November 2020, v2.3.3 from 2017 and 2.3.0 from 2016. The gap between a recent push and a six year old tag is worth understanding before you commit to it, and the README does not say which binaries those tags correspond to.

## Conclusion

Adopt SRWE if you take screenshots of games that run in windowed mode and support hotsampling, since it turns a resolution the game refuses to offer into one it will display. Do not adopt it expecting to change a game that ignores resize messages, because no external tool can add behaviour the developers did not implement, and the EXITSIZEMOVE option is trial and error per game. Before you rely on it, test your title with the manual resize described in the README, and work out whether checking Force EXITSIZEMOVE after window resize helps or breaks the stretch behaviour.

## FAQ

### What is SRWE?

SRWE is the Simple Runtime Window Editor, a program that lets you pick a running application and manipulate the size, position and styles of its main and child windows. It was built to maintain games running in windowed mode, for example to get a fullscreen effect or to take high resolution screenshots.

### How do I know if a game supports hotsampling with SRWE?

Run the game in windowed mode so there is a border around the viewport, then drag that border with the mouse to enlarge the window. If the viewport resizes when you release the mouse button, the game can be hotsampled. The README names Skyrim SE, all frostbyte games and Rise of the Tomb Raider as supporting it.

### What does the Force EXITSIZEMOVE after window resize option do in SRWE?

It makes SRWE send the WM_EXITSIZEMOVE message, which is the sign some games wait for before they accept a resize. The README says it is required for games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and causes stretching for others like Rise of the Tomb Raider, so it is a per game trial and error decision.

### What are SRWE profiles and where do example ones come from?

A profile saves the current state of SRWE, including the resolution, border setting and the EXITSIZEMOVE choice, and saved profiles appear in the Recent profiles list. Example profiles can be downloaded as the SRWE-Example-Profiles.zip file from the Releases tab and loaded with the Load Profile button, and you can alter and resave them under a different name.

## Sources

- [dtgDTGdtg/SRWE on GitHub](https://github.com/dtgDTGdtg/SRWE)
- [Issues](https://github.com/dtgDTGdtg/SRWE/issues)
- [License: MIT](https://github.com/dtgDTGdtg/SRWE/blob/master/LICENSE)
- [README](https://github.com/dtgDTGdtg/SRWE/blob/master/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/dtgDTGdtg/SRWE/releases)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/dtgdtgdtg-srwe