MovieMaker.exe

Source	src/MovieMaker/
CMake target	MovieMaker
Type	Win32 EXE (launcher), ~94 KB
Family	Application targets

At a glance

A deliberately tiny launcher. In the original binary it is 54 KB with ~4.8 KB of code and zero exports; all real code lives in MovieMakerCore.dll. The launcher's only job: load the engine and call one function.

Public surface

None. MovieMaker.exe is not a library — it is the process entry.

Startup sequence

// src/MovieMaker/main.cpp (reconstructed shape)
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE, HINSTANCE, LPSTR, int) {
    wchar_t dir[MAX_PATH]; GetModuleFileNameW(...); /* strip file */
    LoadLibraryExW(dir + L"WLXPhotoBase.dll", ...);       /* optional bootstrap */
    HMODULE hCore = LoadLibraryExW(dir + L"MovieMakerCore.dll", ...);
    auto main = (int(__cdecl*)(int, wchar_t**))GetProcAddress(hCore, "MovieMakerMain");
    PVOID veh = AddVectoredExceptionHandler(0, VexHandler);   // see Quirk #1 —
                                                              // registered only now
    int ret = 0;
    __try { ret = main(argc, argv); }
    __except (EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER) { ret = 3; }
    if (veh) RemoveVectoredExceptionHandler(veh);
    return ret;
}

Notable preserved behaviors:

• VEH + SEH double-exception layer for MSVC C++ exception codes (0xe06d7363, subcodes 0x19930520/21/22, and the undocumented 0x01994000) — Quirk #1.
• Static CRT linking and delay-load of MovieMakerCore.dll — the launcher can start (and fail gracefully) even if the engine DLL is missing.
• The original icon/resources are reproduced in moviemaker.rc.

Build notes

• Uses the static MSVC runtime (MultiThreaded), unlike the DLLs (MultiThreadedDLL) — matching the original link setup.
• Links almost nothing: kernel32, user32, shell32 — everything else happens inside the engine.

Testing

• CTest sanity check sanity_MovieMaker_exe_exists verifies the output exists.
• tools/test_all.py --launch launches the exe, observes process state, window creation, and stability (see Verification Tools).
• apps/moviemaker-launcher (submodule) exercises the launcher contract.

Analysis artifacts

analysis/MovieMakerExe/ — PE structure, imports, strings of the original launcher (PDB GUID {47558454-9C62-4123-96E9-91A66E8F4D87}).