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what is rust_pdb fr?

vmx7/rust_pdb — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

36C++Audience · developerComplexity · 5/5Setup · moderate

tl;dr

A self-contained tool that generates a Windows PDB debug symbol file directly from a Unity IL2CPP game, without needing external dumping tools.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((rust_pdb))
    What it does
      Generates Windows PDB
      From IL2CPP game files
      No external tools needed
    Tech stack
      C++
      Visual Studio
      Windows PE
    Use cases
      Reverse engineer IL2CPP games
      Debug in IDA
      Auto detect Steam Rust
    Audience
      Reverse engineers
      Game modders

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Generate PDB debug symbols for a Unity IL2CPP game like Rust

VIBE 2

Load a generated PDB into IDA or another debugger to see readable type and function names

VIBE 3

Reverse engineer or mod a Unity game built with IL2CPP metadata v39

VIBE 4

Reconstruct a C header describing a game's IL2CPP struct layout

what's the stack?

C++Windows PEIL2CPPVisual Studio

how it stacks up fr

vmx7/rust_pdbflybroken/sam2-tensorrtmolaorg/rosbag_timing_inspector
Stars363537
LanguageC++C++C++
Setup difficultymoderatehardhard
Complexity5/55/54/5
Audiencedeveloperresearcherdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · moderate time til it works · 30min

Requires Visual Studio 2022 and a 64-bit IL2CPP game built with metadata version 39.

in plain english

rust_pdb is a tool that generates a Windows debug symbol file, called a PDB, directly from a Unity game that was built using IL2CPP, without needing any of Unity's own build tools or compilers. IL2CPP is the technology Unity uses to convert a game's C# code into native machine code, and games built this way lose the readable information a debugger would normally use to make sense of the compiled program. A PDB file restores that information for debugging tools, letting someone see function and type names instead of raw memory addresses. To produce a PDB, the tool reads two files that already ship inside any IL2CPP built game: GameAssembly.dll, the compiled game code, and global-metadata.dat, a file describing the original types, methods, and structure of the game's code. It parses this metadata itself, without relying on any external metadata dumping tool, then reconstructs the type and method information, generates the equivalent of a C header file describing the game's structures, and writes a complete PDB file from scratch, including all of the internal containers and streams a real PDB needs. The tool currently only supports 64-bit Windows executables built with metadata version 39, and the README specifically calls out the game Rust as an example target. If it is run with no arguments at all, it can automatically find a Steam installation of Rust and generate a matching PDB file next to the game's DLL. The author notes that the tool's output is byte-for-byte identical to that of the reference native PDB writer when given the same input, meaning the two produce files with the same cryptographic hash. The project itself is written in C++ and built with Visual Studio 2022 as a 64-bit release build. No license is mentioned in the source material.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Help me build rust_pdb with Visual Studio 2022 for a 64-bit release.
prompt 2
Explain how to run rust_pdb against my own GameAssembly.dll and global-metadata.dat files.
prompt 3
Walk me through what a generated PDB lets me do when analyzing a game in IDA.
prompt 4
Show me how il2cpp metadata gets turned into a PDB's type and symbol streams.

Frequently asked questions

what is rust_pdb fr?

A self-contained tool that generates a Windows PDB debug symbol file directly from a Unity IL2CPP game, without needing external dumping tools.

What language is rust_pdb written in?

Mainly C++. The stack also includes C++, Windows PE, IL2CPP.

How hard is rust_pdb to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is rust_pdb for?

Mainly developer.

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