APKTOOL_DUMMY (again): clarifications needed

Using 2.4.0, decompiling and re-building the (un-modified) medium application is a smooth process, but the APK is just crashing because of some missing resources:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.medium.reader/com.medium.android.donkey.start.SplashActivity}: android.content.res.Resources$NotFoundException: Drawable com.medium.reader:drawable/splash_background with resource ID #0x7f080188

Obviously, that splash_background.xml file is present in both the original and the rebuilt APK, but the latter is referencing an APKTOOL_DUMMY resource:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
...
    <item android:top="@dimen/sign_in_wordmark_vertical_padding">
        <bitmap android:gravity="top" android:src="@drawable/APKTOOL_DUMMY_161" />
    </item>
</layer-list>

I know this has been discussed in #1773 and #1117, but I’m still not getting why apktool would be unable to decode some resources if they’re known to be both present AND used?

Sounds like an apktool bug, rather than some missing or invalid resources.

Any clarifications?

[AyraHikari]

You need to grab splitted APK in /data/app/com.app/*.apk or export with SAI app.

• Decompile all apk (if it was SAI exported apks, open as zip then extract apk)
• Merge all files except values to real APK one, and don’t replace anything in here
• Instead of replace files, you need to merge/replace string files
• Open both values folder, replace DUMMY to REAL ony Example: <public type="drawable" name="APKTOOL_DUMMY_b" id="0x7f07000b" /> Replace to <public type="drawable" name="abc_btn_check_to_on_mtrl_000" id="0x7f07000b" /> By search from public id 0x7f07000b
• Don’t forget to replace DUMMY in any XML files (drawable or styles dir, or etc)
• Edit AndroidManifest.xml, delete android:isSplitRequired="true" at application tag
• Then try recompile, and install
• If apk was force close, check log and check what wrong in there

[DieHertz]

I know it’s a bit old, but could you elaborate here?

Merge all files except values to real APK one, and don’t replace anything in here

I wrote a script which does resolving APKTOOL_DUMMY_ names across split APK contents, and also copies all the files into base without overwriting anything, but I didn’t omit files like values-hdpi/styles.xml and values-xhdpi/drawables.xml, and ended up with app crashing when trying to find drawables defined in the latter. Removing them solved this issue, but I don’t quite understand why, nor why these files are there at all. Were they part of original project or it’s just an artifact or quirk of apktool?