Let us start here, from square one. No, from Zero!

util/resutils.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#include "resutils.h"
+#include "util/utils.h"
+
+const char *resutil::load_file(int name, LPCSTR type, DWORD *size) {
+    HMODULE handle = GetModuleHandle(NULL);
+    HRSRC rc = FindResource(handle, MAKEINTRESOURCE(name), type);
+    HGLOBAL rcData = LoadResource(handle, rc);
+    if (size != nullptr)
+        *size = SizeofResource(handle, rc);
+    return static_cast<const char*>(LockResource(rcData));
+}
+
+std::string resutil::load_file_string(int name, LPCSTR type) {
+    DWORD size = 0;
+    auto data = resutil::load_file(name, type, &size);
+    return std::string(data, size);
+}
+
+std::string resutil::load_file_string_crlf(int name, LPCSTR type) {
+    std::string s = load_file_string(name, type);
+    strreplace(s, "\n", "\r\n");
+    return s;
+}