diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceManager.java b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceManager.java
index 3d7525a0d..57285755d 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceManager.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: ResourceManager.java,v 1.17 2002/10/25 17:21:00 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: ResourceManager.java,v 1.18 2002/11/20 02:00:36 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.resource;
 
@@ -486,6 +486,47 @@ public class ResourceManager
         throw new FileNotFoundException(errmsg);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns an input stream from which the requested resource can be
+     * loaded. <em>Note:</em> this performs a linear search of all of the
+     * bundles in the set and returns the first resource found with the
+     * specified path, thus it is not extremely efficient and will behave
+     * unexpectedly if you use the same paths in different resource
+     * bundles.
+     *
+     * @exception FileNotFoundException thrown if the resource could not
+     * be located in any of the bundles in the specified set, or if the
+     * specified set does not exist.
+     * @exception IOException thrown if a problem occurs locating or
+     * reading the resource.
+     */
+    public InputStream getResource (String rset, String path)
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        // grab the resource bundles in the specified resource set
+        ResourceBundle[] bundles = getResourceSet(rset);
+        if (bundles == null) {
+            throw new FileNotFoundException(
+                "Unable to locate resource [set=" + rset +
+                ", path=" + path + "]");
+        }
+
+        // look for the resource in any of the bundles
+        int size = bundles.length;
+        for (int ii = 0; ii < size; ii++) {
+            InputStream instr = bundles[ii].getResource(path);
+            if (instr != null) {
+//                 Log.info("Found resource [rset=" + rset +
+//                          ", bundle=" + bundles[ii].getSource().getPath() +
+//                          ", path=" + path + "].");
+                return instr;
+            }
+        }
+
+        throw new FileNotFoundException(
+            "Unable to locate resource [set=" + rset + ", path=" + path + "]");
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns a reference to the resource set with the specified name, or
      * null if no set exists with that name. Services that wish to load