VR always tried to secure their installers. First by encrypting their contents and now by using a modified version of inno setup.
If you take a quick look using a binary detector, it shows "Inno Setup 8.1.5" and that version doesn't even exist.
Most recent version is 6.0.5 and that's the reason why Inno Extractor/InnoUNP can't process it.

One way would be to grab the source code for InnoUNP and add that particular version to its library,
then compile it and add the custom innounp to Inno Extractor. Or you do it by installing into a sandbox as described above.

And then there's the "fast & dirty" way by using a Hex editor to manually change the 8.1.5 to a realistic version number like 6.0.2.
Tested it on the current 1.5.1 release of Spire.



Result is this:



But be aware: you should make a backup from the installer as its internal setup data version won't fit anymore
after hex editing (means it will show a corrupted message when running normally).



But you also can revert this by changing the numbers back to 8.1.5.

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2020

Which InnoExtractor is safe do d/l? Many crap around the net..

http://www.havysoft.cl/ ?

Mostly i'm using UniExtract 2.0.0b4 but it seems now a little outdated

 

Ye, that one. It's the best GUI version of innounp. By using google, you'll also find the unlocked version of it.

 

Simple?? It's positively award winning for the likes of me matey

 

InnoExtractor.Plus.v5.4.5.202 but doesn't extract
Innounp.e32 0.49

Do i need an unlocked Innounp.e32 ?

 

I'm, still using v5.3.0.190. I just updated innounp from time to time.

 

what's your innounp version?

 

0.49 (most recent)

 

mhh, so i didn't understand why i can't extract after the dirty HxD patch.
Vielleicht kannste mal deine Inno für mich kurz hochschieben (plz share your inno)?

 

"fast & dirty" way didn't work for me too (both with InnoExtractor.Plus.v5.4.5.202 and Innounp 0.49).
But I did not realize at first that the string "8.1.5" should be replaced with "6.0.2" on two different places within the setup file. Now it works fine.
Thanks a lot. It is really fast.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 11, 2020

Oh my ...

 

Never use backslash or forward slash in a hexeditor, always and only overwrite the entries(And Make A Backup of the installer Anyway)!!!
This is obviously not for you r4e, but for people that using a HexEditor for the first time!

 

installshield works fine for me

 

Much of what @r4e is accurate. Learn Inno Setup, coz its easy and runs on pretty any version of Windows (the compiled setup exe). However, if you want to locate the user's VST2/3/AAX directory, there is a nice little handy R2RINNO.dll found in all R2R setups. You can use the exported functions like GetDirVST2x86 easily from Pascal. If you want I will post an example. I don't really like using ISSkin because the default widgets look pretty perfect. You can also add setup music by adding BASSMOD or BASS.dll to your setup.
Pascal seems like an ultra shitty language and the one that comes with Inno (RemObjects Pascal Script) is even more shit. You will have to deal with stuff like pointers as if they are simple integers.
You can even compress your setups internally with UltraArc etc. (thats what FitGirl does) if size is issue, but Inno's compression is pretty cool and fast. You can even password protect your setups, but that's gonna only protect you from real noobs.
The main point here is use Inno. Others are way more shit (NSIS, etc.)
I have converted many portable plugins into full setups, haven't really tested any tho.

 

My point is quite different. When having numerous ver. updates of already installed plugins (where sometimes I need just one or two out of more than a dozen) I extract just the few files I need from the setup.exe and copy them over the old ones. So I avoid the process of installation, and searching and deleting afterwards numerous superfluous dlls, folders, uninstall files, icons, factory presets, PDFs, txt files, language files etc. which a complete installation unpacks on your HDD.

 

An example would be nice for those who want to use it. I coded those functions on my own
and since my installers already use a bunch of plugins, I didn't want to include more.
I mean in the end you just have to locate the VST2 dir, I do it by reading from the registry.

Defining architecture:
[Setup]
ArchitecturesAllowed=x86 x64
ArchitecturesInstallIn64BitMode=x64

and then reading the paths on my custom page
...ExpandConstant('{reg:HKLM32\Software\VST,VSTPluginsPath}\');
...ExpandConstant('{reg:HKLM\Software\VST,VSTPluginsPath}\');
and reverting back to the default steinberg vst dir if there's no information in the registry by adding
"|{pf32}\Steinberg\VSTPlugins}" or "|{pf}\Steinberg\VSTPlugins}" at the end.



For AAX, VST3 & RTAS you just have to define the default aax paths:
...ExpandConstant('{cf32}\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins');
...ExpandConstant('{cf}\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins');
...ExpandConstant('{cf32}\Digidesign\DAE\Plug-Ins
...ExpandConstant('{cf}\VST3');
...ExpandConstant('{cf32}\VST3');

You also can just set the vst path as default app path by adding
DefaultDirName={reg:HKLM\Software\VST,VSTPluginsPath|{pf}\Steinberg\VSTPlugins}}
but that only works properly if you install a plugin for 1 architecture (like a 64Bit only plugin)
and don't want to use the code section.

I like it quite much. It's a taste thing I think. Also played with the NSIS SkinCrafter Plugin for Inno Setup (Team AiR used it in their old installers) and VCL Skins but I sticked with ISSKin. Over the time I created about 30 custom skins and I don't want to miss them.

 

Last edited: Aug 11, 2020

Ye, that's why I made that little gif image. Was hoping it's easy to understand.
Btw. you don't "have to" replace it with "6.0.2", I just tried that number in a first test and it worked.
It just have to be something between 6.0.0 and 6.0.5 since the "Setup Messages" of the most recent
VR installers have version 6.0.0. If you find an old installer with "Inno Setup Messages (5.x.x)", then you should
try a number like 5.x.x (based on the Setup Messages version number you can see in the hex editor).

 

And here is an example of Inno Installer being additionally packed.
So first you have to unpack the 'nominal' setup file with 7zip and extract the real Inno Installer, and then use InnoExtractor.Plus.v5.4.5.202 for further extraction.

 

InstallAware Studio Admin X12 29.05.00.2020 is just out.
it make installers like native instruments.

 

I coded such an unpacker/ decompiler for the pretty old WISE INSTALL BUILDER.

Its pretty old and more or less useless for modern Software.
I think the WISE Installer System was en vogue around the year 2000... almost all radium, h2o and AiR release are with WISE installers.

However, if somebody needs it you can download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dvf19z8746nlqzz/WiseZip.7z/file

Just open the setup.exe you want to extract within my little tool an see what happens... right click on script.bin to decompile the old installer scripts.

Cheers
AD

 

Last edited: Aug 11, 2020