Yeah, I can see this situation causing problems for a lot of people, where if they have one Cableguys plug installed, and then go to get another, opening the gates, and then getting their others nulled etc...

Like you, I abhore online connectivity on my work machine, and I can see this situation being a turnstile of many problems if they don't know exactly what they are doing, and even if they do...

There is some good advice given by @Sylenth.Will.Fall and @SmokerNzt above, as to how to host block (but you won't be able without a certain order of operations after a full uninstall etc to reinstall and get presets on multiple CableGuys plugins I imagine without a lot of hoops that I see problematic for some, and while it 'can'' be done.... um.. that game can spiral down), and also the whole online check in general...as it goes...

There are alternatives to this software, or just pick one cableguys lane and that's it and lock it down or live without presets I guess...

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2025

Latest version
v3.5.5

 

cap? where? what kind of file? couldn't find a new file in the v3.5.2 VR version

yes. if you do that, you the sync button won't work anymore. if you can't press the sync button, you won't be able to download all the presets.

maybe will try it tomorrow. but i guess if shaperbox won't be able to change the presets.db file, you won't be able to download all the presets no?

 

a lot of people commented on the latest crack on the russian site yesterday. seems like cableguys purged all the cracked versions or something. i hope that some group will fix it soon.

furthest i got was by installing the working release of v.3.2.1 by mocha (has like 130 additional presets) and than installing the latest version (v3.5.2) on top of it without every pressing the sync button.

still want to get back to the old state where I had 1000s of presets. interestingly enough, I realized yesterday that that version is still running on my laptop.
been trying to import the shaperbox 3 roaming folder (with a 800kb presets.db file) onto my pc but unfortunately those presets don't seem to work there. will try to use an earlier shaperbox version tomorrow to see if it works then.
if that's the case i'm happy to share it

 

FWIW, their plugins are on sale right now. You can get shaperbox for 100, or their entire catalog, which has some additional great plugins for 180. If its one of your favorite plugins, why not support them?

 

seems like it’s a perpetual sale.
also honestly cableguys deserve the money but buying it will probably not get me all the 100s of custom presets from the cracked version that i’ve used on a lot on my tracks. barely use the stock presets anymore

 

They do not require an internet connection, or blocking via firewall and hosts would not work. But when a release does not include all the content (or by not making a separate release of the content the proper way like R2R do it), and users are encouraged to go download content from some official repository; of course it is going to happen. Instead of someone just not buying something they wouldn't buy anyway; all that bandwidth for all these downloads does cost someone money. It is not hard math to do when the number of downloads is 100 times more than the sales numbers.

You can verify this easily if you are on wifi. Turn the wifi connection off while you install the software. You can also firewall it at that point, while still offline; without ever giving it a chance to escape out to the cloud.

 

After trying I bought it and I am happy to just being able to download the latest updates.

 

Hey bud.

I was struggling with this for a while and found a fix, so I registered to share. Not sure if it will work for you though. I noticed that the license issue only happens when you let the sync finish. So all i did was wait until the last files were downloaded and then I turned my wifi off before it said done/complete. Then I just blocked it with my firewall and everything works fine.

 

I would also have a look on KVR etc sometimes people sell software @ fair prices:
Cable Guys:
Shaperbox 3 (Reverb Shaper not included) - $30
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9040073&hilit=ShaperBox#p9040073

 

Mu understanding of Cableguys Shaperbox, at least when I installed it, was that you installed, had to download the presets after, as irrc, they are linked or generated to your particular machine, (can't share mine with you and vice versa as won't open, at least previously), and then you button up your hosts/firewall/etc.

That's why I imagine getting future iterations/presets/other products in their line could be problematic for many.

I forget the sourcing on mine, I think we found a way to workaround it with downloading the assets from Cable Guys prior (presets and "noises", and then using an edited db file... and then locking it all up... but it's been awhile.

I haven't seen a macOS version from R2R, just patches or Team VR's which seem to have the same problem according to thread comments.

 

my shaperbox 3 works but i found out the beam vst is not working anymore. so i deleted it.

 

@omiac Is it fine with the rules, if @Tombou may reposts the install directions for the presets to work, without the download link? I was to slow to copy them... And thanks for the work Tombou!

 

- Yes Repost !!! - And the info to edit the Serial in .db !!!

 

Yo. So like I've said, I realized that I still had a working version on my laptop with more than 1000 presets. Unfortunately they are from v. 3.1.1, so they still don't include all presets I've used in a lot of my projects. I can still use those presets in my projects, but I don't have them anymore.

Here's how I got the presets from my laptop to work on my PC:

1. I've moved the roaming folder (C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Cableguys\ShaperBox3) of my PC to somewhere else and replaced it with the one of my laptop.
-> All the 1000+ presets then showed up on my PC but clicking on them has no effect (so u can not use them)
2. I used the SQlite editor DB Browser to open up the presets.db files. I then copied the license key from the "init" row in the "info" table in the old (corrupted) presets.db (from the PC roaming folder that I've moved to somewhere else) to the presets.db from my laptop (that I moved to the roaming folder).
So basically I used my laptops roaming folder but with the license key I had on my PC.
I don't know if the license key is tied to your PC. You can try it with my license key: 1669257928.
Otherwise you'll have to do the same procedure as me and retrieve your unique license key from your own presets.db.
3. I then pressed the sync button to download all the v3.5.2 content (noise and reverb stuff) and closed my DAW right before the orange bar went through.
4. I blocked the IPs in the hosts file in order to make sure they won't corrupt my presets.db again.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 15, 2025

Thank you Tombou

 

No no.. You get the presets and THEN add that to the HOSTS file. If you want to get more presets at a later date, you can always go back in to the HOSTS and 'rem out the comment for a minute or so.

 

as i stated multiple times, syncing corrupts the presets.db-file and then nothing works anymore