A total noob: help in editing some values

[raged]

Hi everyone, i'm totally new to this world, i'm not a software developer or so, so please, be patient.
the problem:
i have a free VST plugin ( in .dll format) and i'd like to one mod, but probably i'm trying the wrong way.
If i open the .dll with 7zip i got some files named for example ".text" or ".rdata" and a folder named ".rsrc"
My question is: how do i see the values stored in these files?

[nerdpatrol]

Hi raged - The .dll which you mention is a compiled executable - you will not be able to edit the actual plugin itself unless you have the original source code. Hope this clears up any confusion.

[AdmiralQuality]

Hi everyone, i'm totally new to this world, i'm not a software developer or so, so please, be patient.
the problem:
i have a free VST plugin ( in .dll format) and i'd like to one mod, but probably i'm trying the wrong way.
If i open the .dll with 7zip i got some files named for example ".text" or ".rdata" and a folder named ".rsrc"
My question is: how do i see the values stored in these files?

Even if the plug-in is free, you may be in violation of the license agreement to modify it. What plug-in are you talking about?

[raged]

Hi raged - The .dll which you mention is a compiled executable - you will not be able to edit the actual plugin itself unless you have the original source code. Hope this clears up any confusion.

Oh, so it's someway impossible to edit it without the source code? :S

Even if the plug-in is free, you may be in violation of the license agreement to modify it. What plug-in are you talking about?

I was talking about this plug-in: Link
Am i violating something?? :S

Thank you guys for the replies and help!!

[AdmiralQuality]

Hi raged - The .dll which you mention is a compiled executable - you will not be able to edit the actual plugin itself unless you have the original source code. Hope this clears up any confusion.

Oh, so it's someway impossible to edit it without the source code? :S

No, it's possible to edit resources (the images that make up the interface) without access to the source code. (It's possible to edit the executable too, this is what cracking is.)

On Mac this is VERY easy, as you can just open the package and see the resource files just like a normal file folder. On Windows you need a thing called a resource editor.

Even if the plug-in is free, you may be in violation of the license agreement to modify it. What plug-in are you talking about?

I was talking about this plug-in: Link
Am i violating something?? :S

Thank you guys for the replies and help!!

I can't seem to download it, so I can't find their EULA to find out whether you're allowed to modify it or not.

[raged]

Hi raged - The .dll which you mention is a compiled executable - you will not be able to edit the actual plugin itself unless you have the original source code. Hope this clears up any confusion.

Oh, so it's someway impossible to edit it without the source code? :S

No, it's possible to edit resources (the images that make up the interface) without access to the source code. (It's possible to edit the executable too, this is what cracking is.)

On Mac this is VERY easy, as you can just open the package and see the resource files just like a normal file folder. On Windows you need a thing called a resource editor.

Even if the plug-in is free, you may be in violation of the license agreement to modify it. What plug-in are you talking about?

I was talking about this plug-in: Link
Am i violating something?? :S

Thank you guys for the replies and help!!

I can't seem to download it, so I can't find their EULA to find out whether you're allowed to modify it or not.

To be honest i don't even see the EULA at all
I don't know why you can't download it but all it got inside the downloadable zip is:
-the .dll of the component itself.
-a skins folder
-a presets folder

If i open the .dll with 7zip i see these files
and, inside the .rsrc folder there's a Manifest one that got just one file called "2" in it.
I can see the content of this file with a txt editor, and it's this:
http://pastebin.com/2k7Gy6BT

I thought i could edit some of the values inside the .rdata or .data .text files, but i can't find a way to open them.
Should i give up?

[AdmiralQuality]

Oh, somehow it downloaded without me noticing. Anyway, looking for the EULA (which at first glance I haven't found so I guess you're free to do whatever you want with it) I notice there's a skinning system.

But that's not what you want, right? You want to change the code? You need to hack it then. Learn assembly language and go nuts!

[AdmiralQuality]

Probably just better to contact the developer and explain what you want. Maybe they'll agree with you and add it to the product.

[raged]

Argh, you answered while i was editing my message
Ok then, probably it's the best thing to do, also if the plugin and the site isn't updated from years....

[AdmiralQuality]

Argh, you answered while i was editing my message
Ok then, probably it's the best thing to do, also if the plugin and the site isn't updated from years....

Just out of curiosity, what value do you want to change?

[raged]

Argh, you answered while i was editing my message
Ok then, probably it's the best thing to do, also if the plugin and the site isn't updated from years....

Just out of curiosity, what value do you want to change?

To be honest i don't want to change values regarding musical parameters or so (i'm not that mad )
i just wanted to change some default folders path coded inside the plugin...

[AdmiralQuality]

Argh, you answered while i was editing my message
Ok then, probably it's the best thing to do, also if the plugin and the site isn't updated from years....

Just out of curiosity, what value do you want to change?

To be honest i don't want to change values regarding musical parameters or so (i'm not that mad )
i just wanted to change some default folders path coded inside the plugin...

That's a fairly easy hack as text strings are encoded literally in the plug-in. Just view it in a binary editor and you'll find your string. And if you're really lucky, the strings are in the resources. Technically that's where we're supposed to put them so they can be edited independently of the code to assist in localization (translation to different languages), though us lazy programmers rarely actually bother.

Problem is, you can't readily make a string longer than it already is. Shorter you can do, you just need to make sure you move the terminating null character (the zero, and this assuming they're C style strings) to the end of your shorter-then-the-original string.

[raged]

Argh, you answered while i was editing my message
Ok then, probably it's the best thing to do, also if the plugin and the site isn't updated from years....

Just out of curiosity, what value do you want to change?

To be honest i don't want to change values regarding musical parameters or so (i'm not that mad )
i just wanted to change some default folders path coded inside the plugin...

That's a fairly easy hack as text strings are encoded literally in the plug-in. Just view it in a binary editor and you'll find your string. And if you're really lucky, the strings are in the resources. Technically that's where we're supposed to put them so they can be edited independently of the code to assist in localization (translation to different languages), though us lazy programmers rarely actually bother.

Problem is, you can't readily make a string longer than it already is. Shorter you can do, you just need to make sure you move the terminating null character (the zero, and this assuming they're C style strings) to the end of your shorter-then-the-original string.

I thought too that it should be not that hard to do.
hey, using HxD i can seem to find some of the strings, but not the one i want...
Thank you however, really nice to have so much help!!