Source Mod Installers

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January 2024

Extra thanks to Garry Newman for relaying the basics of a mod installer.

For this, you need NSIS and HM NIS Edit.

Note:To automate the file list, use the NSIS Script Wizard in HM NIS Edit, then copy the list to your setup.nsi.

Note:You might want to be sure to include a ZIP-compressed version of the mod as a download. This will make it so people who are uneasy with EXE files able to get the mod.

Code from setup.nsi

!define PRODUCT_NAME "Mod's Name"
!define PRODUCT_VERSION "Release Version"
!define PRODUCT_PUBLISHER "Mod Team/Company Name"
!define PRODUCT_WEB_SITE "Mod Website"

!define APPID 220

!define MODDIR "Mod's root directory"
;(i.e. cstrike)

!define LOCALDIR "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods"
;This value should be set depending on the PC this will be compiled under

!define MUI_ICON "Installer Icon"
;This is the location on the local computer where the icon for the installer executable is.

!define FULL_GAME_NAME "Full Game Name"
;This is the name of the game defined in gameinfo.txt
;Remove all colons from this (as well as any other invalid char in a file name)

!define DESKICO "Desktop Icon"
;This is the location on the local computer where the icon for the desktop icon for the game is.
;The icon name must be the same as the one in gameinfo.txt
;Remove all colons from this (as well as any other invalid char in a file name)

;Uncomment this if you do not wish to have a custom desktop icon:
;!define NO_DESKTOP_ICON

;Uncomment this if you want to use ZipDLL
;The zip file should be in the LOCALDIR for this
;!define ZIPDLL

;======DO NOT EDIT BEYOND THIS POINT======

!ifdef ZIPDLL
	!include "zipdll.nsh"
!endif

var ICONDIR
var STEAMEXE

!include "MUI.nsh"
!define MUI_ABORTWARNING
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_COMPONENTS
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_INSTFILES
!insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE "English"

Name "${PRODUCT_NAME} ${PRODUCT_VERSION}"
OutFile "${PRODUCT_NAME}.exe"
ShowInstDetails show

Section "Mod Files" FILES
	SetOverwrite ifdiff
	SetOutPath "$INSTDIR"
!ifdef ZIPDLL
	File "${LOCALDIR}\${MODDIR}.zip"
	StrCpy $R0 "$INSTDIR\${MODDIR}.zip"
	ZipDLL::extractall "$R0" "$INSTDIR"
	Delete "$R0"
!else
	File /r "${LOCALDIR}\${MODDIR}"
!endif

!ifndef NO_DESKTOP_ICON
	SetOutPath "$ICONDIR"
	File "${DESKICO}"
!endif

SectionEnd
!ifndef NO_DESKTOP_ICON
Section "Desktop Shortcut" SHORTCUT
	SetOutPath "$DESKTOP"
	CreateShortcut "${FULL_GAME_NAME}.lnk" $STEAMEXE \
		'-applaunch ${APPID} -game "$INSTDIR"' "$ICONDIR\${FULL_GAME_NAME}.ico"
SectionEnd
!endif
Page custom Finish
Function Finish
  MessageBox MB_OK|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION "Steam must be restarted for the game to show on the games list."
FunctionEnd
Function .onInit
	ReadRegStr $R0 HKLM "Software\Valve\Steam" InstallPath
	ReadRegStr $R1 HKCU "Software\Valve\Steam" SourceModInstallPath
	IfErrors lbl_error 0
	StrCpy $INSTDIR "$R1"
!ifndef NO_DESKTOP_ICON
	StrCpy $ICONDIR "$R0\steam\games"
	SectionSetFlags ${SHORTCUT} 0
	StrCpy $STEAMEXE "$R0\steam.exe"
!endif
	SectionSetFlags ${FILES} 17
	Return
	lbl_error:
		ClearErrors
		SectionSetFlags ${FILES} 17
FunctionEnd

See also

• Steam 3rd Party Mod Support
• NSIS Wiki
• ZipDLL plug-in —  Zip decompression support
• UnTGZ plug-in —  Gzip & Bzip2 decompression support
• @icon sushi

It's a great free icon application. Supports XP icons.

• IconXP

It's a great icon application with a trial version available

• NSIS Basic Installer For Steam Content and Mods. dodbits.com

This tutorial will make a step-by-step basic to advanced installer for steam games. Mostly for CS:S and Day of Defeat but can be used for any VALVe game that requires a installer to automatically find the Mods address in the Steam folders. Use for installing whole Mods, Maps, Models... any content you like. All tools used are FREEWARE with links to them in the articles.

• Inno Setup

An easy user-friendly GUI based setup compiler, very easy to setup for mods and other applications.