Terminator Salvation installer error – how to fix

Terminator Salvation is a third person shooter game developed by GRIN for the PC, PS3 ands XBOX 360. It’s loosely based on the upcoming movie of the same name. The game was officially released to the public on the 19th of May but the launch has apparently gone to hell due to a serious error with the game’s installer. InstallShield installer that’s responsible for setting up Terminator Salvation on end user PCs seems throws an error (in almost all PC versions of the game) every time when setup is run; thus preventing gamers from installing or playing this title.
UPDATE: Included a possible fix to manually extract files. See end of article.

Incidentally, a Clone DVD (untouched DVD Image) of Terminator Salvation has leaked on the internet right on the game’s release date -  it was leaked by warez scene group GOW (Gods of War). In fact, I was going to post an article about the leak when I saw a large number of comments flaming GOW for pre’ing another non working release. A lot of people were getting the message An error (-5006:0x80070002) has occurred while running the setup upon executing the installer. However what GOW released was a copy of the original game’s image  - they did not crack the DRM (SecuROM) embedded into the game.

Since the error couldn’t have anything to do with a file modification, I just did a search on Termination Salvation official forums. Apparently a lot of legitimate users were getting the same error. This means that the InstallShield installer in both the leaked and legit versions of the game is royally screwed. I’ve seen comments by people who even formatted their systems and reinstalled Windows to get the game working. Well you don’t need to change your configuration since it’s an internal error with the game. However below is a possible fix you can try to manually extract game files, bypassing the installer:

How to manually extract game files

1. Download InstallShield Cabinet File Viewer from this link.
2. In your Terminator Salvation installation disk, there should be a file named data1.hdr. Open this file with InstallShield Cabinet File Viewer.
3. Go to View—> Components
4. Extract all files located inside grinexes, grinexesvistaonly, USR_bundles, USR_video, USR_root and context file related to your preferred language (Extract to a destination of your choice – for example to a folder called “ Salvation”)
5. Go to the extracted location and create a new subfolder named data. Inside data create three subfolders named videos, cutscenes and movies. Move all extracted .bik video files to the videos folder you just created. Also, move all .fcl, .bundle and .lhd files inside the bundles folder (rename Bundles folder to bundles if it starts with an uppercase - or the game will crash).
6. In the end the structure of your folder (created in step 4) should look something like below:

7. Run TerminatorSalvation.exe to run the game. (make sure you rename the Bundles, Videos and Data folders so that they start with lowercase letters. Also you might try rebooting the machine and launching the game if you made any changes to the files/structure. )
- Thanks to JBeckman, streetunder and Newty182 on NFOHUMP for all the help

Update 2: Checked the official forums again and they are recalling defective copies of the game:

Unfortunately a defect occurred during replication of the PC version of Terminator Salvation, which does not allow end users to install the game. The Xbox 360 and PS3 are not affected and function properly. We have recalled all PC copies of Terminator Salvation from retail in North America and are currently in the process of replicating new copies. The new copies will be on store shelves in a few days. A replacement plan for all end users that purchased the defective units is currently being set up. Details to get a replacement copy will be announced shortly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused the end users that purchased the defective copy.

If the above method does not work for you (if it crashes at logo screen with access violation error), I guess you’ll have to wait for an updated release.

Note: The process above does not circumvent the game’s DRM. If you are using a pirated copy do not ask for instructions on how to get the game working on this thread – we are not a warez blog.

 

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