external compression

I really like the potential of NSIS (even though it's very messy and hard-to-understand, at least for me. OK, I'm not the brightest guy 😳).
I wasn't quite happy with the compression ratio tho. And I thought: I'd pack my files and nsis_setup.exe using rar and make sfx. So then SFX automatically extracts everything to tempdir, and then nsis-made cute little setup.exe picks up, and does all the other job.
The question is, how can I prevent nsis from compressing all the files into itself and install the files from "outside"? Should I do all the install stuff using CopyFiles, or is there some switch that does the trick or something?

You sure the compression isn't good? Have u tried the Bzip2 compression yet? use setcompressor bzip2 at the top of your NSIS file and you should see the difference.

If you want to use a SFX, create a normal installer with the files and use SetCompression off.

SFX > Extract & Start NSIS Installer
> Delete when finished

The question is, how can I prevent nsis from compressing all the files into itself and install the files from "outside"? Should I do all the install stuff using CopyFiles, or is there some switch that does the trick or something?

Yep. CopyFiles is the way to go, there is no magic switch 😉

Yep. CopyFiles is the way to go, there is no magic switch

Thanks.

And I have another question. i can't make MUI_FINISHPAGE_SHOWREADME work.
Is there something else needed besides
!define MUI_FINISHPAGE_SHOWREADME "Readme.txt" ?
This only opens the explorer window in the installdir.
Well I think something is missing, but what and where?
😕

You don't have to use external file, you can also store 'em in the NSIS installer without compression.

Use the full path: !define MUI_FINISHPAGE_SHOWREADME "$INSTDIR\Readme.txt"

The point is I don't want all files packed into big one, so I already did it with CopyFiles.
But
!define MUI_FINISHPAGE_SHOWREADME "$INSTDIR\Readme.txt"
doesn't work 🙁