How to check instrument patches from cwp file or from a project with a dead VST?

[Bartosz Gajdarski]

Hi guys, this shitty SampleTank 2 isn't loading to Cakewalk anymore (even in administrator mode), and I have to get back to my old (3 years , so no so old actually) project and use instruments that were used from Sampletank 2 to re-use them in imported instruments in working Sampletank 3, but I can't get their names. How can I check which "subinstruments" were used there? I looked in cwp filem, but only instruments names and some VST parameters there while editing in a notepad... Or maybe you can open Sampletank 2 somehow in Windows 10?

[Robert Bone]

I have no solution for the current issue - thought I would pass along what I do to avoid that kind of loss. 

I  create and keep a  Project Notes folder within every project folder, and in addition to any text or Word docs, with notes, I also create and maintain a doc that contains info on what instruments and presets are used in the project. 

I also sometimes save off presets for those that are either tweaked to the point of being difficult to replicate, or were created from scratch.   (an example would be a complex layered sound, that uses multiple tweaked instruments from multiple plugins - very difficult to have to recreate).

The above info has come in handily, for the same kind of issues I have had with 'dead' plugins - it at least can help me recover to a point close to what is needed to be able to continue working on a project.

I am sorry I don't have a solution that recovers the info on this particular project you are having this issue with, but hopefully for you, or others that come across this post, it might help recovery efforts for some similar future issue(s).

Bob Bone