A really nasty uninstall problem

[kc1000]

I bought and downloaded this game, civ 4, from direct to drive digital distribution. Unfortunately, the download was corrupt. I went to uninstall, and it wouldn't let me uninstall. Error said "default feature" The parameter is incorrect. So, I went and tried to do a manual uninstall, deleted the folder, all of the installshield information, and every reference I could find to the game in the registry. I get the error now when I try and reinstall with the original installation file, even redownloaded it twice, same error. It tries to uninstall the game and the game isn't anywhere on my hard drive.

any suggestions?

[kc1000]

Bump this just for the heck of it. I tried using a third party program that forces uninstalls but it didn't even find this program as installed, but the installer keeps saying, do you wish to uninstall. I'm on the verge of wiping my OS to scratch my registry. Any ideas?

[kc1000]

one more bump

[Leafgreen]

I had a similar problem, forgot what all little files needed to be cleaned out. Search and common sense only found about 10% of them. Did a search on the web and found a program that will clean registry/uninstall problems/etc, etc, etc that is a 15 day trial but WORKS during the trial - instead of 'here's your problem but we won't fix it till you pay'.

http://www.uninstallplus.com/

ran it, 20 seconds later i was good to go. Might help you, might not, but it's worth a shot.

[Leafgreen]

Grr... it took out all files on my hd, but now i've simply improved and gotten the same problem you're having. A big step up from where I was though, not that i can actually install or play the game.

I miss when games had a cleaner on the install disc you could use.

[kc1000]

Thanks for your reply green. I downloaded the hotfix from direct to drive and ran it even though I didn't have the install. Then I used a third party program that can force an uninstall on an unwanted program. It was a success. So, I downloaded the file again from direct to drive, installed, and had the same freaking problem. I installed with a corrupt install, and can't uninstall, but this time even the third party program doesn't see it installed but the installer says it's installed. Really frustrating. I have an e-mail out to TAKE 2 and i'll post if they tell me any fixes.

thanks again for your response.

[Leafgreen]

I sent a msg to them too.

But i planned on buying an external HD next week, so I bet i'll transfer everything onto that and wipe the HD before I get a reply.

I hate laptops. hehe

[uglyduck]

Originally posted by kc1000
Thanks for your reply green. I downloaded the hotfix from direct to drive and ran it even though I didn't have the install. Then I used a third party program that can force an uninstall on an unwanted program. It was a success. So, I downloaded the file again from direct to drive, installed, and had the same freaking problem. I installed with a corrupt install, and can't uninstall, but this time even the third party program doesn't see it installed but the installer says it's installed. Really frustrating. I have an e-mail out to TAKE 2 and i'll post if they tell me any fixes.

thanks again for your response.

Try this:-

Open the installshield installation information folder
Search for a folder named {CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3BF-D6E01F4112E8}
Right click on the folder and choose rename. Press the End key on the
keyboard and type the word OLD. Press the enter key
Insert the Civilization IV install CD and open My Computer. Right click on
the CD drive and choose explore,
Locate the setup.exe file and double click.

[Leafgreen]

I did a search for that cfbce791 and found nada. Odd.

Did all that, now it's back to play/readme/exit instead of install/readme/exit.

Ran setup and getting the same errors. I'll try deleting the installshield folder.

Error Code: -5004 : 0x80041f42
Error Information:
*C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime\11\00\Int el32\iKernel.dll
>inc\CoCreate.cpp (44)
>SetupDLL\SetupDLL.cpp (1390)
PAPP:Sid Meier's Civilization 4
PVENDOR:Firaxis Games (http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/)
PGUID:CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3FB-D6E01F4112E8
$11.0.0.28844
@Windows XP Service Pack 2 (2600) IE 6.0.2900.2180

[Leafgreen]

Same error. play/readme/exit.

I deleted all files I could find, did a search for anything with civ or firaxis and deleted those, ran a cleaner that found a bunch more, deleted that installshield directory - yet it still shows up under add/remove programs. Just the name, no file size - but it still shows.

I seriously doubt the game or disc is bad - not even daggerfall was that buggy. My drive works fine, my computer works fine with other programs being installed/uninstalled still - there is a chance something is corrupted somewhere (always a chance of that), but i'm betting there's a file or five someplace that is doing this somehow.

[kc1000]

http://www.ursoftware.com/

The software from that site seemed to work for me.

Here is what happened. I downloaded a corrupt installer from direct to drive and had the same problem you are having, not being able to uninstall. I found this program that can force uninstalls, it works every other time. So, I redownloaded the installer but this time I opened the proper port on my router so the file could get through intact.

Guess what? I just finished a game, huge size map, without one single crash. This game rocks beyond all of the civs. I do notice that the game seems to speed up in the later eras, but it's still awesome. I finished with too low of a score so i'm heading back in on a new game.

Try that uninstaller, leaf, it may work. It's timed shareware. You may not have bad disks, but I definitely had a corrupt download and that was the source of my problem.

Good luck to you and I hope you get your problem fixed because the game is awesome.

[ghost88]

I also had to uninstall. Opened at the CD drive,as stated no uninstall listed. Not knowing what I was doing clicked on install, it brought up the uninstall. Info. icase you or others should need to uninstall agian.

[Leafgreen]

Aye, but that uninstaller costs $$$.

No way i'm paying money for an uninstaller to fix the game I paid money for.

I'll just wait and wipe the HD.