Problem installing retail copy - beta install interferes

[Arnelos]

So I was in the C3C beta test, as I know several of you out there were as well, so I'm wondering if I'm the only one with this problem.

I got my retail copy of C3C today and went through the following steps:

1. Uninstalled C3C Beta
2. Uninstalled Civilization III
3. Wiped the entire Infogrames folder (and all subfolders)
4. Restarted my computer
5. Installed Civilization III
6. Attempted to install retail C3C

I say attempted to install because when the cd autorun came up, it was under the impression that C3C was already installed.

I immediately figured that the problem was likely left-over registry entries that the uninstall program didn't remove, which turned out to be partially true. I did the following this time:

1. Uninstalled C3C
2. Uninstalled Civilization III
3. Wiped the entire Infogrames folder (and all subfolders)
4. Deleted all registry entries under BreakAway Games, Infogrames, and Firaxis pertaining to Civilization, PTW, or Conquests (beta or retail)
5. Restarted my computer
6. Installed Civilization III
7. Attempted to install C3C

This time, at least the autorun recognized that C3C was not installed on my machine and "Install Conquests" was at least an OPTION. However, when this option was selected, it added I think a grand total of about 3 files to my system and then told me the installation was complete. I had made sure to select "Conquests" from the menu. It didn't even bother to create a Conquets or a PTW folder this time.

Does anyone know how I can PERMANENTLY remove traces of the C3C Beta test from my system so that I can actually install the C3C retail version or is there another way around this problem?

The beta copy was still working, so I suppose it would be possible to just reinstall the patches for that and use it until a solution is found, but I'd like to properly install the retail copy.

Any help from any knowledgable sources would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Inverse Icarus]

There might be registry entries you missed (or not in the folders you checked). Try running some searches from regedit for keywords.

other than that, i'm not sure.

[Tiberius]

I too believe there are some traces left in the registry.
Try running some registry cleaning utility (regclean from MS, or Norton WinDoctor perhaps, but neither of these does a complete job). I'm sure there are better utilities for this out there.

Edit: you can try searching download.com for "clean registry". See what you get.

You can do it manually, but searching for all keywords (I'm just guessing: civ3, civilization, infogrames, atari, firaxis, c3c, etc) might be a tedious work. Sorry.

I know Format your hdd, reinstall Windows and Civ3 and then write a thank-you letter to Atari and MS.

[Tiberius]

Here's a link to a free registry cleaner:

http://www.pcmedixwebs.com/regclean.htm

After a first look I can say I like it. You can search for keywords and/or problems, and then it lets you select what you want removed.

Anyway, back up your registry before messing with it!

[Arnelos]

Did at least anyone else from the Beta test discover the same problem? Let's start with that one... if someone else found a way for it to work, I can just copy what they did I suppose...

[kring]

When you uninstalled, did you use the Conquests uninstall, the Add/Remove Program - Conquests, or both?

I used both, as well as deleting the Conquests folder manually, and that seemed to work well since I found a lot left over after using only the uninstall option. Also, you may want to check the Add/Remove Program to see if anything else is left. This was on a Windows XP Pro machine. Also, did you use the default install path (for the beta and/or regular Conquests)? When I install the game on the other beta machine, I will play closer attention to what I did and see how that uninstall/install works out.

[Asmodean]

LOL....We're Atari....we make you beta test crappy versions of our software. We don't pay you for it, but at least you get to play a buggy game.

Then when all bugs are ironed out and you want to play the bug-free retail version, we make you format you HDD and reinstall windows MUAHAHAHAHA

Asmodean

[WarpStorm]

I just used add/remove for each beta in reverse order and then Conquests beta and it worked fine.

[Arnelos]

Thanks. I'll have to try that now and see if it works.

[Arnelos]

That was the problem, alright. When I had used the uninstall program, it only uninstalled the LAST beta patch. So I went back and used add/remove programs to remove ALL of the remaining beta patches in reverse order (man was THAT a pain ), PTW, and Civ3.

When I rebooted (just in case) and installed Civ3, then C3C, everything worked fine.

Thanks.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Phew! Good to know Arn.

So will you have time for the ISDG now you have Conquests? Perhaps I chose the wrong time for Consuls to change....

[Arnelos]

I'll have time for the ISDG. Afterall, I've already played through a few of the conquests several times

[Chieftess]

What I did was uninstall every patched install from the beta. (under add/remove programs)