multiple civ installs

[Acemo]

What is the easiest way to preserve the old PTW files and install a fresh copy of Civ3/C3C?

The Conquests install doesn't seem to ask for a target directory when it is installed. Does Conquests install itself to the default directory (Infogrames Interactive/CivilizationIII) or is there a way to specify what directory Conquests will install itself in?

[Shogun Gunner]

Good chance the C3C install routine looks to the registered programs (since you must have Civ3) and finds your Civ program installed. It can pull settings from the registry.

Multiple boots/multiple installs to different file system locations? I'm sure there's an easier way, but this approach will work.

[Acemo]

After playing around for a while I have found that moving the entire civ3 directory to a different directory and then pulling out the original civ3 CD and uninstalling civ3 will delete the registry keys that point to the install location without deleting the original files, now that they are not in the expected location. This allows civ3 to be reinstalled and then conquests can be put on top of that version.

I did experience a small problem when I did not have an installation at the default path with art files not being found, but as long as there is an install at the default location I have no problems running 2 seperate versions of PTW as well as another version running Conquests. I think that the last directory vanilla civ3 is installed to is where the program points for updates. Therefore any patches should be applied to the latest version installed.

I hope that is coherent and helpful.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Exactly - moving the civ directory elsewhere and reinstalling works wonders. I have had 4 different versions of civ installed on my HDD at one time in the recet past due to Demo Games using different patches.

Careful though, because when you are applying patches you have to be careful to specify the directory of the civ install you want updated, and it may be the case that some update installers just look for the latest installed version, thus you should ideally install and patch to the version of the game you want BEFORE moving the directory and installing any other patch version.

[daufoi]

applying patches to multiple civ installs

I have a questions about the multiple civ installs also. Let's say I install the original civ and then C3C. Do I need to apply the patches to the original civ and PTW? If so, is it better to apply the original civ patch before or after installing C3C?

Thanks,
daufoi