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unmerged(18202)

unmerged(18202)

Feature Joneser
Jul 13, 2003
712
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www.epinions.com
I just got finished with two hours of work all to reinstall this game. And now I suspect it was for absolutely nothing.

I wanted to keep my old directory tree around long enough to copy modded files and such, so I copied the whole thing to a new directory. Left the old intact. This took a very long time, but all right. Then uninstalled, thinking that uninstalling this game was like uninstalling a normal piece of software. It would leave some files in the HOI2 directory, which I would manually delete. I did that.

Then, innocently, I reinstalled. All went well, except for the length of time it took. Next step was to patch to 1.1 then 1.2. But I can't! It says I already have the latest version installed (which I did before). So I come here, and I read the stickies. And apparently, you can't uninstall this software like normal software. You have to go manually delete registration keys, delete stuff in the InstallShield whatever directory, shovel around a lot.

So now, if my suspicions are correct, I have to uninstall the hourlong installation again. Go and delete the files specified in the sticky. Then reinstall. Then I'll be able to move forward.

Please, some kind soul, tell me there's a better way. I have enough guts to just edit a registry or .ini entry to tell it I have v1.0, if that's what it'll take.

jkk
 
Don't know why it takes you so long.
Usually regular uninstall works just fine, don't know what went wrong with your copying folders around.

Also do not install 1.1, 1.2 is cumulative. much better to just install 1.2
 
Okay. But is there anything I can do now, short of total reinstall? Neither 1.1 nor 1.2 will install.

jkk
 
The whole process, from complete manual uninstall to full install should take less than 15 min. I am sorry but that is the only thing.

Well one faint hope would be to adjust the registry entry to make sure it points to the newest install you did and not the existing one you copied.
 
Well, install doesn't take fifteen minutes for me. While I don't have the world's speediest machine, I also don't have the world's slowest. Install takes a full hour, both times I've done it.

The good news is that I solved my own problem in the meantime. The relevant registry section had keys for both 1.01 and 1.02 patches, and a key with the number of the current version. Since I would be uninstalling and reinstalling anyway, I had nothing to lose, so I blew off the 1.01 and 1.02 keys and edited the key with the version number (telling it I had 1.00). Bang, worked fine. Add a new footnote to the lore of how to deal with uninstall/reinstall issues, I guess.

But I really have to say: I see no reason why the uninstaller can't be set up to actually, fully, correctly uninstall the game, rather than leave this sort of detritus around the registry and InstallShield area. Other software seems to manage this. I know you didn't design it this way, Castellon, and I appreciate your time taken to respond, but this really bothers me. It never occurred to me that uninstall wouldn't really uninstall.

And while we're on the subject, the game won't let you install a second copy of itself. If it finds one on the system, it will only let you repair or uninstall that one. That too is not reasonable. If I feel the desire to have three HOI2 installs on my machine, for whatever reason, there's no reason to design the software to prevent that. That is not piracy, which is the only valid reason to design software with any limitations on installation, and which Paradox (to its credit) does not make feeble attempts to thwart.

I trust that Paradox folks read this forum and are taking note of this protest. If the company can design the best WWII grand strategy game available, surely it can do better than these situations.

jkk
 
1. Uninstall works fine in most cases, you just got unlucky for some reason, that was unfortunate. However if it really takes an hour to install on your machine you have bigger problems.

2. If you want a second copy, just copy the contents of the HOI2 folders to a different set of folders.
 
Castellon,

You say v1.2 is cumulative and v1.1 is not needed. I disagree and have proof why it is needed.

Before installing v1.2 I deleted my entire AI file directory as I had some altered files and also some files from several other mods in there. In short, it was clogged up. I knew that v1.2 would install the files I needed if I cleared it out. Otherwise, I just layed v1.2 over my v1.1 install.

However, several necessary AI files are not included in v1.1. I have mentioned this to Lothos. They include the Air AI files (Ground, Superiority, etc - not that these files improve play - they don't - but are called for) as well as some startup AI files for the Spanish countries in the 1938 scenario (SCW AI series).

To verify, simply do what I did. Clear your AI folder. Reinstall v1.2. Try the 1938 scenario and you will on load up get an error for both Spanish countries. Bypass that and start the game. On day two you'll start getting a load of 'cannot load Air_Ground.ai' errors.

So it is not cumulative in the AI department.
 
If you deleted the ai folder then you did not have a 1.0 install but you had less than 1.0 install. 1.2 does not include all files of 1.0, just those that have been changed or added in 1.1 or 1.2. You should reinstall 1.0, then install 1.2 and it should work fine.
 
Phil K said:
Castellon,

You say v1.2 is cumulative and v1.1 is not needed. I disagree and have proof why it is needed.

Before installing v1.2 I deleted my entire AI file directory as I had some altered files and also some files from several other mods in there. In short, it was clogged up. I knew that v1.2 would install the files I needed if I cleared it out. Otherwise, I just layed v1.2 over my v1.1 install.
Click to expand...
Phil, you deliberately blew up a substantial part of your hoi 2 installation (the entire AI folder tree), and then only applied the 1.2 patch. A patch only contains the changes between a complete original (1.0) setup and the patch level version.

It will not restore files from the original 1.0 setup, if the patch level has no updated ones for those (because they were not changed, for example).

If you do something drastic like deleting a large section of your installation, please run the original setup first to restore all the deleted files, before applying a patch.

Jan Peter
 
Yes I said 1.2 was cumulative, which is true.

THat means it includes all the changes in 1.2 and 1.1.
That does not mean it contains the whole game. Otherwise anyone could download it off the net for free. Patches never contain all game files.

Patching procedure is
Fresh install from CD
Then install of latest PAtch 1.2 in this case.

You cannot go deleteing files at random and assume they will be included in the patch. If a file had no change from 1.0 to 1.2 it is not included in the patch.
 
OK, I see your point. I had made an old v1.1 AI rar backup file and I may be assuming that these files are v1.1 that were missing, but in reality they may be v1.0 files.

Therefore, I will reinstall the game to verify that this is so.
---------------------------------------
*sigh* Yes, it is. I apologize, guys.

That explains why I wasn't hearing any other feedback from others when they played the '38 scenario. Logical...

-------------------------------------------------
jpd said:
A patch only contains the changes between a complete original (1.0) setup and the patch level version.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out, Jan. My ignorance of the matter.
 
Unnecessary Triple posting is sort of frowned on. ;)
I have assisted you by combining them.
 
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