Weird problem reinstalling game, missing files in directories?

[bitparity]

So I wanted to re-install additional copies of the game so that I can run mods on different ones of them. But when I installed (and patched them), they wouldn't run.

Just so you know, I already have a working copy of EUR on my hard drive (also up to date patch), so it's not the drivers. Puzzled, I decided to do some checking, and some laborious copying and pasting to determine exactly which folders were causing problems.

The difference between my working version of EUR vs. the freshly installed ones, came down to three directories: gfx, maps, and interface. And those 3 all seemed to be missing dozens of files. Though I do know supposedly some files are supposed to be generated once the game starts.

When I copied my working version of those directories to the fresh install, the game worked. Otherwise, I keep getting run time errors in the following order.

-Without working version's EUR gfx directory, runtime crash at the start.
-Without working version's EUR maps directory, crash on initialising MapLogic "file exception in .\discfile.cpp, line 72: could not open file map/definition.csv" then runtime crash.
-Without working version's EUR interface directory, runtime crash at "loading sounds"

I am puzzled because I have a working copy on my hard drive, that I'm playing with now. So obviously I was able to install before. What the heck has changed?

Let me know if you PI tech support guys need any more details.

 

[AndrewT]

I guess I'm not following something here. Assuming you are talking about properly made mods you can just install them all in your base copy of the game, in the Mods sub-folder. You don't need different instances of the whole game.

But if you did want to do that for some reason. all you'd have to do is install and patch the game, then copy the whole directory structure to new directories, one for each mod. So install in say c:\games\rome, then copy that to c:\games\rome-mod1, c:\games\rome-mod2 etc.

 

[bitparity]

No, I'm not talking about mods. I'm talking about a straight EUR: Gold installation. I tried to re-install EUR: Gold via my install file. After install, it wouldn't launch, and kept getting runtime crash errors after the startup splash screen.

This puzzles me because, I have been able to install EUR: Gold from that same install file before, I have a working version installed now in a different directory. So it's obviously not a driver issue. I am uncertain what's wrong, but comparing my working version with my non-working version, it seems the non-working version is missing files, but I can't tell if its legitimately not installing certain files on install or they're just files that are automatically generated once started.

 

[AndrewT]

You talk about an install file so I guess you have Rome:Gold from GamersGate, Steam, Impulse or Direct2Drive. If you have concerns about that file you should delete it and download a fresh copy; usually sites will give you and MD5 checksum so you can confirm the file came down successfully.

And make sure you point the install to a new directory outside the system path (so c:\games\eu3 or something like that), to avoid UAC issues.