Why can't I uninstall the game?

[unmerged(792)]

Today I uninstalled EU (UK version) from my laptop because it was running too slowly and tried to install it to my desktop (fairly standard system, Pentium II, 64 MB, etc.)

The installation crashed at the end, while it was installing DirectX. I couldn't restart the computer, so I had to do a hard reset (i.e. pull the plug). Then when I turned it on, Norton Utilities went to work and cleaned up all those lost chains it loves cleaning up after a crash.

Afterwards, I looked at the directories, game files seemed all downloaded, but a little leery, I decided to uninstall them and do a clean reinstall. But the uninstall program, after saying that it had finished 'maintenance'on EU didn't take the files away. So I tried deleting everything in the Paradox directory, and then clicked Install. Problem again: the uninstall program keeps saying its finished uninstalling, but EU still appears in the Add/Remove Control Panel no matter how many times I click Remove and no matter how many times the uninstall program runs.

So the install program insists the game is installed, even though everything in the Paradox folder is gone - so it keeps uninstalling so I can't do a clean reinstall.

What's going on? Where else do I have to go to delete EU files so Windows recognizes it as gone, so I can do a complete clean reinstall?

Need to know ASAP. I'm dying to continue the game.

 

[Paradox Interactive]

installShield creates a directory where it keeps all the information on installed software. On my machine it is 'Crogram FilesInstallShield Installation Information'

'InstallShield Installation Information' is marked as hidden so to be able to find it you have to change folder options on you PC to show hidden files. Search for files containing 'Europa' in this directory and you will find a file called 'setup.ini' with the following content:

[Startup]
AppName=Europa Universalis
Engine=0
Copy=1
Source=0
[Languages]
Default=0x0009
count=1
key0=0x0009

On my PC this resides in: 'Crogram FilesInstallShield Installation Information{A6F1BDF7-53A7-4AF6-84B9-0C51C722BC91}'. I'm not sure if the last directory name will be the same on all machines but I think so. Delete that directory and you will be able to make a clean install.


Patric

 

[Pan Zagloba]

EU on Windows on the Mac

I tried that - thanks for the advice, Patric - but found I also needed to edit the registry file to expunge any memory of Paradox Entertainment

As a Mac user playing EU on Virtual PC, this was my first meeting with Windows registry files and Installshield folders. Yikes! How can people use this stuff every day?! [Not to start a holy war].

Incidentally, any news of the Mac port - Hyperion don't seem to be, shall we say, the most *active* company judging from their website.

 

[Paradox Interactive]

Ok, didn't think about the registry entries... Sorry!

Wow, EU on Mac virtual PC. That was cool!


Patric

 

[Pan Zagloba]

Virtual PC

VPC 4 with Win98 runs the game smoothly (jerky sometimes during major alliance wars) on my 3-year-old Powerbook G3 with 198Mb RAM (142Mb available for Windows). Congratulations on making that work - most games are a *complete* dog on VPC, I just use it for connecting to Windows networks usually. But I upgraded to version 4 just to play EU faster [To wife: (ahem) business expense, darling. Yes, absolutely necessary.]

Great game, great game. Give Hyperion a kick if you're passing.

Zagloba

 

[unmerged(1783)]

Re: EU on Windows on the Mac

I've had a couple of problems that I don't know exactly where to mention them (either this is one of those sentences that resists all attempts at proper structure, or I need sleep), so I'm putting them here:

Originally posted by Pan Zagloba
As a Mac user playing EU on Virtual PC, this was my first meeting with Windows registry files and Installshield folders. Yikes! How can people use this stuff every day?! [Not to start a holy war].

You can probably understand why, as a Windows software developer (did I just admit that in public? I meant to say that I'm a linux/Unix/Mac/embedded/Java/everything-but-Windows developer) who's had to deal with plenty of that, I'm a faithful and dedicated Mac user myself. And I'm also very happily playing EU on a relatively old Mac (beige G3/333) with Virtual PC. Hey, we meet the requirements (My [virtual] PC shows up as a Pentium-class CPU at 333 MHz, 4MB VRAM, 192 MB RAM [out of 320 in the Mac], etc....), so it ought to work, right?

Anyway, I think my problems might be VPC-related, but I'm not sure.

First, when error dialogs appear (the game crashes, or I've screwed up one of the scenario files, or I try to load a corrupt saved game, or whatever), they always appear behind the main EU window. All I can tell is that EU seems to be frozen. If I alt-tab my way to Explorer (or otherwise switch to any other app) and back to EU, the dialog comes to the front--but unfortunately, this also often causes EU to crash completely (causing Windows to kill it, switch resolution again and give me the 'app went bye-bye' dialog before I get a chance to read what the error was).

I've seen this behavior in other DirectX apps (sometimes even my own code, but I won't admit that here) on real Windows machines, but since I haven't seen anyone else complaining about it, I wonder if the problem with EU's error dialogs is VPC-specific?

Second, sometimes the game won't start. It's hard to tell why (because of the first problem), but I think it's not recognizing the CD. If I look at the E: drive in Explorer (or, for that matter, the Mac desktop) it's definitely mounted. But whenever I have this problem, I shut down Windows, quit VPC, unmount the CD under MacOS, relaunch VPC, wait for Windows to start, and then insert the CD, and then everything's fine.

This doesn't happen often, but it happens often enough to be annoying. And it seems to be more common after the game crashes, and also after I suspend the PC state and restore it.

Has anyone had this problem, either with a real PC or with VPC? I know people have reported that if they have multiple CD drives (a DVD and a CD, a CD jukebox, etc.) it has to be in the first one, but that's not an issue here; E: is the only CD there is (and C: and D: are hard drives).

This one is annoying enough that I'm considering searching for a 'no-CD crack' on the web somewhere (there's nothing illegal about using one of those on a game I actually own, is it?)

The last problem is almost certainly VPC-specific: If I try to save a game to an auto-expanding virtual hard drive that doesn't have enough actual space, the drive is auto-expanded, but the saved file is truncated without reporting any error. Everything looks like it works, no different than ever (except maybe a little extra drive-thrashing noise), until I try to reload and the game crashes. With a hidden dialog box.

By the way, in case anyone's wondering, EU also works on a PentiumPro 200 running linux using vmware with Win98, but it's just barely usable. And WINE doesn't cut it at all. With a decent PC, vmware would probably be just fine. And I know nobody's wondering about this, but if you run Win2K under MacOS under linuxppc (using VPC and mac-on-linux) it's still fast enough to play on my G3/333, but VPC's sound cuts out every so often.

Anyway, I'm impressed that someone's been able to find a use for DirectX that doesn't require a 1000MHz CPU and 128MB Voodoo13 card to just display its 320x200 splash screen--a DirectX game that, in fact, works just fine under Virtual PC.

I used to always tell people, 'Maybe Windows isn't that bad, maybe it's just that, by some bizarre coincidence, there are no good Windows developers out there.' Well, obviously there's at least one good WIndows developer.

So I guess everyone else is right, and everything really is all Microsoft's fault.

 

[Pan Zagloba]

The not-recognising-the-CD problem is one I have too, and I'm sure it's related to VPC - or perhaps rather the fact that MacOS is underneath. When running regular MacOS, (with all unnecessary extensions disabled to maximise memory for the game), the CD isn't recognised. I have to start VPC, wait for Windows to load, and then put the disk in. Perhaps I need to re-enable a file format extension, or PC exchange?

Haven't had problem 1 or 3.

I am also pleased to be able to confirm that everything is Microsoft's fault (particularly the crash at lunchtime which destroyed all the good work I'd done annexing the Horde and Silesia in defensive wars).

Zagloba

 

[unmerged(1783)]

Originally posted by Pan Zagloba
The not-recognising-the-CD problem is one I have too, and I'm sure it's related to VPC - or perhaps rather the fact that MacOS is underneath. When running regular MacOS, (with all unnecessary extensions disabled to maximise memory for the game), the CD isn't recognised. I have to start VPC, wait for Windows to load, and then put the disk in. Perhaps I need to re-enable a file format extension, or PC exchange?

Maybe. For me, if I let MacOS see the CD first, sometimes it works, sometimes the game works, sometimes it doesn't; if I don't let MacOS see the CD (either by turning off extensions or just by not inserting it until Windows is up and running), it always works.

But, you may want to check this to be sure: In addition to your CD driver (Apple CD-ROM, Apple CD/DVD Driver, or a third-party driver like CD-ROM Toolkit), you need to either enable or disable both Foreign File Access and ISO 9660 File Access (and you should do all the other *Access extensions along with it, plus the Joliet extension if you have it).

If you enable both, MacOS will mount the Windows CD (you may want the Joliet extension also, but it's not necessary), and VPC will find it through MacOS. If you disable both, MacOS will not recognize the CD (it may force you to eject it, in which case you won't be able to insert the CD until VPC boots, or it may just ignore it), and VPC will find it directly. Either one should work.

But if you enable Foreign File Access but not ISO 9660 File Access, MacOS may get very confused and then VPC will most likely also get confused. If you've accidentally done this, do yourself a favor and buy Conflict Catcher. Just being able to hold down '9' at bootup to boot the 'MacOS 9 All' set for playing certain games is worth the money in itself....

I am also pleased to be able to confirm that everything is Microsoft's fault (particularly the crash at lunchtime which destroyed all the good work I'd done annexing the Horde and Silesia in defensive wars).

Silesia called upon its allies, and Redmond joined the war against you....