A question for Windows Registry Experts

Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:09 pm by J Dawg

Arania, I'm counting on you for this one. Back in the day, (like, a year ago) I had a fabulous old game on this computer, Battlezone II. I've since uninstalled it to save HDD space, etc, but lately the urge has come up again to play it. When I put the CD in, the options I get are 'Play' 'Reinstall' or 'uninstall'. I've tried all three, of course, but none of them go anywhere because the files are missing on the hard drive for it to Play, reinstall, or even uninstall. This is the result of carelessness on my part most likely, maybe simply having deleted all the files rather than undergoing a proper uninstall. Anyway, the problem is this: The Setup.exe won't run because the computer thinks the game is still installed even though it isn't. It doesn't appear in the add/remove programs list. Obviously there's a sneaky registry entry hiding out somewheres that is putting a wrench in the works here. I've done a full registry search for both the game and the company that produced it (Activision) and deleted the entries that appeared (this is the only program I have from Activision, so that's no sweat.) This issue is addressed in the readme, but it says simply to call customer support. Great. The game is nearly five years old, so I'm not holding out any hope for that. Anyone got an idea on what registry key to target to fix this?

edit: moved to appropraite forum.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 11/15/2005 11:06:39 AM

Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:18 pm by fleish guitar123

hmmmmmmmmmmmm.............. I could ask my brothers friend. He knows alot about computers.

Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:32 pm by Glitch

You can try searching for the developer, which sometimes can be different from the publisher. Also try searching for part of all three of them (batt, activ, ????). It will kick out a whole bunch of other entries, but you might get a lucky hit. Last but not least, you could try just copying the files off the CD to the old directory and give it a try again.

If all else fails you might just have to reformat the drive if you absolutly must have the game.

(This site is best viewed with your eyes open)

Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:36 pm by J Dawg

Gave the developer a try, but no luck. This has happened to me with other games before, but that was when they were brand new.

Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:38 pm by fleish guitar123

Don't know what to tell you.

Mon Nov 14, 2005 7:30 pm by Glitch

Ok, so you've searched the registry to death...

Is the directory where the program was completely gone? Ie: if the game was in c:\games\BZ, is the BZ directory gone too? If it isn't delete that too.

Is there anything to do with the program in the Recycle Bin? Clean it out if there is.

Also, try searching the drives on your computer. All of them. Search for the program name, the developer, the publisher, anything you can think of. Maybe there's a dll hiding somewhere.

(This site is best viewed with your eyes open)

Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:10 pm by J Dawg

Been there done that Glitch... no avail. I'm hoping Arania the mystical TLR genious of computers has something to say about this...

Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:47 pm by Esquilax

It should be listed under the hive key called "Software". Check the entries there. I'm afraid that I cannot be more specific as I am not am home right now and am using Linux not Windows. Um, you *have* checked the "Add/Remove Programs" section haven't you?

Oh, and shouldn't this thread be in the hardware forum? It's not hardware, but it *is* technical in nature. Just thought I'd mention it

.

Mon Nov 14, 2005 9:16 pm by J Dawg

Well thanks folks. Some more digging around revealed a little tiny .ini file that was tucked away in the windows folder.

Now the option to install appears, but when I click install, nothing happens. This game is listed to be compatible with WinXP. I've read through Activision's entire Troubleshoot guide but it doesn't do anything for this.

Edited by - J Dawg on 11/14/2005 9:42:44 PM

Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:15 pm by Arania

I do NOT appear to be having a good week...
Im late, again...

I would reccomend, provided youve searched through most of the registry (HKEY_localmachine/software, HKEY_currentuser/software) for any sort of remnant. apart from that, you could try to manually instigate the setup/install process (Search for an EXE by the name of 'setup' or 'install' on the disc. i would also advise you to check the autorun.ini file for the file that is 'autorunned' and IGNORE that. Typically, the autorun is simply a shell that has those options, and the 'run' will point to the actual game app, 'reinstall' 'install' and 'uninstall' will usually all point to the same EXE, but with different run parameters.

And, if that doesnt work, you could try installing from DOS emulation (Provided it SUPPORTS DOS).

Apart from that, i cant help you short of RemAssist

Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:10 am by Alpha-Leader

There are registry cleaners out there which show the names that these reg entrys belong to. If I remember correctly the program was calledregcleaner or something but it will show the entry that Bzone is listed under and then you can delete it.

BTW I loved Bzone 2 I wish they would make something along the lines of it with better graphics and a new story.

Tue Nov 15, 2005 1:07 pm by Glitch

Might be worth trying to run the install program with compatibility mode. I've seen Activision games that say they're XP compatible, what they frequently neglect to mention is that you have to run it in a compatibility mode of some sorts.

(This site is best viewed with your eyes open)

Sat Nov 19, 2005 1:45 am by Tawakalna

BZ 2 is a 95/98 game and even in compatibility mode it struggles to run, it doesn't like NTFS and is looking for FAT, and even if you have FAT(32) it simply won't run properly on a lot of modern hardware. I have exactly the same problem with Freespace 1.

so even cleaning out your registry and getting rid of those nasty .ini files won't solve your problem, even though it's a good idea anyway. I've given up spending days and days trying to force most older games to run, and keep a 98 machine on one side with a PIII and 512mb RAM so that I can play them, and of course being 98 it has full MS-DOS mode support. Makes life a lot easier.

Sat Nov 19, 2005 6:45 pm by Esquilax

Why don't you try "DOSBox"? Version 0.63 works excellently for me, and I have even managed to get "Quest for Glory IV" working without the famous "slide" and "swamp" crashes.

Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:09 pm by Tawakalna

DOSbox is fine if you can get it working, which some people can't. And even then, it can be slow as a slow thing. I amanaged to get a few games werkin' on it but all I was really interested in was Privateer and when the open-source version came out I went for that and abandoned DOSbox altogether. And it's not much cop for 95/98 games, only DOS native ones (and I can't get Crusader: No remorse werkin' on it all)

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