Problems installing/uninstalling RTW or the patch?

**HorseArcher** · September 02, 2005, 07:40 PM

Ok, i guess my help thread got lost somewhere in one of the other forums so I will repost this here also:

If you have never installed RTW before, how to patch the game:

Install RTW from the disks
Download the 1.2 patch from www.totalwar.com
Run the Patch.exe and it will patch RTW
You're done! You will not need 1.1 patch since 1.2 patch contains 1.1 as well.
Play the game!

If you had RTW installed, and you installed or created mods or skins or any not-original files into RTW:

1. Uninstall Rome-Total War, as usually you uninstall a program (control panel -add/remove)

2. Go to the R:TW directory which is normally c:/program files/Activision

3. Delete the Activision folder. Now, to remind you, do this after you uninstalled the game the normal way

4. Download regcleaner. (please, beleive me on this) http://www.majorgeeks.com/download414.html

5. Do not run it yet, just install it.

6. reboot your computer This is very important to do, since if you have any registry files still kickin in running some
dll-s, the registry cleaner won't delete them.

7. Run Registry cleaner. As you notice, it will pick up a lot of stuff if you never used this before. Some of them you'll also notice, that it's Rome total war stuff and many others are just random registry files to all the broken links and long ago deleted programs.
The registry cleaner will give sort out the "safe to delete" stuff, so don't worry, you're not gonna brake your PC. (mine is running)

8. Strongly advise to defragment your hard drive If you have never done this, then it's gonna take a while, but the results are worth it, because it reorganize your files on the hard drive. Even if windows says that you don't need to, don't beleive it. It might take a couple of hours to do this, so be ready to walk away from your PC for a while ( hint: there is a world outside your PC) here is how to do it, if you don't know: http://windows.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/DefragWin2K.htm

9. After the defragmantation finishes, reboot again ( especially if it took a long time to defrag) .

10. Install R:TW. after installation apply the patch. There should be no problems applying the patch unless you have a pirated copy of RTW, which is just disgraceful and you deserve your game to be broken.

11. If you saved any saved games (hint: before you deleted the game, you could have copy and paste out somewhere the "saves" folder) do not put it in yet This is important also.

12. Download the 1.2 patch.exe from totalwar.com.

13. Install the patch.

14. Run the game once, see if it works. Get out of the game, go into the preferences.txt (main folder of R:TW) change the following line FIRST_TIME_PLAY:TRUE to FALSE. That will unlock the game, so you don't have to start with the tutorial, plus it will let you play your saved games. Now you can re- copy and paste your saved games into the same folder (saves) in the R:TW directory.

---------------------------------------
(Alternate Method, same re-install problem)

1. Uninstall RTW. (control panel/add remove programs/uninstall RTW)

2. Find the activision/rome-total war directory and delete it.
This is important, ..very important if you had mods installed. They will stay behind as the RTW uninstaller will not uninstall them.

3. Download regcleaner. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download414.html

4. Run Regcleaner. (use the tools - registry cleanup-do them all tabs in the program)

5. Install RTW (as normally you would)

6. Try the .exe patch from totalwar.com (download it, install it)

7 . scenario /a - patching works: your'e done.

7. scenario /b - patching fails or says, patch already installed: Download the 1.2 .zip patch (see the link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23291)

8. Unzip the .zip patch ( I usually unzip it into a new location then manually copy the files over the total war files, because I like to be sure)

9. Try the game if it works.

**HorseArcher** · September 27, 2005, 06:25 PM

by MONOLITH
try this also:

You can also try this

Just adding for clarification, because I see some threads where it's still going wrong.

This is the sequence that should be followed;

Uninstall RTW.

Go into Program files/Activision folder, and delete the RTW folder that is left after the uninstall.

Restart the computer.

Now do this...

1) Click Start, then Run.
2) At the prompt type "REGEDIT".
3) Click the "+" next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
4) Click the "+" next to SOFTWARE.
5) Select the folder named "The Creative Assembly".
6) If RTW is the only game referenced inside, delete the folder. Otherwise delete all the keys tagged for RTW (inside the creative assembly folder).

Then this....

1) Click the "+" next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2) Click the "+" next to SOFTWARE.
3) Click the “+” next to Classes
4) Click the “+” next to Installer
5) Click the “+” next to Products
6) There should be a list of folders named with long strings of letters and numbers.
7) Search through these folders for a key called “ProductName” that has the value “Rome – Total War™”
8) Delete the folder containing this key.

THEN..... Do a search/find of the registry...enter only the number '1.2' . Press the F3 key to view each reference found containing 1.2. This will take a few minutes to go thru them all, but you should find at least 2 pertaining to the RTW 1.2 patch not previously found.

You will see lots of other 1.2 stuff for drivers and other programs. Ignore these. Do not delete things unrelated to RTW.

After you've gone thru them and found a couple relating to RTW, and deleted them, Restart the computer again.

Now all traces of RTW will be gone from your computer. You can re-install the game, and the 1.2 patch.

Only install the 1.2 patch ONCE. Trying it twice cause problems and you may have to do this all over again.

This worked perfect for me today, after struggling all day long trying to get the patch to reinstall without searching for the 1.2 in the registry.

Also, some of you in the other threads are not fully deleting the game before doing the registry, or trying to re-install. Do it exactly in the order I have listed here, including the two restarts, and it should work for you.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21102

**dargan1955** · October 03, 2005, 05:55 PM

Hi thanks for the quick reply one and all will try all that thanks once again and repect to you all.

**nairagorn** · January 02, 2006, 11:07 AM

I absolutly cannot get this to work, there is no way to uninstall RTW. Whenever I try (either the uninstall option on the cd splash screen or through settings-add and remove programs) the demoshield thing starts and closes right away, no error messages.

I can clean out the registry files, but the first step is to uninstall, which I cannot do.

Anyone have any ideas? I really want to install EB.

::edit:: Fixed! Thanks to this thread: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=40633

**yome** · January 10, 2006, 12:03 PM

For me, after trying all the "thing to do", I'm not able to reinstall RTW!!!

I get an -1610 error....

Someone get this issue and break it?

YoMe

**Zhuge_Liang** · January 11, 2006, 04:47 PM

If all else fails!!

If you have tried all of the steps above and it still doesn't work then copy the content of all the 3 CD's onto your hard drive and install the game from your desktop.

Be sure to copy all the files in the setup/data/data folders on CD's 2 & 3 into the same folder from CD1 and all other files from CD's 2 & 3 that aren't on CD1.

**Decemvir** · February 09, 2006, 03:50 AM

I was wondering if anybody could help me out (maybe they've had the same problem)? I tried to unistall RTW and followed the instructions on this thread. Now when I try to reinstall I keep getting the message "do you want to unistall RTW". I'm not sure if maybe I did something wrong or what. Anyone else run into this problem or know how to fix it?

Edit - Reformated computer to fix problem

**JuliusCaesar83** · February 15, 2006, 08:23 AM

i have jet the same problem with the 1.5 patch... HELP!!!

**skyjai** · March 12, 2006, 02:51 PM

can sum1 help me. when i try to install the game. i get this.
Error: -1618 The configuration data corrupted
but i rmb i installed this game bfore n it worked.. n i think i kinda uninstalled it unproperlly..
so can sum1 plz help me?

**Yamoto** · April 14, 2006, 12:32 PM

:sweatingb

Is that cleaner safe?
I did instal lots of game's and delete them but not the registry and now my father pc is ful of stuf.
125gb
now76gb
Because lots of registry.
I want that space free again.

And if the pc work not good my father is realy mead.

**Soccer1993** · April 19, 2006, 01:13 PM

i cant uninstall RTW!! will some one please help me? first i tried uninstalling it normally but the install wizard thing only goes up halfway and then it just quits itself. then i try to uninstall it through the add/remove programs on control panel but its not on the list!!!

i want to get RTR installed before the spring break here's over.

**akanoez** · May 14, 2006, 02:50 PM

can you tell me if the patches/mods will work on a burned copy of RTW?

**BOis** · June 22, 2006, 11:23 AM

Hi, I got the same problem as skyjai, though i get this error : "Rome : Total War encountered an unspecific error and will now exit" I've been playing RTW on this computer before, but I kept getting Pop ups, so i reinstalled Windows XP, and I can't run it now .. Anyone got any idea ? already tried to uninstall the game several times, and removing the activision.. vbmenu_register("postmenu_846221", true);

**andrew.murphy1** · May 26, 2007, 03:14 PM

would, say (for example) having backups of the desc_strat file for RTR affect whether u could re-install the official RTW 1.2 patch, cos i've tried all the above methods and i keep getting the same message that its already installed... any help would be appreciated!!! plz n thnx

**Hyrus** · September 06, 2009, 05:03 PM

I have RTW gold edition,and i did all of the steps...and then when i wanted play RTW it said ''cannot locate the CD-ROM'',''Please insert the correct CD-ROM''... -_- i was seriously lost and confused,what am i sappose to do?

**irishron** · September 07, 2009, 03:32 AM

Originally Posted by Hyrus

I have RTW gold edition,and i did all of the steps...and then when i wanted play RTW it said ''cannot locate the CD-ROM'',''Please insert the correct CD-ROM''... -_- i was seriously lost and confused,what am i sappose to do?

Put in the cd that has the rometw.exe.

**magraev** · September 19, 2009, 04:18 AM

I have to join the chorus of the needy here.

I have uninstalled R:TW BI and I am completely incapable of installing again now - the menu in the launcher just says uninstall.

I started by selecting uninstall under the BI-menu, and that somehov gave me problems I think - it didn't uninstall everything. I also had Lusteds TE and XGM installed.

I first followed the instructions of the OP - that didn't work. Then I followed the instructions of the second poster - that didn't work either. I've cleaned my registry and deleted a ton of entries via regedit but still no dice.

there are a lot of entries under hkey_local_machine\software\Microsoft\windows\currentversion\installer\userdata\S-1-5-18\component that I haven't deleted, even though the value refers to the rome library - there are maybe 200 left and I'm tired of it.

Do I have to delete all these, or is that not it?

Please help a poor wanna-be-rome-gamer

**irishron** · September 19, 2009, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by magraev

I have to join the chorus of the needy here.

I have uninstalled R:TW BI and I am completely incapable of installing again now - the menu in the launcher just says uninstall.

I started by selecting uninstall under the BI-menu, and that somehov gave me problems I think - it didn't uninstall everything. I also had Lusteds TE and XGM installed.

I first followed the instructions of the OP - that didn't work. Then I followed the instructions of the second poster - that didn't work either. I've cleaned my registry and deleted a ton of entries via regedit but still no dice.

there are a lot of entries under hkey_local_machine\software\Microsoft\windows\currentversion\installer\userdata\S-1-5-18\component that I haven't deleted, even though the value refers to the rome library - there are maybe 200 left and I'm tired of it.

Do I have to delete all these, or is that not it?

Please help a poor wanna-be-rome-gamer

Are we talking about editing the registry yourself or using a registry cleaner?

Are we talking about using XP or Vista?

Did you you delete the whole Activision folder?

**magraev** · September 19, 2009, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by irishron

Are we talking about editing the registry yourself or using a registry cleaner?

Are we talking about using XP or Vista?

Did you you delete the whole Activision folder?

1) Both - I did use Easycleaner first, that didn't get it all, then I did some editing directly.
2) XP
3) Yes

And I found what I think is the solution! I deleted a file calles RomeTW.ini in the Windows-directory and now I can install!

A tip for other desperates outthere.

**irishron** · September 19, 2009, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by magraev

1) And I found what I think is the solution! I deleted a file calles RomeTW.ini in the Windows-directory and now I can install!

A tip for other desperates out there.

That shows how long it's been for me. I forgot about it. Enjoy playing.