My problem is this
my friend has conquests installed on his computer while i don't have. is it possible for him to run just the PTW version without uninstalling so we can play multiplayer?

Yes. He should be able to run PTW from Start/Programs/Atari(might be infogrames interactive).

Yes. Conquests actually installs PTW when it installs, it just doesn't tell you that! :crazyeye:

Your friend should be able to go to the civ3\civ3ptw\ folder, and simply double-click civilization3X.exe to fire-up Play The World. I think it requires the C3C disk to be in the drive. :)