Patch failed to install Aborting installation

When I install the beyond the sword having this problem "Patch failed to install Aborting installation" it keep show this again and again, then I upload the 1.61 and 1.74 manually but it show another message which can't upgrade too, it said "the setup has detected that no version of civil 4 installed and this update requires that a previous version of the application be installed."

Please help, thanks!

Welcome to cfc

is the Civ4 version a download version or a cd version?

Thanks! is a CD version and i am upset about that, what can I do for that ,thanks!

try the below - if you do not have warlords ignore those parts - if you have questions ask


install the most recent version of DirectX 9c from Microsoft

then do the following for a clean reinstall:

Uninstall and Reinstall Civ4 Warlords BtS :

Try to follow this order when doing stuff:
Use Control panel to uninstall Beyond the Sword, then Warlords, then Civ4
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
(note: application data is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files, also these directories in application data are sometimes removed by the uninstall routine)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3FB-D6E01F4112E8}" (Civ4)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{3E4B349F-10B5-4586-9D99-489A90A8B228}" (Warlords)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{32E4F0D2-C135-475E-A841-1D59A0D22989}" (BtS)
(note: InstallShield Installation Information is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files).
Install Civ4, immediately patch it to 1.61 (download it fresh from here)
Install Warlords, immediately patch it to 2.08 (download it fresh from here)
Install Beyond the Sword, immediately patch to 3.17 (download it fresh from here).

note: I oscillating between on-/offline status so I might reply with some hours time lag...

Thanks but one thing i want to remind you i am chinese and i brought the cd version is chinese version so I just check it civil 4 is 1.62 (i don't know why) and warlord already is 2.17 after I finished the install, thanks!

can i downgrade it first or something?

this complicates matters - the official patch versions are 1.61 and 1.74 for civ4 and 2.08 and 2.13 for warlords - if any of those are already present just ignore the patch installs. downgrading is not possible in this game

yes then that's back to the point i can't install it still need me to install the update patch (which i don't know why) then patched failed to install and aborting the installation,thanks!

or can I skip the update patch part to go to install process directly, actually i hate firaxis for make the process must update the patch, they can make us choose to update or not or just go to the install process directly, coz i am upset now more for 3 days i still can't play the game, thanks thanks thanks!

If I understand this correctly you cannot install the game. You did uninstall it though. Did you remove all the files I noted above? Did you restart the computer before trying to reinstall (I did not mention this but sometimes it helps)?

I need to uninstall BTS (v1.74) and CIV IV-with the 3.17 patch. When I try to uninstall BTS using remove program in the control panel I am send into a registration (gamespy and electronic registration) prompt that never finishes, the hourglass appears then disappears after a few seconds. I just want to uninstall the games.

I see this March 2009 (repair guy/blueprint1984) thread. Should I manually delete the files as noted in this thread and will that process remove the 3.17 patch which would allow me to remove CIV IV? Thank you.

this will remove all the files except the main install in firaxis games - you need to also remove those

Welcome to CFC

Thanks for the welcome and speedy reply. Ok I see. Is there any way I can remove both BTS and maybe CIV IV w/o the use of the remove button in the control panel?

yes just remove the files I listed above AND all files in
\program files\firaxis games\
(if civ4 and expansion are the only firaxis games you have)
or remove the folder:
\program files\firaxis games\sid meier's civilization 4

Thank you ori! Will do.

hey i have the same problem as original post; i have civ 4 gold cd version and cannot install bts. i says there is a newer version and aborts the download. have removed the civ 4 from my computer and reinstalled. i cannot, however, install the 1.61 patch or the 1.74 patch because they do not recognize civ 4 gold cd version. has anyone found a solution to this?

some of the gold edition versions require some changes to the windows registry - are you familiar with registry editing?
The patches won't work on gold edition but are unnecessary - the problem is with the bts installer not recognizing this.

Welcome to CFC

I am familiar with the registry, just not with editing it. I don't want to seriously mess anything up. Shouldn't they have come up with a fix for this by now? I mean this seems to be a common concern.

for some reason some gold edition version have this problem while some don't my hunch is that they noticed it during production at some point and silently changed it.
Essentiall gold edition in some cases has a typo in the patch version it puts into the registry:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6651975

if you want to tackle this and are in doubt about anything: ask

I'd love to. I'd hate to have a game I've spent almost 100 dollars on be wasted because of a typo. I think it's very disappointing on the development level they haven't addressed this though with a small patch or something. You'd figure they would since it deals with registry errors. Maybe there doing there part to help stimulate the economy for idiots who don't know what there doing screwing up the registry and ruining there community?

Look through the thread I linked to then and see if the same typo is present in your install (referencing 1.72 instead of 1.74)

Thank you very much. Its working now. It's just hard to hide my cynicism sometimes.