How to really uninstall Civilization III

[Shaitan]

Uninstall for Civ3 gives some very kooky results. Depending on how you applied the patches it might not uninstall at all. Even when it does uninstall, it doesn't actually uninstall everything. Ergo, this whitepaper on

How to uninstall Civilization III manually:

Navigate to your installation. The default is C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III
Delete the Civilization III folder. Say "yes" when it asks if you are sure you want to delete. Yes, we know it may affect registered programs.

You will need to use regedit to delete several keys in your registry. Before doing anything in the registry, read and obey the following:

1. BE CAREFUL! Messing up the registry can have disastrous effects on your PC.

1. Regedit is a "live" editor. When you make a change it is done. No undo available and the file is changed as soon as a change is made.
   [*]Backup the registry before you start manipulating it.
   Backup instructions can be found in the following locations: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT4. For Windows 2K and XP, create a restore point before mucking about in the registry. For Windows ME, either upgrade to 2K or XP or go back to Win98. The instructions for Win98 should work for ME as well but not even Microsoft is willing to bet on that.
   [*]Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any nastiness that occurs as a result of people mucking about in their registries. I'll help to the best of my ability (which I'll admit is considerable ) and available time (which is nowhere near as considerable as I'd like ) but if you break it, it's on you.
   [*]I'm serious. The registry is not the place to be if you can't follow instructions exactly.
   [*]Don't forget to backup the registry first.
   [/list=1]
   
   Using Regedit
   The registry is organized in hives, keys and values. It has the same navigation structure as the regular Windows Explorer. Hives and Keys look like folders and Values look like files.
   
   Start up regedit by clicking on Start | Run, type "regedit" and click the OK button. Win NT/2K/XP use "regedt32" instead of "regedit".
   Navigate to the specific keys you need to delete. It's all alphabetical, just like in Windows Explorer. Expand keys (folders) in the left pane to see the sub keys and values (files) in the right pane.
   
   When you find the keys that you need to delete, highlight them in the left pane and press the delete key (or right click and choose delete). When you've gotten rid of the 4 Civilization keys just close regedit.
   
   The keys that need to be deleted are:
   
   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu\&Programs\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III]
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III]
   
   [HKEY_USERS\. DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu\&Programs\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III]
   
   The fourth one is a bit more complicated and the most important. In the registry editor, if you follow the folders to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall, you will need to look for a folder with a name similar to {978A2104-8363-11D4-AA23-0000E889C4DA}. It probably won't be this exact one, but if you click on the entries, there should be one that has a DisplayName that is "Civilization III". Once you determine which key it is, you can delete it.
   
   When that's all done, go through the following routine:
   Shut down the PC (not a restart - go all the way power down)
   Boot up the PC
   Install the game
   Reboot the PC
   Install the latest patch

 

[Toasty]

I've followed this to the letter, but now, while it says 'install' on the autorun, it still runs uninstall. I've just about swept my computer clean of anything civ 3. Is there something I'm missing?

 

[Shaitan]

Toasty, you've probably got a duplicate uninstall key (the fourth one that was mentioned). This is a bug introduced in the first update.

Open up regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr
entVersion. Use the search function to look for "Civilization III" (without the quotes). You will likely find 2 or more keys with this value in there. Delete them when you find them.

 

[Toasty]

Nope, nothing there. Any other ideas?

 

[Shaitan]

Do a general search in the entire registry for "Civilization". If "Civilization" is in a value, delete the value. If it is in a key, delete the entire key. Back up your registry before you do this.

 

[Toasty]

I found the problem. Instead of deleting the entire key, I only deleted the 'civilization 3' part.

Sorry for wasting our time.

 

[Shaitan]

No problemo. Glad you've got it now.

 

[Exile_Ian]

I've usually fixed this type of problem (Registry entries that remain after manual deletion) by running Regclean. But I think Microsoft has stopped making it available (even though it was never an official product anyway).

It's available from www.download.com though - and supports W95, W98 and NT (not sure about XP/ME/2000 though).

Since it works by creating a file of deletions from the registry - it is possible to 'undo' what it cleans.

All comments related to risk of changing Resgistry, and warnings to backup Registry first, still stand though!

 

[Spunky Alven]

I have tried regclean and CIV III dosen't work.
And i have tryed to enter the register and deleted the keys and still i can't install CIV!!
Shall i delet the keys in the civeditcatalouges and thsos keys in the civ 1.7 also???
plz help me

Oh i forgot i have 98

 

[damunzy]

NT/2000/XP can also run regedit...actually, I like regedit better than the other..


Shaitan, Wheel of Time?

 

[Shaitan]

Originally posted by PaleHorse76
Shaitan, Wheel of Time?

Nope, Shaitan of Tortola. 85 foot ketch. Beautiful yacht.

 

[Greystrand]

I tried to delete the registry keys listed above (after backing them up on windows 7 but the registry was set up differently. I had to search the registry for "civilization III" to find the keys to delete. After deleting the ones I found, I tried to install civ III but it acted like it still needed to be uninstalled. So I went back and searched again and it found more keys. It apparently doesn't find all the keys in one search. I kept searching and deleting (if I could tell that a whole "folder" was for civ I deleted that instead of the individual keys listed in the search results). I had to do this three or four times to get all the keys cleaned out. Keep searching and deleting until you can't find any more. (When it was clean it still showed a key called 'default' but you can't delete that one anyway.)