problems with patch 1.74

[buffer]

I downloaded the latest version for civ IV but when i try to launch the game an error comes up reading; The setup has detected that version 1.74 of Civ 4 is already installed. This setup installs an earlier version of Civ 4 (1.61). You will have to uninstall the previous version before installing this version. So i try to uninstall the game through Add/Remove programs and it won't let me. Has anyone else had this problem? I don't know what to do.

 

[Sam_Yeager]

I downloaded the latest version for civ IV but when i try to launch the game an error comes up reading; The setup has detected that version 1.74 of Civ 4 is already installed. This setup installs an earlier version of Civ 4 (1.61). You will have to uninstall the previous version before installing this version. So i try to uninstall the game through Add/Remove programs and it won't let me. Has anyone else had this problem? I don't know what to do.

It sounds like you're trying to apply the 1.61 patch to a 1.74 installation. Do you actually want to revert to the 1.61 patch and if so why?

 

[buffer]

I have the 1.61 patch and trying to install 1.74 and i get the error saying i need to uninstall the previous version. However, any attempts to uninstall, i recieve more error messages and won't let me uninstall from the add/remove programs list.

 

[Sam_Yeager]

Are you running Civ4 from CD/DVD or did you download Civ from one of the download companies such as Steam etc?

The error message you are quoting implies that you already have 1.74 installed. Are you saying this is not the case?

 

[muman13]

I had the same problem when I downloaded the 1.74 patch. I could not uninstall whatever version I had at that time nor could I use the game or reinstall the original version. This is what I did to fix the problem. I manually went in and deleted the firaxis file from my program files. Then went into the registry and deleted it out of there (had friend do this for me since I am not a computer guru). The last fix was going into the program files again and go into InstallShield Installation Information, there you will need to delete the file that the error gives you when you try to uninstall CivIV. I believe it starts with CFB and inside should be the 1.61 and 1.74 patches. Once all of these files are removed it will let you finish the uninstall. Then you can reinstall the original game. I have decided not to download the patches for now and just play the game the way it came.

 

[buffer]

Thanks for your comment muman13. Thought i was going crazy. Ok so i started doing what you said by manually deleting the Firaxis files now does anyone know how to go in the registry to find the v1.61 and v1.74 patches? Thanks for your help.

 

[Sam_Yeager]

Details for complete uninstall/reinstall for Civ4 vanilla are below:

Delete the "C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games" folder (assuming that where you installed it), delete the "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4" folder if it is still there.

Go into the registry (Start->Run->regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software. If this is the only game you have from Firaxis delete the key called "Firaxis Games" otherwise delete any sub keys of Firaxis Games" starting with "Sid Meier's Civilization 4". Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and delete the following keys {4377F918-E6C9-4ECA-A7F5-754B310B7ED8} and {CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3FB-D6E01F4112E8.

Also delete the following folder if it exists:
"C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3FB-D6E01F4112E8}"

NB. The InstallShield folder is hidden by default. You will need to configure Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders.

Reboot, reinstall Civ4 and reboot again. With luck that will get you back to a known state. After that you can apply the DirectX update from Microsoft & then the 1.74 patch.