Upgrading

[Weaver]

Hi. I've just discovered this fabulous site!

I have Civ III Play the World and I'd like to get the latest edition. Is the best thing for me to buy Civ III Complete? My understanding is that Civ III Conquests needs a patch and the Complete doesn't. I'm not good at doing clever things on the computer so I'm not sure how one installs a patch.

If I get the Complete edition, do I uninstall my present edition or do I keep it and install the Complete edition as well.

Thanks.

 

[Padma]

Civ3 Complete includes the Original CIv3 (patched to final 1.29f), Play The World (patched to the final 1.27f) and Conquests (patched tothe final 1.22). So if you*really* don't want to patch your game, then I suppose you could just buy Complete. You can try installing over your existing installation. I haven't heard of any problems with that, but you never know. If installing over your existing installation gives any problems, I would suggest *completely* uninstalling your current games, including making sure the registry is clean, and that the "InstallShield Installation Information" folder is cleared of any Civ3-related folders.

 

[ainwood]

Depending on cost, just buying Conquests would be an option. Installing a patch is as sinple as downloading it, and running it - people here will be more than happy to give you instructions / assistance when you come to do it.

 

[Weaver]

Thanks very much for your help. I ordered the Civ III Complete. What is the registry and where do I find it? What is the InstallShield Installation Information and where do I find it?

In the list of Programs, I found Atari and saw that there's a part to uninstall Civ III. Is it better to use that or the Add and Remove Programs of my computer. Thanks.

 

[ainwood]

Thanks very much for your help. I ordered the Civ III Complete. What is the registry and where do I find it? What is the InstallShield Installation Information and where do I find it?

The "registry" is like a database. It is part of windows, and stores information about programs, where they are installed etc, etc.

In the list of Programs, I found Atari and saw that there's a part to uninstall Civ III. Is it better to use that or the Add and Remove Programs of my computer. Thanks.

I would use Add/Remove programs under the control panel to uninstall any civ programs that you have. Start with the 'latest' and work back to the earliest.

ie - start with "Conquests" (If you have it), the "Play The World", then "Civilization". If there are any patches showing up in the list, uninstall them before the main application (eg. uninstall the Conquests 1.22f patch, then uninstall conquests, then the PTW 1.27 patch, then PTW etc).

Once you've uninstalled everything, then install Civ3 complete. Hopefully there will be no problems, and everything will work fine. If they don't then come back here for advice - ideally, you shouldn't have to touch the registry, but just be aware that if there are some problems with the installation of Civ3 complete, then cleaning the registry might help. Padma is being fairly cautious - if you don't know what the registry is, then its probably safer to try and install without (manually) touching the registry.