Cannot reinstall game

[headdoc205]

After the game started acting buggy, I decided to try to reinstall the game. Although I uninstalled it, when I bring up the menu, the install option is unavailable (it's grayed out). Does anyone know of a solution for this? I already tried to copy the game files to my hard drive, but that doesn't solve the problem.

[Brewmaster]

Have you rebootet after uninstalling the game?

Have you deleted Silverfall's install directory? (any error messages here?)

If that doesn't help you will have to delete the Monte Cristo entries from the registry manually.

STOP!

If you don't know how to do it find someone who can do it! (I'm on Linux atm, so I can't look up the entries myself)


PS: Backup the registry before making any changes!

[headdoc205]

Thanks for the advice. I tried the first two suggestions, but didn't have any luck. How do I locate and delete the Monte Cristo entries from the registry?

[Brewmaster]

Which operating system are you using (XP/VISTA, 32/64-bit)?

[DaveO_MM]

Most programs will store Registry entries in two places: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER. I'm thinking the likelier place is just at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Monte Cristo(this is a guess on my part since I'm posting this reply away from my system where I have Silverfall and EA installed).

Once you find which key(s) are there, you can highlight the entire folder and delete it. I'd HIGHLY recommend following Brewmaster's suggestion of backing up the Registry before making any changes. I'm hoping this will at least point you in the direction you need to go. :hitting-self:

[Brewmaster]

Here are instructions on how to clean the registry by hand. Note that these instructions are only valid for Windows XP 32-bit - other operating systems may have different registry entries!


Preliminary remark:

This is "open-heart surgery" - if you don't know how to do it, then don't do it! If you damage the registry Windows might become unusable!

Preliminary remark 2:

Set a Windows restore point manually before editing the registry!

(search google.com for how that can be done)

Make a backup of the registry before doing any changes!

(search google.com for how that can be done; there are also tools for editing and backing up the registry; even Microsoft has good info on this topic)

Here's just one possible solution: click on START - Run - "regedit /e X:\regback.reg" (where "X" is the drive where the backup is copied to; the command has to be entered without the quotation marks).


Editing the registry:


0) Did I say "make a backup"?!


1) Log in as administrator!


2) Click on START -> Run... and enter the following command:

regedit

[then press ENTER or click on OK]

This will open the registration editor!


3a) Now you could click on "My Computer" (if necessary) and use the editor's search function [press CTRL+F] to search for "Silverfall" and/or "Monte Cristo". This could bring up many entries, therefore, ...

3b) I suggest to look up the entries manually.

At the beginning you should see 2 windows in here, a directory view on the left and an empty window on the right. The directory view can be expanded by clicking on the plus signs. Now try to find the following entries (have you noticed that the path of the directory is shown at the bottom of the editor?):


Number-1: My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Monte Cristo

[to delete this key right-click on "Monte Cristo" in the left editor window and choose "delete" from the pop-up menu; delete this key ONLY when no other Monte Cristo products are installed!]


Number-2: My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Silverfall

[to delete this key right-click on "Silverfall" in the left editor window and choose "delete"]


Number-3: My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Silverfall.exe

[to delete this key right-click on "Silverfall.exe" in the left editor window and choose "delete"]


Note: If you don't have all of the 3 entries that's no prob!


4) Now close the registration editor (no need for saving) and REBOOT! After the reboot you should be able to re-install Silverfall normally.


Addendum:

Be very careful when making changes to the registry! These instructions are working on my machine, but not necessarily on your machine (especially when you are using a different operating system)! I do not recommend using these instructions, but if you use them you do it at your own risk! Do not just follow the instructions blindly, use your brain to check whether the changes are making sense. If you are uncertain, report back to us before you change anything.

Good luck! :)


PS: Did you read DaveO_MM's remark about "backups"?!!!!

[DaveO_MM]

I just had this thought AFTER my last post. Do a Google search for Windows Cleanup. I'm pretty darn sure it does all the nasty Registry cleanup to take out the entries. :noob:

[headdoc205]

Thanks for walking me through how to delete the registry entries. I was able to reinstall the game after following the steps (I have Win XP rev2). :) I tried to speed up the installation by opening the task manager while it was running and stopping whatever .tmp operations were running. Unfortunately, now when I try to start the game, I don't see much on the character creation page (there are no avatars to choose from).

[Brewmaster]

What do you mean by ".tmp operations"? Best way to install Silverfall is: stop firewall/virscanner (and also other unnecessary programs) before installation (if possible) and then don't touch the system until installation has finished (I know it takes quite a while).

After a fresh install there are no Avatars in the starting screen, you have to create one first (click on "new") - or do you indeed mean the char creation page (then this sounds like a bug)?

Avatars are stored in the save-folder inside Silverfall's main directory - (backup and) delete this folder ... does it change anything?

If not I'd uninstall SF (nice & clean), reboot, and re-install it (but this time don't touch anything during installation; allow 20 mins for the installation to complete).