Believe me when I say that we all feel your frustration ...but don't give in to the "force." I'm almost of your age, and I love messing with the brains behind the throne. Be brutal with Windows and get in there and get your hands dirty. That being said, ignore all that I say, if you would rather leave it to a technician that is a heck of a lot more qualified to help. The following is empirical only, based on experience and no special talents. Do all at your own risk.
Save what you can on disks, then go at it. That is the only way you will "really" learn about things.
Don't give up on this site, or your own wits, they are like a door that is only ajar at this moment, they may burst open at any moment. And the more you challenge your self, the better you will get.
I am not a gamer, and therefore I do not exactly appreciate your being so upset. I fancy myself as a beta-tester of software, for myself and for others. I also assist others in getting their systems back to at least an operational level. After that, they are on their own. Your issue appears to be very specific to one bit of software and may not speak to the greater issue of software in general, and how it gets on in a Window's environment. For that reason, you may not have had the feedback that you felt that you deserved. And, finally, not all software is created equally, there are bugs in every bit of softare, and those bugs, coupled with the bugs in Windows, add up to one big mother-of-a-bug! Try to find the humour in all Window's problems
It is not a life and death struggle.
Experience has shown me that uninstalling and reinstalling software is not a cut and dried process. Computers are as dumb as a brick and as blind as a bat. ..the user has to both think and guide it through the maze of its own making. It will do nothing that YOU as the user have not caused it to do, at some level. If you make it think too much, it freezes up, just like a human. If you do not "exercise" its creative streak, it will fall into a pattern of being, just plain nasty
It is a "stumble-bum," and falls over its own functioning without really giving it much thought! Pity the thing and pray to the gods at Microsoft
No guarantees, but let's tackle this problem a bit more rationally. I may expose my weaknesses or my strengths in my suggestions. I will apply only the reasoning that I use when meeting an issue.
Now, if you wish to continue, let us know. Otherwise, I will just close with a few suggestions, and then go fishing or something
Hopefully, someone else will pipe in.
I noted your last sequence of steps:
"I have done the following things:
1. Reinstalled the game
2. Downloaded the latest version of DirectX
3. Downloaded MSVCR71.dll from 'dll-files.com'
4. Downloaded .Net1.1 from the MS site
5. Tried various things like restarting the PC after the downloads, uninstalling the game and then reinstalling it after downloading DirectX, MSVCR71, and .Net1.1 etc."
Questions...
read it all before doing anything;
make a back up of your registry before touching it; keep a pad and pen handy to record everything you do...use this as your future manual...
1.
did you completely un-install the program before installing?
...now this is not just a simple issue of using the prog's uninstall function...you really have to get into the guts of the registry to do a thorough cleaning...but before doing that you have to get the registry in order, and before that you have to get the hard drive in order...so [and there is software "out there" that will do these things for you, if you look for them],
a] defrag the hard drive,
b] defrag the registry,
c] clean out the registry,
d] re-write the registry,
e] open the regedit function off the command line, off the start > run sequence...OR as I like to do, put a shortcut to the function in the system32 folder in your taskbar for ready use at a moment's notice, thus eliminating the need to go through the start>run> cmd sequence every time you need to...I'm lazy,
f] do a search for any evidence of the *.exe file that initiated the setup/startup of the game prog [you will need to have copied its name down from the folder in which it was installed in the first place,
g] after the uninstall, were there any dlls or other files that got hungup...search for them in the registry and if you do not have a program to kill hanging dills, then kill the entries in the registry by hand, AFTER YOU HAVE CHECKED FOR DEPENDENCIES [just leaving it there won't hurt, and it will die later for lack of use]
h] do one more reg-clean [I use Registry First Aid, if there is a freebe out there use it, with my blessings]
2.
those hanging dlls, were there any dependencies at issue...ie. other progs, needing them also, to run?
Dnld the following "teeny-ware", or another equitable program...read it all first to get the hang of it... DepenDLL 1.0
http://www.winsite.c...fo?500000008196"This is a FREE, full functional program. DepenDLL checks dependencies for your program.
Use DepenDLL to:
* Find all DLLs that a program depends on, so that you can copy all the necessary DLLs.
* Debug DLL loading problems. Is your DLL loaded from the directory you think it is, or is it coming from some other directory.
* Quality assurance. Make sure your program does not depend on the debug runtime libraries. Verify that all needed files are in your install.
This program is provided as a free service. I do not guaranty that the program will work or perform any useful functions.
If you like the program and would like to be informed about new versions or have suggetions, send an e-mail to
[email protected].
USER GUIDE
1. Select a program or DLL in the edit box
2. Press 'Check Dependencies' button
3. Dependencies are listed in the list box
Bernd:
[email protected]----------------------------
3.
your sequence given above...did you follow that sequence of loading and downloading and loading...etc. ?
That may be an issue. If you load the prog before its needed associated components, it may register itself, embed the fact that what it needs to function is not there, ie. has not tracked a path to the DirectX file that it needs first off...then after the fact when you load the DirectX prog it will not know it is there unless you tell it where to go find it...that is a regsrv issue...there is lots on this site re: how to do that. I think that I would do it vice versa...get all the needed extras loaded before hand...then load the game program...that way, when it goes searching, it will find what it needs, set up the paths in its corner of the registry and bob's your uncle...make sense? Sequencing of install procedures can be a problem at times. I'm so confoozed
4. reinstall to a different directory, i.e. location
I'm going to sign off now, and let you go at it. I'll keep an eye on the post for your response. I will be on line for the rest of the afternoon, I think.
Darn! There is always something that I forget...after all that business at #1, do the usual sfc_/scannow out of the cmd window, recall, I mentioned the shortcut in the taskbar...do that before loading the prog ...we want to make sure that all the basic necessities of Windows are in order, since we messed with the registry. And one of the Staff at Geeks 'r' Us, mentioned a prog, that I have not tried "Tune Up 2006 Trial" That will help clean up the registry...and don't forget to stop all running programs from the systray ...and ctrl+alt+del function pop-up...NOT EXPLORER though... Download and have at the ready, the Windows XP startup boot diskettes from MS...you will need six floppies...for emergency re-booting
TTFN...Al
Edited by b1caez01, 03 September 2006 - 01:13 PM.
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