Help ! Computer geniuses needed !

Hi everybody !

I really need your help: I could not load saved games, because there was apparently something wrong with the BGIImain-file, so I decided to reinstall the game. Problem was that my computer crashed when the installation was only 60 % completed. After that I could neither complete the installation (not enough hdd space) nor deinstall. So I deleted the BGII-directory manually, but now the BGII setup thinks that the game is still installed and I still cannot either install or deinstall.

I figure the only solution is to really complete my "manual" deinstallation by fixing
the appropriate Windows sytem file. But since
I, myself, am by no means a computer genius, I do not know how to do it and not even where exactly to look in Windows. Or does anyone have another solution ?

Help ! Socorro ! Hilfe !

So long,

Ramon

Ramon -

I'm at work right now so I can't verify this but..

Disclaimer: Be VERY careful with these instructions or you will hose your entire system! Also, these instructions assume you are using Win95/98/ME. If you have any doubts about this process or the things I am describing don't match what you see then QUIT immediately, DON'T save your changes and call Interplay tech support (which is what you should be doing anyway ).

1) Go to Start->Run.
2) type 'regedit'.
3) A split window will appear. On the right are a list of directories. Look for an entry called HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
4)click on the plus sign to expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE category.
5)In the expanded section look for an entry called 'Software'. Expand this entry.
6)Under the expanded Software category look for anything that says 'Baldur's Gate 2' or refers to BG2.Note: it might say Black Isle or Interplay. If so expand those categories and look for Baldur's Gate 2.
7)Select ONLY ( I mean it ) the folder that refers to Baldurs Gate 2.
LAST STEP: Hit the delete key and confirm the delete.

Reboot your system and then insert your BG2 CD and see if you get the option to install.

I'll say it again; screwing around in REGEDIT can bring your whole system down if you delete the wrong thing.
BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL.

You can always use regedit, and then do a search on Baldur and delete each entry found(if you're sure it doesn't belong to something else). You can also search BG and SoA and do the same, but I believe Baldur will solve your problem.

BEWARE!!!! Backup your registry before trying this!!!!! Editing the registry can very seriously SCREW UP your computer, so be sure anything you delete is absolutely not needed. If there is any doubt in your mind wheter or not an item relates to BG, then just leave it!

Since you've removed the directory, Norton Utilities can probably fix the registry for you. You can get a 30 day free trail that features the entire program from cdnet.com, but it's 45MG, so if you only have a 56k connect (like I do), it's a 4.5 hour download. The upside is it's a great utility for many other things. If you use Norton, make sure you install the patch.

Hopefully someone with more tech experience will give a better answer, but if not drop me a line.

REMEMBER, SAVE REGISTRY BEFORE ALTERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gibbmeister responded while I was still typing my answer and his response is much more straight forward than mine. It should work perfectly.

The only suggestion I might make seems obvious, but I've found it's the obvious I most often overlook so here goes. You say you're out of hard drive space so you can't install over the previous install, right? Do you know for certain that you don't physically have that much space? Sometimes the game will say that during install but you can choose to continue anyway.

I crashed during the install of BGII and didn't have enough for a uninstall, so I re-installed BGII on my new 30 Gig HD, which I knew to have 29 gigs free, and during installation the software told me I didn't have enough hard drive space for a complete install. I'd read about this problem earlier, so I chose to install anyway, and it works fine.

Thank Goodness naked internet pictures aren't this much trouble...lol

Not directly related, but a potential problem anyways. How do you intend to play if you barely have enough to install with. You need at least a 320mb swap file for decent playing. Also, the preformance and reliability of your HD reduces drastically when it is more then 80% full. Also like everyone else says, back up your registry before even thinking about touching it.

Hello !

Guys, thank you very much for trying to help me. Unfortunately, up to now it just has not worked. I followed the very thorough step by step instructions by GibbMeister, but even with the registry entry removed BGII setup still only offers to deinstall and when it does it takes only one third of second, so I actually think, beneath it is not doing anything. After a short time - I first thought it was during the rebooting, but it is not - the BG II directory reappears in the registry. It have found two dll.-files in the "required" directory of BGII disk one that are also in my Windows systems directory, but Windows would not even allow
me to make backup copies of them and without a backup I was/am too wary to see what happens if I get rid of those, though, I hold the strong suspicion that they are "guilty" of misleading the BGII setup routine. Any suggestions what to do next ?

Again, thank you so much for your help !

By the way, my HD has only got 3 GB, so with the game 2/3 installed there just was not enough space left for a new recommended 1.2 GB install - according to the BGII setup. Under normal circumstances I then have got around 700 MB left and that is the way I had already played without a problem for 2 and a half months. And yes, once I know how to cough up the dough, I will get one of this new 20 GB HDs.

So long,

Ramon

Not sure if this'd work, but...
This is how I'd do it:
Insert cd1.
Go to my computer, right-click, chose explore...
and open setup.exe or whatever the install is.

Hi,

just a bump, 'cause I still need your help. Does anyone know anything about the function of those .dll-files ?

Thanks in advance.

Ramon