General Game Installation Problems

[RunningMn9]

I'm not sure where to put this, but I ran into a problem recently installing some games, and I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this type of issue.

Basically, the computer operates fine. However, when I try to install Rogue Spear, or any of it's expansion packs, it hangs while Setup is preparing for installation (progress bar hits 99%, waits for a few mins, and then everything just closes).

I'm pretty sure that the disc is alright, since both expansion packs fail in the same manner. I'm pretty sure that the drive is ok, since I can install other games. I've never had a problem installing Rogue Spear or it's expansions before.

How does one tell if there is something hosed with a particular version of InstallShield - and then how does one correct such an issue?

[Odin]

In my support job for Turbotax, one of the most common problems was the install failing at various points. In some cases, fixing it was as easy as going to c:\program fliels\common files and renaming or deleting the installshield folder. It's just a temp directory as far as I can tell, so even if it doesn't help it won't hurt.

Another technique we'd use was to copy all of the CD's file to the HDD and do the install in safe mode, but with the copy protection on games this may not be practical.

The other difference is that the Turbotax install was teh suck. I've never seen software install issues with the frequency and degree that I saw with that software. So these fixes may or may not be of any value to you. Worth a try, though.

Sith

[Blackhawk]

I've run into this problem with a couple of titles. In my cases, emptying the temp files or running setup.exe in compatability mode fixed it.

[RunningMn9]

I've run into this problem with a couple of titles. In my cases, emptying the temp files or running setup.exe in compatability mode fixed it.

Hmmm...I tried a couple of things so far:

1) I ripped the CD to the hard drive using VirtualDrive Pro. There were no issues with the rip, and the ISO presents the same problem.

2) I deleted the InstallShield directory from the Program Files directory. No help.

3) I emptied out all my Temp files (I've had problems in the past with that), no change.

4) I tried running Setup.exe in Win98/Me compatibility mode. No change.


It's irritating. It seems to be tied to a specific version of InstallShield, as the games that work all use InstallShield as well, but they look like different versions.

This makes me angry.

[killbot737]

The terrorists have won!

Heh, strangely appropriate for once. Sorry, can't help.

[lokiju]

I'd love to hear what their tech support would tell you to do.

[RunningMn9]

Holy crap. I can't believe I actually found a solution for this. Hooray!

Some searching located the following:

Thanks for your help. Here's what my problem WAS: On a Sony PCV-RZ46G desktop I was trying to install Adobe Acrobat 5, Photoshop 7, Illustrator 9 and Family Tree Maker 9. After clicking install for all four programs, the InstallShield Wizard would get to 99%, stop, and then just fade away, nothing was installed. When looking in Task Manager there were two applications (_ISDEL.exe and _ISN5576._MP) that were started during the install, but they wouldn't go away on there own so I had to stop them. I tried to stop them during the install process, but that didn't work. Here's what worked: I activated the RPC locator by going to Start->Control Panel->Admininstrative Tools->Services->right click on Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator->Properties->Startup type->Automatic->OK, then restarted the computer. The programs installed fine thereafter.

I just manually started the service instead of rebooting, but it did the trick.

[Odin]

Wow, good find. Your Google-fu is strong!

Sith