What do I have to do to fully reinstall Spore? Am I missing a step?
I've got Spore for quite some time now, and just one day, it's decided to stop working, so, I decided to uninstall and reinstall the game. What could possibly go wrong?
Everything apparently.
I have everything installed and patched (in the following order): Base Game > Creepy & Cute Parts Pack > Galactic Adventures > Patch 4 (Bugfixes) > Patch 5 (Creature Export) > Patch 6 (Robot Parts)
So, the first steps I took was to clear the InstallShield information, which was located in C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield Installation Information\{A hash}.
That cleared up the installer, and allowed me to use the installers again, along with their uninstall Registry Keys (since henceforth, using the Program and Features window will just yield "program not found" errors), which were located in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{The same hash}.
Next, I went over to the Origin folder, and deleted the game files:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Spore (Base Game, Patch 4, Patch 5 and Patch 6)
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SPORE Creepy and Cute Parts Pack (Self-explanatory)
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SPORE Galactic Adventures (The expansion)
Finally, I deleted all cache, which was located in: C:\ProgramData\Electronic Arts\spore, along with the save data (though was completely pointless) in C:\Users\<My Username>\AppData\Roaming\Spore.
With all the game files gone, I decided to reinstall Spore again... So, I reboot and ran the installer.
Spore redownloaded and was reinstalled via Origin. This was just the base game, with no patches; v1.0
In the game, then, it prompted that an update to Spore was available. I downloaded the patch, it installed, and everything was fine...
Until the end of the patch, when it said "Patching Galactic Adventures", and from that point on: Spore broke; it starts looking for Galactic Adventures and Creepy and Cute Parts, which at the time - Obviously does not exist... Yet.
From that point on, trying to uninstall or install Spore or any of its DLC/Expansions resulted in an error in Origin.
With that scrapped out of the window, I decided to just install all in one go; start over, with the install information all removed... This time, I didn't update Spore. I just installed it in the Base > CC > GA order that many of us have established.
Spore (the base game) installed properly, along with Galactic Adventures. However, Creepy and Cute Parts Pack did not. The InstallShield installer simply just errored.
Was there something that I missed and forgot to remove?
Like another hidden registry key or file that contains install data that Spore itself uses?
Update: I found a solution!
- First, uninstall Spore like you did - Delete all InstallShield Installation Information, its registry entries, and game files.
- Next, restart Origin (so that it refreshes its cache)
- After that, install Spore in the order of Base Game, Creepy and Cute Parts Pack and followed by Galactic Adventures. At any point, do not open the game.
- Once all the components are installed, you can open the game and it should prompt you that "a new patch is available". Simply click "Yes" and "Install".
You have to be logged in to spore.com to be able to see the "There's a new patch" dialog. - Spore should close itself, and the installer should update you to Patch 5, and Patch 1 for Galactic Adventures.
Now, you can start playing Spore as per normal.
As for why the installer was installing it all at once: It was because you have all two DLC's purchased.