For some time now, a lot of people (including myself) have been having problems getting the game installed and patched properly. After lots of testing, I've found a procedure which reliably installs and patches the game on my system. If you're still having nightmares trying to get Patch 1.1 installed (a pre-req for Patch 1.2) you might try this and see if it works for you as well. Please note however, that I'm addressing a rather specific problem in this post. Before proceeding, make sure you understand the patch basics as described here. For many people, the revelation that there's more than one version of Patch 1.1 is all they need to fix their problem (which is usually nothing more than downloading the wrong patch). But for all of you who've been down that road (and many others) to no avail, I wish you luck and hope this puts an end to your frustration.

What's the apparent cause of the problem? From what I've seen, I would have to characterize the HOMM5 installer as "temperamental". It appears to be highly sensitive to potential conflicts with applications running in the background - for some people, simply exiting out of all currently open applications and closing down any items in the system tray (like firewall and anti-virus protection) isn't enough. With additional testing, it might become apparent that it conflicts with just one or two relatively common background programs - but I'm going to leave that discovery to others. At this point most of us just want to patch, play and leave the pain behind.

Will this procedure work for me? There could be a lot of reasons why you can't patch currently. However if you've experienced some or all of the following symptoms, then you might have a similar background conflict and be able to fix it with the approach described in this post:

1) Each time you try to install the game, it appears to complete. But then when you hit the Finish button the installation hangs on a black screen and you have to use the Task Manager to close it down.

2) After exiting the original game installation, you see an error message saying "An error occurred while launching the setup. The remote procedure call failed." (Essentially this error message.)

3) When you first try to apply Patch 1.1 it says the game isn't installed.

4) If you try to apply the patch again, it appears to run but doesn't actually install anything.

5) The application doesn't uninstall normally using the Windows Control Panel (Add or Remove Programs) or the Uninstall selection in the Start Menu.

That sounds like the problem I'm having - what do I do? The general procedure is to 1) thoroughly uninstall the game manually, 2) use MSConfig to launch Windows with as few background apps as possible, and 3) install the game and patch it up to 1.2. While I can't promise this will work for everybody, I'm hopeful the procedure is universal enough that it'll fix the problem for a lot of folks. Within these steps there might be a few things which aren't entirely necessary to fix the problem on your particular computer, but to maximize your chances of success I recommend trying to follow them as closely as possible.


Part I: Thoroughly Uninstall the Game Manually

1) Delete the "Heroes of Might and Magic V" folder from wherever you originally installed it. This is the folder which contains all of the game files. For verification purposes, you will see other folders inside: "bin", "data", "hwcursors", "music", "registration", etc. The path to the folder might be something like C:\PROGRAM FILES\UBISOFT\HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V or C:\GAMES\HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V.

2) Delete the desktop shortcut for HOMM5 if you have one, as well as any entries for the game in your Windows Start Menu. To delete it from your Start menu, just navigate to the program group by clicking on Start>All Programs>(to where your game is listed), then right click on the Heroes of Might and Magic V group and choose Delete. Overall this is not a critical step, but it will eliminate potential confusion later.

3) Delete the appropriate HOMM5 folder found within the InstallShield Installation Information folder. To do this, you first need to be able to see hidden files and folders. (Open up My Computer, click on the Tools menu and choose Folder Options. On the View tab the option for "Show hidden files and folders" should be marked.) Navigate to C:\PROGRAM FILES\INSTALLSHIELD INSTALLATION INFORMATION. Within this folder are a bunch of subfolders with names in hexadecimal. You want to find the folder for HOMM5 and delete it. For the US version, the folder name will be {28101984-0BA6-40FD-9ABE-72F62F80C06C}. For other versions, you will have to do a little hunting (maybe others can post the names as they find them). Open each folder and double click on the Setup.ini file. When you've found the right folder for HOMM5 you'll see this line in the Setup.ini file: AppName=Heroes of Might and Magic V.

4) Delete the following 4 registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu2\Programs\Games\Heroes of Might and Magic V
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Ubisoft\Heroes of Might and Magic V
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\H5_Game.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{28101984-0BA6-40FD-9ABE-72F62F80C06C}

The Windows Registry is essentially a large behind-the-scenes database used by Windows to organize things like user and software information. Since a corrupted Registry can cause serious problems with your operating system, you might want to manually create a System Restore Point before editing anything in the Registry (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore). Having said that, it's not something to be afraid of as long as you're careful and only edit things that you're sure about. To open the Registry Editor, click on Start>Run and type in "regedit" (which is short for regedit.exe). Then hit the Enter key and the Registry Editor will open. A "registry key" is a reference to a particular folder on the left hand side of the Registry Editor. Navigate to the registry keys shown above by clicking the "+" sign next to the appropriate folders. When you've reached the right folder, simply right click on it and choose Delete. For versions of HOMM5 other than the US edition the last registry key will probably be different - but it should match the hexadecimal folder name you located in step 3 above.

(Edit: There might be other registry key differences across the various versions as well. We'll see about including these for the EU version and what not if these steps start working out for other people.)

5) Delete all of your temp files, as described in this article. When installing, HOMM5 will place some files in this temp directory - and leaving them behind after any previous failed installs can cause problems with subsequent installations.

6) If you've already made some progress in the campaign you might want to ensure the integrity of your current profile is preserved as an added precaution. This information is saved in C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\(YOUR USER NAME)\MY DOCUMENTS\MY GAMES\HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V. If you wish, you can move this particular Heroes of Might and Magic V folder to the desktop until your installation & patches are complete, then move it back.


Part II: Prepare for Installation - MSConfig

1) If you haven't yet manually downloaded both patch 1.1 and 1.2 do so now.

2) Make sure Windows Firewall is off. Go to Start>Control Panel>Security Center. At the bottom of the screen where it says "Manage security settings for:" click on Windows Firewall. On the General tab, if Windows Firewall is currently On, choose Off instead and click OK. Windows Firewall is on by default - sometimes when people install a new firewall (e.g. ZoneAlarm), they overlook turning off Windows Firewall beforehand. You should only run 1 firewall at a time - running more than 1 at a time can cause problems. [Edit: Note that this step was added on 7/29.]

3) Close any windows that remain open from the steps above. Click on Start>Run and type in "msconfig". Hit the Enter key and the System Configuration Utility will open. Click on the Startup tab. Here you will see a list of the background applications that get automatically launched each time Windows starts up. Each and every one of them is a candidate source of potential conflict with the HOMM5 installation process. While we could disable them one at a time to try to figure out which one might be boning up the game installation, we're simply going to disable them all. Click on the Disable All button at the bottom, then click OK. When prompted in the next dialog box, click Restart.

4) After your system reboots and your operating system loads, pay particular attention to your system tray. While many of the things that normally appear here might not show up now, you still might see a few that you recognize. Close out of as many of these things as you can, as described here. In my case, I still had an icon for Trend Micro PC-cillin security so I exited out of that. In the end I had icons for speaker volume and Windows Security Alerts remaining (it's ok to leave these up).


Part III: Install and Patch Heroes V

1) Start up the Heroes V installation normally. I think you can pretty much install it to whatever location you like (you don't have to keep the default path if you don't want to). Earlier concerns about the location of the installed files were a legitimate troubleshooting issue, but I don't believe you need to worry about it anymore. If all goes well, your installation should complete without hanging on a black screen at the end (which pretty much ensured you weren't going to be able to patch properly).

2) If your game installed correctly (sweetness! congratulations!) you'll now be able to patch it up to 1.1 and 1.2. I really recommend manually patching the game to 1.2 now (using the patch 1.2 installation file you downloaded earlier), and not using the auto-updater that comes with patch 1.1. This will continue to eliminate any possible conflict between the patch installer and the background applications which normally run on your system. Furthermore, depending on your normal system configuration, the auto-updater may not run properly at the present time. My system for example won't connect to the patch server after I've disabled startup applications with MSConfig. It will connect to the patch server when I re-enable the startup apps, but then I run the risk of having a conflict and impairing the proper installation of the patch files. I recommend using MSConfig to install all future patch files as well. It's a slight added headache but what the heck - you've come this far and finally have things running correctly - why risk getting your installation jacked, right?

3) Run MSConfig again. On the Startup tab click the Enable All button and reboot.

4) If you're using Windows Firewall and turned it off earlier, you'll want to turn it back on now. [Edit: Step added 7/29]

5) Done! Time for some serious Heroes 5 action!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Gorgoh,

I'm going to try this weekend. I'm no PC guru. I'm glad someone is.

bob

WORKED LIKE MAGIC. Thanks a lot for solving this problem, and explaining how to apply the solution in such a clear and unambiguous manner.

You're welcome - I'm happy to hear it worked for you Clarkster.

Indeed good job Gorgoh .
I've added this link to the faq 2 days ago .
One more thing people must bear in mind . The keys in registry are differend for each versions (as you said yourself).

I did everything you said, including turned off firewall. There are two icons left in my systray, one having to do with firewall, the other is Windows Security Center.
My install still hangs up with black screen. When I attempt to install the patch, the first time it says Heroes does not exist, double clicking on it again seems to install but it is still 1.00.
The absolutely worst software I have ever had.
If you can think of anything else, I would appreciate it.

Well, the short answer is that most likely there's still something running in the background which conflicts with the installer.

From your post, I would say your firewall software deserves another look. Depending on its functionality in the system tray, when you right click on it you might have an option for Disable as well as Exit. From what you've said, it sounds like your firewall might've stopped performing its security functions, but continues to "run" as a program in the background in case you want to re-activate it via the system tray. So if if this is the case, obviously you would want to choose Exit, and preferably this takes it out of the system tray altogether.

If you don't have this option, run MSConfig again and click on the Services tab. You might see your firewall in this list. If so, uncheck this in addition to having everything disabled on the Startup tab.

(In troubleshooting whether or not your firewall is still running as a program in the background or not, you might also check the Processes tab in the Task Manager from time to time to see if the executable for it is listed there. If you think it might be using a cryptic filename, you can verify the name by locating the shortcut for your firewall in the Start menu, right clicking and choosing Properties.)

If none of the above works for you, continue to look for other possible culprits on the Services tab in the System Configuration Utility - you can uncheck multiple possibilites at the same time (and then hit Enable All or choose Normal Startup on the General tab when you're done). But be judicious in the things you deselect - you could get some funky results if you start disabling basic Windows services.

Well I did what was said at the top and I went through every step correctly... but I still cannot update to ether 1.1 or 1.2. I don't know why. Does the auto-updater come with the dvd or with the 1.1 update? I am so confused on how to update... could it be possible that I have a defective dvd?

That did it. My firewall came with xp and there was no option as you mentioned to stop it. What I did was to deselect all services under the service tab. Upon restart all icons were gone from systray. There was no funky operation either.
I had to restart with all enabled before I could load patch 1.2 though.
You might do a revision on your steps to include this as an option. Good job!

Hey there. I have never gotten my hands as blood as I did today. They are still covered in the guts from my PC. And after all was said and done the damn thing still hung up at the end of the install ation. I fondly call it the Black Screen of Death!! Afterwards I look around and found that Norton firewall was on. Stupid me!!! I'll try again later... ****.


bob

The problem described in the first post fits my wife's computer to a "T"...however, I found another way to deal with the problem.

The patch works perfectly on my Inspiron 6000...So what I did was install the patch on my computer, then manually transfer everything that was changed to my wife's. I've read a couple of other people who have done the same thing...the patch seems to work better on older computers...so if you have an old one networked, you might give this a try.

bob: Hang in there

groucheux: It's not the cleanest way to do things, but for people with 2 available computers, it is true that this has "worked" for some people. The thing to keep in mind when doing this transfer of files is that the game is only truly installed on the source computer. The computer you're putting the files on doesn't have a legitimate installation - no registry entries are made and you can never patch the game directly. With each patch that comes out, you would have to do another transfer of patched files from the source computer, and to do that effectively you'd have to be able to accurately identify all of the changed files as well as the new (more obvious) additions. Overlook one or more changed files and things aren't going to work properly. Also keep in mind that this method could have a negative impact on the viability of multiplayer games over the internet, if part of the hosting process includes checks for legitimate installations.

gibstrat: Well, there's actually an easier way to turn off the firewall that comes with Windows. I haven't been using it on my system for a while now, and unfortunately I overlooked that as a possible issue for others. Thanks for the feedback - I'll add a small section on the Windows firewall to the current list of steps. [As far as the Services tab goes though, I certainly didn't want to give the impression that people could disable everything on it and still get a good install without any consequences (even if that is the case - I don't know). While the stuff on the Startup tab doesn't have any bearing on the functionality of the operating system itself, some of the things on the Services tab do - and even if there's no immediate visible impact, there could be hidden effects that won't show up until later. By the way, while we're on the subject of the tabs (for anyone else reading this) - please DO NOT modify anything on the Boot.ini tab as it can render your computer unusable.]

D2barrel: You've got the same problem, right? (Hangs on a black screen at the end of the original installation?) If so, you won't be able to patch properly until your installation completes without hanging.

The auto-updater (or "auto-patcher" as it's called in the readme file) comes with the 1.1 patch. But as mentioned above, I don't recommend using this if in fact you have a background conflict problem. While it's possible that you could have a defective DVD, you'd probably have a different set of symptoms if that were the case (like a read/write error or something).

I saw in another thread that you were trying to install on a Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop. Laptops tend to have a lot of things running in the background related to power management, battery status, hot swappable devices and such. So if you're confident that you have a background conflict problem perhaps try this:

1) Power off your laptop
2) Remove all attached devices (from usb ports, firewire ports, etc)
3) Remove the battery
4) Verify the system doesn't turn on
5) Attach the power cord and boot your laptop
6) Go to Part I if you've recently tried to install the game, or continue on with Part II (note that I've added a step about exiting the Windows firewall if you're using that)

D2barrel one question: Does the game instalation hang at any moment ?

I have the collectors edition the long number sequence was this:{DDB68A90-340C-42B9-B42B-D2CBED1B91DC}.

I've Tried all steps but the patch still said game not installed, but here is the weird part. 1 There was no black screen (or well there was one during the do you want to register thing. not after.)2 I tried patching then i tried again, it didn't do the ''install but was still 1.0'' it kept on saying game not installed. And yes I have downloaded the right patch. Edit-(I will try it again for the bleak hope it gives... (And I'll try to remove firewall completely.)

i got the same problem did every step to the letter and it still tells me that the game is not installed when i try to update the patch i pretty much try all the patches in all the laguages and nothing perhaps it is a reg problem and not a game problem any reg fix out there for the game

thanx for any help

Game installed just fine. When I go to patch it with 1.1, the patch loads, green bar fills completely,,,then suprise suprise, error message saying simply that the patch was not installed.
Nothing else.
Tried online and retail patch. Im also currently at the top of the forum right now with all my specs listed and a list of what ive tried. Any suggestions.
Thanks

Some things to consider:

1) If you have the demo installed, you should completely remove it prior to installing the game. Although I haven't seen a posted confirmation that this helped someone work around their problem (has anyone else seen one?), it is a good troubleshooting move, and might bear fruit.

2) People who got the game through a digital download from Boonty Games couldn't get a working patch for it for a while (it needed to be specifically created for the digitally downloaded version). As I understand it, a patch has finally become available. For more info you can look through these threads:

Related thread on the ubi.com forums
Related thread on the gamespot.com forums

3) Remember, these steps are aimed at correcting a specific situation: a problem with a background conflict. While the steps for uninstalling and such can be useful in addressing other potential issues as well, it would be a mistake to view this as a fix-all for each and every possible patch problem. From the collective feedback at this point, one of the most telling indicators for a background conflict problem is the "black screen hang" at the end of the original game installation. If you're not encountering that, keep an open mind about what your problem may be so as not to overlook something else in your troubleshooting. (For anyone unfamiliar with the term, when a program "hangs" it simply stops running and remains in a suspended, unresponsive state which causes all efforts to exit the program normally to fail. In the specific case covered here, once the installer hangs the user is left looking at a completely black screen - and it will sit there like that until the person exits the program with the Task Manager.)

4) The more you get "game not installed" messages when trying to patch (i.e. if you get them repeatedly and that's the only symptom you're seeing) the more likely it becomes that you simply have the wrong patch for your version of the game. Keep investigating that angle.

5) "Game not installed" messages could also be an indicator of an issue somewhere in the registry, like a remaining key from the unpatched game installation. The 4 registry keys I listed in the original post come from the install of a US standard (regular) edition copy of the game. If you have a different version, there could be other keys that need to be deleted to complete a manual uninstall. You can get rid of these in 2 ways: manually or with a reg cleaner. To delete them manually you can use Edit>Find (and F3) to do a search on "heroes" and locate the pertinent keys. (Since I don't have a list of all the keys written into all of the versions, I can't say for sure whether or not you'll locate all of the HOMM5 keys with this search alone however.) Alternatively, some people like to use registry cleaning utilities to get the job done (in another thread somewhere I believe Sorceresss listed some that she was familiar with). The latter method is safer and probably preferable if you aren't too sure about what you're doing with the Registry Editor.

I got heroes 5 in china and it installed ok, in english, but the add-remove programs list doesn't list heroes 5 as being installed, so when i try to patch it, naturally the error message says that the game is not installed. Would the method you described rectify that, as I'm not sure if the game is 100% legal-the store where i bought it from looked a bit dodgy.