Help uninstalling for 3.0

[Lexicon]

Good news - I promise this thread is more involved than "durr whar the uninstall buttom?"
Bad news - I promise this thread is more involved than "durr whar the uninstall buttom?"

tl;dr - Where does Star Citizen leave files aside from %appdata% and Program Files?

Story: After the 3.0 update was announced, I booted up the old launcher (which was, at this point, quite old) and was greeted with "Uninstall this garbage and download the new launcher." So I went to Control Panel and ran the uninstaller to remove the old launcher. I then went and downloaded RSI-Setup-1.0.0.exe from RSI's website, ran it, let it do its business, and came back later to a shiny blue LAUNCH button.

Clicking it immediately gave me a little red window stating that Star Citizen had crashed, and giving me three options for buttons. "Relaunch" just caused the angry red window to pop up again; "Verify" downloaded a manifest and then dumped me back to the Launch button, without doing any actual verification of files. ("Cancel" was like "Verify," but at least was polite enough to not download 64MB of nothing first.)

After some reading, it was brought to my attention that I had done at least one, if not several, Stupids - not the least of which was trusting the uninstaller when it said it "uninstalled" the old version of the game. Apparently having any remaining files of the old configuration will cause this sort of error, and the old uninstaller was notoriously terrible at its job. I was advised to go through and manually delete everything myself.

So I did.

And the problem persisted.

I'm now on my fifth cycle of "uninstalling" the game. I've cleared out every file and folder with "RSI," "roberts," "CIG," "Cloud Imperium" and "Star Citizen" that I've been able to find, in both Program Files folders and the %appdata% Local and Roaming folders. Is there anywhere else I should be looking? I'm really hoping that I'm just missing something obvious, and there's a BadAtGames.cfg or suchlike stuck in %programdata% under GoodLuckFindingThis\RSI.

Any help would be appreciated. Considering the size of the game I am now legitimately concerned that I'm wearing a hole in the lifecycle of this SSD.

 

[Printimus]

Good news - I promise this thread is more involved than "durr whar the uninstall buttom?"
Bad news - I promise this thread is more involved than "durr whar the uninstall buttom?"

tl;dr - Where does Star Citizen leave files aside from %appdata% and Program Files?

Story: After the 3.0 update was announced, I booted up the old launcher (which was, at this point, quite old) and was greeted with "Uninstall this garbage and download the new launcher." So I went to Control Panel and ran the uninstaller to remove the old launcher. I then went and downloaded RSI-Setup-1.0.0.exe from RSI's website, ran it, let it do its business, and came back later to a shiny blue LAUNCH button.

Clicking it immediately gave me a little red window stating that Star Citizen had crashed, and giving me three options for buttons. "Relaunch" just caused the angry red window to pop up again; "Verify" downloaded a manifest and then dumped me back to the Launch button, without doing any actual verification of files. ("Cancel" was like "Verify," but at least was polite enough to not download 64MB of nothing first.)

After some reading, it was brought to my attention that I had done at least one, if not several, Stupids - not the least of which was trusting the uninstaller when it said it "uninstalled" the old version of the game. Apparently having any remaining files of the old configuration will cause this sort of error, and the old uninstaller was notoriously terrible at its job. I was advised to go through and manually delete everything myself.

So I did.

And the problem persisted.

I'm now on my fifth cycle of "uninstalling" the game. I've cleared out every file and folder with "RSI," "roberts," "CIG," "Cloud Imperium" and "Star Citizen" that I've been able to find, in both Program Files folders and the %appdata% Local and Roaming folders. Is there anywhere else I should be looking? I'm really hoping that I'm just missing something obvious, and there's a BadAtGames.cfg or suchlike stuck in %programdata% under GoodLuckFindingThis\RSI.

Any help would be appreciated. Considering the size of the game I am now legitimately concerned that I'm wearing a hole in the lifecycle of this SSD.

Are you certain that the old files being on there are the root cause of the problem you are encountering?

 

[supitza]

Did you try turning it off and on again?

 

[Mich Angel]

Only two places I know needed to be deleted if you got serious problem and want to start fresh is this two places..

X:\Program Files\Cloud Imperium Games
or
X:\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries

Any other file as I done multiple re-installation of both the old 2.6.3 and the new 3.0 have NOT interfered with each other part from when installing 3.0 it ask you two time if you want to remove the old which I did not do I let both be on different installation folders.. and on a different SSD disk too than the system disk not that this would matter..

But it is highly recommended to install SC on a SSD disk :smile:

 

[Snowianth]

i runned CCleaner and it found old registry files from 2.6.. after uninstal. cleaned those and then installed new 3.0 and it worked for me

 

[Lexicon]

Are you certain that the old files being on there are the root cause of the problem you are encountering?

At this point I'm not sure of anything.

This exact system ran SC before 3.0 release. The only other conformation change (aside from updating) was a new graphics card, but dropping the old one back in doesn't fix the issue either. That's why I'm assuming it's the old install being hokey - it's all I have to work off of.

i runned CCleaner and it found old registry files from 2.6.. after uninstal. cleaned those and then installed new 3.0 and it worked for me

That... is something I haven't tried yet. Trying that now.

 

[Printimus]

At this point I'm not sure of anything.

This exact system ran SC before 3.0 release. The only other conformation change (aside from updating) was a new graphics card, but dropping the old one back in doesn't fix the issue either. That's why I'm assuming it's the old install being hokey - it's all I have to work off of.




That... is something I haven't tried yet. Trying that now.

you can always try to submit a trouble ticket with CIG if things still arnt working, maybe they have some troubleshooting tips for ya.

 

[marcsand2]

delete the complete SC folder. It can happen that your 40GB isn't ok and delta patcher can't fix it

 

[Lexicon]

Running CCleaner did discover a few registry tags left behind, which I was able to fix. Unfortunately that did not solve the issue.

delete the complete SC folder. It can happen that your 40GB isn't ok and delta patcher can't fix it

I guess I didn't explain myself properly - every "uninstall" I've been running the uninstaller, then manually deleting the Roberts Space Industry folder and the rsilauncher folder in %appdata%. Then I go back and run the installer again to redownload the launcher, and run it to install the game.

I've done that literally six times now, with a restart between each time. Still no joy.

you can always try to submit a trouble ticket with CIG if things still arnt working, maybe they have some troubleshooting tips for ya.

At this point I think I'm going to have to do that. There's no reason this shouldn't be working by now.

 

[marcsand2]

I guess I didn't explain myself properly

Naaah, I reread everything, I guess that the problem was my side :blush:
I ran into another problem today, not mine, but...https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/51473/thread/crash-on-launch-nvidia-shadowplay-resolved
Which GPU do you use and which software did you install with it?

 

[Mich Angel]

Folders you need to delete is not in the folder %appdata%.

Only files needed to be deleted is in the x:\Program Files\........... there should be no need to delete any other places..
The %appdata%. is a mirror of the real files that is under x:\program files.......
deleting files in %appdata%. does not remove all files under x:\program files.... never have, never will.

Trust me I've done about 10 re-install of 3.0 because I mess it up myself messing with settings and shit...

And only files I remove every time are the original install folder (where I chose to install it x:\Roberts Space Industries)
any other mirror/link files in system I leave where they are since mirrored and linked files is removed by windows when original file is removed.

I never used the uninstaller not once, I just delete the hole Star citizen folder under x:\Roberts Space Industries
Not the launcher that one I leave where it is if it works or I reinstall that to, then click verify in launcher it detects it is not all there and install everything missing where I tell it to install...

Then after that it works and have worked every time not failed once. so far ... knock on wood.. bangs head.. :upside_down:

CHEERS! :beers: :beer:

Edit:
I use Nvidia overlay and all that comes with it it's always on in my system and it have never interfered in any installation or function with SC or any program ...

There is one thing tho with Star Citizen...

Star Citizen need to be run as administrator always and any other program used together with it too or it crash sometime don't even start..

So program like Discord, Nvidia overlay, Steam overlay yeah even the calculator if you use that it need to be run with administrator mode if you run Star Citizen or it will most likely fail sooner than later.

:beers: :beers: :beers:

And I use a old i5 4core (not 8 only 4 cores no virtual cores) cpu running 3.25Ghz
with 8GB of RAM and SSD extra as virtual ram if it needs it which it does always.
I have a MSI 1050Ti X 4GB GPU it rarly use more than 20% runing SC on HIGH
a good day I get 20-30fps a bad day I'm lucky if I get 10fps
And yeah Star Citizen is installed on a separate SSD disc outside the system disk that is also a SSD

But it works.. never failed once, except the usual Alpha crashes and bugs LOL

:beers: :beers: :beers: :beers: :beers:

 

[Lexicon]

Naaah, I reread everything, I guess that the problem was my side :blush:
I ran into another problem today, not mine, but...https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/51473/thread/crash-on-launch-nvidia-shadowplay-resolved
Which GPU do you use and which software did you install with it?

GTX 1080ti, but I was reasonably sure I didn't install GeForce Experience... and upon checking, I do not have GeForce Experience or Shadowplay installed.

An update: Following some advice in a ticket, I tried running the Star Citizen exe itself as administrator without touching the launcher. That gave me actual usable error messages (missing media .dlls due to Windows 10 N version), which I was able to resolve by downloading the Media Pack from Microsoft directly.

NOW I'm actually hitting client launch, and... getting errors like u/NaffNaffBobFace has been dealing with in his thread. (Progress?) I get the four Verify errors and then the game crashes. Going through the fix list in that thread, will report any success.

Odd discrepancy I noted: u/Mich Angel reports that the data.p4k file should be:

For my Data.p4k file is 40,068,152KB to be exact ;)

...which mine is. But u/marcsand2 has actual screenshots showing it at 40,512,028KB in the same thread. Can anyone else verify what the final size should be after a working install?

 

[Mich Angel]

Think the last kb can vary depending on what disk sector size it have and since windows actually count a 1024 as clean 1K then some KB goes missing when win show the actual size..

So it is rare if you're looking in the windows file Explorer to see the actual real size in windows, to do that you need to use CMD command prompt shell window and list the file in there to see the actual real size of it.
Think it can vary from win version to version as in Win7-10 and as in win10 and all the rest there are sub versions depending on how you used windows update or not.

but the .p4k file should be 40GB+ then it most likely is correct

Just a thought ;)

 

[Vavrik]

...which mine is. But u/marcsand2 has actual screenshots showing it at 40,512,028KB in the same thread. Can anyone else verify what the final size should be after a working install?

This is due to a difference the hard disk partitions. The difference can be considerable between identical files on two different disk drives, so if you use that as a gauge, you're going to focus on the wrong thing.

For example, from mine, same file:
Size: 38.2 GB (41,029,787,648 bytes)
Size on Disk: 38.2 GB (41,029,795,840 bytes)

 

[Printimus]

Running CCleaner did discover a few registry tags left behind, which I was able to fix. Unfortunately that did not solve the issue.



I guess I didn't explain myself properly - every "uninstall" I've been running the uninstaller, then manually deleting the Roberts Space Industry folder and the rsilauncher folder in %appdata%. Then I go back and run the installer again to redownload the launcher, and run it to install the game.

I've done that literally six times now, with a restart between each time. Still no joy.




At this point I think I'm going to have to do that. There's no reason this shouldn't be working by now.

Have you tried turning it off and back on again?

:P

 

[marcsand2]

...which mine is. But u/marcsand2 has actual screenshots showing it at 40,512,028KB in the same thread. Can anyone else verify what the final size should be after a working install?

Think the last kb can vary depending on what disk sector size it have and since windows actually count a 1024 as clean 1K then some KB goes missing when win show the actual size..

The new delta patcher looks for differences between files in the pk4, therefor it first has to download the manifest, then downloads the difference. All game data which is downloaded, goes into the p4k file. The p4k file is a packed file. You can't open it with 7zip or something else, it is a custom format which needs the manifest. If you pack a bunch of files, the packed size depends on the packing mechanism and in which order this files are packed. Also when Mich had more or less updates downloaded, this would influence the size.
If I'm not mistaken, Mich has reinstalled a few times from scratch.
I didn't. For me the p4k file is the first download which came with the initial 2nd wave PTU. It is updated several times, eventually updated from PTU to PU.

 

[Mich Angel]

The new delta patcher looks for differences between files in the pk4, therefor it first has to download the manifest, then downloads the difference. All game data which is downloaded, goes into the p4k file. The p4k file is a packed file. You can't open it with 7zip or something else, it is a custom format which needs the manifest. If you pack a bunch of files, the packed size depends on the packing mechanism and in which order this files are packed. Also when Mich had more or less updates downloaded, this would influence the size.
If I'm not mistaken, Mich has reinstalled a few times from scratch.
I didn't. For me the p4k file is the first download which came with the initial 2nd wave PTU. It is updated several times, eventually updated from PTU to PU.

Yes as Marcsand says this could make some variants in size but not much it should still be close in same size, as long as it is 40GB+ you should be good assuming the .p4k file is not corrupted which was what happen to mine and there for I reinstalled it from scratch and all problem was gone.

:beers: :beers: :beer: :beers:

 

[Lexicon]

I guess it keeps corrupting it somehow. After redownloading it loaded the credits window, threw errors about missing textures, and promptly crashed again.

But!

I found a ticket online where a user named SodaPressing posted a Google Drive link to a working copy of data.p4k, which I am including here in case some poor schmuck comes along with my same issues.

I let the launcher download the entire client, then replaced the data.p4k with the one in the link. Having done that, my client now works mostly-perfectly: I can load to Crusader or Hangar, the game runs fairly smoothly. At this point I think it's just shaking out controls bugs.

Many thanks to the Scandinavian Contingent (marcsand2 and Mich Angel), without whose help I would still be stuck in the diagnostic stages.

 

[Mich Angel]

I guess it keeps corrupting it somehow. After redownloading it loaded the credits window, threw errors about missing textures, and promptly crashed again.

But!

I found a ticket online where a user named SodaPressing posted a Google Drive link to a working copy of data.p4k, which I am including here in case some poor schmuck comes along with my same issues.

I let the launcher download the entire client, then replaced the data.p4k with the one in the link. Having done that, my client now works mostly-perfectly: I can load to Crusader or Hangar, the game runs fairly smoothly. At this point I think it's just shaking out controls bugs.

Many thanks to the Scandinavian Contingent (marcsand2 and Mich Angel), without whose help I would still be stuck in the diagnostic stages.

DO NOT use anyone else .p4k file

Unless you know them in person, it's not hard to hack the p4k. file and implement what ever code he wish..

GEEE man that is just not right, what are you thinking... you might as well give him your account.
That was a dangerous move... know that :beers: :beer:

The new Star Citizen Patch loader (you are using the new loader right?) it will download all you need, if it does not then you got a serious bug in your system as in firewall to strict or a Mallware/scriptvirus/VIRUS or something like that prohibiting the file to get downloaded untouched.

I suggest you test your system
( use online tester like this one http://www.getavast.net/support/online-scanner ) and if you got protection all ready then I wouldn't trust it, it might be corrupted too. So do not trust any protection program you have at the moment unless you are 100% shore you are not infected if not 100% shore then use the online test to make shore.

If you are clean then you can rule that out, but it shore start to sound like you got more problem than just donwloading and getting it to run correctly.