BattleTech Guide: Uninstall BattleTech Cleanly.

[Edmon]

This guide will help you to uninstall BattleTech cleanly if you have issues or have mods which have not uninstalled properly or have broken since v1.1. This method has been known to fix issues even if you've not modded (but have had issues since v1.1.).

One does not simply Right Click > Uninstall BattleTech.

Here is a video for making the regedit described below:

Note, you may also find data in the following location on windows 10:
C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\LocalLow\Harebrained Schemes\

[Moderator edit]
Please excuse me @Edmon for editing your post, but I wanted to get this information all in one place!

- another way of getting into AppData in Windows Explorer is to click on View up the top, and tick the box "view hidden items".

- a further measure has been seen to be needed to clear old modification and other game data in some cases. This should be done after the uninstall process Edmon describes, before installing again:

Open up RegEdit.exe, navigate to 'Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Harebrained Schemes\BATTLETECH'. Now delete the 'CachedSettings_h2706256392’ key

Note this too is potentially dangerous, ask for help if you are not confident in this!

- here are equivalent file system locations for GoG users:

The equivalent of
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\USER_ID\637090\
is
C:\Users\USER_ID\AppData\Local\GOG.com\Galaxy\Applications\50593543263669699\

The equivalent of
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\
is
C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\BATTLETECH\

c:\Users\%username%\AppData\LocalLow\Harebrained Schemes\BATTLETECH\ is the same for Steam and GoG versions.

What the GoG equivalent for turning off Steam cloud sync is I do not know, I'm sorry. Hopefully GoG users do or can find that!

AndrewT

 

[Edmon]

Ok, the sync is off so that's great.

Uninstall the game now, deleting all those folders I mention and lets hunt down where those save games are.

Maybe once the above is done, search the AppData folder for *Hairbrained* and see if there are any more HBS folders hiding somewhere.

Remember, you need to delete actual folders, not their contents.

 

[Mr.T]

Would you look at that. It was another "harebrained" folder in hiding.
I also did another search for 637090 and it was clean

I think the hunt for Red October was easier than doing a clean uninstall of Battletech.

If any official developer sees this, please do tidy up your work and don't make us become Sherlock Holmes for clues where pestering files might hide.

Should I try to install now?

 

[Edmon]

Yes, if you've gotten all the saves, it should be fine now.

Once the game is installed, test it by starting a new game.

If all is well, you can install RogueTech as well, if you wish.

 

[Mr.T]

Nope, still doing the same infinite rotation.
Could there be a problem with Battletech update v1.1.1-309????
...
I have played Roguetech ever since v1.0 so i have not experienced if v1.1 worked fine..I just applied the Roguetech mod when v1.1 (and v1.1.1) automatically installed themselves, without even doing anything, exiting main menu when i saw no more Roguetech

 

[Edmon]

The errors in your output log indicate that the game is trying to load save games or mechlab configurations that contain RogueTech items.

Somewhere on your PC, there is a folder to which BattleTech is finding these saves or mechlab configurations.

The problem is, I don't know every possible place where they might be hidden. Just the ones I found on my own Windows 7 PC and with the steam version of the game.

 

[Mr.T]

Can you tell me what files types are the ones that it searches. ?
If you say that, at least now i know what the problem is, so I can do the sifting and tracking down the culprit.
After I finish I will get back to you with info so you know too where and what it was.

Should I activate Steam could sync?! Will this clear it out if using files from steam?!
You know like restoring to a previous version, when it worked ok

 

[Edmon]

That won't work, it'll restore your old RogueTech Saves / Builds.

I am not sure how to help you, as if I uninstall the game and delete the three folders I showed in the video, battletech is cleanly removed and all is well.

The file that's in the hidden folder is called "user.config" if that helps you.

 

[Mr.T]

Thank you for helping out with diagnose, and at least unraveling some clues.
I will try to get help from Roguetech developers to see where these lose ends might hide.
I saw at the end of the log file all those Roguetech specific stuff Errors, so definitely is from RT.
I will update you after (hopefully) i get it sorted out for myself

 

[Max_Killjoy]

Watching what Mr T (above poster) had to go through to get BATTLETECH actually, completely uninstalled... another reminder of how useless the average Uninstall is and how ridiculously spread out and invasive the average software install is in Windows.

 

[Mr.T]

So I got help and finally made it to work
Here is the solution that helped me out in the end.
I deleted the entire Harebrainedscheme registry from the start for that "clean" effect.
Hope it helps everyone that might fall into a similar bad situation.
Thank you for your attention to my problem.


Open up RegEdit.exe, navigate to 'Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Harebrained Schemes\BATTLETECH'.

Right-click and 'Export' a copy of the current settings to a .reg file, just in case. Keep that file safe.

Now... start off by deleting the 'CachedSettings_h2706256392' key. See if that fixes the issue.

If not? Delete the entire 'Harebrained Schemes\BATTLETECH' entry from the Registry.

You'll lose your game preferences, but it'll be starting over clean, because of the earlier steps you went through.

 

[Edmon]

Watching what Mr T (above poster) had to go through to get BATTLETECH actually, completely uninstalled... another reminded of how useless the average Uninstall is and how ridiculously spread out and invasive the average software install is in Windows.

That's why we make guides like this... but yeah, it's not the best.

 

[nosleeves]

I can't get mine to do a clean uninstall even following these directions. Just crashes at startup

 

[Edmon]

TRy deleting the registry entries above. I have looked at your output log and there is nothing obviously wrong there...

 

[nosleeves]

"deleting the registry entries" How do I that? I have searched files and deleted every battletech/hairbrained reference

 

[Edmon]

"deleting the registry entries" How do I that? I have searched files and deleted every battletech/hairbrained reference

If you aren't sure how, I am not sure I want to recommend it as a course of action. My advice would be to get a friend who knows about regediting, show them this topic and get them to do it for you.

 

[nosleeves]

Nevermind. Thanks for help figured that out. Now I have to reinstall from BFE, taking all night

 

[nosleeves]

Wished I never heard of windows 10

 

[RealCadaver]

Wished I never heard of windows 10

You are not alone, but MS' address is ONE MICROSOFT WAY, kinda says it all.

 

[Edmon]

That is not enabled.
You can delete the locallow as well.
If you are using windows 10, you have to make certain reg edits, mentioned above.

 

[nosleeves]

Thanks for the Replay. My laptop's video card isn't supported and a certain update reinforced that and now keeps it from running