NOLF2 is not installed. Patch aborted - Error

[greenfiend]

Hi, everyone. New to the forum because I've run into an issue trying to install the official 1.3 patch.  I did a search and found one instance of someone having the same problem, but he seemed to have fixed it without explanation.

First off, I have a Windows 10 Pro and the original 2CD NOLF2 game. During installation, I kept the default installation directory to install the game, which is I think C:\Program Files (x86)\Fox\No One Lives Forever 2. I then downloaded the official 1.3 patch first from moddb.com and tried to install it from the game's directory as instructed. That's when I was hit with the "No One Lives Forever 2 is not installed. Patch aborted" error. The patch here is the same one of course and didn't work either. I then saw the rez file option that modifies the registry and that's when I thought I better ask the forum first before I do anything further.

Reason being that I looked at the reg file itself and there is an "InstallDir" line that has the directory under "Program Files" and not "Program Files (x86)" where my game directory is installed. Is that a problem if I ran the registry to try and install the patch with the rez file? Should I edit that line to "Program Files (x86)"?

I also read that the game should be installed in a non-standard directory. Is that correct? If so, please forgive my ignorance if I ask what is a non-standard directory?

Just wanted to get these questions out of the way and a little direction to help me get this wonderful game running again!

[Eliteone]

A non-standard directory would be something like C:\UnityHQ\NOLF2 

I'd suggest going HERE , selecting file 3 as it will install with the patch already applied etc. 

[greenfiend]

Thanks, Eliteone. I'll try the installer. It's a near 2 GB file. Does that come with the game as well when installed? Or would I still need the discs? Also, should I uninstall the game from my computer first before running the installer?

[Eliteone]

57 minutes ago, greenfiend said:

Thanks, Eliteone. I'll try the installer. It's a near 2 GB file. Does that come with the game as well when installed? Or would I still need the discs? Also, should I uninstall the game from my computer first before running the installer?

It's the complete game with patches.  You can uninstall the other one if you want. 

[greenfiend]

So, I installed the game using the installer and when I ran it I got the dreaded "Invalid shell DLL" error. I did a search for that error on the forum and the fix is apparently to re-install the v1.3 patch. BUT, that was the main issue on my original post. I can't install the patch. 

[Eliteone]

1 hour ago, greenfiend said:

So, I installed the game using the installer and when I ran it I got the dreaded "Invalid shell DLL" error. I did a search for that error on the forum and the fix is apparently to re-install the v1.3 patch. BUT, that was the main issue on my original post. I can't install the patch. 

Switch compatibility mode for it to Windows XP SP3  

[Spawn]

"Invalid shell DLL" basically means that the game is confused when it comes to game version, or that you have a mod/update with errors in the game's dll files.  If Update_v1x3.rez  is located in your game directory, then I suspect that the error is caused by missing values in the registry or the lithtech.exe file might be the wrong version.

File date will reveal this.. it was released 12.03.2003

 

It could also be a missing line in Lauchcmds.txt which tells the engine which rez files that needs to be loaded.

Quote

 -windowtitle "No One Lives Forever 2" -rez GAME.rez -rez sound.rez -rez GAME2.rez -rez GAMEdll.rez -rez Sound.rez -rez GAMEl.rez -rez custom -rez GAMEp.rez -rez GAMEp2.rez -rez MapPack001.rez -rez MapPack002.rez -rez Update_v1x3.rez +multiplayer 0  +DisableMusic 0 +DisableSound 0 +DisableTripBuf 0 +DisableHardwareCursor 0 +DisableHardwareSound 0 +DisableSoundFilters 0 

 

The engine will also look for information in the registry

Default location would be HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Wow6432Node -> Monolith Productions -> No One Lives Forever 2 -> 1.0

The key itself would look something like the image below.. I have my game installed to a custom location (G:\NOLF2\)

Language doesn't have to be norwegian either

 

This should cover most of the "Invalid shell DLL" situations

 

Hope this info is helpful