Question about Stardock Central

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hi,

I bought Galactic Civilization II Gold Edition (the CD version) and found the only way to update it was by using Stardock Central. So I installed Stardock Central and updated my game successfully.

Now I would like to know if I can safely uninstall Stardock Central, without any ill-effects to my game?

I know (and deplore) this is the only way to update the game, but Stardock Central is currently wasting 80 MB of my hard disk space for something I'm unlikely to use often. I figure I can still re-install SC if I ever need another update?

Thanks for any info.
3,407 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes and no.

If you don't play the metaverse then there is no problem.

If you want to play metaverse games then there is an issue but it can easily be fixed.

When you install SDC it records your serial number (actually two serial numbers one for DL and one for DA) in the registry under the HKLM/SOFTWARE/STARDOCK key.

When you uninstall SDC is deletes these serial numbers. If you don't play metaverse games then it doesn't matter because you can play the game just like normal. However if you want to submit a metaverse game then you can't because of the deleted serial number.

However, this is easy to fix. All you need to do is *before* uninstalling SDC you goto the Start Menu and click on "Run" and enter "regedit" (without the quotes). This brings you into the Registry Editor. From there you can scroll down to the HKLM/SOFTWARE/STARDOCK key and highlight it and then goto the File menu and click on Export. This will allow you to save a .REG file which will allow you to restore the exported key after uninstalling SDC.

Just in case you're unfamiliar with the Registry HKLM is short for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Anyway save the file to something like Stardock.REG. Then once you've uninstalled SDC you can just double click on the Stardock.REG file and it will restore the serial numbers to the state they were before SDC was uninstalled.

You could also go back into regedit and do file/import as well.

I do the same thing but not because I care about 80MB on my 240GB hard drive but simply because it's an overly complicated piece of software that does a whole bunch of things that I have no interest in whatsoever other than occasionally updating GalCiv2 which is a piece of software that I do care about.

Hope this helps you because I found this out the hard way when I finished a gigantic game that scored 872K points and couldn't submit it. :)

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thank you very much for the detailed info, Mumblefratz. I don't plan on playing any Metaverse games, so I guess I'll joyfully uninstall Stardock Central now :)
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thank you very much for the detailed info, Mumblefratz. I don't plan on playing any Metaverse games, so I guess I'll joyfully uninstall Stardock Central now
End of quote

Actually, it's a good idea to have the serial number's available in your registry even if you don't play metaverse games.

There have been a number of people that have complained that they lost their serial numbers and now need them for some reason or other. Stardock is generally helpful when this happens but there's only so much they can do. After all they have a very unobtrusive method of licensing but at some point they do need to ensure that someone requesting some service or other actually purchased the game.

In this case the information in the registry is a "fail safe" location that the user can check if he loses the CD or forgot to register the game or whatever. Certainly if you let the serial numbers be deleted from the registry you should make sure your game is registered with Stardock. I'm not sure whether or not the initial act of installing SDC accomplishes this and if it does you're covered, but it's annoying to later find out down the line that you did have a reason to try and keep the serial numbers after all.

It's far better to have and not need than to need and not have.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's far better to have and not need than to need and not have.
End of quote


The same could be said about SDC itself.

Bugs are fixed, patches are released.

But I understand (I think) your views on it and am not trying to force you to use it.

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I'm going to have to agree with Mumble on exporting that registry key, though. Just in case.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the advices. I always save all my serial numbers and other important stuff in a password program on several computers with multiple backups, so I should be safe on this side.

I am however thinking of buying the next GalCiv2 expansion, and might also be interested in the new 4x game they're working on (so few quality 4x turn-based games to get my hands on these days), so yeah, maybe I should keep Stardock Central around a little longer after all.

It does bug me a lot to need that large piece of software on my hard disk in order to simply download a patch, but I must admit it was nice not having any problems with CD protection during installation, or to be able to play without having to put the CD in the drive :)