First, a thanks from me to those many of you who have posted talking about the basic strategies of RTW, which I have anonymously read as a non-member in the past. Since this bug will likely not be solved by most people, perhaps now I can repay some with help, so I joined rtw.heavengames to make this post .

To be clear, the error which I will explain is -6001, which stops the install of Rome Total War Patch 1.3. The error has nothing directly to do with RTW. The fault is with InstallShield. The error -6001 is misleading, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the 3 suggested courses of action it suggests (e.g., to delete all the files in your TEMP directory, etc.).

Moreover, the solution will apply to ANY product installing which produces this error using InstallShield (hopefully a Google search will land others here for the error -6001 solution, too).

To get patch 1.3 to install, your must remove the conflicting InstallShield files which are located in subdirectories contained in this path:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime

This EXAMPLE assumes you have English windows (XP, 2000, 98SE) and the Operating System (OS) is installed to the C-drive; if not, use whatever boot drive letter, and whatever your OS language replaces 'Program Files' and 'Common Files' verbiage with (e.g., Program and Common, or PF and CF, etc.).

For instance,
C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime\90

or

F:\PF\CF\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime\700

etc.

If you're a newbie to files & directories (AKA folders), then one way to find the InstallShield path (esp. if you are not using a English language Windows XP operating system) is to use the windows Search function to hunt to 'InstallShield' on your boot drive (usually the C: drive).

Once found, delete ALL files and directories in the RunTime directory (e.g., the C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime directory), then run the install shield again (e.g., rerun patch 1.3). Don't worry about these files... the appropriate RunTime directory will be re-installed (701 in the case of RTW patch 1.3), and then the RTW patch 1.3 will proceed normally. If you are worried about deleting (e.g., you are "scared" that you might destroy the machine or wipe out the human race), then copy the files to a backup location, delete as I explained, and then install the patch. You can restore the files afterwards if you "feel" like it.

This bug is entirely the fault of InstallShield and their wholly inadequate in-house programming/upkeep of their own InstallShield code, and it is a crock of crap that it has cost so much time to track this down. If someone from the game company reads this, then add it to your basic FAQ. It really hacks people off to not even begin the install process due to bugs like this, even if it is the fault of InstallShield.

In summary, you simply need to delete the InstallShield directories within the Runtime directory of InstallShield, and then RTW patch 1.3 will install.

Good hunting...

Thanks Man, Great Help!