[misha1967]

That's exactly what I did. (I used to have the Steam version).

I thought I'd avoided that kind of trouble by running CCleaner after uninstalling the Steam version, though, but I do remember now that when I first tried to install the DVD version I had to manually run the installer from the DVD as the splash screen had the "Install" option grayed out.

I ran the validator and pointed it to the correct install directory, but it never game me the option to update the registry. However, it did show a lot of errors but they were all related to ship and plane classes, and I think that may have to do with all of my mods as it's not a "clean" install anymore.

And it still won't open the journal directly from the main menu.