Registry Error causing Launcher Error 206?

Duck

So after I patched tonight, I yet again got the 206 error. I tried a few "fixes" (deleting certain files and letting them re-install again), but they did nothing. In fact those fixes made the game want to reinstall in its entirety. (thank goodness for the Recycle Bin.) If I try to repair my way past the 206 error, it wants to re-download almost everything again, and then I still get 206 errors (few times I tried it came up shortly after starting. Once I let it go overnight; it downloaded a lot (>few gigs) but then 206'd again). Normally to play the game, I run the launcher, if it needs to patch I make sure it finishes downloading and gets through the install (the 206 comes at the end somewhere after the verify starts/finishes), and if it 206's I close the launcher and directly open the eso.exe file. Sometimes the launcher loads up, says everything is up to date, and lets me play from there. It's not always cleared up by a system reboot. If this work-around keeps working around, I can still play the game well enough, but I am getting so tired of errors.


After tonight's fiasco, I decided to finally run the Game Consultant and see if anything weird came up. And I happened across this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Zenimax_Online\Launcher
    InstallPath    REG_SZ    E:\Programs\ESO - Psijic Beta\Launcher

Now, E:\Programs is where my game folder is at (among other high-use programs), but the ESO beta folder is long gone. I may have renamed the beta folder before patching the first live version (all that time ago), or I might have just swapped out a few files to save on downloading time (my DSL is crap).
Basically,

E:\PROGRAMS\ESO - PSIJIC BETA\LAUNCHER
Invalid path - \PROGRAMS\ESO - PSIJIC BETA\LAUNCHER
No subfolders exist

The registry is looking at the old file path, regardless of me playing under the proper folder's files, patching countless times, over all this time since the release.

I think the "Unzip Failed" error might be occurring because of this. Everything has been running in Administrator mode since the start, so it's not a normal permissions problem.


Question is, can I chance that specific registry key's value to the proper file path, without causing an even bigger error? I know how to view and alter registry keys, but I don't know if manually editing the zenimax registry values will screw the whole pooch. I can't suspend all my net activity to re-download all the files (although reinstalling wouldn't take long at all) (yes my net is that bad), so I'd be screwed if it ruined the files.

If I manually edit the registry value, couldn't I back the key up before, and restore it back afterwards, if it did screw up the files? Or would it still cause a major error?

Duck

Update: i stopped being a wussy and just did it. It didn't stop a 206 error when I first opened the launcher, but it DID allow me to start repairing without re-downloading the entire game. It started verifying as normal, I only stopped it when it wanted to download ~5gigs during verifying steps (download not checking). But hey when I rebooted the Launcher it's good to go! That's a win, whether the registry edit fixed it or not!