Modelsim Installation - previous install not detected

I'm also having this issue.

The exact message is

"You must install the service pack in the same directory as an existing Quartus II software installation. Specify the directory for the existing installation."

Did anyone figure out a workaround for this? I'm considering purchase of Modelsim, and wanted

to get a feel for how useful it is before plunking down $1000-ish dollars. My installation environment is

CentOS 6.2 running inside a VMware VM, with a fresh install of Quartus 11.1sp2. The modelsim

installer starts, and eventually admonishes me for "You must install the service pack...", with the

installer pointed at the 11.1sp2 quartus install directory. Any idea what the installer is actually

testing for? Maybe a license file from a licensed version of Quartus?

So I'm in a catch-22 situation - I assume I can't get support out of Altera because I'm using

webpack, but I'm ready to order modelsim, if I can establish that it works at all on Linux.

To answer my own question: turns out that the Modelsim service packs are, in fact, cumulative. The

process that worked for me was to download both service packs:

11.1_173_modelsim_ase_linux.sh

11.1sp2_259_modelsim_ase_linux.sh

And apply them in that order. When the 11.1sp2 service pack asks for a directory, give

it the directory were 11.1_173 was installed.

I also obtained a license for Quartus webpack & Modelsim using the Altera portal

licensing page (note that the Modelsim license, at least when I retrieved it, is

good for about 6 months. Final step was to point the LM_LICENSE_FILE shell

environment variable to the license.dat file that Altera mailed me.

At this point, the modelsim UI at least comes up. Next step is to see if I can simulate.

The key realization came from downloading the two files - I noticed that 11.1_173 was about

twice the size of 11.1sp2 - to me, that suggested a cumulative patch. The naming convention

of the releases (11.1sp2 in particular), given the simularity to the Quartus release names, had

me assuming they were standalone releases.

Not sure if anyone at Altera reads this forum, but surely it can't be the case that the small savings

in downloaded bytes (700M vs 389M) is worth the potential confusion it creates. "Free" is great, but

mighty expensive when the better part of a day was burned trying to unravel the secret ingredients

required to get a working configuration.

To add to what rspanbauer figured out...

I have Win7 Pro 64-bit.

Initially, I went straight to ModelSim 11.1sp2 installer - that was a no-go as it was looking to attach to a root ModelSim install. Then, I noticed the file size difference, too. So, I am thinking I'll do this ordered install of ModelSim 11.1, then 11.1sp1, and finally 11.1sp2.

The install of 11.1 went fine - the process created a directory in C:/altera/11.1/modelsim_ase

The install of 11.1sp1 appeared to go fine - directory C:/altera/11.1sp1/modelsim_ase. In fact, this appeared to be a full install. In fact, I found both 11.1 and 11.1sp1 directories at the end my path variable:

...;c:\altera\11.1\modelsim_ase\win32aloem;c:\altera\11.1sp1\modelsim_ase\win32aloem

But wait, if you attempt to execute one of the modelsim binaries, it will find 11.1 version first instead of 11.1sp1. Looks like a bad cleanup process.

The install of 11.1sp2 appeared to take a different route - one would think this would be a full install, too!! Not so. It decided to look for C:\altera\11.1 - never saw the C:\altera\11.1sp1 directory - HUH?? Continue to install 11.1sp2, I find that it installs something in C:\altera\11.1\modelsim_ase and left both the 11.1 and 11.1sp1 directory references in my PATH variable.

So, why didn't the C:\altera\11.1sp2\modelsim_ase directory get created?

Why wasn't ModelSim 11.1sp2 a complete install?

Why didn't the installer clean up the previous version - or even a give choice to do so?

For the record, it looked like Quartus 11.1sp2 was a full install - why doesn't this also apply for ModelSim 11.1sp2?

I really don't have enough disk space or time to experiment with what versions are a full install versus a partial install. Altera, if you are listening, figure out the software install policy - you have two choices:

1. All installers are full versions. If it is a service pack, it includes all previous service pack updates. When someone picks the most current release - they get a complete package.

2. Base installer plus cumulative/ordered service pack installers (i.e., you have to install sp1, then sp2, then sp3, etc...

I prefer option one myself - that way, I can blow away the old versions without having to think about it...