AOE3 Forums

I've seem some topics on this, and on many other forums. But none helped me much. Well what happens:

When im installing age III, during the install, several entries have their name corrupted (instead of "install progression" or whatever, i see IDS_INSTALLSomething; instead of cancel, IDS_CANCEL, etc).

The installation goes fine, but once the game is installed the icons on All Programs\Microsoft Games are all named IDS_Something, and noone works. If i go to the installation folder (program files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires III), i can start the game from there, and it works fine.

But i cant run the autopatcher, and i cant update the game manually by downloading the patch. Both ways will tell me the game isnt installed or has to be reinstalled.

I also cant install any xpac, and i have both. Both TWC and TAD tell me the game may not be installed correctly or at all, and i may have to reinstall it.

Finally, on Reg Edit, the age 3 installation dosent seem to create any of the usual keys (my cdkey, for example, wont appear anywhere in the regedit). Finally, on Control Panel, the game is installed as "Produto" (my version is the brazilian portuguese one), and can be unninstalled from there.

I already tried to run on win XP compatibility mode, i already installed the msxml 4.0 thing, and i created the Microsoft Games\Age of Empires III folder on the All users\Start Menu\Programs directory. I also reinstalled by unninstalling first and deleting all folders and regedit keys, but didnt changed a thing. Those were some of the fixes i found in the last "i cant install on Vista!" thread, and noone helped me. Im considering installing windows XP just for playing Age 3 (i love this game, and i have 150gb to waste, but i really like vista, thought...).

And this is something interesting. I have many games and programs installed, all original, and Vista never gave me any trouble, at all. Except in two cases: age of kings (i cant host AoK games, but i can play online perfectly fine), and age 3 (cant install correctly, it seems). Why only 'games for windows' products wont work on my computer? :P

But thats off-topic. Is there any solution for this problem? Thanks for your time, any help is apreciated!

The fact that many, many people have installed the game on computers running vista without encounter the above, makes me suspect that Vista is not specifically at fault for this issue.

It sounds like there is a problem with your computer's windows installer, the data on the disks, hard drive corruption, conflict with virus/security/disk management software, or the version you are trying to install is not a retail copy.

I would start with the basics:

• Uninstall everything age3 related.
• Reboot
• Browse to and empty your windows temp folder. You can find your temp folder by clicking start=> run, then type %temp%, click ok
• Defragment and run "error checking" / "Scan disk" on your drive.
  
• Create a new admin level Vista user.
  
• Reboot again this time using a "Clean Boot"   During the installation process you do not want any other non vista critical applications/process running.
• Log in with the new account, and try the installation again running as an admin.  Browse to the contents of the CD 1 of Age3.  Find the setup.exe, right click and select run as admininstator.

Nono my copy is original, i dont own any pirated stuff. I played alot of age 3 on my old computer. I know there are many Vista users playing Age 3, so i still have some hope! The PC is fairly new too, so virus shouldnt be a problem.

Ill try your steps then.

Well, i did everything. But when i tried to install, i got an error message, Windows Installer cant start or something like that. So i went to the msconfig and did a new restart, but this time i left the windows installer box checked, and everything else unchecked. And when i started the game installer as admin, i saw IDS_this, IDS_that, and oh boy... i installed anyway, but as i was expecting, the game is registered as PRODUCT_NAME, theres almost nothing on regedit, the desktop shortcut leads nowhere, theres a bunch of IDS_readme's files with it on the All Programs folder, etc etc, nothing changed. The game still runs, but i cant even manually patch it or upgrade to a xpac.

:*(

I too am having the same issues so its not just an issue with him.  I get IDD_ or IDS_ this in the install, then cant run the game even from the vista games window.  I get cant patch this, cant run that.  My game is legitimate and I have installed it on this pc before but this was like a year ago and no telling what vista patch was put on my computer since then to maybe have issues with this game.

 So we going to get help or the normal "You must be a pirate" thing.

So we going to get help or the normal "You must be a pirate" thing.

No, but I will suggest you contact MS support.

I see quite a few people starting to get it more and more (another thread was just created recently in this forum category).  Maybe the more people we get, the better chances of getting a fix instead of a coaster.

This is completley the same as my topic!

 

And its not the disc because ive installed mine on my old winXP computer before. 

Woah! I think you are facing this issue because the version is non-English. Is your game the Brazilian Portugese version or is Vista the Brazilian Portugese version?

To whoever is facing this issue: Could you please mention the language you are using on the OS and the language of AOE?

Somnolent:

 

 So we going to get help or the normal "You must be a pirate" thing.

We all know that legitimate users face issues, otherwise there wouldn't be updates or patches! Hope you contacted Microsoft helpdesk and got a response! And in case they haven't helped, or you haven't contacted them, well, let me see if I can help.

What language version are you using? Don't tell me yours is Brazilian Portugese too!

i have the exact same problem here.

 i can install and play, but the installation is incorrect and my Asian Dynastie doesn't recognize it. Mine is also installed as 'PRODUCT_NAME' etc.

here http://forum.agecommunity.com/forums/thread/760922.aspx