Age of Empires Forums

Hello!  I bought this game through steam.  I have only been able to play it twice and only when starting it by going to my program files folder and choosing the exe file.  This does not work often.  When it crashes it either goes black screen and no notice or black screen and send an error report to microsoft.  I have searched the forums but maybe im not very good at searching.  Here is what I have tried so far:

Update drivers for sound video and chipset

clean boot ( tried installing with all antivirus deactivated before trying clean boot)

Numerous reinstalls including after clean boot

running xp sp3

amd phenom 2 X6 1075t

3.1gb ram

nvidia gtx260

Thanks for any help/suggestions you could give me

Remember that if you are running under Windows 7 that you you must run the game both under XP, service pack 3 compatibility mode and as an administrator.

Are you running XP? Is this a newer computer? Did it come with XP or did you install it later? Is it a retail version of XP or an OEM from a previous system?  

Go to Start and run dxdiag -- does it report errors?

Go to Start and run devmgmt.msc, expand the display adapter section -- does it report any errors?

You can save the dxdiag report to a text file  and post the information here. If you have a brand-name computer the make and model number will help too.

Try skipping the opening movies:

1. Open Notepad and type in nointrocinematics
2. Select File from the menu then Save As.
3. Enter user.cfg in the file name area
4. Scroll the Save as type menu selection to All Files.
5. Browse to Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Startup and save the file.

Will the game run now?

A fresh install should set the graphics to those that your video card can handle. However, if they are set too high this may be what is causing your screen to black out.

Browse to

Users\Computer User\Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Users

Open the file NewProfile.xml with WordPad.

Search for this line and make sure that it's at a standard resolution (like the one shown):

Are you running XP? Is this a newer computer? Did it come with XP or did you install it later? Is it a retail version of XP or an OEM from a previous system?

I am running xp sp3. It is a newer computer that I built.  I installed xp on a previous computer and used that hard drive on this computer.  It had drivers from old system on it but I think I deleted them all.  

Go to Start and run dxdiag -- does it report errors?

No errors reported

Go to Start and run devmgmt.msc, expand the display adapter section -- does it report any errors?

no errors reported

skipped opening cinematics, graphics are set to 1024x768, and anti alias is off.

File 'Age3Log.txt' opened at Fri Aug 03 17:40:48 2012

===============================================================

PreGame  8082:  Game locale: English
PreGame  9440:  Unable to get SLI mode!

Found this in my games folder. Not sure what that means. I thought sli was for dual video cards and I only have one.  I do have two displays though.

Also I saved dxdiag info but I don't know how to post it here. Sorry. here is first screen

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/3/2012, 17:47:48
       Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.120504-1619)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MSI
       System Model: MS-7640
               BIOS: Default System BIOS
          Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1075T Processor,  MMX,  3DNow (6 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
             Memory: 3200MB RAM
          Page File: 398MB used, 4685MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
  DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
      Display Tab 2: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
          Music Tab: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.
        Network Tab: No problems found.

I did go through and run the tests on each tab as well.  They all worked

Thanks for suggestions and your time!

If you transferred a disk from an old computer to a new build you may have a driver problem. First, go to your motherboard manufacturer's website and check to see that you have the latest chipset drivers for Windows XP systems. Then, download and install CPU_ID's Hardware Monitor and run it -- it will tell you the make and model of your video card. Go to your video card manufacturer's website and download and install the latest driver for it too.

If this doesn't clear up the problem you might start looking into the mechanical side of things. Sometimes with new builds people forget to plug in the PCIe power connectors for their video card -- are yours plugged in? It wouldn't hurt to remove and re-seat your video card too. Also, do you know the make and model of your Power Supply Unit? If you transferred a low-wattage, low-quality PSU from an OEM machine to a new build with a modern graphics card then this may be your problem. Modern gaming systems usually require a good 600 W or greater PSU and in-game video issues are often the first errors you see with an underpowered system. You might try running another game that is relatively graphics intensive then use Hardware Monitor to see if your voltages are within specifications.

I do have latest chipset drivers.  I have a nvidia gtx 260 with updated drivers.  I have an OCZ 650w PSU.  No other program has given me problems.  I play civ5, counterstrike source, counterstrike GO, left4dead,  Warcraft 3 frozen throne, and borderlands without any problem. 

Doing a search on the GTX 260 and video game crashes reveals that this has been an issue with the card for some time. Most people with these problem simply "solved" them by buying a different video card. The troublesome thing is that the errors are not consistent to a single game. I did find several references to a stability workaround that entailed under-clocking the GPU and also changing the card's voltage and fan parameters. However, I can't access this post as it was on the NVIDIA forums, which were hacked recently and are down.