Age of Empires 1 and 2 freezes

Garb

New Member
I recently installed Age of Empires 1 and 2 onto my computer, and they work fine until I enter the game. I play for only a few minutes, and the game freezes and I cannot enter the task manager or exit out of the game. It forces me to restart my computer.

What is the problem here and how can I fix it?
 

My Computer

You use cd/dvd or virtual/emulation?
1 Try to uninstall the game and install/play just one at the time.(sometimes same games (expantion) conflict each other)
2 Update graphic card driver.
3 Update bios
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built by me.
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4
    Memory
    KINGSTON HYPERX DDR2 4GB (2X2GB) PC6400 800MHZ DUAL CHANNEL KIT
    Graphics Card(s)
    SAPPHIRE RADEON HD4890 OC 1GB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    2/4/5.1/7.1-channel Realtek High Definition
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung LE40A656F1 1080p 100Hz LCD HD TV 50,000:1
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 in Desktop,1920x1080p in gaming and video
    Hard Drives
    C:\WD VelociRaptor 150 GB,10,000 RPM
    D:\WESTERN DIGITAL WD15EADS 1.5TB CAVIAR GREEN SATA2 E:\WESTERN DIGITAL WD15EADS 1.5TB CAVIAR GREEN SATA2 No Raid.Copy Paste Is The Safest Way.
    PSU
    Seasonic 700W 80plus
    Case
    A-Case Twin Engine BB
    Cooling
    3 thermaltake smart case fan II + 1 arctic cooling fan
    Keyboard
    Wireless Logitech LX710
    Mouse
    Wirelles Logitech Laser Mouse MX620
    Internet Speed
    ADSL 4000plus
    Other Info
    F:\Sony high speed sata Dvd Rewriter
    KINGSTON HYPER X FAN
    +Cordless Rumblepad 2
Uh...Age of Empires 1 was made for Windows 95...no wonder it won't work with Vista.

Also, if you're computer exceeds the performance of the game by more than twice, a lot of times that will cause the game to screw up.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Velocity Micro, HP Pavillion
    CPU
    Intel 2 Quad Core Q9400, AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+
    Memory
    8 GBs DDR3, 4 GB DDR2 PC5300 (667 MHZ)
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GTS 250 (over clocked), nVIDIA 6150SE n430
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w1907
    PSU
    440 Watts
    Case
    Velocity Micro
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Trackman Marble ++
    Internet Speed
    2 mbps
Try using compatibility mode.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built by me.
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4
    Memory
    KINGSTON HYPERX DDR2 4GB (2X2GB) PC6400 800MHZ DUAL CHANNEL KIT
    Graphics Card(s)
    SAPPHIRE RADEON HD4890 OC 1GB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    2/4/5.1/7.1-channel Realtek High Definition
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung LE40A656F1 1080p 100Hz LCD HD TV 50,000:1
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 in Desktop,1920x1080p in gaming and video
    Hard Drives
    C:\WD VelociRaptor 150 GB,10,000 RPM
    D:\WESTERN DIGITAL WD15EADS 1.5TB CAVIAR GREEN SATA2 E:\WESTERN DIGITAL WD15EADS 1.5TB CAVIAR GREEN SATA2 No Raid.Copy Paste Is The Safest Way.
    PSU
    Seasonic 700W 80plus
    Case
    A-Case Twin Engine BB
    Cooling
    3 thermaltake smart case fan II + 1 arctic cooling fan
    Keyboard
    Wireless Logitech LX710
    Mouse
    Wirelles Logitech Laser Mouse MX620
    Internet Speed
    ADSL 4000plus
    Other Info
    F:\Sony high speed sata Dvd Rewriter
    KINGSTON HYPER X FAN
    +Cordless Rumblepad 2
Hey all, I'm new here and only came here because my AOE 2 kept freezing as well, and it seemed hopeless to fix it because no one had a fix. Well i figured it out and it's quite ridiculous to be frank, here goes...

Get a copy of your video drivers first for your video card.

Go to Start and right click on "My Computer" and click on properties. Then the window pops up with all its tabs with the "hardware," tab being one of them; click on it. Then click on the "Device Manager" button and a new window will popup showing a list of your hardware devices under their categories. We need to find the "display adapters" category. Click on that and then it expands to show what device (or sometimes software renderer) you are using. Click on your video device (video card) and right click it. When you right click it, click on uninstall, follow the prompts to uninstall it and then reboot the computer. Now this part sounds a little crazy but just follow what i say :): When the computer finishes rebooting, click on age of empires and play it! It will work perfectly and you can play it at any resolution the game lets you (one of the three resolutions lol). So at this point you're playing the game without any technical videocard drivers. And yes their is a difference, try opening up a folder and scrolling or scrolling on a webpage and you'll know your drivers were unisntalled because the scrolling will be very choppy. Another thing you could try back in the device manager is disabling the device driver instead of uninstalling it, it gives you both options, that could also work but i've never tried it. But anyways, it would be nice to have another copy of your video drivers so when you decide to play a 3d game that you would need the drivers for, that you could easily install them again.

I gotta say, i'm gald to be playing AOE2 after a year of getting my new laptop and not being able too. And the funny thing is, not all vista people have the problem, so it became really puzzling to attempt to fix but then i did this and it was so simple but a little annoying but well worth it for our AOE2 lans :D. Another thing, it froze for me in both vista AND xp! so don't think downgrading will well, i'm dual booting and it did nothing for me changing back to xp, but xp was able to run more older games than vista could so xp might be worth it :p.
 

My Computer

no no no do not unistall your drivers there is no need!

simply right click on the game icon on your desktop, click properties, then the compatibility tab, and run the program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2) etc. or even Windows 2000 and so on.

i had the same problem but i did this and everything works fine! if you still experience problems sometimes checking the box "Run this box as an administrator" helps.

thats right click on icon > properties > compatibility > run the program in compatibility mode for: > Windows XP (Service Pack 2).
 

My Computer

Usually game freezes like that is due to faulty RAM as well. I bought some RAM and it did that. Swapped it for some Kingstons, problems all solved.

deltatux
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M3A AM2+
    Memory
    4 GB Kingston DDR2-667
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 3650
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 320 GB SATA HDD w/ 16MB cache
hey update, you dont need to uninstall your drivers, just disable them. it works like a charm! for me personally, compatibility mode is crap, it doesnt run it at all. you click on the game and the game doesnt even start. but disabling them is way better than uninstalling and it only take a second.
 

My Computer

hey update, you dont need to uninstall your drivers, just disable them. it works like a charm! for me personally, compatibility mode is crap, it doesnt run it at all. you click on the game and the game doesnt even start. but disabling them is way better than uninstalling and it only take a second.

If I disable my Display Driver (GTX 260) I get this message:

Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your videocard and drivers are
compatible with DirectDraw.
 

My Computer

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