Vista is a pain in the butt. i hope 7 is waaaay better.

Well since it's already 100% maybe you can just kill the installer via Task Manager, and hopefully the game will work?

I wouldn't do that, zap. It might delete everything so that it can be redone "properly".

And it's just the freaking EULA for crying out loud.

Yeah, when I force quit the game won't run. I think there are still some things that need to happen.

Tried running it in compatibility mode?

Look for the files that should have been installed in your temp folder. They were probably shoved in there when you quit.

Try installing the trial version first, and then running the install again. This seems to relate to a recent post regarding vista installation problems (specifically with registry changes not being done on vista).

This thread

We should add this to the FAQ.

I get the same now, how did you solve it Nacht? Somehow I can't run the "msaoex.exe" that I downloaded from Microsofts page.

Edit: After about half an hour of googling I found a working demo,installed it, but now I can't play it or find it anywhere!
What do I do? I NEED RISE OF ROME! MY LIFE WILL FALL APART WITHOUT THIS BELOVED GAME (...dramaqueen...)

[This message has been edited by Basse (edited 01-11-2010 @ 01:27 PM).]

Hey Basse..

Youre running Vista, right? So am I..

Give this a shot:

. Go into the registry and if AoE is your only game listed under "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft Games" delete the entire "Microsoft Games" key, else just delete the AoE/RoR keys.

You might have to do the same for HKU, Im not currently at my RoR computer. Basically just remove all evidence of the game from the registry (you might even resort to searching the registry for "Microsoft Games" though I think the above steps should cover it.)

After you've removed all traces from the registry, rename your current installation folder (which by default is in C:\program files\microsoft games\age of empires" to something different like "OLD AOE INSTALL"

Now reinstall the game and see what happens.
Just on a hunch, you might also want to change the installation directory to "C:\AOE" and see if that makes a difference. I know of another game that refused to work unless the installation directory was short.

I hope that works for you Basse If you got stuck anywhere or it didn't work, let us know.

Mine works fine on vista. I did have problems with rome total war and medieval total war and a bunch of other games. I removed the manually from the registry by following a guide. It worked, but be careful when going in the registry without guide. There might be more places where aoe stuff is placed or you might delete wrong things and end up with a total crash.

Thank you DeSirE!

I recently got aware that it was my new cds fault that my game acted retarded. So I wanted to give my old cd a try.
AND AMAZINGLY, IT WORKS!!! The Age of Empires: Collectors Edititon: Limited Edition sucks

You're welcome Basse, glad to hear it works!

Lol about the Collectors: Limited Edition.. The title sounds a bit redundant to me

Thompsoncs is right, I forgot to include a "registry editing warning" but you didn't even need to touch it..

It's literally "Limited Edition"

Yeah, my brother told me it was called that because that where only limited copies

[This message has been edited by Basse (edited 01-14-2010 @ 10:43 AM).]