Why don't you try going into the start menu, click run and find the application startup under Program Files/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III. And the extention for the application should be '.exe' Hope that helps.

Oh, and this probably should go in the tech help forum.

they are wither CFG's or CON's, i dont see any EXE's, do i have to change any? please help its extremely frustrating to have a great game and not be able to open it but cliking on the short cut... i cant even open it through the start menu

Are you talking about the demo or the final (retail) version?

I know there was a bug with the demo, where the splash screen would appear, then disappear and the game would never start. Sounds like what you're describing.

By any chance, do you have a widescreen monitor (or non-standard resolution)? There was a workaround posted on the forum to fix this problem.

I think he meant to open the .exe file (e.g. launch the game,) not edit it. Editing binaries isn't a good idea, unless you know x86 machine code, then go right ahead (actually it's illegal, too, so I still wouldn't advise it.)

If it doesn't launch correctly from the start menu/desktop icon, it will not launch correctly by executing the .exe, anyways, though. All the icons on the start menu/desktop do is tell the OS to launch the .exe . If the splash screen (the one that says "Age of Empires III") shows up, but the game never loads, it's probably a DirectX issue. Either your video is not configured properly or you do not meet the min reqs to run the game (or even initialize Direct3D [ouch.])

btw, mods feel free to move this to tech help (or delete, if you can't move.)

who can i change my video set up, or DirectX junk, i defenantly have a good enough comp, i can play BF2 well, so im sure i can run it, but it is just not running properly, i appologize that this is not in the tech forum, but please do not delete it, this is incredibly annoying.

GRAPHICS CARD

What graphics card do you have? If, by the way, it is an nVidia GeForce 4000 MX, you may as well activate the self-detonation on your PC (yes, it comes standard...don't tell anyone). If it is not, it is most likely that you have another equally sucky card. Back in the day when I had my old MX 4000, I couldn't play Halo, KOTOR, Sims 2, Battlefield 2, of Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. All had one thing in common: no cooperation with the MX 4000 among other nVidia graphics craps...uh, cards. Also could be your card drivers.

Post your specs including your graphics card and rivers and directx and all that stuff. Might help us help.

[This message has been edited by Heron (edited 10-20-2005 @ 07:03 PM).]

1 gig of RD RAM
about 120 gig of HD
ATI Radeon 9700 graphics card<- kinda old but gets the job done.
uhhh, what more do you want, pentium 4, i have...

What version of direct x.

i dont know i dont even know what it is or how to view it

@Stav: To view the directX version you must:
-go to run
-type 'dxdiag'
-go to the system tab (if you're not already on it)
-if it doesn't say directX 9.0c, then that's probably the problem.
EDIT: and you can update it at microsoft.com

[This message has been edited by Lord Hyperion (edited 10-21-2005 @ 07:54 PM).]

Click on Start then Run, type in dxdiag and click Ok. Look for "DirectX Version."

The latest version is 9.0c. If you are running an earlier version, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx and download/install the 9.0c runtime.

As vbscript2 and I mentioned above, if the AoE3 splash screen disappears but the game doesn't start, it's a video issue.

What graphics card do you have? What is your video resolution? (Click on the Display tab in dxdiag, and look for "Name" and "Current Display Mode.")

Are you running the demo? (There was a known bug and a workaround, if you are.)

I have 9.0c and an ATI Radeon 9700 it seems sufficient but i still get the problems.

Where did you get the game? (Is it a downloaded demo version or did you buy it?)

I bought the normal version at best buy.

I managed to get it to load every 4 times the "splash" screen shows up, like, i clik the short cut once, and just the "splash" screen shows up, and i do that 3 or 4 more times, and the same thing happens, then on the 5th or 6th time, it finnally loads, and the game itself loads and works fine, its just takes me about 30 min to actually get the game goin, which is incredibly annoing, does any1 know how i can make it work by only cliking it once?

Without more details, I'm going to make a guess as to why the game doesn't consistently start... Insufficient resources. (Physical memory, virtual memory, etc...)

There are a couple of things you could try. Does AoE3 start initially, right after rebooting your system?

If not, then try Start->Run, type in msconfig, click on Selective Startup, uncheck Load Startup Items, then click Ok. Your system will reboot. Does the game start reliably then?

If you have too many windows open, or too many applications running at the same time, it's possible that the game can't create its graphics window, and silently exits.

You really need to provide some details about your system. How much RAM do you have? How much virtual memory? If you're not sure how to check, hold down Control-Alt-Delete, and then tell us what the Total/Available Physical Memory and Total/Limit/Peak Commit Charge numbers are.

Again, it's really hard to figure out what the problem is without specs, so the more details you can provide, the easier it is for others to help you.

i have already listed my specs its about 4 replys up, or more, i have no virtual memory, but i have a gig of RD RAM, 120 gig HD and Ati Radeon 9700, ill try your methods, hopefully they will work
thanx tho

Quote:

Virtual memory is your pagefile. Unless you turned it off, you do have a pagefile, that Windows manages for you. If you did turn it off, turn it back on

To check your virtual memory settings, hold down the Windows key and press Pause/Break. Click on the Advanced tab, then the Settings button under Performance. A new window will open. Click on its Advanced tab. Your pagefile size will be listed on the bottom.

I've got 1024 Mb of RAM, as you do, and I run my system with a 1500 Mb pagefile. Never have any problems running out of virtual memory.

Good luck.

thank you, hopefully this will help, but i have heard that if you have virtual memory, it ends up slowing down your computer in the long-run.

Try updating your graphics driver from ATI's website. Also, try downloading patch 1.01 from agecommunity.com.

Anyway, virtual memory doesn't slow down your computer. Virtual memory is just space on your disk that is used as memory for stuff that is in memory but is not used too often. This way your "real" memory can be used for stuff that is being accessed very frequently, so you need less "real" memory. It's true that if your computer is relying heavily on virtual memory, it will be slow, but that's because you don't have enough "real" memory for what you're doing in the first place. Disabling virtual memory would just result in crashes in that case. Just use whatever setting Windows has by default.

I can't open it for real. The case is put up with so much tape.

Matei, there is no such thing as a specific graphics driver for the 9700 Pro. The Catalyst Driver works for ALL their video cards. I have a 9700 Pro, and the Catalyst drivers have always been the "only" drivers. They make drivers that addresses all the functionalities of all their video cards. You download the driver here:

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

1. Click "Windows XP Drivers and Software"

2. Click "RADEON"

3. Click "Catalyst 5.10 Windows XP - Driver Download"

[This message has been edited by Lysimachus (edited 10-23-2005 @ 05:04 PM).]

Quote:

Heh!

I thought this topic would contain the ramblings of a retard unable to fathom the operation of a cd-case. I am deeply disappointed.