Hungarian needs help with a computer game! HELP!

[Hungarian21]

Hungarian needs help with computers! HELP!

I've recently bought Age of Empire 3. After installing the game, upon clicking play, the game starts loading, then suddenly quits, as if I never did anything. This happenes again and again, even after I've re-installed over and over...can anyone help me? 🙂 I dont think its with the game, I believe its something thats misset on the computer...might be wrong. :happy:

 

[LonelyKimiko]

First off, have you checked the readme, to see if there are any troubleshooting tips in there?

 

[a1532b]

Two questions, how much ram do you have, and what is your processor speed.

Oh, look online and see if there are any patches. Usually you need to patch pc games before you can run them.

 

[a1532b]

http://www.softwarepatch.com/games/ageofempires-3-patch.html

There is a link to the patch. If that doesn't work, try running the game in compatability mode with windows 2000. (if you are running xp this might fix it, if not, ignore this). To run in compatability mode, right click the file you open the game with, and there should be a tab that says compatability. Check the box that says run in compatability mode and select windows 2000. This might fix it.

 

[BigNorm]

yeah, all above are good tips, i have dozens of computer games, and i know what your going through. next time you uninstall to re-install it, go to the game directory and make sure the entire file is deleted, then restart your computer, THEN re-install the game

i'm currently having a problem with Mech-Warrior 4: Vengeance, and i can play the first mission easily, but as soon as the mission briefing for mission 2 comes on, the whole game freezes, making me restart my computer, i tried re-installing it, updating, the whole shabang (i think) and nothing. and i've so been wanting to play it forever, it's a really great game.

 

[waddleman1]

i think insane man has it right with the windows version thing. I can't actually remember what version came after what, but i know from the demo that AOE3 needs a newer version of windows than what I had, which was a pretty big supprise.

Oh and just as a suggestion, if you like strategy games Civ 4 is great.

 

[Hungarian21]

rolf...the insane man...😛 OK, thanks for all ur tips, they are VERY appriceated! 😀 Now I'm going to spend 2 hours trying them all out. 😛

 

[a1532b]

If they don't work, I will try and find out some more things to help you out. I do like the insane comment... ;D

 

[Hungarian21]

😱 Thanks, sadly they didnt work...right now I'm posting on the AOE3 forum, and there is a moderator helping me out....he seems to be as confused as I am, though. 😛

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Might be an issue of too little power in the graphics processor...but I doubt it. Usually that would cause either a big slowdown in visuals or an error message. Strange. Hmm...does AoE3 have a stand-alone settings/config utility (ie, in the folder for it in your start menu programs area, is there something like "Settings" or "Configuration")?

 

[Kalamos]

This reminds me, they created a brand new Mek Pak for MW4 Mercenaries, a while ago.

 

[BigNorm]

MW4 mercenaries is on my to buy list, do you have it, Kal? and if so, you like it?

can someone give me some tips on how to fix my mechwarrior 4 problem listed above?

 

[Kalamos]

I can say that on my list, MW2 Merc comes before MW4, even though MW4's engine is clearly better.

I would suggest MW3 - but steer clear of MW3 Pirates Moon. Insane AI on that.
Or I'm reflex impaired... which could be.

...

Try and disable audio.
Either the card or just the volume.

 

[BigNorm]

I can say that on my list, MW2 Merc comes before MW4, even though MW4's engine is clearly better.

I would suggest MW3 - but steer clear of MW3 Pirates Moon. Insane AI on that.
Or I'm reflex impaired... which could be.

...

Try and disable audio.
Either the card or just the volume.

pirate's moon, huh? difficult ai? sounds like fun :happy:

disable audio... i'll try that, because in the 2nd mission briefing, you can hear the audio briefing, but the video is frozen.

and how do i temporarily disable my audio card?

 

[Kalamos]

Not difficult AI. Insane AI.
The landscape is flat, enemies run passive, line of sight is limited and your mech ends up legged before you can shoot back.
Is that difficult enough? 😉

...

Either try disabling your soundcard under system properties, or run autoconfig again and set all game effects on low/disabled.

 

[Taj]

This is probably gonna sound like a stupid thing to ask, but it might (and I stress the word might) help. Hungarian did you try running the defrag and scandisk before installing the program? If not you can give that a shot. Of course by now, you might have the game running and this post will be totally pointless. Of course my tip might be pointless anyway. But figured it was worth mentioning. 🙂

 

[Hungarian21]

Might be an issue of too little power in the graphics processor...but I doubt it. Usually that would cause either a big slowdown in visuals or an error message. Strange. Hmm...does AoE3 have a stand-alone settings/config utility (ie, in the folder for it in your start menu programs area, is there something like "Settings" or "Configuration")?

There is a diagnostics folder, but all there u see there is Age of empires (no video) and Age of Empires (no sound) :weird:

And no, sadly I havent found a "cure" yet....thinking of calling a geek....just dunno whom.😛

Anyway, defrag and scandisk...hmm, well I have no clue what defrag is, and not sure if scandisk if a virus check....if it is a virus check, then I did, cause my dear little sister likes my computer, and she doesnt always go where she should....(last thursday I found 14 cookies. :weird: ) . Anyway, what is defrag? You might have a lead there....(and thanks for trying to help! 😀 )

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Defragmenting reduces fragmentation of files on your hard drive. It would not be likely that it is the cause, as a fragmented drive usually just means things slow down, but it might help to defrag. Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, DIsk Defragmenter.

 

[Hungarian21]

hmm....one of the disks needed defragmentaion, at least the analysis says so...its still doing it...its been going on for a while...so, what does this do?

 

[LonelyKimiko]

Your hard disk is divided up into segments, much like a pie. When files are written to it, and one segment becomes full, the data get put onto the next segment along. The reason this is done is so that the hard disk can store a piece of information to tell it exactly where a piece of data on your hard diskis, so speeding up its operation.

The down side of this however is that when you delete a file, there starts to be a gap in the segments all over the place. The same being basically when anything is altered on the machine. The end result is that after some time, the disk becomes a mixture of gaps and full segments, which becomes hard for the disk to navigate...

Defragmentation rearanges the files into a nicer order for the computer to be able to handle by swapping them about. This is why you need about 20% of your hard disk free to defrag effectively.

Here endeth the lesson XD .

 

[Hungarian21]

And there comes the test. 😛

Hmm....well, by the looks of it, I did need to defrag one of my drives, but sadly, the game still wont work. 🙁 Oh well, dont bother urself with this today anymore; ITS CHRISTMAS! 😀