Age of Empires

[simgyump]

Can't get Age of Empires Gold Edition to run on Windows7 using ATI Radeon 4350. When attempting to start I get 'Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your video card and driver are compatible with direct draw.' It was working fine with an older video card on XP.

 

[r_manic]

Aside from making sure you've updated your drivers, have you tried running the game in compatability mode?

 

[simgyump]

Aside from making sure you've updated your drivers, have you tried running the game in compatability mode?

Hi, yes it was running fine on my older machine with XP and a older Radeon card. Changed Windows 7 to various ompatibility modes including XP SP2 but none of them work. I reckon its something to do with Directx 11.

 

[Catsrules]

How about Run as Administrator?
if that doesn't work and if you have win 7 pro or above run it in Windows XP mode. or in VMwair or Virtual PC. It is old enough game that it should work.

 

[technuttso]

Install Direct x 9.with win7 comes only Direct x10 and this game runes with Direct x 9.

 

[gulighs1]

this is why i want to keep my old computer for when i want to play the golden oldies.

anyway did the above users solution work ?

 

[simgyump]

Hi, downloaded virtual pc and xp mode. Tried to install and run in XP but still same error message. Tried running as administrator and in various compat modes but nothing works. Looks like the bin or get my old pc out again.

 

[simgyump]

Hi, downloaded 9 and installed but still same error message. Have been told it simply will not run with win7

 

[simgyump]

Hi. Unfortunately not

 

[daviduk109]

what version of aoe is it?

 

[simgyump]

The original Age of Empires Gold Edition 1.0b which includes The Rise of Rome Expansion.

 

[daviduk109]

from doing google search it does seem lots of people have been having problems with running aoe series of games on windows 7. There is a lot about people trying to get aoe2 to run on windows 7. Not sure if some solutions proposed for aoe2 will work for aoe1. A lot of solutions aoe2 are discussed here, might be worth trying to see if the solutions are valid for aoe1:

http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/2790-age-empires-2-aoc-expansion.html

I have had aoe2 gold for a while but I have yet to get round to playing it, but then I am still running windows xp so I doubt it would be a problem for me. I don't plan to upgrade to windows 7 any time soon, for the very reason that some classic old games are not compatible with win7.

 

[r_manic]

Any updates OP?

 

[simgyump]

No luck with any of the suggestions made. Given up on it.

 

[pwrhamr]

Sorry, know its an older post. But its still relevant.

@daviduk109, Thanks for the thread. It had the info needed. And it has been recently updated.

Love Age of Empires2 and am glad to have it back.

There is a blog address on the thread that has the info and explanations, just go directly to the last page of the thread to find it.