AoE 2 AoK and Conquerors won't start.

[facksfunny]

Hi, I have recently decided to play Age of Empires 2 again. So when I install the game all the instalation goes fine. But when I launch it, it freezes. The screen just go black, and nothing happens. I've installed the Conquerors exp, same thing, the game still won't run. I do not know what the problem is. The game ran fine before, but now just won't start. I have windows 2000, P4 basically all relatively new hardware. I've tried installing it on my friends computers, worked fine for them. I've downloaded the demo, the demo works fine. I don't know what to do somebody please help. It is probably my computer settings. I've turned off the firewall and virus scan, didn't help. The screen still just goes black and freezes.

 

[llama_man]

You're going to hate me for saying this, but...

Did you try uninstalling the game and reinstalling? It's possible your installation had a glitch and a key file is borked. It would surprise me, but it's worth a go.

 

[facksfunny]

I've reinstaled it many times but sadly that didn't help at all.

 

[facksfunny]

I thing I have figured out what is causing the problem. It is my sound card. As soon as I disable it, the game runs fine. But I can't see why it should be a problem. The demo works fine with the sound card. Also the sound card is relatively new, it has the latest drivers installed. Is there some sort of issue with age of empires and certain sound cards?

 

[llama_man]

Quite possibly. Have you installed the patch(es)? They might have fixed a problem with newer cards.

However, since they've released 2 "Age of" games since then, I doubt there's much support, so if it's a really new card you might be stuffed.

If all else fails, you may need to disable your card and use onboard sound when you play AoE". A bit of a faff having to reboot every time you want to play, but AoE2 is worth it

 

[facksfunny]

Thank you for responding.

So um yea I did try new patches, but nope, didn't work. I downloaded the newest patch for my sound card, but still nothing.

I think I may have an old sound card somewhere, I will try installing it, and see if it works. But I am just not sure whether my motherboard is compatible with the sound card. Because I got a new computer recently.

Also I've contacted Microsoft support, but it will take a couple buisness days for them to reply, and I don't know whether they still have support for Age of Empires 2.

You said I can use my onboard speakers. How exactly do I go about doing that? Sorry, I don't know much about computers, I just know that there is a speaker inside my computer, but I never knew what it was for. I'm guessing that is the onboard speaker you are referring to. So could you please tell me how to enable it? AoE 2 is deffinately worth it.

Thanks again.

 

[llama_man]

No, I didn't mean to use your onboard speaker, I meant use the sound chip built onto your motherboard (if it has one). This can usually be enabled/disabled in the BIOS.

 

[facksfunny]

In BIOS it does say that onboard sound is enabled yet no sound is coming out. I am sure I have one. I have a K7S5A motherboard, and I have tried downloading all the drives. I think I'll just try my old sound, or return the game and buy Age of Empires 3.

 

[llama_man]

No sound will come out of the onboard chip unless you plug your speakers into the right sockets. You will have 2 sets on the back of your case - one set on your soundcard, and the other on the panel that connects to your motherboard.

If you have onboard sound enabled, plug you speakers into the the motherboard connections.

If you have your soundcard installed, plug your speakers into that.


And for the love of god, remember to disable onboard sound if you have a soundcard installed. Trying to run both at the same time is a recipe for disaster.