Age of Empires - Conquerors quits unexpectedly

Bit more info please ...

Is this new or have you never been abe to play on this machine?

What operating system?

Does the game quit at the same point or randomly?

OK. Let's see my configuration:

MB MSI KT4
Windows XP Pro
512MB DDR-400
GeForce FX5200
Sound Blaster Live!
etc...

I've been able to play on this machine sometimes. I mean, I play one, two, maybe three games and from the next one on games crashes randomly. There is no exact time or moment. It also happens (sometimes) in the first one.

In brief, there is no specific game or time...

Can you help me?

Have you patched the game?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6bb92faf-b2fc-47f9-989a-ca05d135af8c&DisplayLang=en

Yes. I did it.

Hi Smackattack!

Yes!
- I did all the necessary updates: Nvidia, Sound, Chipset, Directx, etc.
- I've also scanned my computer trying to find virus or spywares without success.
- I've turned off video acceleration, monitor frequency and resolution.
- I've disable WIN XP Firewall and all others third parties program running in background.
- I had already removed sounblaster card from my computer and enabled on-board sound when you wrote about it (but thanks anyway).

I'm pretty sure there are others things I did... but I can't remember all of them right now.

I'll try to turn off sound acc... or play without sound to check what happes as you've sugested.

I'll tell you the results soon.

Cya,
Rod.

I think you've got a compatibility issue with AOE:C
Try setting it up to launch in Win98/ME mode
(Pictures here if you are unsure how http://www.theeldergeek.com/use_compatibility_mode.htm)
& post how this goes.

M :o)

Also this needs to be asked ... Original game or copy?
Have seen this type of error with copies before...many times...

Hi asmodeusnz.

My game is original BUT I have It has nothing to do with because the same game runs perfectly well in my brother's computer. So...

Thanks anyway! :-)

MASQUERAID,

I don't think I've got a compatibility issue for the same reason I explained above. AoC runs perfectly fine in my brother's computer. He also have Windows XP PRO.

Thank you, but that's not the problem.

You've got a compatibility problem if XP trys to send an error report.

Just because your brother is running XP Pro as well and that runs fine, only proves that his system is compatible with AOE.

Unless your 2 systems are absolutely identical, (That is Same Make/Model Motherboard, CPU, RAM, Sound and Video card), which I doubt as his PC is running AOE fine, then you cannot make the assumption that its not a compatibility problem.

This problem could be any number of things including bad RAM, which would account for the random play times, but it could also be that you simply cant play AOE with your System.

I would suggest you try MASQUERAID's suggestion of Win98/ME Compatibility mode.

If you've already tried that, then swap out the RAM with some other stuff.

Rodger

 

asmodeusnz,

It's NOT a compatibility problem with my WIN XP. Running a game in Win9X Mode Won't help at all. In fact, I've just tried that and as I said: NO success!

It CAN BE a compatibility problem with some card, chip or driver but not with WIN XP because I said that our versions are identical.

You said "it could also be that you simply cant play AOE with your System".
I used to play AoC with this same system for a long time... and since few months ago I get this error message almost everytime I try to play.

Oh... and It's not bad RAM. I've tested it and it's not bad! I've used cacheman and other tools to check and "clean" memory. That's OK!

I'll check sound acceleration as Microsoft recomends but please don't tell me that my system is not compatible... It isn't acceptable! :-)

cya

Can you post the error log?

Sure!  I'll do it as soon as I get at home.

cya

Are you trying to run AoE with non-administrative privledges?
My daughter used to get errors similar to this before I extended permissions to her, for the entire folder.

meintsi,
my WIndows XP has 3 accounts:
- guest (disabled)
- admin (default)
- myaccount (administrator)

Thanks for trying to help me.

The original message is in portuguese... I tried to translate it and I think it's not very good but I think you can understand.

MESSAGE:
"Aplication error age2_x1.exe, version 0.7.26.809, fail module age.dll, version 0.0.0.0, fail address 0x00003f4d.
To obtain more informations, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp."

Thank you very much.

did u try out reinstalling the application??

LinuxBugs,
Yes. I do it all the that. :-)

Hi MASQUERAID.

Yes, [age2_x1.exe] is the executable file of the expasion pack: The Conquerors (AoC).

It's replaced in "E version" that is required for some games, especially the rated ones. When you remove E version, it undo the changes and the original exe file is back.

I don't think that's the problem because there are a hundred ppl playing this version and, as I said, I used to play without any problem with C or E versions of the game.

Oh, the cd-rom is not shared between two installations. I've just tested playing in another computer and it seemed perfectly well. So I got back to my computer to try to solve this puzzle.

Yeap. I used to play AoC without any problems. Since I've installed SP2 new problems arrived. At first I could not join zone rooms, later I had activex problems trying to install zone software, but it's all ok right now. This is the only one that remains...

*** There is an interesting fact that usually happens ***
I unnistall AoC and AoK. I reboot my comp and re-install the game and its updates. I CAN play about 3~5 games and then it crashes. After this, it will crash all the time right after the game is started (about 1~2 minutes).
So, I repeat all the proccess to pay again and test what is happening. There was no luck till now.

There is a folder (inside AoC folder) named support that contains those switches. The problem is that when I'm playing online (zone.com) I can't click any link. The game is just launched.

Thaks for your help. :-)

Hi smackattack,

I've disbled sound acceleration but it did'nt help. The game crashed as usual.

Thanks anyway.

As you know 1.0E isn't officially recognised by Microsoft even though it is supported by most of the gaming community because of the anti-cheat settings (it actually evolved from a no-CD crack!).  I think this problem would happen with 1.0C or 1.0E & seems to be SP2 related as it wasn't present before the XP upgrade.

I knw you have managed to get this to work since the original SP2 upgrade but just to check:
The big change will be Firewall related so check that AOE appears in the Windows Firewall exception list

I'm assuming the other identical machine has SP2 already and that needed the same adjustments that you made to yours to get you online again.

Hi again.

Windows XP Firewall had already been disabled. In fact, It's still disabled, but yes! AoC appears in the exception list.

You pointed well: The other machine has SP2 and the game works fine.

***  COMENTARY ***
As soon as this problem began few months ago, I formatted my hard disk to reinstall windows but it seems it didn't helped me at all.

I'm kinda frustrated... :-(

I'm kinda frustrated... :-(
me too!

would you be happy to remove SP2?

the GeForce FX5200 is a dog. .

it's well known that this a terrible graphics card.  its performs worse than the card it was intending to be a replacement for.   i know, i have one

i can't say that it would cause your game to crash -- and i don't know the graphics requirments of AoE Conquerers...  but you might want to consider swapping out your graphics card and trying it with a different one.  what's your brother got in his machine?  maybe you can swap cards with him and test it out.

actually, if you plan play any current or new games on this machine, your gonna need a new graphics card anyhow.  

you might as well get something reasonably decent, and then you wont have to worry about it in the future.  maybe it will resolve your problem with AoC.

btw.. it worked for us after doing something but I dont exactly remember what we did. but we did something among the 4 specified things

rjw04,

I'll tray to swap out my graphics card with my brother just for test. He've got MSI FX5700 what I presume is much better.

but please, don't make FUN OF PPPL TRING TO HELP ME, OK?

Thanks and i'll post the results soon.

LinuxBugs,

You've suggest:

Reinstalling OS(Win XP) - ALREADY DONE
Reinstalling Game - ALREADY DONE
Creating a new user
installing in some other drive

What you mean about "creating a new user"? You meant another windows account?

I'm awaiting ur raply.

thk.

sorry Linux, sorry Lira.  I shouldnt have done that, it was a stupid thing to say.

lira,

well, the sound didnt fix it,  i guess need some more info.  

You say on a clean install that the game played 3-5 games then crashed, and now it crashes every game?  So it now crashes after one game, every time?  Is the crash consistent as far as a time frame?  10 minutes into a game, 15?  Does it last longer on a clean startup then compared to when your computer has been running?

Does your system crash at other times, or when playing other games?  DO you actually play any games for as long as periods as age?

You mentioned before you have all other 3rd party programs disabled, is that still the case (IM, email, virus scan)?

HI!!!

My system does not crash running any other application, only age of empires.

On a clean install I can play about 3-5 games until it crashes. And from this time on game will crash every game. The is no specific moment because it happens randonly.

And yeap. All third parties programs are disabled.

*** NEWS ***
I've been playing AoC for 5~7 days and everything is alright. I REALLY don't know what I've done because there is no special reason. I mean, the only thing i did since game crashed last time was to unninstall and re-install it as usual.

I'm trying to figure out what was wrong with my system "rolling back" everything I disabled (one by one) to see if the error happens again.

As soon as i get it, I'll post here to let you know.

This topic won'tbe closed because I will be updating it with news.

Your (and other users) help has been very usefull.

Talk to you soon.

do i get some points for my suggestions???

Linux,
Please READ the following comment and answer me:
-------------------------------------
Comment from lirageneve
Date: 07/15/2005 10:53AM PDT
-------------------------------------

Besides that I said I don't know what exactly change I've done that fix the problem. I'm trying to figure out to distribute question's points.

Thank you.

i think admins can help u with the distribution of points

Linux,
I think you did not understand.

I WON'T distribute any point right now because i'm trying to figure out what change i did in my computer that solved the problem (if it's really solved).

I ASKED YOU ONE QUESTION IN A COMMENT ABOVE, BUT YOU STILL DIDN'T ANSWER IT.
PLEASE, READ: Comment from lirageneve, Date: 07/15/2005 02:53PM BRT.

I hope you got it.

Cya!!

I am sorry for the late response.

>>Reinstalling OS(Win XP) - ALREADY DONE
>>Reinstalling Game - ALREADY DONE
>>Creating a new user
>>installing in some other drive


1)by new user I meant new windows account in your computer.
2)by default this game is installed in C:\Program Files\MicrosoftGames, i wanted u to try installing it in some drive other than the one in which it is currently installed(grnerally c).

Linux,
I got it. I'll try that if the problem happens again.

thank u very much.

Lira.

you are welcome

Looks like solved by asker, still waiting to see if the cause has been identified {http:#14476112}.  Without a solution delete +/- refund.
M :o)

i think the points should be awarded to all who participated.    a lot of effort went in trying to help this person. bit the problem was not very well described.   the solutions given were all appropriate based on the minimal information given by the poster.

I'd like to thank all people that tried to help me.

There is no exact answer to the problem. I guess the problem was solved using a combination of changes suggested above. I've splited points taking in account the answer AND the level of participation.

I want emphasises the sound blast live and sounds configuration's suggestion (smackattack), the start up switches for diagnostics (MASQUERAID) and the alternative changes suggested by LinuxBugs.

Thank you all guys.

I hope this page helps a lot of ppl too.

Cya.
Rod.