Age of Empires 2 Conquerors and Alienware incompatability - see post 25

A quick google search shows that Conquerors doesn't work with Alienware computers, whether its the M11, M15, or the M17. I own an M17x-R2 and Age of Kings works fine but Conquerors crashes on startup. There is a post here with a batch file but it doesn't work for me and the post was updated with a "Doesn't work" comment by the original author as well.

Does anyone have any insight?

I'm on Windows 7 64-bit but this seems to be an Alienware hardware issue. Running the game on my integrated instead of 5870s doesnt help, neither does disabling Crossfire.


edit:
This is an Alienware-specific issue.

http://apolyton.net/showthread.php/191968-How-do-I-resolve-a-direct-draw-conflict

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...mpires-ii-conquerors-not-working-m17x-r2.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/533805-age-empire-ii-conquerors.html

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...g/thread/847ee3e8-f7b7-4221-8105-d6bfd91f38c8

Every single person with a problem has some kind of Alienware computer.

-------------------------------------------------

UPDATE:
Not confirmed but try this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/8208233-post25.html



-------------------------------------------------

 

The problem is not specific to Alienware, that would be impossible for only one game to not work on a system. The problem is with Windows 7 and the accompanying hardware involved. I has a lot to do with how Windows 7 runs certain programs and how the newer hardware interacts with the system. AOEII ran fine on my Intel Atom Netbook a few months back but I'm still having difficulties running it consistently on the M11x and my desktop at home (which is not AW).

 

There are multiple threads about issues with that game.

This one is about a possible fix:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...i-conquerors-work-our-alienware-hardware.html

Good luck.

 

Actually this is suprisingly very easy to fix. The problem has something to do with verifying a special mouse from Microsoft.

All you need to do to make this run on Windows 7 is the following:

PRE: Set compatibility to Windows XP service pack 2 and change nothing else.

1. Create this file in notepad and save it as a .bat file:

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
age2_x1.exe nosc
Start explorer.exe

2. Name it whatever you want. I called it Age of Empires II Conquerors.

3. Put the file in the age2_x1 folder which is within the Age of Empires II folder. Program Files(x86)>Microsoft Games>Age of Empires II>age2_x1

4. Create a shortcut to the .bat file on your desktop and use it to run the Conquerors expansion. This is because this .bat will apply all the fixes you need to run the game correctly.

5. If you want you can also change the icon on the .bat file to look like the Conquerors file by right clicking the file and going to Properties and the Change Icon button. Then going to the Age of Empires II folder and selecting the main .exe file that has the icon, which should be age2_x1.exe

This is all you need to know to make the game run but just in case you are wondering what that .bat file is doing here is the run down:

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
Closes the Explorer.exe which causes color problems in the game on Windows 7

age2_x1.exe nosc
Runs Age of Empires 2 The Conquerors with the command line code nosc; which turns off detection of the Microsoft Strategic Commander controller. Yes suprisingly this is the problem.

Start explorer.exe
Starts the Explorer.exe file again.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...i-conquerors-work-our-alienware-hardware.html

That's my guide I wrote up long ago that basically details everything you've listed. It's not a definite fix unfortunately and the game is still prone to crashing. I find that this problem is easily fixed this way when utilized on non-AW machines perhaps due to the drivers.

 

Yours doesnt say anything about the main problem, which is removing the Microsoft Strategic Commander verification. Also, doing it this way has never crashed for me and i have an Alienware M17x and Windows 7 64bit.

 

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
age2_x1.exe
Start explorer.exe

That's what I have in my batch file I have available for download. You're saying that just by adding nosc to the end of age2_x1.exe we can turn off the feature? If so I will conduct testing.

 

Ya. I know this because "age2_x1.exe nosc" is one of the support files and ive been using it with the color fix ever since i figured it out.

 

Interesting. I'm going to look into this some more. +rep for a job well done!

 

Thanks. Glad I could help.

 

Looking forward to this, Been trying to get this to work for ages but had no luck with villosa's method.

Will post back later

 

Yes, it works!!

Just one thing, can I get it to play on the full screen? (widescreen)

Justin

 

Im not sure how to make it fill the screen since the mfill command doesnt work. I think this may be a video driver issue because when i set my laptop to one of those low graphic settings it did the same thing to my desktop even when i wasnt in a game.

When i wanted to play Unreal Tournament 3 on my 6 year old laptop before i got this one, i had issues with the graphics card(ATI Radeon x1400 Mobility) rendering things incorrectly and omegadrivers.net fixed these problems and caused no problems at all. I havent used omegadrivers on this new laptop and I dont mind Age of Empires not being full screen, but if anything would fix it that probably will(one thing it does is give you a huge list of resolution settings). Since i havent tested it with our CrossfireX 5870s, i would use it at your own risk if you really cant handle the lack of full screen.

Hope that helps.

 

I found this patch,

h**p://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18102

Followed the instructions, and it created a .bat file on desktop, tried loading at first and it crashed, so I edited the .bat file to include th nosc command and the game loaded and played in widescreen but locked up after 5 mins of play (several times). tried loading again from your .bat and played fine for over an hour.

When it did lock up it said the aoc.exe had stopped working? I will keep playing around with it later in the week, once I get these crap night shifts out the way.

 

Ok I've managed to get it working, even in widescreen.

But now an all new problem, can't connect to play my son on a LAN game. Jesus this sucks

 

Have you tried playing your son on a aoeII online hosting app like gameranger ?

 

Wow this is awesome. Finally I can enjoy the classic game in glorious 1920x 1200 RGB LED. Been playing for hours with no problems. Thanks all for your effort

 

No explorer script worked on my M15x (windows server 2008R2 SP1)
ThxALOT

 

Thanks a million guys + rep

 

Thanks to all of you,

Got it working late last night, with widescreen + 1000 pop limit, time for some extreme battles.

THX

 

WOW thank you sooooo much!
I literally have been scrolling through forums for the last 5 days because it wont work on my M17X...

 

Yencanwasu's instructions worked perfectly for me also - thanks tons been trying to get this working for weeks! Note it also works with No CD crack

 

Thx Yencanwasu !

and for those who running age2_x1 with 1080p wide screen mod (try google it)
i run it perfectly on my m17x R3,
1920x1080 glory !

move both file "age2_x1_1.0e_1920x1080.exe" and "AoC1.0e 1920x1080.bat" from ur root folder into age2_x1 folder

and try put this on your "new text document"
remember to change the path of process.exe

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
"PATH\Age of Empire 2\age2_x1\Process.exe" -s explorer.exe
age2_x1_1.0e_1920x1080.exe 1280 nosc
"PATH\Age of Empire 2\age2_x1\Process.exe" -r explorer.exe
Start explorer.exe

then save it as *.bat file > put it in age2_x1 folder.
send to desktop (create shortcut)
and you're done.

edit : added SS .. got some insane FPS lolz.

 

I spoke too soon.. unfortunately when i play for a decent amount of time (1 hour ish) it freezes up and i get the "program not responding" message followed by the game quitting. This is extremely irritating when im an hour into a game

I use a no-cd version of the game and run the game with the .bat file containing:

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
age2_x1.exe nosc
Start explorer.exe

Iv got both the .bat file and the age2_x1.exe files running in compatibility for Windows XP SP 2 and the .exe file checked so that it runs as admin.

Iv also tried using the resolution mod which made it worse (only ran for half an hour then quit on me)

Any ideas as to why its doing this? Should i try checking any other compatibility options? Any help would be appreciated greatly

 

:'D Enjoy!

Pre-Requirements
Follow This Guide To Step 5 (Don't use Villosa's Batch File if following this guide)
Villosa's Guide

Batch File Fix
1) Open Up Notepad
2) Paste This In:

@echo off
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
age2_x1.exe NoStartup Msync NOSC Mfill 800
start explorer.exe

3) Select 'Save As' from the 'File' menu and save it as 'ConquerorsFix.bat'
4) Put this in the same directory as your age2_x1.exe file (For example, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age Of Empires II Gold Edition)
5) Create a shortcut to this '.bat' file and from now on, use this to start the game!

EXTRA (STILL NECESSARY) BITS!
1) Right click 'age2_x1.exe' and select Properties, then select Compatibility
2) Check 'Windows XP Service Pack 3 Compatibility Mode' '256 Colors' 'Disable Visual Themes' and 'Run As Administrator'
3) HAVE A BARREL OF FUN!

(I take no credit for this, I literally just compiled about 3 different guides I had read and this completely works for ME! Please feedback)

 

Thanks! Ill give this a go as soon as i can

 

YAY FIXED, worked for me to do so :
1- right click age2x_1
2- Run with graphics processor > :
3- click the Intel integrated Graphics
then run ... it will work
_________-
if it doesn't work then try the Nvidia

anyways it worked on my M14x

oh yah and make it work in compatibility mod for win xp sp2

+karma ?

 

This worked great - just played a long session over LAN with a mate. Only difference to these instructions is that i put it in compatibility for XP SP2 instead of 3 - not sure if that matters though. Thanks heaps

 

Glad it helped you but no need to thank me (':

Like I said, All I did was put about 3 or 4 different peoples methods together. I still have no idea on how you do LAN games at all, I presume that you could use Hamachi when you're at a distance but none of my friends play it!

 

thx, this fix works also on windows 8, on my alienware m17x r3!

 

For some reason when I right click the 'age2_x1 and go to properties i do not see anything that says compatibility ' I have fixed this, but now i can no longer get it to run and I cannot select run as administrator

This will no longer run for me at all. It just loads and then goes to my desktop and opens the library tab

 

If any one needs any assistance on playing aoe 2 with alienwares on game ranger follow these instructions....and if any one can improve upon this for widescreen then most welcome...THANKS!!!!!!!