Age Of Empires
...· Uninstalling Age of Empires II – If you uninstall Age of Empires II (to save disk space, for example), but you want to save your Age of Empires II campaigns and scenarios, you must click No when the uninstall program asks "Do you want to delete all user-created files?” · Moving Campaigns and Scenarios to a Different Computer – You can move the files for your Age of Empires II games to another computer. Age II files have a .gam file extension – for example, Age2.gam. To transfer your campaigns, move the *.cpn files from the Campaign folder where Age of Empires II is installed to the same location on another computer. Then transfer all of the scenarios in that campaign and the Player.nfo file as explained below. To transfer your scenarios, move the *.scn files from the Scenario folder where Age of Empires II is installed to the same location on another computer. To transfer your player name and progress through the campaigns, move Player.nfo from the folder where Age of Empires II is installed to the same location on another computer. If you are moving the Player.nfo file to a computer that already contains a Player.nfo file, you may want to rename the file on the computer to which you are moving files so you do not overwrite the existing Player.nfo and lose the campaign information it contains. G. Video Troubleshooting · Intergraph Intense 3D 100 Video Adapters – Intergraph Intense 3D 100 video adapters cause the game to crash during the opening cinematic. To resolve this problem, add the command line parameter Nostartup in your Age of Empires II shortcut. For information about adding parameters to the command line, see "Command Line Parameters," under "Performance Troubleshooting," later in this Readme file. · Intergraph Intense 3D 100 Video Adapters – During gameplay, the bottom game screen border may be corrupt and pink in color. Also, the in-game custom mouse pointer may not be visible. Upgrading to the latest video driver (v. 4.3.0.3133 at the time of this writing) will fix these problems. You may not be able to view the game in 1024 x 768 resolution. To fix this problem, contact your video card manufacturer for the latest drivers. · Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 – You may experience a black screen when starting the game (you may still hear game sounds and be able to click buttons). If this occurs, contact the video card manufacturer for the latest drivers, or download them at http://www.diamondmm.com/. · Diamond Monster Fusion – You may encounter stability problems when starting a game using this card. If this occurs, contact the video card manufacturer for the latest drivers, or download them at http://www.diamondmm.com/. For the latest drivers to function properly, you may need to update your video bios. You can find information about how to do this on the Diamond Web site. · 9FX Motion 531 – If you are running Windows 95, you may experience any or all of the following: screen corruption of the main menu and New Player dialog box, screen corruption during gameplay when scrolling from left to right and from right to left, and screen corruption as you select different objects on the game screen. If this occurs, contact the video card manufacturer for the latest drivers (http://www.nine.com/), or download the S3 Vision 868 reference drivers for the card at http://www.s3.com/. · Hercules Terminator Beast – You may not be able to view the opening video using the retail drivers for this card (although you may be able to hear the sound). If this occurs, contact the video card manufacturer for the latest drivers, or download them at http://www.hercules.com/. · Hercules Stingray 128/3D – If your in-game screen resolution is set to 1024 x 768, you may experience screen corruption and your computer may lock up if you restore a game using ALT+TAB. If this occurs, contact your video card manufacturer for the latest drivers. · Matrox Millennium II PowerDesk Video Adapters – Your computer may lock up when you change the in-game screen resolution to 1024 x 768. To fix this problem, contact your video adapter manufacturer for the latest drivers. · Matrox MGA Millennium – You may experience screen corruption when playing with an in-game resolution of 1024 x 768 or when using ALT+TAB in this resolution. To fix this problem, contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers. · Permedia 2 Chipset-based Video Card with Latest 3D Labs Reference Drivers – You may experience screen corruption when playing Age of Empires II using this configuration. To fix this problem, uninstall the reference drivers and contact your video card manufacturer for the latest driver written specifically for your card. Many reference drivers are not supported, and may cause problems with certain applications. · Sierra Screaming 3D Video Cards – Your computer may lock up when you exit the game. To fix this problem, contact your video adapter manufacturer for the latest drivers. · Sierra Screaming 3D Video Cards (Rendition Verite 1000) – You may experience screen corruption when your in-game screen resolution is set to 1280 x 1024. If this occurs, exit the game using ALT+F4. Restart the game, and in the Options screen set your in-game resolution to a lower resolution. · Rage Pro Turbo 2X Video Cards – Rage Pro Turbo 2X video cards may only allow you to use a 640 x 480 screen resolution. The minimum Age of Empires II in-game resolution is 800 x 600. Contact ATI for the latest drivers for your video card. · Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme – Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme video adapters may cause screen corruption when you change the in-game screen resolution or press ALT+TAB to enter or leave the game. To fix this problem, check with your video adapter manufacturer for the latest drivers. · Voodoo 3 Video Cards – If you are running Windows 2000, your mouse cursor may blink during gameplay. If this occurs, try a lower screen resolution. If this doesn't work, contact your video card manufacturer for the latest drivers. · Screen Flickering – Certain second-party applications may cause a brief flickering of the Age II video palette. Disabling all non-vital applications before running Age of Empires II will increase stability, performance, and visual quality. This problem may occur on some systems with the Creative SBLive! sound card with the Creative LiveWire 2.0 and 2.1 driver sets for this sound card. · Black Screen after Video – A black screen may appear at the conclusion of the opening cinematic. To resolve this problem, press ESC or click the mouse button. Another workaround is to add the command line parameter Nostartup in your Age of Empires II shortcut. For information about adding parameters to the command line, see "Command Line Parameters," under "Performance Troubleshooting," later in this Readme file. · Screen Corruption – If you experience problems such as a black screen after starting the game, black areas on the game screen, screen corruption when you press ALT+TAB to enter/leave the game, or other screen problems while playing the game, contact your video adapter manufacturer for the latest drivers. · Black Screen Areas – Some video adapters may cause black areas on the game screen. To fix this problem, you can add the Mfill parameter to the command line in the Age of Empires II shortcut. For information about adding parameters to the command line, see "Command Line Parameters," under "Performance Troubleshooting," later in this Readme file. · Mouse Pointer – Some video adapters may cause the mouse pointer to disappear if you change the in-game screen resolution or reenter the game by pressing ALT+TAB. To fix this problem, contact your video adapter manufacturer for the latest drivers. · DirectX – If you experience video problems using DirectX, connect to the DirectX Web site for the latest troubleshooting information, as explained in "DirectX Troubleshooting," earlier in this Readme file. · Monitors and Lower-End Video Cards – You may see brief screen corruption or flashing when switching screens in the game. This is a limitation of some older video cards and will not affect game performance or stability. If you notice screen corruption when switching to a high in-game resolution, this may be due to the limitation of certain monitors or some older, lower-end video cards that do not support higher resolutions. Use ALT+F4 to exit the game, restart Age of Empires II, and then use the Options screen to switch to a lower in-game resolution. H. Audio Troubleshooting · Aztech Direct Sound Driver – You may experience choppy sound on this driver. If this occurs, contact the manufacturer for an updated driver. · DirectX – If you experience audio problems using DirectX, connect to the DirectX Web site for the latest troubleshooting information, as explained in "DirectX Troubleshooting," earlier in this Readme file. I. Performance Troubleshooting CD-ROM Drive Issues Age of Empires II uses Safedisc encryption technology. Some CD-ROM drives may not be compatible with this technology. · Acer 44X – You may experience problems with this drive during installation. There are no known solutions. · Acer CD-624a – If you experience problems with this drive when using read-mode drivers, install protected-mode drivers. · Memorex 2224 – You may experience problems with this drive. The drive may take up to 3 minutes to load from the CD. · Plextor – If you experience problems with these drives, contact Plextor for an upgraded version of Plextor Manager 2000, which includes a "No Read Slowdown" option that may prevent the drive from slowing to 2X speed. · Sanyo CRD-256P – If you experience problems with this drive, do not load the game multiple times in one session. Also, you may try ejecting the CD. · Sony CDU77E 2X – If you experience problems with this drive, make sure it is configured as a master, and then run the game again. · Yamaha 2216E and CDR6416S – You may experience problems with these drives. There are no known solutions. · Yamaha 4416SX – If you experience problems with this drive, contact Yamaha for a firmware upgrade. · Error requesting CD insertion – When launching a multiplayer game from the Zone, you may receive an error message asking you to insert the CD although the CD is already in the drive. If this occurs, exit and relaunch from the Zone. Command Line Parameters You can add parameters to the Age of Empires II command line to customize startup or resolve problems with certain hardware configurations. To add parameters to the command line in the Age of Empires II shortcut 1. Right-click the Age of Empires II shortcut, click Properties, and then click Shortcut. 2. In the Target box, type the name of the parameter after the existing command line text. For example, if you add the parameters NoStartup and NoTerrainSound, the command line will read "C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesAge of EmpiresEmpires2.exe" Nostartup Noterrainsound. Parameters must be separated by a space; capitalization is not important. To add parameters to the Age of Empires II registry for multiplayer games using the MSN Gaming Zone 1. Click the Start button, and then click Run. 2. Type Regedit, and then click OK. 3. Double-click Hkey_local_machine/Software/Microsoft/DirectPlay/Applications/Age of Empires II/CommandLine. 4. In the Value data box, type the name of the parameter after the existing command line text. For example, if you add the parameters NoStartup and NoTerrainSound, the command line will read "Lobby NoStartup NoTerrainSound." Parameters must be separated by a space; capitalization is not important. Do not remove the word "lobby" from the command line. The command line parameters include: · NoStartup – Skips all cinematic sequences before the game starts. · 800, 1024, 1280 – Sets the screen resolution to 800 ´ 600, 1024 ´ 768, or 1280 x 1024. For example, 800 sets the screen resolution to 800 ´ 600, 1024 sets the screen resolution to 1024 ´ 768, and 1280 sets the screen resolution to 1280 x 1024. You can also set the screen resolution by clicking the Menu button during gameplay and then clicking Options. If you use a command line parameter to set the screen resolution, the game always starts at that resolution, even if you use Options to choose another resolution. Note that the interface screens before the game will always be displayed in 800 x 600 mode. · Mfill – Fixes horizontal line problems and black screen areas that may occur with some video adapter configurations. · NormalMouse – Replaces the custom mouse pointer with a standard mouse pointer. · NoSound – Turns off all sounds, except those played in cinematics. · NoTerrainSound – Turns off all terrain sounds. · NoMusic – Turns off all music. · Msync – Fixes lock-up problem that may occur with some SoundBlaster AWE configurations. Poor Frame Rate · Voodoo 3 Video Cards – If you are running Windows 2000, you may experience poor frame rate. If this occurs, contact your video card manufacturer for the latest drivers. J. Multiplayer Troubleshooting · Best performance – For best performance, connect to the Internet b...