fouled-up colors

[Kulindahr]

I just loaded Age of Empires onto my new laptop. When I went to try it out, the colors were all screwed up, bad enough trying to make out my units was giving me a headache. I tried dropping the colors to 16-bit for the display, but it didn't change anything.

It's a Gateway NV59 Intel i5 CPU / 2.27gHz / 4 GB ram (3.68 usable) / 64-bit operating system running Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[andysayshi]

Hey, Kulindahr. What version of AOE are you running?

 

[T-Rexx]

Evidently, this is a common problem with AoE on Windows 7.

Evidently, you need to kill explorer. exe before you launch AoE. I found two solutions (variants on the same theme):

Yes it will play fine if you disable Explorer. exe in taskmanager before you start the game. There is a conflict over colour settings between AOE and Explorer. exe and disabling Explorer is the only way I have found to resolve it. This also means you can set your colour depth, resolution, etc any way you want them. Once you have finished playing just start up Explorer. exe from Taskmanager and that's it.


http://social.answers.microsoft.com...g/thread/8676604e-b8e5-4195-8f76-e4b9ace870b1

Note: The above would need to be done EVERY TIME you run AoE. You can create a batch file that will accomplish this task every time you launch AoE.:

You can also make a batch file with the following lines and place it in the same location as your age of empires 2 executable:

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

{N.B.: Leave out the space following the period and preceding the "exe" suffix in the code above (JUB apparently does not permit embedding the names of Microsoft executable files in the text, even within "CODE" tags). You would also need to start AoE by launching your batch file, of course - not by calling the AoE executable directly.}


http://social.answers.microsoft.com...g/thread/a1763d12-11e2-498f-9b23-122792b14f74

 

[Kulindahr]

Evidently, this is a common problem with AoE on Windows 7.

Evidently, you need to kill explorer. exe before you launch AoE. I found two solutions (variants on the same theme):




Note: The above would need to be done EVERY TIME you run AoE. You can create a batch file that will accomplish this task every time you launch AoE.:

And I could aim my desktop icon at that batch file, yes?

 

[Kulindahr]

WTF???

it says "edit" is not a recognized internal or external command!

The DOS version when I had XP sure recognized it.

 

[Kulindahr]

Okay, the batch file works great, in the AoE directory.

But when I point my desktop icon at it, I get an error message that age2_x1. exe is not a recognized internal command or batch file.

So why does it run when started directly, but not when started via a shortcut?

 

[T-Rexx]

And I could aim my desktop icon at that batch file, yes?

Yes

Okay, the batch file works great, in the AoE directory.

But when I point my desktop icon at it, I get an error message that age2_x1. exe is not a recognized internal command or batch file.

So why does it run when started directly, but not when started via a shortcut?

That should work, Kuli.

Is the batch file located in the same directory as age2_x1. exe? Does the shortcut properly direct to the folder where both the batch file and age2_x1. exe are located?

 

[Kulindahr]

Yes



That should work, Kuli.

Is the batch file located in the same directory as age2_1. exe? Does the shortcut properly direct to the folder where both the batch file and age2_1. exe are located?

I thought it should work...

the desktop shortcut does this (I just changed the info on the existing shortcut):

target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\age2_x1\Conquerors.bat"
start in: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II"

And in that folder, the batch file is three icons down from the execute file.

 

[T-Rexx]

Looks like you have a subdirectory called "age2_x1". I believe the "start in" line needs to be:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\age2_x1

 

[Kulindahr]

Looks like you have a subdirectory called "age2_x1". I believe the "start in" line needs to be:

Crogram Files (x86)Microsoft GamesAge of Empires IIage2_x1

<kicking self smilie>


Yep -- that did it!