I can't get Age Of Empires 2 to work.

[berto6]

So i've had the game for almost ten years and it worked fine for ages but since I have gotten new computers it doesn't seem to work. I dont know if its the new computers or if its the OS. The game installs fine, but when I go to play it, it comes up with the loading screen but then stays at my desktop and thats it. just nothing. Ive heard that there is a new HD version out and am kinda wondering if that will fix it and if not, how else can i fix it.

 

[Hopachi]

Yes. So it seems, that the HD version will work (Steam release) so check the requirements here:
Age of Empires

I remember that I got the classic release running (compatibility mode XP...) but the menu's have bad colors.
http://www.eightforums.com/gaming/2593-windows-8-age-empires.html#post75757

Might wanna check this steps here:
http://www.eightforums.com/gaming/2593-windows-8-age-empires-2.html#post202345

 

[vrosa]

I have "Age of Kings" and "The Conquerors" running here, but resolution is oddly locked @ 1024x768. Age of Empires III runs nicely. No compatibility setting needed.

 

[Hopachi]

I have "Age of Kings" and "The Conquerors" running here, but resolution is oddly locked @ 1024x768. Age of Empires III runs nicely. No compatibility setting needed.

That's right! Compatibility mode is not needed.

The older release doesn't allow high resolutions and HD but someone made a resolution patch: See Enigma's post in my third link above. I didn't had time to test it yet.

 

[Enigma]

I'm no expert PC user but I do consider myself quite knowledgeable, and I'm very confident in stating my belief that my instructions (which are already linked to in this topic by Hopachi) are nearly foolproof and idiotproof. Maybe there's a slim chance that what I posted wont cover some little know arcane problem/issue/error with the 1st 3 AOE games, but I doubt it, I do believe what I posted would cover most problems with these games. No VMs, no compat modes, etc for *ANY* of these games, at least for me anyways. Or you can just buy the Steam version of AOE 2. I'm really hoping they will re-release a High Def version of AOE 1 on Steam soon as well, but havent heard any rumors of that kind yet.

Hope I helped!

 

[MeRLiNo_O]

Hello everyone !! If like me you have tried everything on many forums and your AOE II Age of kings is still not working, do not panic, i have found the solution !!

This is for the Age of Empire 2 Age of Kings

My OS is windows 8.1

Download and Install the aoe2 Patch 2.0a
Then download and install the aoe2 Patch 2.0b
Just google it and you'll find it or here is the link below

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings - 2.0B Patch Unofficial - Free Download

Then set the compatibility to Windows XP SP2 and check the "run as administration" box.
Launch the game and voila.

Please note that the 2.0b patch is an unofficial patch (anti cheat patch) and i don't know why but it works.

I have tried everything before and the game wouldn't launch no matter what compatibility i used but this patch 2.0b seems to work perfectly fine and the game runs smoothly