Age of Empires 2 on Windows 7 has color issues

Anonymous
2009-05-15T17:57:15+00:00

Hello, i want to run Age of Empires 2 on my Windows 7 rc computer. But there are color issuse when i run it, the grass aren't green and the water isent blue. How should i do to fix this? I have try to run it complatify with windows xp service pack 2, and installd some driexct 9 drivers. but not result to better colors. I hope someone have a good answer, because i love this game.

Frozzare, Scout in Sweden

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Gaming

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Anonymous
2009-05-29T12:28:55+00:00

Go into task manager select the processes tab and end explorer.exe then alt-tab back into age of empires

Note: this will make your task bar disapear and any open folders

To restart explorer open the task manager agian in the aplications tab hit new task and type explorer in the box

The colours change because of the Aero theme's poor handling of colours

Edit:

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-06-06T20:10:16+00:00

    The color issues are most probably due to outdated video drivers or a poor video card.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-06-06T20:11:46+00:00

    I've had the same problems. Water is purple, grass is grainy, and teal is yellow while purple is blue (on the map that is).

    I've got II without the expansion(s?) and both the "disable visual themes" method and the "open up screen resolution window" method have not worked...

    I'd try the batch method, but seeing as this is a family computer, whenever I alt-tab out of AoE it is because somebody needs to check their email or similar and having to reboot explorer and close it again would just get annoying...

    What other methods have I not tried that do not involve closing explorer?

    Here is a method that does not need you to close IE or do anything other than move some files into the directory where the game is installed and create a new shortcut via right clicking on an exe and selecting "Send to --> Create Desktop Shortcut".

    Oh and the game will start in a window... but once you start the actual map or mission it goes full screen (the menu is the only thing that is in window)

    Readme is included. Here are some mirrors:

    Mirror 1 - http://rapidshare.com/files/396032407/AOE2\_expFix.rar.html (will die after 60 days of no download)

    Mirror 2 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T7B2SZL8 (will die after 6 months of no download)

    Mirror 3 - http://www.mediafire.com/?tx5nmdwj2ym (will die after 6 months of no download)

    enjoy.

    PS - ive been using this for about 9 months now on Windows 7 64bit, AMD 5200+ (dual core) 4GB of ram and a Radeion 4850 video card.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-06-06T21:30:33+00:00

    The color issues are most probably due to outdated video drivers or a poor video card. 

    no, the color issue will be there because of Window 7's and Vista's lack of a color palette that the game uses. It will happen on every single Vista 64 bit and Windows 7 64bit without a exception unless it is modified. It has nothing to do with your hardware.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-06-06T21:39:09+00:00

    I don't know about that, Chrushev. I have AoE2 and it worked fine with Vista x64 and Windows 7 x64 after I upgraded my video board.

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