Age of Empires II does not work with Vista or Windows 7

I have also encountered a problem running AoE II and the expansion pack on Windows Vista, but it’s different than what others have discussed here.  I picked up a newer system a few weeks ago, and have had no luck running the game.  My system is a Dell Latitude D630 dual-core 2GB running Vista Business with an Nvidia Quadro NVS 135M video card.

The installation went through without a problem, but when the program loads, about half of the graphics aren’t there in the menus.  The drop-down menus only have the first two or three choices, and everything else that would be there is blank.  Once you start a game, the game screen colors are fine, but the entire screen is cross-hatched with black gridlines.  I’ve tried reducing the resolution on the screen, but it hasn’t helped.  Having the people walk around doesn't help either, as they just walk across the lines without the lines disappearing.  I also tried the old "Marco" cheat code to reveal the screen, and while I can see everything on the map, it all still has the lines.

The game ran perfectly on my old laptop, a Dell Latitude C600 PIII 750 running XP-SP3, and it's still installed so my daughter can play it.. 

This is the only game that I have had problems with due to video issues.  I am running Warcraft III, CivCity Rome, Unreal Gold, and other games without a single problem.

I have the exact same problem! everything loads and works fine! the building, people and sand look fine, but do you find the water looks purple and red in the grass? have you found a way to fix it yet?? if you have Could you help me please?? :)

Hello Microsoft and Windows users.

My problem with AOE 2 is very similar to what many others have experienced here, just that none of the suggested ways of fixing it works, I mean NONE!

I have tried everything in this thread except a few links and Virtual PC but it just wont work. WHY?! I love this game, when I had XP it worked like a dream, the CD has barely any marks at all but now it doesn't work.

What happens is that the loading screen comes up and I hear this weird sound from my CD/DVD reader and then it closes and nothing more happens. That's it.

At the beginning of 2011 this game worked fine on windows 7, I just installed it and I could play it instantly. Then after a month or so I needed to run as administrator, then as administrator and in compatability mode with XP service pack 3 selected. This went on for a couple of months then it just stopped working completely and I gave up, but now I want it to work because I want to play it! I did have some colour issues with grass and water but I didn't really care, I was just happy that it worked on the new 64-bit OS at all, but now it doesn't.

I am fashinated how one game seems to require a unique way to fix this problem on every single PC with the same OS. It's so weird.

Any help? Microsoft wouldn't release a speciall compatability patch just for us AOE 2 users would they?

I might add that AOE 1 works perfectly and it has even less colour problems than what AOE 2 had when it still worked.

I'd really appreciate some pro tips or some help from one of you Microsoft workers who knows the OS inside out (So to speak) as nothing have yet to work (Actually I have tried more than what's in this thread, I tried lots of different combinations of what I've read here and some testing on my own, nothing works so far). :,(

Regards.

//MrBCC

Hey, I tried that and it does not work for me,

What Directx version do you have and what is your screen resolution?