AOE runs but doesn't.

[Ebere]

I have the retail Age of Empires and the Conquerors expansion.

I had no problem installing it.

I had a problem getting it to run, because it kept asking for the cd, when the disk was already in the drive.

Thanks to a search here, I discovered that I needed to go into wine cfg, and add the cd drive.

I did that.

Success. I got the game to start up.

But... When I try to play a single player game, it again says that I have to insert the cd, if I want to play a single-player game.

Any ideas what I can do ?

[doh123]

if its legal where you are... try to get a no-disc hack/patch version so you can play without a disc check.

[Gert van den Berg]

On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 00:41, doh123 <[email protected]> wrote:

if its legal where you are... try to get a no-disc hack/patch version so you can play without a disc check.

The original AoE's copy protection consisted mostly of a CD label check...

Gert

[Ebere]

if its legal where you are... try to get a no-disc hack/patch version so you can play without a disc check.

Thank you.

I tried a no-cd crack. Took some searching to find one that would even work on my installation. I guess there must not be that many legitimate store-bought copies of this game, out there. LOL

The crack worked on the game, but it killed the game, as far as working in wine is concerned. Try to play it after the crack, and all you get is a wine error box saying we're sorry, but we had to close this.

I put it back to normal.

Now I have to find the answer to the question.

[Ebere]

The original AoE's copy protection consisted mostly of a CD label check...

Gert

Thank you.

I knew that. That should have been clear in the OP.

I dealt with the initial problem by going into wine cfg and setting the cd drive, where the cd lives... Active and mounted. Etc.

Now... The game -will- start. Whereas before, it wouldn't even start, because it was looking for, and not finding the cd.

But... Once the game starts... If I try to play a single-player game... it AGAIN tells me that I have to put the cd in, if I want to play a single-player game.

Seems to me, once it checks for the cd and finds it.. Then allows the game to even start, to begin with... It should KNOW the frikken cd is there, when I try to play a single-player game, from the main menu.

Something else must be happening.

I have also tried going to the cd, and starting the game from there. Still doesn't work in single-player mode.

[Ebere]

I wish I could edit the title to my thread and add: Solved.

It is solved. more or less.

I can play the same, but it is as slow as mollasses in January.


Let's see if I can remember what all I did.

To get the game installed, was easy.

To get it to run, I had to figure out how to get it to recognize that the cd was in the drive.

To do that I went into wine cfg. Opened the "drives" tab. Clicked on "Add". Let it select the next drive letter. Then used the "browse" button, to get to the cd drive. Then I hit apply.

That worked. Whereas, using a no-cd patch, only killed the game completely.

After that, when I would try to start the game, the game would actually start. But I could only get to the main menu screen. I couldn't play a single player game, because it would then ask for the cd... -Again !-

I tried playing from the cd, but that didn't work, either.

Today, I updated Mint. And a couple other things.

Now... If I go to the cd, and start the game using the "aocsetup.exe" file, instead of the gameply file... I can play the game.

Like I said, it is super slow, but everything does seem to work.

Well, aside from the font being changed from white to black, and so it is almost impossible to read. (If I weren't already so familiar with the game, I might not be able to figure it out.)

That and in the 'boxes', where you edit a game, and change the amount of gold, wood, etc... Are all wonky. You can put something in them, but you can't see what it is, because it is black fonts. And that window seems to have the jitters, as well.

Also with that particular kind of edit box, if you right click to copy or paste, the right click menu appears 2/3 of the way up the page from the actual box.

The only other curiosity is that when the game is starting, going through the introduction screens, you have to first move the mouse, then -right- click, to click past those.

Anyway, it's working.

Thanks to all.

[Ebere]

That should have read, "I can play the Game." Not "I can play the Same."

[Gert van den Berg]

On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 07:42, Ebere <[email protected]> wrote:

Like I said, it is super slow, but everything does seem to work.

The DIB engine patch might help (not the easiest to apply - it doesn't
apply to new versions AFAIK)

Have a look at the directdraw renderer key here:
http://wiki.winehq.org/UsefulRegistryKeys (The relevant wiki pages
seem to be missing - http://wiki.winehq.org/DirectDrawRenderer is
linked for more info but seem to have bene deleted...
http://wiki.winehq.org/DirectDraw has some basic info...)

Gert

[Ebere]

Thank you Gert.



I have the latest version of wine. And I am keeping it updated. So maybe it is moot, as you suggested.

Still, I'll check it out.

Thanks again.

[Gert van den Berg]

On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 19:33, Ebere <[email protected]> wrote:

Thank you Gert.



I have the latest version of wine. And I am keeping it updated. So maybe it is moot, as you suggested.

DirectDrawRenderer = opengl might help performance quite a bit...
(Depending on your graphics card drivers it might also crash your
PC...)

The DIB engine may / may not help and is probably not worth the trouble..

Gert