Age of Empires III installation

GeorgeFlach · Jun 19, 2019

I've been playing this game a long time. Settled on AOE III years ago. Got a new laptop, tried to load my old game, wouldn't let me. I figured it was stopping me because it thought I was trying to use it on more than one machine.

I bought the complete collection, although all I really wanted was AOE III. Wasn't offered that option that I could see.

Loaded all 3 discs, and then Disc 1 again, as usual. CD drive ran for a bit, and then quit. There was nothing after that, and it didn't put an icon on the desktop, as it usually does. So I went into Search (Win 10), and it popped up all kinds of AOE III
tabs, but none were the game I just installed. I think some of the stuff was Bing search suggestions (I detest Bing), and some of it may have been old stuff left over from when I tried to load my old game. I deleted the contents of a folder full of log files
with a date a few days ago, when I tried to load the old game.

Went into Control Panel and found the new version I just installed. But you can't open it from Control Panel, at least not that I know of. I could find no way to open it to play. So I uninstalled it, and tried to load it again. Now it won't load. I'm
not buying another version. How can I get the one I have to load and run?

This isn't an Xbox question. I don't have Xbox. But this is where it took me trying to get AOE support, and I had to put something in the boxes below. Sorry about that. Thanks.

:)

George Flach

Hi there George,

Thanks for reaching out here in Xbox Forums. I understand there is an issue with installing Age of Empires III. I recommend to try the following troubleshooting article: Troubleshoot
game installations on Windows 10.

Give this a try and let us know the results.

Tried the troubleshooting link, all Xbox except the last entry, which involved doing something with Powershell. I'm not nearly advanced enough to risk messing things up through some dumb mistake. Sorry.

I finally did get AOE 3 to install, but there was an initialization error at the end. I tried again, and that time there were 3 programs that the system asked to be installed...DirectX 9.0, DirectPlay, and .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0).
That's what the last one said after it was installed. After installing them I rebooted the system, but then I discovered the installation didn't include an icon on the desktop, which it normally does. Went to Control Panel and AOE 3 was there, but of course
you can't open it from Control Panel. At least, I don't know how you can. So I searched for it through Start, and there was nothing. Then I used File Explorer, and again, no match for the search. I know it's in there. And it's probably very simple for
everybody else, but I have no clue how to find it and get it to run. If it will.

I'd appreciate any help. Thanks so much.

George Flach

Every time I call someone, they give me a list of troubleshooting options, or they shuffle me to Xbox (which I don't have), or the Xbox people shuffle me back to MS Windows 10.

The last troubleshooting option I had was as follows:

Try reinstalling gaming services. To do this:

Launch powershell as an administrator and enter “get-appxpackage Microsoft.GamingServices | remove-AppxPackage -allusers”
In the same powershell window, enter “start ms-windows-store://pdp/?productid=9MWPM2CQNLHN”
Install the app on that page, including accepting the UAC prompt when shown.
Try installing the game again.

I have seen PowerShell. I have no idea what it is. And the rest of that stuff is Greek to me. This is getting very frustrating. I would totally understand if there is nothing you can do.

The last thing I asked a MS Support Agent was how to find the game, which Control Panel says is installed, so I can try to launch it. She hung up on me. I'm not joking. I wasn't abusive, or abrasive...I didn't give her a hard time. She started to move
me to Xbox, I asked her to please not do that, I don't own Xbox. I asked her to please tell me how to find the game. She hung up. So that's where I'm at. Thanks for trying to help.

XBF Felixx P

Hello GeorgeFlach!

Thanks for responding!

Below I'll provide you with a direct link to set up a Call back from a Microsoft Windows Support agent.

Contact Microsoft Support

Speak to them and let us know if this helped!

Felix

Xbox forums support

XBF Crystal P

Hi there George,

Thanks for reaching out here in Xbox Forums. I understand there is an issue with installing Age of Empires III. I recommend to try the following troubleshooting article: Troubleshoot
game installations on Windows 10.

Give this a try and let us know the results.

George Flach

Like I said, this isn't an Xbox question. This is where I ended up when I tried to find help with AOE installation. Sorry. Just ignore the question. I'll try to get help some other way. I think Windows 10 is diverting me to Xbox. Some kind of Xbox
app is on my computer, even though I don't own one. I think it screws things up if I try to go through Microsoft. Again, I apologize.

Age of Empires III installation