# [SOLVED] Age of empire 3 loading problem



## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

Hi all.....

I am having a problem while starting aoe 3.
When i open the game i get a errorstating the message as follow :

Initialisation Faied
Direct3D initialization failed. Possible causes:
Old or corrupted graphics driver.
Direct3D improperly installed.
Hardware acceleration disabled.
Starting the application with the workstation locked.

Please check the log file for more information.


And i guess my graphics card is outdated it is Ati radeon XPRESS 200 series.

Please give me suggestion in it..
and preferrably the suggestion of changing the card shud be lost... I wanna try out with old one only.

The Notes box in Display tab of directX diagonastic tool states the the following:

Hardware accelerated Direct3D 9+ is not available because the display driver does not support it. You may be able to get a newer driver from the hardware manufacturer.
Problems were found in the system registry. Details are available in the saved text file.
You should reinstall DirectX to get the latest version.


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## Sonti (May 4, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

Hi

Ati Radeon Xpress 200 series has been renamed to Radeon Xpress 1150.

Get the latest drivers for it at:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

First field - Integrated Motherboard Graphics
Second field- Radeon Xpress Series 
Third field - Raden Xpress 1150
Last field - Your Operating system


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

Thanks for the help....

hmm I didnt understand that website much.. I did as u said on that site and got here.. http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo....aspx?type=2.7&product=2.7.2.3.2&lang=English

Am I supposed to download that ATI Catalyst thing??
*1*
Between I had already upgraded my driver from Hewlet packard company of version 8.17.0.0. REV b..
*2*
But my directX diagonasis tool dont mention it....
*3*
But it seems to be installed. when i right click on desktop than go to properties and then on setting and then advanced it shows i have new driver (I figured it out since i see many tabs in the obtained dialogue box with ATI symbol on them, which i never saw b4.)

heres 1 more pic if want for consideration


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

Integrated Motherboard Graphics > Radeon Xpress Series > Radeon Xpress 200 > Windows XP 32-bit (revision 10.2, February 2010) - http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo....aspx?type=2.7&product=2.7.2.3.2&lang=English

Install the Catalyst Software Suite and reboot. 

Download the latest DirectX 9.0c - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...=3b170b25-abab-4bc3-ae91-50ceb6d8fa8d&pf=true

Install DirectX and reboot again.


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

OK i will try it....
thanks

Hey i had already installed the latest DirectX driver.
But it had dowloaded with some problem i have sended a pic of it above 2.BMP ..


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

At the top right of your 2.bmp screenshot where it says Version: 6.14.0010.6571, what does it say now after you've installed the latest Catalyst? And what it say for DDI Version?

Did you reboot after installing Catalyst and DirectX?


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

I am currently downloading the catalyst its still have to be installed......
And yeah u r write it still says m using that 6.14.0010. Please note that 'Note' Box too.. and check out the 3.BMP image.. thats the reson I m feeling dat i hav latest direct x but with some problem. I havent seen that many tabs in the dialogue box in the 3.BMP pic


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

The graphics driver you're currently using is from 2005, which could explain why it's not working with the latest DirectX 9.

Install Catalyst first, then reboot to complete the installation process. Even if you already have DirectX, download it and install again, then reboot and post back with the dxdiag details so we can see that the driver and DirectX have been correctly installed and are being recognised by Windows.


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

Hey I had just tried installing Catalyst... while installing it gave me a message of windows logo. and asked me wether to proceed anyway or stop installing. I clicked on proceed anyway... 

The driver got installed and a message came for restarting pc to apply changes. I Clicked to restart pc...

when my pc got restarted I was amazed to see the screen..!! It was so blurrrr.... And Big one......!!! 
I rightclicked on desktop and went in properties section and then in setting tab, as I clicked on settings tab i got some message which said that this option was for use for the previous version and is no more of any use and changes... nd I got acces to the tab (somehow just for noticing the values that wouldnt change anyhow) ....

There I saw the screen resoloution was only 640*768 smthing lyk that and and colour quality to jus 4 bit..!!!

I tried to change these values but it wasnt possible any how..

I also tried to right click on desktop and select the very first option of ATI control centre. but it didnt opened anything... I tried many times but it didnt worked....

Finally, atleast for now, till i dont get any suggestion, I have uninstalled the Catalyst and was lucky to get my screen in normal mode as before...

Hey I also noticed just now. please watch the pic i had joined with this..
Seems serious problem.. ...
There isnt any mentioning of graphics driver and all things...

When I restart my computer after installing previous version of Ati, A window popped out name 'Found new hardware wizard' I think my driver got formatted and hence i will have have reinstall the driver.

But now I dont have the CD for it..

I tried to install it manually, I got the manufacturer ATI but the moodels column doesnt consistls XPRESS 200. most of the models are of mobility, Rage or of rage mobility, What should i do now..???


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

The low resolution screen with the large icons means the graphics driver wasn't installed, so Windows is using the default VGA driver until the correct ATI driver is installed properly and the computer is rebooted.

As Sonti said, the Xpress 200 was renamed Xpress 1150, but only for AMD notebooks (the 200P is for desktops). Are you using a notebook/laptop or a desktop computer? The driver is the same for both the 200 and 1150, Catalyst 10.2



Anujkolhe said:


> I tried to install it manually, I got the manufacturer ATI but the moodels column doesnt consistls XPRESS 200. most of the models are of mobility, Rage or of rage mobility


Make sure you get the 'Step 1' box right. Integrated Motherboard Graphics > Radeon Xpress Series > Radeon Xpress 200 or 1150 > Windows XP 32-bit (revision 10.2, February 2010)


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

Hey I had installed the driver as u said and i was got in that problem.....
But the next time I installed Catalyst but only Ati radeon, I hadnt installed Control centre,since i thought That control centre was giving problem...

This time the catalyst got installed properly but I didnt noticed any changes...

I am joining dxdiag display dialougue, If need any more info plss tell,

And I also tried starting the game but the problem still persists....


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

OK, you've now got the latest correct driver installed, and the Notes box in dxdiag is saying "_Hardware accelerated Direct3D 9+ is not available because the display driver does not support it_."

Have you reinstalled DirectX 9.0c and rebooted?

In dxdiag, under the System tab at the top, what does it say for DirectX Version?


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

yeah I had installed direct x 9.0c but with some proble,.
I had 9.0b so i was unable to install 9.0c..

So I what i did was downloaded 9.0b and 9.0c redist and extracted them in different folders, then i copied dxsetup.dll, DSETUP.dll and DXSETUP files from 9.0b and pasted to 9.0c and then i opened the setup file of 9.0c (The one copied and pasted in 9.0c) so that it will install using 9.0c files, Unfortunately it didnt worked much.

I uninstalled the driver and then copied the above metioned files and pasted to AOE3 directx9 folder ,(recommended by aoe) and then i ran the setup file, so it installed the 9.0c on my pc, later I ran 9.0c setup file from orignal 9.0c redist folder.

so i think der might be any problem...


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

It shouldn't be that complicated. To install the latest DirectX, you just need to run the installation program and reboot. You shouldn't have to copy and paste any files or create new folders. Mixing .dll files from different versions of DirectX is going to cause all kinds of problems.

In dxdiag, under the System tab at the top, what does it say for DirectX Version? It should be *DirectX 9.0c*

Run *sfc /scannow* to fix any problems with system files, then reinstall DirectX. If that doesn't work, run a repair install of XP.

SFC - http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

Repair Install - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

In the dxdiag , under the system tab at the bottom it is stated 'DirectX versionirectX9.0c(4.09.0000.0904)'

The Directx version 9.0c cant get upgraded from 9.0b.. I had tried a lot with normal methods to upgrade to 9.0c but it was simply not working..

So i had to play the trick of exchanging file and then running the DX setup.. ., and so i m also little doubted of it had installed properly or not....


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

Click the 'Test Direct3D' button in dxdiag.

Mixing .dll files from different versions of DirectX is going to cause all kinds of problems, so even though it says you've got 9.0c it might not be properly installed.

Run *sfc /scannow* to fix any problems with system files, then reinstall DirectX. If that doesn't work, run a repair install of XP.

SFC - http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

Repair Install - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

the direct3d test didnt got succes..
It gave error 'test failed at step 42 (query for D3D)' HRESULT = 0*80004002 (No interface)

And this windows repair wont create any problem na, i mean it wont lyk format or any data loss...??

the above message was got on testing on using 7 interface.
it got succes on using 8 interface.
and it failed on using 9 interface stating the error 'the test to use direct 3D 9 was skipped because display driver does not support it'


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

Run SFC before Repair.

Repair won't delete any of your data or format the drive. It just replaces the system files using the original files on the XP CD.


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

I did all as you said. However I wasnt able to run SFC so i directly repaired my XP.

During installation I got an error for Windows logo for Adaptor to which i selected proceed anyway and the installation got complete.

Now, when this is new installation i noticed the Dxdiag was 9.0b, and the adapter seems to be not installed. I had joined the Dxdiag display dialogue for consideration.

Also, when my pc had completed its repair, I noticed a new folder with a question mark inside blue circle named 'Report a XP SP2 bug'. When I opened it i got IE opened and trying to connect some url but it gave some error while connecting. I have also joined the image of IE when opened on opening the new bug folder.

I am not going to try anything installing Dxdiag and the adapter and the things unless you tell so that It would prevent any mess up being made by me.

Thanks.


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## Anujkolhe (Oct 7, 2010)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

hey also wanted to tell since I read in many forums about it and thought it might be of importance.

I opened the Newprofile.xml from C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Users. and there the optiongrfxres is 0*0 . I tried to change it but dont know exactly how..


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Age of empire 3 loading problem*

Update XP to SP3 and reboot. Install all the critical Microsoft Updates and reboot. Install the latest graphics driver and reboot. Install DirectX 9.0c and reboot one last time, then look in dxdiag to make sure Main Driver no longer says vga.dll under the Display tab, and the correct DirectX version is listed under the System tab.

SP3: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389

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Update: This problem has been solved by running a Repair Install of Windows. See here for more details: http://www.techsupportforum.com/f222/solved-garena-bsod-520039.html (post#9)


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