Grouping Military units .

[Dieter Cordes]

I am new to this game .
When I try to group military units using the instructions to " Drag around the military units you want to group .
Hold down the CTRL key and press the number you want to assign to this group "
I do this but the selected group never responds to the assigned number .
Any ideas as to what the problem could be .
I am using Windows 7 , Home Premium and AOE3 , Games for Windows , Complete Collection , Version 1.14 .

[Metis]

Make sure the selected group is still selected when you press Ctrl-number. Also, if you have a number of the same units in an area you can double-click them rather than dragging a box. All units of a certain type, everywhere, can be grouped by using the "Find all of selected type" hotkey. I don't know what that is originally as I've re-keyed it to `, which is easy to find at the left of the keyboard.

[Dieter Cordes]

This issue is driving me up a wall . When I use the Hot Keys to find specific buildings it works fine . i.e CTRL B = Barracks . CTRL S = Stable .
However when I try to group military units , it does not matter which method I use , it will not work .
Is there a patch around to solve this problem ???

[Metis]

Grouping is basic to the hotkey code.

For instance:

<keymapdata>
<name>Create Group 1</name>
<displayname>$$20524$$1</displayname>
<displayformat>$$43374$$Create Group %s</displayformat>
<event>control-1</event>
<context>game</context>
<command>uiCreateNumberGroup(1)</command>
</keymapdata>

When you go into Options, Hotkeys, Selection Group Hotkeys, do you see any hotkeys there? Are they mapped in a standard fashion? If the keys have been remapped then change them to defaults. If something is still amiss with your keymap files then you might need to reinstall the game.

[Dieter Cordes]

Thank you , guys for your pointers . I will look into your suggestions and hope it will solve the problem .

[Kappatain]

Hey, welcome to aoe3! I don't really know why it isn't working for you, since I haven't seen you try it so it's hard to tell what you did wrong.

Anyways, here's how I usually do it (without needing to change any hotkeys from the default): I double click a unit (e.g. musketeers) which selects all the musketeers in my screen up to 50 of them (e.g. 26 musketeers). Once they are selected, I hold down ctrl and press 1, which sets them to squad 1. Now I can go to my town center or anywhere else, and simply press 1 to re-select the aforesaid 26 musketeers.

[EAGLEMUT]

If the defaults don't work well for you, try just assigning different hotkeys in the "Selection Group" section.

[Dieter Cordes]

Thanks guys ! Really appreciate your responses . I will work on it and let you know how it goes .

[Dieter Cordes]

Windows has the following information about this file type. This page will help you find software needed to open your file.



File Type: Unknown

Description: Windows does not recognize this file type.

You may search the following Web site for related software and information:

Search the web

Well . nothing I tried works . So I browsed the AOE3 Program files . Came across a file hotkeys.con .
Windows came back with the above message : file type unknown .
As a matter of fact Windows does not recognize any .con files !
Soooo , is that the reason I have this problem ? Driving me nuts .

[Metis]

Something with your game is messed up.

1. Do you have a full copy or a Demo of the game?
2. Do you have the AOE3 game alone or do you have the expansions installed too?
3. Have you installed any modpacks?
4. Have you remapped any of the hotkeys?
5. Does the Ctrl key of your keyboard work?
6. Did you install he game from CD/DVD or from a download (like Steam)?

I'd reinstall the game after manually deleting C:\Users\<your username>\Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3 and then running a temporary files cleaner such as CCleaner.

[Dieter Cordes]

Answers to above :
1. No.
2. AOE3 alone . No expansions .
3.No
4.No
5.CTRL key works with building locations i.e. CTRL - A = Atillery Ctri B = Barrcks etc
6.From CD/DVD Microsoft Games for Windows
Is CCleaner a reliable product and where do I find it .
Thank you so much for your understanding and help .

[Darwin_]

Wait, do you press ctrl + # to find the control group? you should just press the number you assign to the group

[Metis]

When you create a control group the icon should appear at the top of the map. Does it?

[edeholland]

Are CTRL and SHIFT inverted? There is a checkbox in the options and if it's checked, you have to press SHIFT+NUMBER to assign a control group. It's probably not the case since you say you use CTRL+S for stable, but it's worth a shot.

[Dieter Cordes]

Metis :
No . No banner appears anywhere .
Anyway , I took your suggestion and removed the AOR3 program from my system and then ran the CClear .
I will re-install AOE3 today and let you know the results .
How do I contact individual responders to this issue ????

[Dieter Cordes]

Well ; I have given up . As suggested as a last resort I un-installed AOE3 from my system , ran a CClean routine to clean out a ton of temp files , cookies etc and re-installed AOE3 .
Results ; same old , same old . Ctrl A - B- S- M will take me to the correct building however Ctrl T instead to the Town Center takes me to the Market .
Unit Grouping still does not work as it is to do .
I have come to the conclusion that I wound up with a bad copy of AOE3 . As a final attempt I will download another AOE3 game and see what will happen there .
Thanks to all you guys who tried to help me out to solve this issue . I really appreciated your interest and efforts .
I'll let you what happens when I download another version .

[Aidan28]

Are you pressing Ctrl+# when you are setting a group of units to the control group, or when you want to select the control group? You only need to press Ctrl+# once, to create the control group, then you just press # to go back to that control group. Also, to go to your town centre its just T, not Ctrl+T. Hope that helped.

[Metis]

Did you manually delete the folder: C:\Users\<your username>\Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3?

If you did not then you probably still have some left over files there that may be causing you trouble.

Also, if you are downloading a "bootleg" copy of the game who knows what settings it has off, just saying.

[Dieter Cordes]

Metis : Well , I thought I did but I will double check to make sure , also you are right about the bootleg stuff . Need to really think about that .
Aidan28 : Following the instructions that came with the game , they listed Ctrl + T to locate the Town Center . Will use only T once I get going .
Thanks for the tip .

[EAGLEMUT]

If the defaults don't work well for you, try just assigning different hotkeys in the "Selection Group" section.

Did you try assigning different hotkeys yet? Check out Help and Tools -> Options -> Hotkeys -> Selection Group Hotkeys.
My first thought when I saw this thread was that you are actually trying to use numpad numbers, which will not work as that's not the default. By default, the selection group hotkeys are mapped to the "numbers" between F1-12 keys and alphabetic characters. For example, the defaults for me on a Czech keyboard are +ěščřžýáí, not actual numbers.

[Metis]

As I was beginning to suspect, I think that this may be the main problem:

"you are right about the bootleg stuff . Need to really think about that"
"I wound up with a bad copy of AOE3 . I will download another AOE3 game and see what will happen there"

When you download an unofficial version of a game it's hit or miss whether or not it is going to work right. Purchase the Complete Collection from Steam and it should install and run without any difficulty.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/105450/

[Dieter Cordes]

Total frustration . I checked out everything to make sure no residual AOE3 stuff was left , re-installed the game twice and the results are the same .
Ctrl A - S- B- M work fine . it takes me to the selected buildings , however Ctrl T or just T will NOT take me to the Town Center but to the Market .
Grouping military units does NOT work at all , no matter what method I use . No banners appear and the selected groups do not respond to the numbers keyed in . Something is really screwed up . I use an ASIO back lighted , brand new keyboard which appears to work fine with everything else in the game . The only other option I have left is to purchase , as Metis suggested , another version from Stream for $ 40.- and hope for the best .

[Metis]

You don't happen to be playing the demo, are you? The demo will not have all the functionality of the actual game. Also, even if you are playing in single-player mode, make sure that you have all the patches (available at eso.com). If you get the Complete Collection from Steam it will come with all the patches.

Before installing a new game, remove all traces of the previous install. Look for and remove the Age of Empires 3 (or III, as the case may be) folders under Program Files(x86) and Documents\My Games, if there are any still there. Then run CCleaner is the Registry cleanup mode. Check only to remove any and all references to Age of Empires, and only these (allowing a Registry cleaner to "clean" your system indiscriminately is not a good idea). After this, allow CCleaner to clear your temporary files and caches and you should be ready to install the new game.

[Dieter Cordes]

Eaglemut !!!
By Jove , you got it !!!
Yes , I have been using the Numpad numbers . When I used the numbers below the F keys IT WORKED !!!!!
It certainly would help if they would point that out in the instructions .
Again , Thank you all for helping me out with this issue . It is much appreciated .
Have a great day .

[EAGLEMUT]

No problem