Unable to install (Win 10 Pro)

[Mousedevil]

Hello folks!

Just before I delve into the problem and to give you a brief background, I've been working with IT systems my entire life so it's okay to talk technical with me! I really love age of empires with passion (there's really no game like it, with its unique addictive ability) and I can't wait to get into playing it again. I have tried many different things so far including running a Hyper-V VM on my machine and installing AOE3 to specify whether the problem was just with my PC and not the disc (it is). I can install AOE3 onto my Windows 10 pro VM and other PCs using the official set of discs I have. I'm now at the stage of re-installing Windows just to get this damned thing working! I have spent many hours but to no avail.

So what's not working?
When running the autorun.exe on the disc I get the normal launcher asking me if I want to: Install, Uninstall (Greyed out), Website or Exit. When clicking Install I get the setup.exe open, it goes through the usual of "Configuring windows install" and "Preparing to install" etc. then it closes as if its ready to open another window.... and nothing else happens...

The list of things I've tried (Important to read):
- Compatibility settings (First thing I tried)
- Turning it off and turning it on again
- Launching windows in safe mode and attempting to install
- Tracking the setup.exe in task manager to a temp file at which point it stops
- Viewing event logs that return APPCRASH errors for the explorer.exe when attempting to run the installer
- Changing DVD-ROM drives
- Running various SFC, DISM & CHKDSK scans and repairs.
- Copying disc contents to desktop
and various other things that I can't remember.

My System:
- Windows 10 Pro
- Intel Core i5-6600K @ 3.50GHz (Quad core)
- ASRock Z170 Extreme 4 Motherboard
- 2x8GB (16GB total) Crucial DDR4-2134 RAM/Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Graphics card (GDDR5 obvs)
- 256GB & 1TB Crucial SSD + 1TB Hard drive

If you need any more information including system logs, event logs, device information please let me know!


Thank you in advance and for your time reading,

Mouse

[Mitoe]

@EAGLEMUT @musketeer925

[kami_ryu]

What about the caveman solution of completely reinstalling windows?

[Mousedevil]

I'm now at the stage of re-installing Windows just to get this damned thing working! I have spent many hours but to no avail.

Thanks for your message and yes I'm nearly at that stage! A re-install would probably do the PC some good anyway, but I thought as a last resort I'd come here before I do that.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Hey
Maybe what i say you allready did but sometimes its just a small thing.
Did you open it as admin? ( I belive so when you into IT sys)
Do you have all your drivers right setup for your hardware?
One option might be something like this https://wpkg.org/Category:Silent_Installers or try to install it silent in CMD. (Im new to IT systems so im not a full pro and dont know if it COULD work)
If not ... format C with win10 and you save all your data dosent take that long. Maybe 2-3h
Good luck

[Mousedevil]

Hi @QueenOfdestiny

Thanks for you reply, I did try running as admin, unfortunately same result and I do indeed have all the correct and updated drivers. In this scenario I see how a silent install would work/help since the application does launch correctly in the first instance, then it crashes and an error is recorded into the event viewer.

Thanks again for your input!

[QueenOfdestiny]

Hmmm...
Maybe someone else could send you the files?
Dunno but it's weird that it just crashes.
What came also in mind is:
Visual Studios?
DirectX?
I just installed aoe3 today and if I remember correctly it will install Visual Studios uhm 2007 then (rl not sure)
Could be a problem here

[Mousedevil]

Hmmm...
Maybe someone else could send you the files?
Dunno but it's weird that it just crashes.
What came also in mind is:
Visual Studios?
DirectX?
I just installed aoe3 today and if I remember correctly it will install Visual Studios uhm 2007 then (rl not sure)
Could be a problem here

Hello,

The disc automatically installs Direct x 9.0 but I made sure I have that and a higher version installed already, Ironically i previously used Visual studio a lot back in 2013, I remember i did have the game back then. Only earlier today did I remove all visual studio related things including various SDKs, since I thought there could be a problem as you suggest. But the same error still occurs.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Hmmm...
Maybe someone else could send you the files?
Dunno but it's weird that it just crashes.
What came also in mind is:
Visual Studios?
DirectX?
I just installed aoe3 today and if I remember correctly it will install Visual Studios uhm 2007 then (rl not sure)
Could be a problem here

Hello,

The disc automatically installs Direct x 9.0 but I made sure I have that and a higher version installed already, Ironically i previously used Visual studio a lot back in 2013, I remember i did have the game back then. Only earlier today did I remove all visual studio related things including various SDKs, since I thought there could be a problem as you suggest. But the same error still occurs.

Lol
Hmmm dunno if there is Smth but did you checked the register for Visual Studios?
Maybe there is still some data left what's blocking/ causing an error.

[Mousedevil]

Hello,

Thanks for the help @QueenOfdestiny but still no success, I'll leave it a little while longer and then I'll have to wipe my drive and hope for the best!

[Mousedevil]

Managed to work after reinstalling Windows