Age of Empires III video problem

I've received recently an email from someone trying to play Age of Empires III but having video problems regarding the game:

so when i try to play my aoe 3 game it says that i need to update my video hardware but i cant seem to find the right update online. i can still play the game but its all slow and choppey and suck all i want to do is play the game shit please help!

This seems as a hardware upgrade related problem. First you would need to verify if your system meets the minimum requirements to play Age of Empires III:
• Microsoft Windows XP
• A computer that has a 1.4 gigahertz (GHz) processor
• 256 megabytes (MB) of system RAM
• A hard disk that has at least 2 gigabytes (GB) of available space
• A 32x speed CD drive
• A 64 MB video card that supports Hardware Transform and Lighting
• An audio card and speakers or headphones
• A Microsoft mouse or a compatible pointing device
• A 56.6 kilobytes per second (KBps) or faster Internet connection for online play
• DirectX 9.0c
Note These are the minimum system requirements that a computer must have to run Age of Empires III. You may experience increased performance on computers that exceed these requirements.

You can use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to view the computer information and to verify whether the computer meets the minimum required settings to run Age of Empires III. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
2. On the System tab, view the processor details and the memory details.
3. Click the Display tab.
4. In the Device area, note the name of the video card and its approximate total memory.
5. Click Exit.

You could also verify if your video card is supported by AOE III. According to this microsoft technote, these are the video cards not supported in AOE III:
• 3dfx• Banshee
• Rush (Alliance)
• Rush (Macronix)
• Voodoo 1
• Voodoo 2
• Voodoo 3
• Voodoo 4
• Voodoo 5

• 3D Labs • GLiNT
• GLiNT 300SX
• GLiNT 500TX
• GLiNT G1
• GLiNT MX
• Oxygen Series Gamma2
• Oxygen Series R3
• Oxygen Series R4
• Permedia
• Permedia 1
• Permedia 2
• Permedia 3
• Permedia 4

• ATI• ATI ES1000
• IGP 340M
• Mach 32
• Mach 64
• Mobility Fire GL
• Mobility Radeon 7000 IGP
• Radeon 7000 IGP
• Rage 128
• Rage 128 Pro
• Rage Fury Pro-MAXX
• Rage II
• Rage II+
• Rage IIC
• Rage LT
• Rage LT Pro
• Rage Mobility
• Rage Mobility 128
• Rage Pro
• Rage XC
• Rage XL

• Chromatic• MPact

• Cirrus• CL4610
• CL4614
• CL5462
• CL6729
• GD5430
• GD5434
• GD5436
• GD5446
• GD5464
• GD5465
• GD5480
• GD7543
• GD7548

• Compaq • QVision

• Digital• TGA
• TGA2

• Guillemot • GeForce 256
• TNT2
• TNT2 M64
• TNT2 Ultra
• TNT Vanta

• Intel• 810
• 810e
• 815
• 740
• 752
• 830
• 845
• 865G
• 915
• 945

• Matrox • Millennium
• Mystique
• Millennium II
• G100 PCI
• G100 AGP
• G200 PCI
• G200 AGP
• Fusion G450
• G400-450
• Mistral
• G550

• NeoMagic • 128
• 128ZV
• 128XD
• 256AV
• 256ZX
• 256XL

• Number Nine• Revolution 3D
• Revolution IV

• nVidia• GeForce 256
• GeForce 256 DDR
• GeForce 256 Quadro
• GeForce 256 Ultra
• NV 1
• NV 2
• Riva 128
• Riva 128 ZX
• TNT
• TNT Vanta
• TNT2
• TNT2 Aladdin
• TNT2 M64
• TNT2 Ultra

• Rendition• Verite 1000
• Verite 2100

• S3• Aurora 128
• Graphics Twister
• ProSavage
• Savage 2000
• Savage 3D
• Savage 3D S3
• Savage 3D S4
• Savage IX
• Savage MX
• Savage4 ProSavage
• SuperSavage 128 IX
• SuperSavage 128 IX DDR
• SuperSavage 128 MX
• SuperSavage IX
• SuperSavage IX DDR
• SuperSavage IXC DDR
• SuperSavage IXC SDR
• Trio 3D
• Trio 64
• Trio 64 DX
• Trio 64 Plus
• Trio3D
• Virge
• Virge DXGX
• Virge GX2
• Virge MX
• Virge MXC

• Silicon Motion• Lynx 3D
• Lynx 3DM

• SiS• 305
• 315
• 530
• 650
• 6205
• 6215
• 6326

• ST Microelectronics• Kyro I-II

• Trident • 975
• 9753
• 3D Image
• Blade 3D
• Cyber
• Cyber XP5
• Cyber9320
• Cyber9385
• Cyber9388
• Cyber9397
• Cyber9397 DVD
• Cyber9520
• Cyber9520 DVD
• CyberBlade E4
• CyberBlade i7
• CyberBlade XP
• CyberBlade XPm

• Tsend Labs• ET4000
• ET6000
• ET6300

• VIA • CLE266
• KM400
• VIAS3G UniChrome Pro IGP

• VideoLogic• PowerVR
• PowerVR2

• Weitek• P9000
• P9100

Microsoft has also a list of Known Graphics issues in Age of Empires III and also a solutions center for Video related problems in AOE III.

Boy this game does have its problems. There is another huge post on this Age of Empires III forum regarding problems with AOE III.
If any of these solutions doesn't work then maybe someone else could give a solution if you give more details about this problem.

FAREWELL (c) Myth

It seems one of the "major groups from the scene" retired. Maybe they got busted or something, who knows. Just found their farewell notice and thought to share it. What? No, no, I'm not enjoying this ;):


FAREWELL (c) Myth

° RELEASE SIZE : RELEASE DATE : 10/2005 °
° PROTECTION : ° Ü

°°° °ß °° Û °°° ° ° °[ RELEASE NOTES ] ° ° °° Üþ°°°° ° ° °°° °

READ THIS NFO PROPERLY & UNDERSTAND IT!

A group built off the ashes of two others. Two top groups putting
aside their differences to merge and make something brilliant. The
first title we put out was C&C TS - FIRESTORM *STANDALONE* back in
2000. The amount of major titles since then is unbelieveable, regardless
of what some people may try to get you to think. Unlike our competitors
egos did not make us decide to call it quits. A dying rip scene and a
dying scene all together made this choice for us.

We were a group of passionate friends, a group that was known to push
the boundaries and vocalized our opinions without hesitation.
Not only were we friends online, we were known to go and meet yearly
in various places around the world. Although we have found ourselves
making allegiances with unworthy individuals on more then one occasion,
we learned from it.

Many nights we recall sitting up and having complete cohesion in the
group and beating a rival by a matter of seconds. We also remember
being on the opposite side and losing that title. Many have come and
gone, but none of these people will be forgotten. We were here for
the competition, here for the fun and most of all, the friendship.
When we leave we like to think we made an impact.

We were the first to take the initiative on a dying scene and create
new rules, twice.

We once again showed true innovation on the first DVDRip of all games
groups in the scene back in 2003.

While the competition struggled with protections like Safedisc 3 and
Starfoce, we were the first to beat them.

No other group supported the titles they released as much as us.
We were the most active games group doing trainers. We released hundreds
of crack updates and patches when the competition would lack the patience
to continuously keep active.

Some majors that were most anticipated we released included:

Empire Earth I & II
Stronghold II
Grand Theft Auto III
Warcraft III: Frozen Throne
Colin McRae 04
Lords of the Realm III
Homeworld
Neverwinter Nights

These are just a very few of the many major titles we released.
We believe that the rip scene is one of incredible skill. Not only
is there the cracking talent needed to be successful like that of ISO,
you must have dedicated coders and rippers to fully complete the task.
Much time is needed to perfect a rip like that of Neverwinter Nights.
(We'll never forget you old friend) With the faster speed of the
internet, equates to less usage of rips and just makes it not worth it.
When you are releasing upwards of 30 games a month some months, and you
know not many people are downloading them. It hardly gives you the
rush of winning the title. We see groups throw out games now with stolen
cracks and are completely non-working. These titles are not nuked, as no
one even notices anymore, indeed a sad time in the scene.

We look at the state of everything now, P2P, torrents, ISONEWS and
NForce. While people believe that these things do not damage the scene
they are of course incorrect. NForce and ISONEWS gives the scene too much
exposure. When anyone, from some lamer can type in an address, and read
sometimes sensitive information, and see what has been released
is of course not a good thing. Now millions of people can download
off P2P or torrents with a few clicks. People wonder why there is so
many busts, it's because of the exposure. Now it's not a few hundred
thousand copies lost for the software developer, it's millions.

MYTH being as innovative as we have been, had some plans to change this
but we realize no one really cares anymore. For those that want to change
the scene as much as we did, here's a few ideas to make it secure.

- Automate all trading, get rid of the middle man. Something that has
been talked about numerous times, just no follow through.
- Add a demo to the exe of the game itself to show the info on the game
rather than a NFO. Make it a image that is constantly moving so you
cannot screenshot it. Thus killing off sites like ISONEWS and NForce.
- Perhaps standardize a way of crypting releases, we know the burden
that comes with this option, but this could possibly kill off P2P and
torrent, making it safer for everyone again.
- Groups and members of old must realize this is a new scene not
the one they were used to, adapt.

As we have adapted before we will go into hibernation and get ready
to adapt again. Will MYTH be back? I would say yes. But we will not let
some old member get an approval to restart it. Or somebody with motivation
ask permission to bring back a legendary group. The only way this group
will be coming back is if one of the last leaders is active in the group,
otherwise it's just not the same.

Considering the amount of people that helped this group I could go on
forever thanking, but I would like to just keep it to a minimum.

Thanks to:

All those you made this group something special, even though in the
last year or 2 some split off, you will still be remembered for the
contributions you made to this group. We salute our old competition, thanks
for driving us to work harder and faster. Special thanks to the Ducks of
old, you guys will be greatly
missed.

- G & L

P.S. - If you are going to steal one of the most respected names in PC
GAME ISO history, do not release a comeback title like Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Amateurs. Sad to see such a great name be stolen and
used, and not even release anywhere like it used to, with less
competition then ever before. Get a clue and throw the towel in.

°° °Üþ °°° ° ßÜ þ [ RELEASE COMMENT ] ° Ü þß °° ° Ü °°

The group that never sold!
2000-2005