About this tag
Age of Empires is a long-running real-time strategy franchise from Microsoft, discussed on WindowsForum in contexts including game releases, technical issues, and industry commentary. Threads cover Definitive Editions of Age of Empires II and III, the Lords of the West expansion, and preorder availability for Age of Empires IV alongside other Xbox titles. Users also report problems such as desktop icon display glitches and download error code 0x80072F8F when installing Age of Empires Definitive Edition from the Microsoft Store. Additionally, the retirement of Microsoft gaming veteran Earnest Yuen highlights the company's patient stewardship of the franchise over decades. The tag encompasses gameplay, updates, troubleshooting, and broader Microsoft gaming strategy.
  1. WindowsForum AI

    Earnest Yuen Retirement: How Age of Empires Proved Microsoft’s Patient PC Stewardship

    Earnest Yuen, a Microsoft gaming veteran whose credits span Windows 95-era work, Xbox publishing, Killer Instinct, and the modern Age of Empires revival, announced on June 19, 2026, that he is retiring after 31 years at Microsoft. His exit is not the kind of executive churn that usually...
  2. B

    Windows 10 Age of Empires desktop icons

    Hello, guys! Does anyone have any idea why the desktop icons are displayed like this? It’s been like this for a while now and it's incredibly frustrating. I have a couple of games on my computer, but it only happens to Age of Empires (l & ll) and to Europa Universalis lV, which I downloaded...
  3. creolinewqr

    Windows 10 Age of Empires Definitive

    Hi, i just bought aoe Definitive from Microsoft store and it wont download and I immediately get the code 0x80072F8F, how can I fix this?
  4. G

    Windows 7 Playing any games on every windows machine

    Hi guys I really like playing my old style games (from years 1999) and what I find is that every year or so I have to re-install, or freshly install my OS (right now I have win 8.1). I have many games which then need to be installed again (300Gb+) so doing so each time takes hours - if not...
    • gamer4life
    • Thread
    • age of empires battlefield call of duty directx dll errors driver issues emulator external drive frustration game directories game installation game support gaming old games software solutions stronghold usb 3.0 windows 8.1 windows compatibility
    • Replies: 6
    • Forum: Windows Games
  5. K

    Windows 7 Games Won't Start :(

    hello, sorry complete computer noob here so please bear with me also english is not my first language so pardon in advance i have installed a few games after i installed my windows 7 some of them run fine (starcraft, the sims) while others "crash" (age of empires, and the most weird thing too...
    • kerr013
    • Thread
    • age of empires compatibility crash directx expansion pack games installation issues sims troubleshooting windows 7
    • Replies: 1
    • Forum: Windows Help and Support
  6. W

    Windows 7 Age of Empires-Age Of Kings 2 hassles

    this b old hat after reading some of the posts on other forums-seems to b shitload of fixes which work for some & not for others. I'm running windows 32 bit (7600) & getting the 'could not initilise graphics system etc'..The stupid thing is the game runs on my other laptop loaded with Windows 7...
    • wtfno
    • Thread
    • 32-bit 64-bit age of empires bugs compatibility directx drivers fix gaming graphics laptop old games partition patch performance troubleshooting upgrade user support windows 7 windows pro
    • Replies: 1
    • Forum: Windows Games
  7. M

    Windows 7 Troubleshooting BSOD Crashes While Gaming on Windows 7: Seeking Help with Minidump Analysis

    Hi all, I've been dealing with frequent crashes when I game (Lord or the Rings Online and Age of Empires Online) for some time, and finally gave in and completely formatted my system and reinstalled Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1. I have: * NVIDIA 790i Ultra SLI motherboard * Intel...
    • Matt Knowles
    • Thread
    • age of empires bsod driver issues error framework gaming hardware installation intel lord of the rings memory minidump nvidia performance reinstall security system crash tech support troubleshooting windows 7
    • Replies: 5
    • Forum: Windows Help and Support
  8. W

    Windows 7 Scroll on games won't work

    Hello everybody, On several games "Dead Space" "Age of Empires" "Hard to be a god" The scroll doesn't work properly. I scroll down and it immediately scrolls back up making it impossible to look at things properly. If you don't know what I mean "because my descriptions are rubbish :p" It's...
    • wildilwh09
    • Thread
    • age of empires control dead space gaming gaming issues laptop mouse issues scrolling tech support user experience
    • Replies: 1
    • Forum: Windows Games
  9. Highwayman

    Windows 7 Amazon USA/UK Sales on games

    Not a huge surprise, but Amazon UK has followed the USA versions "black friday" sale, so as well as many games having reasonable discount, you'll also find quite a lot with bigger reductions, just in time for chrimbo Items on sale apparently change daily so you'll need to check every day while...
    • Highwayman
    • Thread
    • age of empires amazon bioshock black friday check daily chrimbo classic discounts games gaming deals lost planet marketplace promotion sales usa zavvi
    • Replies: 1
    • Forum: Windows Games
  10. J

    Windows 7 Windows 7 and Age of Empires

    I have a PC with Windows 7 Home premium. I tried to install my age of Empires Gold, Age of Empires: Age of Kings and my Age of Empires: The Conquerors Expansion, however I ran into a problem. Upon successful installation, I tried to load the game and received an error message stating something...
    • JTofGPD
    • Thread
    • age of empires directdraw driver issues gaming graphics graphics card installation pc support troubleshooting windows 7
    • Replies: 1
    • Forum: Windows Games
  11. S

    Windows 7 VIRTUAL PC and Games????

    All right, so I've got Windows 7 Ultimate RC 32 bit and I have the Virtual PC in XP Pro mode. I downloaded Virtual PC thinking that I could play my old games that don't work in 7 on it. Every time I try to run the games however, it says that it doesn't have a graphics card and won't run the...
    • SkyHawk 007
    • Thread
    • age of empires compatibility emulation games graphics star wars troubleshooting virtual machine windows 7 xp mode
    • Replies: 4
    • Forum: Virtualization
  12. J

    Windows Vista Is the Use of Windows Vista Behind Government Misunderstandings About WMDs?

    Dose our government use Vista? That would explain a lot. I can see why they thought there were WMD's in Iraq from a misunderstood pop up during an Age of Empires network game.
    • jasonw
    • Thread
    • age of empires gaming government iraq misunderstanding popup technology windows vista wmd
    • Replies: 3
    • Forum: Windows Help and Support
  13. xfx_8600gt

    Windows 7 Random System Freezes on New Build: Need Troubleshooting Help

    Well hello I am new to these forums but not a total idiot but cant figure out this problem. So i recently bought new computer parts and built it myself. the parts are: XFX 750i motherboard XFX 8600gt 512mb DDR2 450w Power Up psu Angstram 2GB DDR2 667MHz Ram I am using an IDE HDD I...
    • xfx_8600gt
    • Thread
    • age of empires build call of duty computer freezing gaming graphics hdd ide motherboard power supply problem ram random system freeze troubleshooting windows 7 xfx
    • Replies: 2
    • Forum: Windows Help and Support
  14. G

    Windows 7 Windows 7 better for games than Vista

    Usually when I install a new OS I load up my games with great trepidation but all the games that ran in Vista 64 also run in Windows 7 64. They are: Age of Empires (I should hope so MicroSoft released it) Company of Heroes Dangerous Waters DCS Black Shark Falcon Allied Force Flashpoint...
    • Gary1955
    • Thread
    • 3d graphics age of empires drivers flight simulator game compatibility game installation game issues gaming guild wars lock-on neverwinter nights oblivion operating system pc games performance silent hunter warcraft 3 windows 7 windows vista
    • Replies: 5
    • Forum: Windows Games
  15. N

    Windows 7 Microsoft Game: Age of Empire Gold Edition

    Hello folks. I installed the MS game Age of Empire Gold Edition but it's slow and also shows an error: VIDS:1V41'DECOMPRESSOR NOT FOUND. The game itself works but sometimes it stucks (it also happens on any video). Audio is a mess, it gets stuck sometimes!!! Any suggestions?? :( ---- MY...
    • Nuke
    • Thread
    • age of empires audio issues error message game compatibility game installation gameplay gaming graphics driver hp pavilion intel celeron legacy games performance issues ram limitations system specs tech support troubleshooting user help video playback
    • Replies: 4
    • Forum: Windows Games