Known graphics issues in Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends (917715)

MORE INFORMATION

General troubleshooting information

Install the latest drivers

If you are experiencing graphics problems, a black (blank) screen, or slow performance in Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, download and then install the latest driver for your video card.

The video card lets you see graphics on the screen. A driver is a piece of software that enables the operating system (Microsoft Windows) to communicate with the hardware in the computer. A driver acts as a translator between your hardware and the operating system. The latest driver for your video card can enable more efficient use of your video card features to improve the performance of the game. Generally companies release their drivers regularly for the cards to keep up the pace with the ever-changing software technologies.

To download and install the latest drivers, contact the computer or video hardware manufacturer. For more information about how to contact the video hardware manufacturer or the computer manufacturer, see the "References" section.

To see whether applicable driver updates are available for download, visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site: To view a video presentation about how to install the latest video card drivers from the Windows Update Web site, see the "Additional information" section.

To identify the name and manufacturer of your video adapter, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
2. Click the Display tab.
3. Under Device, look for Name and Manufacturer.
4. Click Exit.

General game issues

You may experience the following issues when you play Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends.

Display issues with monitors and resolution

For some computer monitors, certain resolutions may cause display problems. Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends provides support for many resolution settings based on the settings that your video card supports. However, the monitor may not support all the resolution settings. Any display problems that you experience when you play Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends may occur because of your display configuration. The display configuration includes the video card, the monitor, and the drivers.

We recommend that you try the various resolutions in Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends so that you can revert to another setting if the monitor does not support a chosen resolution. For information about the native resolutions of the monitor, see the monitor documentation or visit the monitor manufacturer's Web site.

Issues when you try to exit the game

When you press ALT+F4 on Name-Input screen to exit the game, you receive a black screen. Additionally, you do not exit the game. To exit the game, follow these steps:

1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL.
2. Click Task Manager.
3. Select Rise of Legends.
4. Click End Process.

Hardware color-cursor support and game resolution

When you run Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends on computers that do not contain hardware color-cursor support, you cannot change the bit-depth by using the Graphics Options panel in the game. To change the bit depth to 16-bit or to 32-bit, follow these steps:

1. Exit the game.
2. Click Start, click Run, type desk.cpl, and then click OK.
3. On the Settings tab, select 16-bit or select 32-bit color quality.

Video hardware specific issues

• An AGP texture acceleration warning appears on a computer that is using a PCI video card
  You may receive this warning on a computer that is using low specification video cards.
• Purple lines appear across some game buttons
  Computers that have a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1300 PCI-Express 512MB video board might display purple lines across game buttons.

Specific video hardware error messages

Error Message	Resolution
Your graphics driver may be too old to run Rise of Legends. If you wish to update your drivers, please contact your computer manufacturer for any necessary assistance. Additionally, you may receive the following error message: This video card driver is not recommended for use with Rise of Legends. Please download the latest drivers from your manufacturer's website and check the readme file for any additional details.	This issue may occur if Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends detects that the computer video hardware drivers do not meet the minimum system requirements. For information about how to update the drivers, contact the computer manufacturer or the manufacturer of the video card. To see whether applicable updates are available, visit the following Windows Update Web site: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com To view a video presentation about how to install the latest video card drivers from the Windows Update Web site, see the "Additional information" section.
Your video hardware is below the recommended minimum requirements for Rise of Legends. If you wish to upgrade your computer, please contact your computer manufacturer for any necessary assistance. Additionally, you may receive the following error messages: Your video hardware has been found to not work correctly with Rise of Legends and is currently unsupported. If you wish to upgrade your computer, please contact your computer manufacturer for any necessary assistance. This video card is not recommended for use with Rise of Legends. Please check the readme file for any additional details	You receive this error message when your specific video hardware is incompatible with Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. To resolve this issue, purchase and then install a graphics adapter that is supported by Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. For more information about how to upgrade your graphics hardware, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/games/learnmore/videocard101.mspx To obtain or to install a graphics adapter on the computer, contact the computer manufacturer. Additionally, you can view and compare features and prices of different video cards. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://windowsmarketplace.com Type video cards in the Search box, and then press ENTER. You receive a list of the most popular video cards that are available. For more information about video cards that are unsupported by Rise of Legends, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 917717 The minimum system requirements for Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends If you do not want to install a graphics adapter that is supported by Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, you can return the game for a refund. For information about the Microsoft Satisfaction Guarantee, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/productrefund/refund.asp
Rise of Legends requires at least a 64 MB video card. This computer appears to have a less than 64 MB video card. If you wish to upgrade your computer, please contact your computer manufacturer for any necessary assistance. Additionally, you may receive the following error messages: Rise of Legends requires accelerated transform and lighting video hardware. This video card appears to not support this feature. If you wish to upgrade your computer, please contact your computer manufacturer for any necessary assistance. Your system does not appear to meet the minimum requirements for Rise of Legends. Running the game on systems that do not meet the minimum requirements may result in instability, graphics corruption, and/or severe performance problems. If you wish to upgrade your computer, please contact your computer manufacturer for any necessary assistance	You receive these error messages when you use certain video cards that have less than 64 MB of memory. Or, if a video card does not support the Hardware Transform and Lighting feature. Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends requires the Hardware Transform and Lighting feature. To resolve this issue, purchase and then install a graphics adapter that is supported by Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. For more information about how to upgrade your graphics hardware, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/games/learnmore/videocard101.mspx To obtain or to install a graphics adapter on the computer, contact the computer manufacturer. Additionally, you can view and compare features and prices of different video cards. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://windowsmarketplace.com Type video cards in the Search box, and then press ENTER. You receive a list of the most popular video cards that are available. For more information about video cards that are unsupported by Rise of Legends, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 917717 The minimum system requirements for Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends If you do not want to install a graphics adapter that is supported by Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, you can return the game for a refund. For information about the Microsoft Satisfaction Guarantee, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/productrefund/refund.asp
Graphics services failed to initialize. Please make sure that your video card and drivers are correctly installed, and are compatible with Rise of Legends.	This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true: The game cannot correctly initialize DirectDraw or Direct3D to display the game. The monitor cannot work with the resolution and the refresh rate that is selected. A program or programs on the system are interfering with Direct3D. For example, you may experience this issue when you use programs such as Refreshlock, Refreshforce, or NetMeeting. Remove or disable these programs on the computer. The DirectX installation is corrupted. The video hardware acceleration is disabled on the computer. To resolve this issue, set the game to run in a window or adjust the the game resolution. To run the game in a window, follow these steps: Start Microsoft Windows Explorer and then locate the following folder that is specific to your profile: My Documents\My Games\Rise Of Legends In the Rise of Legends folder, right-click personal.ini, and then click Open With. In the Open With dialog box, click Notepad, and then click OK. On the Edit menu in Notepad, click Find. In the Find what box, type FullScreen, and then click Find Next. Click Cancel. Change FullScreen=1 to FullScreen=0. On the File menu, click Save. On the File menu, click Exit. To run the game at a custom windowed resolution, follow these steps: Start Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then locate the following folder that is specific to your profile: My Documents\My Games\Rise Of Legends In the Rise of Legends folder, right-click personal.ini, and then click Open With. In the Open With dialog box, click Notepad, and then click OK. On the Edit menu in Notepad, click Find. In the Find what box, type Windowed Width, and then click Find Next. Click Cancel. Change both Windowed Width= and Windowed Height= to a value in pixels that is supported by both your video hardware and display. On the File menu, click Save. On the File menu, click Exit. If the issue continues to occur, you have to perform troubleshooting steps to identify the actual cause of the issue. For more information about how to troubleshoot this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 191660 Games: The DirectDraw option or the Direct3D option is unavailable when you start games for Windows

Additional information

For more information about how to update your graphics adapter drivers by using the Microsoft Windows Update Web site, click Play to view this streaming media presentation: The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.