You can reinstall the game again from the Windows store. It should be listed there as purchased product and you can click on install to install the game again.
If this does not help there must be another issue with your Windows installation or (pre)loaded applications. Like the used antivirus scanner, update of display and or system drivers by manually going through devices. Well get to that step eventually if you manage to hold on.
Imho MS should offer their customer some more help in private sessions or even using remote support, but how to find and get qualified support engineers who are not busy yet with normal business customers.
So I will still try to help you as much as possible, but it looks like you need some on hands professional assistance to solve the issue that is breaking your experience. I have been looking for older topics handling this error, because I can remember some important tips in there, but these were all cleaned up already by the moderator.
Thank you very much for your assistance to this point. I still feel somewhat ‘dead in the water’ with regard to my issues however. Should I try to contact Microsoft directly?
Nevertheless, I will try to remove and re-install the game and will update this thread with the results.
EDIT - I will add that it’s very curious that I experienced exactly the same issue on two different computers as described. How can that be given the difference and history of the two (the Lenovo is less than a year old and the Surface is less than 2 weeks old) if the issue is caused by some a) malware, b) profile configuration and c) system drivers or devices? Both systems are running Windows 10 v1803 build 17134.407; the Lenovo is 16GB and the Surface is 8GB; both systems are running the AOE game at the highest resolution.
I uninstalled the game, shut down the computer, and after 10 minutes restarted the computer and installed the game which I then restarted. I still have no rollover tooltips in that bottom left-hand panel. I don’t know what more I can do…
By the way, I see that there is at least one other user who has posted the SAME issue (and this user has taken all the same steps I have (User name is BraHak, I believe).
Ah you found it, great. That work around is indeed about deleting and adding your MS account again. For that you need a separate local administrator account. It’s quite cumbersome solution but might help you. If you have created that local administrator account (non MS sign in) then you could try running the game there too. But you did try that one already, didn’t you?
No, if it works it means that your MS account profile got damaged.
This you can solve by making back-up first of important stuff and data in it and after that while using the new local administrator account delete the defective MS account.
You can check before and after in C:\Users if the profile folder has been deleted correctly. If succeeded you can go to settings -> accounts -> other users again to add your MS account again. Make it an administrator after adding, sign out and sign in again using the MS account, You should be getting a fresh profile and maybe at that time your problem might be solved.
Unless you store all your important documents and pictures in OneDrive, there might be a lot of data in local storage folders (Documents, Favorites, Desktop, Pictures Videos etcetera).
I would test first below fresh local administrator account though, because if it fails there too the chance is really high recreating your MS profile will not help at all.
Could you give a little bit more details about that Lenovo with 16 GB memory. I would like to look up the system specifications, for that I need the model type.
Login to the Microsoft Store app on the other Windows user account using the same Microsoft Account which was used to purchase the game. Search the Microsoft Store app for the game, install and run. It will download and install quickly because it will use the game files from your original Windows user profile.
I’m not able to make AoE run in my local account. When I click on the shortcut I copied from the Microsoft account, I see the opening page with AoE logo, and then it closes with no further activity. If I try RadiatingBlade’s suggestion and use my Microsoft identity to log in to the Microsoft store, then it shows AoE as being already installed. When I elect to play, the game starts but with my BaldingBubble identity. Am I missing something?
No, it’s correct that the game starts with your BaldingBubble identiy. It takes over the entity from the MS store and uses it to sign in with the game and Xbox live services.
Okay, does not matter, but for sure feels like being lost even more. We are getting further to the source and cause of the problem this way. So running though MS account sign in not working, running through local admin account not working either. Please try the following.
Use Cortana search and type cmd, right click and choose run as administrator.
In the command prompt type the following and press enter: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
This might take a while up to 20 minutes.
When finished type the following and press enter: sfc /scannow
When finished reboot your computer and try to launch the game. Please delete that shortcut copied from your old profile. Just use Cortana search or Microsoft store to launch the game. You can right click in Cortana search on AOE DE to add the game to your start menu or taskbar.
All this while using your local administrator account.
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