Game crashing when starting any campaign

[vicwilliams101]

• GAME BUILD #: 14355041
• GAME PLATFORM: Steam
• OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 11

I have not been able to play a campaign mission for over 2 weeks, first it was a problem with mods (I do not mod) .I start a campaign it goes to the loading screen then goes back to the main page saying it cannot write null file.

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

^{*How often does the issue occur?}

• 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)

REPRODUCTION STEPS

^{List CLEAR and DETAILED STEPS we can take to reproduce the issue ourselves… Be descriptive!}

Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue:

1. I dont know , just start the game and try to start a campaign.

EXPECTED RESULT

^{What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present? Playing a campaign.}

[Felizon89]

Hi @vicwilliams101
Did you try verifying integrity of game files?

[vicwilliams101]

Yes multiple times as well as installing and uninstalling to different drives.

[Felizon89]

Try this:

1. Delete your user files. For deleting your user files, you have to:

a. Make sure that your Steam Cloud is disabled in Steam, AoE2 game, Properties, General.

b. Go to C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Games\Age of Empires 2 DE.

c. Copy your user folder to a safe place, it has lots of numbers.

d. Delete the original folder

e. Verify your files in Steam, AoE2 game, Properties, Local Files.

f. Open the game again. A new user folder will be created.

If this works, then copy back the files from your old user folder. These files are in this folder -C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Games\Age of Empires 2 DE<0>\Savegame, Recorded Games and Save games.

[vicwilliams101]

Thank you Felizon89 that fixed it, what was the issue corrupted file?

[Felizon89]

Yes, it could be a corrupted file, I’m glad you fixed it

[vicwilliams101]

well not without your help , so thank you again!

[FinancedSpore38]

Hi @Felizon89
I have the same problem.
I’m confused with the step c.
Could you screenshot the whole process?

[IvanHCastro]

Hi @FinancedSpore38

We are not able to screenshot the whole process… The step C, is about coping the information you have inside of your user folder. If ho the location:

“C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Games\Age of Empires 2 DE.”

You will find a folder with a lot of numbers, that is your user folder. There you have saved information such as saved games, custom scenarios, etc. Copy that information to a safe place (another folder that could be located on your desktop, for example), and delete that user folder (step D).

Once you complete steps E and F, you should be able to play the game. If you can, you can copy back the information about your saved games or custom scenarios that you previously saved to a folder on your desktop.