Game silently crashes after loading map

I am unable to play skirmishes since current season started. I set up a game, and after the loading screen, when I hit the “Play” button, the game silently crashes and the application completely closes with no message.

Game settings I used (as example):
Skirmish game. Micro map size, with sahara desert biome. All victory conditions. I select Malians and an easy random civ AI opponent.

I tried also training (early economy), and campaign normans hastings, and it also crashes in the same way. Haven’t tried multiplayer, as I usually don’t play in that mode.

I tried repair and full uninstall/reinstall.

I usually play skirmish games. Before this season, I usually played 2-3 games weekly with no issues, same computer. After current season, I’ve been unable to play even a single second of any single game. I already tried updating OS, video drivers, and the game itself.

Specs:
Game on steam.
Game version: aoe age4 5.1.148.0
OS: Windows 10 Pro, 21H2.
Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K; 24 GB RAM.
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

I just found some more details about this issue I reported.

I play in windowed mode. If I just use the game window without change (besides moving the window to a secondary monitor), I am able to play without incidents. But if I max the game window before the skirmish game starts (or whatever mode), it just crashes silently.

I will be trying other modes and eventually extend the report based on what I find.

That’s interesting and not ideal! When you maximize the game window and get this crash, can you please contact support with your DxDiag and warnings.log file? Thanks!