Finally an important error message popped up.
I was about to edit my scenario, and it once again showed an SLD sprite issue as soon as I loaded the scenario. After several experiences of this issue, I guessed a possible reason.
My recent SLD sprite issues happened especially when I already played the game or surfed on the internet for a long time. When I play the game early without no other internet activities, the SLD issue didn’t significantly pop up but rather even let me listen to a music video on YouTube for my editing a scenario.
So, what I guessed was the SLD error message is maybe because the game fails to load its proper sprite file but refers to an invalid one. I still think this is the reason why especially I have that issue now.
A few minutes ago, I finally got a crucial Windows error message: OOM (Out of memory).
Oh, god…! Having searched for that, now I think I figured out the biggest problem: the memory of my PC.
Then, everything makes sense. As my PC is overloaded due to the OOM issue after a long time of playing game or doing something, the game sometimes fails to load proper SLD files for sprites. Also, it may cause some freezing issues.
Now I’ve set the memory range for my C: drive after searching for the error.
I wish my game won’t crash like that again.
Otherwise, the only way to fix it is changing my PC.
Well, I think AOE2: DE became very heavy after the 3K patch.
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If you have some crash issues especially after the 3K patch, try securing your memory. You can get proper information by searching for “OOM issue” on Google.
If it doesn’t help, then I guess you need to prepare a new graphic card or even a new PC.