Error message when you start Age of Empires III: "Age of empires has encountered a problem and needs to close" (912070)

SYMPTOMS

When you start Microsoft Age of Empires III, you may receive the following error message:

Age of empires has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

To see what data this error report contains, click here

When you view the data in the error report, the report contains an error signature that is similar to the following:

Application name  Application version  Module name  Module version  Offset
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   age3.exe        4.105.919.3236     d3d9.dll  5.3.2600.2180  000f7e96

Note You may notice that you receive the same error message on subsequent tries.

Additionally, when you start the game after you install the game update version 1.02 or a later update version, you may receive the following error message:

Your video hardware is below the recommended minimum requirements for Age of Empires III.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if the video hardware that you use does not support the Hardware Transform and Lighting feature. For example, you will experience this issue when you use the Intel 82945G Express Chipset.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, you must upgrade your video hardware if it is unsupported.

For more information about video hardware devices that are not supported by Age of Empires III, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

907884 The minimum system requirements for Age of Empires III

MORE INFORMATION

For information about how to contact video hardware manufacturers, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K

60781 Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P

60782 Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.
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.