This post is for those who love Age of Empires games and they want to play the HD release but instead of the map they see black screen. Don’t worry and there is an easy and fast solution for this. It happened to me on Windows 7 so I can’t say if it is Windows 7 specific problem or a general one. Also, it depends if you installed through Steam or normally. I provide both solutions which are basically the same.
Steps to fix the problem through normal installation:
Step 1: Find the game shortcut (AOE2 HD) or create it if it is not already there
Step 2: Right click and select Properties
Step 3: In the end of the target path, after the quotes (“) leave a space and put this option -nostartup. Then press Apply and OK to save the changes. Now the target should be like this “<Game Path>” -nostartup
Steps to fix the problem through Steam
Step 1: Locate AOE2 HD and go into its properties
Step 2: Type -nostartup in the game launch options
Both solutions are the same, the game needs this launch option. There is no problem with your card and you don’t have to update your graphics card. All you need to do is to put the option and then enjoy playing the game.
where do i write the -nostartup part dont know what you mean
If you don’t have the shortcut find the game, right click and select send to > Desktop (create shortcut). Now find the shortcut right click, select properties. A new window will appear, find the target field. It is the path of the game, add quotes if there are not there, at the beginning and the end of the path for example "C:\Games\AoE" and add the -nostartup after the quotes. At the end it should be like this "C:\Games\AoE" -nostartup
Thank u bro
U r awesome
Thanks a LOT!
You are welcome. I am glad I helped.
Hi, how do I fix the problem on Mac OS X ? I have the same black screen problem, the game starts up, I got the menu, the sound, but a black screen on the game play. Where do I pu «nostartup» on Mac? I can’t open properties…
I’ve never used Mac but I can give you some workarounds. If you use Steam you can select “Set launch options” and give -nostartup as parameter. Another option is to use the alternative to command line and give the parameter there. Last one is to use run command and give the path to the executable followed by the -nostartup option (<path_to_game_executable> -nostartup).
You Are The Man!!! A day and a half of trying a million possibilities and then this. A million thank you’s are not nearly enough : )
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH YOU ARE AWESOME !!!!
1000% Work,….. awesome thank you very much,.. muach,..muachh,..
WOW! Great I got the solution.
THANKS!
IWEBMAKER.
You are welcome
hey man,
I can enter the game (aoe2 non steam) but when I trying to play I get black screen. I’m using Wine Windows Program Loader to run games on LINUX.
I fix that black screen for linux.
if anyone got this error, TRY THIS:
select all folders and files -> RIGHT CLICK-> PERMISION -> VIEW CONTENT ( ANYONE) , CHANGE CONTENT (ANYONE) , EXECUTE ( ANYONE)
hope this help
Thank you Edi for sharing the fix for Linux
Thank you a lot! For those using Wine on mac: -nostartup is an “EXE flag”!
Gigi, could you explain that more thoroughly please. What is an exe flag? Please explain in simple words because I don’t know a lot about wine. Thanks for everything
Thank you Gigi , I added in the wine advanced configuration of the wrapper -nostart in the EXEflag line , works perfectly !
Thank you so much non steam install on windows 10 works!
Good evening! Unfortunately I have the same problem on my Mac, downloaded using Wine. I don’t know how I can add an exe flag (-nostartup). Can anybody tell me what to do exactly? Do I need another program or can I just use wine and where can I add the flag? Thanks!
Hi,
In case you wonder / still struggling how to use the -nostartup EXEflag :
It is basically an argument.
Here is how
“`
$ wine AoK\ HD.exe -nostartup
“`
Cheers
Thanks my man! +10 karma for you
Having trouble with getting this fix to work on mac. I can get it to work when I directly open the exe file with wine but upon starting a new match or campaign the gameplay view is just black. So basically I can’t find where to put in this -nostartup command. The torrent came with Wineskin and here the command is already in the configuration. I can’t seem to get wine and wineskin to work together. how do they relate to one another? This is quite difficult to explain I realise. Any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers
I am sorry to hear that. I am not a Mac user but there are comments from mac users that were able to fix it. From a quick search I found that Wine is a Linux program and Wineskin is a Mac version of that.
Hello please help with mac :((
i have black screen and i dont have steam, please help 😉
Hi miniek, there are two solutions, first one is without steam
Hi mati, please read other user comments for mac
Thanx, a million, mate.
Solution no. 1 work!!!!!
Ubuntu 20.04 hatchling here. Mini map and other UI looks and works normal. tired Edi’s May 2017 method in a way i understood it. didnt work. can somebody help me please?
THANKS A LOT !!!!!
Worked for me. You’re a genius 😉
What does no startup change by the way?