Age of Mythology: "Insert the Age of Mythology CD" error - Technology Forum - Home Theater, Computer, Televisions, Personal Electronics and more!

Semona · 08-01-2006, 05:42 AM

It's been a very frustrating night. I recently downloaded the demo version of Microsoft Age of Mythology. It played fine with no problems of any kind. I enjoyed it, so I thought "What the heck?" and went out and bought the full version of "Age of Mythology: Gold Edition".

It seemed to install fine, but as soon as I tried to play, it keeps giving me the error message: "Please insert the Age of Mythology: The Titans CD-ROM, select OK, and restart the game". The disk in the drive IS the Titans Play Disc... it says so right on it. I put the disk back in, hit the OK button, and the same thing happens.

I know the CD drive is supposed to be 32X, but I have a PlexCombo 20/10/40-12A and that means it SHOULD have a top speed of 40X. The rest of the ystem description: PIII 733MHz, 126MB RAM, Win 98SE, Maxtor 100GB HD (with lots of free space).

Am I doing something stupid here? Anyone have any suggestions? I'd hate to think I just flushed $30 on a pair of fancy drink coasters.

ITRocks · 08-01-2006, 05:43 AM

I have recently had the same problem as you describe.
When trying to have a LAN with my friends i realized i had the gold edition of the game (which includes the titans expansion), whereas my friends only had the standard Age of Myhtology.
Therefore, i installed the standard game as well with one of my friends discs, this resulted in both games crashing or simply not opening when i tried to run either the standard or gold edition.

My thought is that there is a conflict in the registry, even though both games are installed in seperate places.

Your system should be fine but what could be the problem is that your Gold edition could be conflicting with the demo, if you still have that installed i would reccomend uninstalling it.

If that fails then try reinstalling your Gold edition.

Cyborg · 08-01-2006, 05:43 AM

it is always a good idea to remove a demo before installing the full version, no matter what game.

Uninstall both the demo and the full version, and then reinstall the full version and see if it works. Let us know how you go.

Semona · 08-01-2006, 05:43 AM

Actually, I'd already done just that. I got rid of the demo completely, then did the first install. When I had troubles, I went in, ran CCleaner, emptied the Temp folder, searched around a bit to find any other spots the old demo might be hiding files, then ran an uninstall of the full program. Finally, I did a full reinstall. When I did the uninstall and reinstall, I was able to get the game to play, but only from the installation completion point. Now, it's doing the same thing again, even though I was able to play the disc for a couple of hours last night.

Next thing I'm going to try is doing a clean boot to the game... if I can figure just how to do.

Oh, any idea of where the conflicting file might be hiding? Or what it might be named? I'm willing to run a few searches if it might fix the problem.

BTW, thanks for the suggestions.

TechBoy · 08-01-2006, 05:44 AM

I've got a semi-crazy idea for you. Find the game .exe file in the install directory, and run that instead of going through the desktop shortcut. If that works, just remake the shortcut and all should be well.

Cyborg · 08-01-2006, 05:44 AM

Do you have another CD ROM available to try? The fact that it installs fine should mean the drive is okay, but try another anyway, if you can.

If you would like this thread moved, PM a moderator, and they will move it for you.

Semona · 08-01-2006, 05:44 AM

I appreciate the idea, but no dice. The install folder has two .exe files... AOM.exe and AOMX.exe. The first gives me a message to "insert the correct CD and restart", while the second gives me the same message as before.

Is there any way to bypass all this? Currently, the only way I can get the game to run at all is to uninstall, then reinstall, and when it gets to the final installation screen, trigger the program button from the Win98 menu. That's a lot of work for a flippin' game.

Oh, and if I try to use the "run game in window" option from inside the AOMG program, it puts the game in a window for about two seconds, then reverts to the full screen version, but now the options button is inoperative.

I know AOM is a SafeDisc program, and that some CD drives have problems with that, but I'm running a legit disc, not a copy, and I don't find anyone saying that a PlexCombo has SafeDisc issues. (The manufacturer isn't making the PlexCombo 20/10/40-12A any more, so there is limited support available that way.)

Do you think I need to take this thread to another forum, like Windows or Hardware?