Hi,

Whenever I try to launch the game, I get a black screen (game trying to start up) that closes after a second, after that I get an error message saying the following:

"Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your video card and driver are compatible with DirectDraw."

I looked everywhere, and all "solutions" that I can find are not working for me.

When I play via Steam there is no problem at all and it runs just fine.

Settings are the same as in below picture (this should solve this problem normally)
http://www.voobly.com/files/view/31695090/db4efrmhsw88gf2wefkakbmj9nqvfr7r/VGR8.png

If anyone has an idea how to solve this, please let me know.

hi
what resolution is the game set to run in? try un-ticking the "force desk top ". start a game in single player or off of voobly and from options on start screen, set it to the lowest. 800x600 i think it is and then see.

Having the same issue except i also can't load the game offline or in single player. same error code

If you are unable to launch the game (offline) after a fresh install then you probably did not install the game correctly.

Where did you buy the game from?
Did you install the game from the original CD?
Please run the game diagnostics and share the outcome with me. You will find this option in here:
[You must login to view link]

Please follow the steps mentioned here to perform a clean installation of the game:
http://support.voobly.com/display/vkb/KB1019+Clean+installation+of+Age+of+Empires+II+with+the+latest+patches

I tried this and it just gave me the same error.

I bought the game on steam.
I have also tried getting it to work with the CD installation, that one does work, but not via voobly.

This saturday I should have some time to run the game diagnostics and will share it with you then.