OK DXPORT works for me. I run windows ME on both comps I can have two comps join a game on the zone, get to the game without 30 pings and then I can even guess what,..... Play the derned thing whilst peeking over my shoulder and watching my buddy play too!!!! I have the befsr41 linksys router I cannot host and have the other comp join that game but we can join any other games together. I did have to toss my Directx 9.0 though and this is how a microsoft employee told me to do it:
(Be aware I also found a site where you can get DX version 8.1 so skip the gleaning of your cd if you want.)
DX 8.1 site:
www.voodoofiles.com/5092
I have a few steps to reinstall the older version of DirectX on the system.
Copy DirectX from the Game CD to Your Desktop (Or copy DirectX 8.1 if you have
it in some game CD or other product see above ref.)
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1. Insert the Age of Empires: Age of Kings Disc 1 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.
Press and hold down the SHIFT key when you insert the CD-ROM to prevent the
program from starting automatically.
Note: If the game runs automatically, cancel or exit the window.
3. Double-click My Computer, right-click the game disc icon, and click Open.
4. Right-click DirectX folder and choose Copy.
5. Close all the windows.
6. Right-click anywhere on your Desktop and choose Paste.
7. When copy process is complete, lets exit to Safe mode.
Step 2: Exit to Safe Mode
-------------------------
To do this, use the appropriate method for your version of Microsoft Windows:
Restart Windows 98 or Windows Me:
Restart your computer, press and hold down the CTRL key after the computer
completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then select Safe Mode from the
Startup menu. When Windows starts in Safe mode, click OK.
Note: When you are in Safe mode the words "Safe mode" appear in all four corners
of the screen.
Step 3: Remove DirectX registry key
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IMPORTANT: This response contains information about modifying the registry.
Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you
understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information
about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the foll
owing article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry
http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... US;Q256986
To delete the DirectX registry keys:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type "regedit" (without the quotation marks), and
then click OK.
3. Click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DirectPlay
4. On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
5. In the "File name" box, type "DPlay.reg" (without the quotation
marks).
6. Click Save.
7. Right-click the DirectPlay registry key, and then click Delete.
8. Click Yes, to confirm the deletion.
9. Click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DirectX
10. On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
11. In the "File name" box, type "DX.reg" (without the quotation marks).
12. Click Save.
13. Right-click the DirectX registry key, and then click Delete.
14. Click Yes, to confirm the deletion.
15. Quit Registry Editor.
16. Restart your computer in Safe Mode.
Re-Install Older DirectX
------------------------------
To reinstall DirectX follow these steps:
1. Double-click DirectX folder on your Desktop.
2. Double-click Dxsetup.exe.
3. When prompted "This will install Microsoft DirectX. "Do you wish to
continue?", click Yes. Click Yes again to accept the License Agreement and then
follow directions on your screen.
5. Reboot when prompted.
6. When you get back to Windows, start the game. Please feel free to inform me
of the status of the issue after trying the steps above.
Please feel free to inform me of the status of the issue after trying the step
above.
Hope this helps somebody as this DX 9.0 uninstaller thing looks complicated.
I'm sure we were all hoping that microsoft would fix this stuff. One thing you can try if you want to keep DirectX 9 is to turn UPnP off on the router, this will prevent DirectX 9 from screwing with it.