Overview
Because STEAM failed to install some dependencies.
TL;DR
- Go to AOE II HD installed location (the final folder name should be Age2HD).
- Open _CommonRedist folder.
- Open DirectX folder, then open June2010 folder and then run DXSETUP.EXE.
- Back to _CommonRedist folder, then open vcredist folder, then open 2012 folder and run vcredist_x86.exe for 32-bits Windows or run vcredist_x64.exe for 64-bits Windows.
- Back to vcredist folder, then run 2013 folder and open vcredist_x86.exe for 32-bits Windows or run vcredist_x64.exe for 64-bits Windows.
- Back to vcredist folder, then open 2015 folder and run vcredist_x86.exe for 32-bits Windows or run vcredist_x64.exe for 64-bits Windows (Note: Windows 10 may not need to apply this installer because it already has newer version bundle with the OS).
- Restart and enjoy WOLOLO.
Note: In vcredist installation processes, the setup may failed and tells you that you already have newer version installed, all you have to do is just skip it, otherwise you should try to repair it.
Details
Age of Emplre 2 HD uses an older version of DirectX to retain the same graphic details as the original has (I don’t know which version but I believe that it should be below DirectX 10 because Windows 7 and higher don’t have DirectX 9.0c pre-installed) and also relies on some newer Visual C++ function, which STEAM may has failed to install them. So the solution is install them manually.