Rise of Nations

Rise of Nations is a strategy game developed by Big Huge Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2003. The game takes elements from the turn-based genre and combines it into an RTS, like borders, 18 civilizations, rare resources and 8 different time periods.

In April 2004 the game got an expansion pack, Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots. It added to the game 6 civilizations, 20 units, 3 world wonders and 3 campaigns.

In June 2014 the game was re-released on Steam and in 2017 on the Microsoft Store. This version included the base game, the expansion, graphics improvements, new bug fixes, a Steam and Twitch integration and a new multiplayer system.

Where can I get it?
The best version of the game is Rise of Nations: Extended Edition, which you can either buy from Steam or the Microsoft Store. But since most people have the Steam version and both version are not compatible, we recommend that you buy the game from Steam.

Multiplayer after 2014?
As most games from the Gamespy era, the vanilla versions don't have any longer a functioning online support. The re-release change that with a new multiplayer system, but as mention be careful which version you have.

Can't start the campaign "The Cold war"
To fix the problem with campaign follow this path:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Rise of Nations\_CommonRedist\DirectX\Jun2010 There you need to start the DXSETUP.exe and install it. After that "The Cold War" will finally start without a crash.

How to skip the black screens at the launch
Since the opening cinimatics no longer work, because of an old direct draw version original used by the Developer, the only option is to skip them. For that go to:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Games\Rise of Nations

With a Notepad you open the  and change SkipIntroMovies to =1. Afterwards it will bring you at the start directly to the menu.

Links

 * Rise of Nations Heaven: a long lasting community site
 * Rise of Nations - Wiki
 * Taunt List the most important chat commands you should know :)