Registry locations for Age of Empires settings

[Jeth Calark 12]

Not a troubleshooting problem per se, but this seemed like the best subforum to stick it under.

 

Went digging for the locations of certain Age of Empires settings that are only found in the registry and found them.

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1152256913-255964665-2690924538-1000\Software\Microsoft\Games\Age of Empires\1.00

 

I'm not sure however if the "S-1-5-21..." part is exactly the same for every computer (or even every install). Anyone here willing to install Age of Empires, run it, and double check that registry path?

As soon as I settle that, I'll add this information to the wiki page.

[Garrett 214]

HKEY_USERS isn't used directly; it is mirrored into the other HKEY locations when logged in as that user. The string of numbers is a globally unique identifier specific to each user.

 

In this case the correct paths are:

 

64-bit Windows:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Games\Age of Empires\1.00

 

32-bit Windows:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Games\Age of Empires\1.00

[Jeth Calark 12]

Well, those keys are simply not there at all under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE locations. Huh.

 

Anyways, say I want to create a reg key that adds and changes all those options to the ones I like, instead of having to manually set each and every one of them ingame each time I install it. Do I send them under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, and they later get moved to their correct position under HKEY_USER\(my unique number)?

[Garrett 214]

Hmm, I don't have the full version to test, but that's the location used by the GameSave Manger database file and some forum threads. The trial version saves into a comparable location within the same tree. The location might differ on XP if you're still using that, or for some other reason, but either way it shouldn't be only found within HKEY_USERS.

 

Yes, you can add or change registry entries in the standard locations a game expects, either manually or with a .reg file, and those will then carry over to the applicable user account(s). Some fixes on the wiki already use such methods, e.g. SimCity 2000.