I only see a black menu screen after the intro video

When the game displays a black screen where the opening menu would normally appear (following the intro video), the most common cause is related to your graphics drivers or the preferred graphics card when playing on a laptop. Here are a handful of troubleshooting steps you can work through to try and solve the issue:

🛠 [If using a laptop] Update your on-board graphics drivers.

Some players have found that updating their on-board graphics chip’s drivers allows them to play normally.

1. Visit https://downloadcenter.intel.com/.
2. Click Graphics Drivers.
3. Either Automatically Update your drivers or search for your specific graphics chip (listed in your DxDiag).
4. Download and install the latest display drivers.
5. Launch your game.

🛠 [If using a laptop] Set your dedicated video card as your primary device.

Many laptops come with two graphics devices: an on-board (or “integrated”) graphics chip, and a more powerful, dedicated video card. Here are some quick instructions on how to set the correct device.

1. Right-click your desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel.
2. Click Manage 3D Settings.
3. Using the first drop-down menu, select the High-performance NVIDIA processor as your preferred graphics processor.
4. Click Apply to save your changes.

For ATI/AMD users:

1. Open the Radeon Catalyst Control Center.
2. Go to Graphics and then PowerPlay.
3. Set the Plugged In and Battery options to Maximum Performance.
4. Click Apply.
5. Next, go to Graphics and then 3D.
6. Move the Performance slider until it is set for Optimal Performance.
7. Click Apply.
8. If you have a Switchable Graphics tab, click it, locate Age of Empires III: DE in the list, and set it for High Performance.
9. Click Apply.

🛠 Perform a clean install of your video drivers.

If you are playing on old or outdated display drivers, you may encounter issues when trying to launch and play any game. You can check what video card and drivers you are running using the DxDiag command. Once you know what hardware you’re using, you can download the appropriate drivers from the web:

• Nvidia Video Card Drivers: https://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
• ATI Video Card Drivers: https://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
• Intel Drivers: https://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/graphics
• Laptop video drivers are dependent on and obtained from your laptop’s manufacturer.

🛠 Disable the Steam Overlay.

Some systems may have issues with the in-game Steam Overlay. You can try disabling it to see whether it addresses the issue.

1. Right click-the game and select Properties.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Un-check the Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game option.
4. Launch your game.
   • If you are using a 64-bit Operating System, download the vc_redist.x64.exe file.
   • If you are using a 32-bit Operating System, download the vc_redist.x86.exe file.

🛠 Manually update Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables and restart your machine.

Make sure you have all the necessary files to run the game. You can find the latest visual studio files here.

🛠 If all else fails, skip the intro video.

1. • Right click-the game and select Properties.
   • Click the ‘General’ tab.
   • Click the Set Launch Options button.
   • Type SKIPINTRO into the field.
   • Press OK and exit the properties menu.
   • Launch the game.