Nvidia Geforce FX5200 card - state that right up front, as this card seems highly represented amongst Empires problem listings. Could be that it is just a popular card, though. And it may be that this card has nothing to do with my problem.
Pentium 4 3 Ghz, 512 megs ram of which I run between 112 and 200 megs before starting Empires (to get down to 112, I close out about a dozen RAM eating programs that I don't know what they do).
After anywhere from 40 minutes to 100 minutes of game time, the game just stops, and I'm back at my main screen. Usually I can click right back in to Empires, but sometimes I have to reboot the machine.
I have tried setting everything as low as possible (model detail low, music off, autosave off, etc.), but still the same problem. Game runs fine, until it decides to give up. I've tried saving the game frequently, then going back into the game saved just prior to the crash - sometimes I can delay the crash for a few minutes if I don't move any of my units, but the crash still happens. If I resign, then the crash doesn't happen at all - but this isn't a great test, as the game has stopped since I don't have any allies.
If I try to save just as the game is crashing (by sheer coincidence, as once the game is crashing you can't move fast enough to save it on purpose), then you can't call up the "saved" game again - invalid file.
Again, the crash occurs whether or not I set model detail and graphics down low, have 200 megs or 112 megs running in RAM before starting Empires, set the screen resolution to every possible setting in the game, set various game parameters on or off (victory allowed, stats, autosaves on or off, etc.).
Very frustrating. Game looks nice (although I have never understood the prejudice against 2D sprites - both Close Combat II through V and Age of Kings looked good to me), and I like all of the units, but when you can't be sure you can play past 40 minutes of game time (not real time - depends on how fast the game is set), its a little irritating.
[This message has been edited by billiard (edited 11-24-2003 @ 07:39 PM).]