Age of Mythology has several known graphical issues. On some video cards this causes corrupted textures and large multicolored squares to appear that can look something like this:

Also see screenshots 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (thanks to akash for these screenshots). I have not been able to reproduce this issue, but there are several things that you can try to fix this texture glitch:

1. Install patch 1.10. Update to the latest version. The latest version of the game is 1.10 and you can get the patch from one these links:
   Download link 1 <– Microsoft (publisher)
   Download link 2 <– Fileplanet
2. Install the fog of war fix. The steps to follow for this fix can be found on the Age of Mythology fog of war post.
3. Run the game with low graphical settings. In your target field of your Age of Mythology shortcut add all of the following command line switches:
   xres=1024 +noSound +noIntroCinematics bpp=16 +window +lowend +terrainHalfDensity +lowPoly -waterbump skipMipMapLevels=1 graphicDetail=2
example: C:\Program Files\Age of Mythology\aom.exe xres=1024 +noSound +noIntroCinematics bpp=16 +window +lowend +terrainHalfDensity +lowPoly -waterbump skipMipMapLevels=1 graphicDetail=2
   These command line switches will turn off a lot of graphical features and may fix your display issues. If they do, please try removing them one by one to try and narrow down which one fixed it for you.
4. Reinstall the game. If you didn’t install the game from the CD, or have certain mods installed it’s possible that these are causing your display issues. If this is the case it might be worth re-installing fresh from the CD if you still have it around.

This seems to be a fairly rare issue, and I could only find one related post on it: http://aom.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=12,26961,,20&st=recent.

If you are experiencing the same problem or have a solution to it please post it in the comments below. If something in this post fixed the multicolored squares glitch, please let me know as it will help determine the cause and proper solution to this problem.

To skip the intro cinematics in Age of Mythology (Titans) you have two possible options:

• Add the +noIntroCinematics option to the user.cfg file. Find your user.cfg file located in Age of Mythology\startup and add the following option:
  +noIntroCinematics
  It is possible that you won’t have this file yet. If this is the case just create it in the Age of Mythology\startup folder or download the fixed version here.
• Add the +noIntroCinematics command line switch to the patch shortcut. Right click on the Age if Mythology shortcut and select properties. In the target field add a space and then the following command line option:
  +noIntroCinematics
  Once this is done start the game from this shortcut.

If you’ve tried both of these options and still can’t skip the intro cinematics for Age of Mythology or Titans please post a description of the issue you’re having and the steps you followed in the comments below. The more detail the better!

Age of Mythology doesn’t have any widescreen resolutions but you can manually force the game in a widescreen resolution using the config file.

1. Right click on your Age of Mythology shortcut and select properties.
2. In the target field add the following option after the location of the .exe file:
   xres=1366 yres=768
   E.g. C:\Program Files\Age of Mythology\aomx.exe xres=1366 yres=768
   Make sure the xres and yres are smaller then or equal to your monitors maximum resolution or you’ll run into the initialization failed issue.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues setting up Age of Mythology widescreen, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

If you have set your resolution to be larger than what your monitor can support you might encounter the Age of Mythology Initialization Failed error. This error has also been known to be caused by out of date directX or video card drivers. The message you’ll get is:

Initialization Failed

Unfortunately if your resolution is too big for your screen you can no longer start the game to change the resolution back. There’s a workaround to this though:

1. Right click on your Age of Mythology shortcut and select properties.
2. Add the xres=640 option. Under the shortcut tab of your properties menu, in the target field add a space and then the following option after the location of the .exe file:
   xres=640
   E.g. “C:\Program Files\Age of Mythology\aomx.exe” xres=640. This option will force your game to run with the lowest supported resolution: 640 x 480.
3. Start the game from this shortcut.
4. Change your resolution in game and remove xres=640 from your shortcut. If you don’t remove the xres=640 option it will continue to override your ingame resolution. After you’ve removed this option and changed your in game resolution, try restarting the game again and see if you’re still experiencing the Age of Mythology initialization failed error.

Occasionally this error has been seen to be caused by other issues as well. If you find that the above fix didn’t solve the Age of Mythology initialization failed error try checking the official Microsoft Support Ticket for more information. If you’re still having issues or have found a better solution please it the comments below.

Age of Mythology requires MSXML 4.0 to run properly. If you don’t have it installed you will encounter the following error when trying to start the game:
"MSXML 4.0 is not installed correctly. It is required to run the game."

MSXML 4.0 is a set of services that allow applications written in JScript, VBScript, and Microsoft development tools to build Windows-native XML-based applications. To fix this error you simply need to to download and install MSXML 4.0 from the Microsoft website:

1. Download msxml.msi. Go to this Microsoft support page: http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=15697, click Download and download msxml.msi
2. Run msxml.msi with Windows XP Service pack 2 compatibility. Right click on your msxml.msi and select properties. Select the compatibility tab and run the program under Windows XP (Service pack 2) compatibility. Once this is done double click on msxml.msi to install MSXML 4.0.
3. Restart your computer. Restart the computer when you are prompted and try starting the game again.

IF AND ONLY IF after installing msxml.msi and restarting your computer you still experience this error there’s an alternate solution you can try:

1. Download msxmlcab.exe. Go to this Microsoft support page: http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=15697, click Download and download msxmlcab.exe
2. Run msxmlcab.exe. When the download is complete double-click msxmlcab.exe. When you are prompted, select the desktop as the location for the extracted file. Then, click OK.
3. Extract Msmxml 4 into your System 32. On the desktop, right-click the msxml4.cab file, and then extract the new files to the desktop. Copy the files that are extracted in step 3 to the following folders:
   <drive>:\Windows\System32
<drive>:\Windows\SysWOW64
   Note – Only 64bit Windows users will have the SysWOW64 folder.
   Note – In this path, <drive> represents the drive on which the operating system is installed.
4. (Optional) Register the MSXML 4 dll. Click Start , and then click Run. In the Run box, type:
   regsvr32 MSXML4.dll
   and then click OK. If everything worked, you should receive the following message:
   DllRegisterServer in msxml4.dll succeeded.
   Note – this will likely NOT work on 64bit Windows, but also may not be necessary.
5. Restart the computer and try starting the game again.

For a full list of instructions you can check out the official Microsoft post on this error here. If you have any trouble installing MSXML 4.0 or are still experiencing this error, please post as much information as possible, including what you’ve tried already and what operating system you currently have installed.