Like many old PC games, the game comes with an activation-code on the back of the case. The installer asks me for the 25 digit code on the case. I look, and I can see that the code definitely contains 25 digits. But than when I try to input the 25 digit code into the 5 text boxes provided (5 digits per box) only 4 digits can be inputted into any of the text-boxes, meaning I can only input a max of 20 characters through all the boxes, and the installation fails. Does anyone know how to get around this? Thanks.
Update: With a suggestion from within the comments, I managed to solve the issue by installing Microsoft Core Fonts using the command winetricks corefonts. Once corefonts was installed, I can now input all 5 digits into each text box.
That fixes the text box issue. Now I can’t play the game because after inserting Disc 2 to begin the next part of the installation, I get the ‘feature transfer error’, as the window calls it: “Error: -1603 Fatal error during installation. Consult Windows Installer Help (Msi.chm) or MSDN for more information.”
Apparently the problem you describe is solved by installing Microsoft Core Fonts, which can be done by running
winetricks corefonts.Or if you’re comfortable running third party code, a crack might be a more convenient solution:
https://www.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_age_of_empires_3.shtml
Alright, so I continued the installation and inserted Disc 2 when I needed to, to continue to the next part of the installation. Now I get a ‘feature transfer error’. The error says “Error: -1603 Fatal error during installation. Consult Windows Installer Help (Msi.chm) or MSDN for more information”.
Thanks so much! Yes, running
winetricks corefontsworked for me; sorry for the late reply. I can now put all 5 digits in each text box; let’s hope the game runs fine.