Age of Empires 2 heeeeelllpppppp

Hi I need help with playing Age of Empires 2 conquerors. I played it about 2 months ago ALL THE TIME on my 2 computers which were connected via ethernet cable. It worked FINE. They were both running XP.

I sold them computers and now have 2 new computers running Vista. I now also have a wireless router which both computers are connected to.

THEY CAN SEE EACH OTHER IN THE NETWORK

THEY FILE TRANSFER BETWEEN THEMSELVES OVER LAN

I PLAY OTHER GAMES OVER LAN, MEDAL OF HONOUR, BATTLEFIELD AND IT WORKS FINE.

I NEED to play over my router because I will be having more friends join. So does anyone know what's wrong/so special about Age of Empires 2 conquerors that it won't work on my computer? All firewalls are turned off and I have looked into port forwarding/opening ports, but why would I need to open ports for a game that is offline? Or do I still have to? EVEN FOR A LAN GAME?????? WHY IS THIS THE ONLY GAME TO F*** UP?

It must be something to do with my router but I don't know what so any help will be greatly appreciated................................

I know what ports the game uses but are ports used in LAN? If so maybe I need to look into how to actually port forward...

thanks

Ok well I downloaded Hamachi, and created a network between my two computers..but it's a router problem.This network is run through the internet, which is just asking for trouble. Lan doesn't work, internet network doesn't work.... I'm so confused I can play other games but when it comes to the Age of Empires series Im just stuck.. I'm trying port forwarding but that doesn't seem to be working either...

HMPH!!!

Port forwarded and no luck...

Is thereany programs that create some sort of virtual lobby, where you can set up LAN games, I remember you used to be able to set up games over Windows Messenger...

OK I've found the soloution to this!

I'm posting so that anybody who ever comes across this again will be able to use what I have found out. For some reason if you are connected to a NETGEAR (in my case)router, Age of Empires (i've tried 1 & 2) uses the internet (if available) for all multiplayer games, meaning if you are making a LAN game the stupid internetwill getting involved.

What I did was, went onto my router and deleted the DNS address (you can change anything, as long as it will stop the router from connecting you to the net). Started up AoE and LAN works! As soon as I'm done I restore it back to previous settings so internet works. So it's just a network - not a network connected to the net. Annoying but SORTED.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW good job!!! Enjoy the game.

Thanks alot!

I tried playing over LAN during the holidays also! The only way I found was to use a crossover cable with 2 pc only.