Haven't posted on the Voobly forum in who knows how long but i found a fix for massive long load times for windows 7 and/or other windows 64bit Os when it comes older 32bit code and or video game's on 64bit windows Os.

Found the real fix on Voobly and wanted to resurrect the old topic from some years ago but couldn't so decided to posts about it for anyone that it takes like 10 years to load the game and or other games on newer versions of 64bit windows Os.

Problem seems to be with Rundll32.exe & gameux.dll with a side order of new video card driver & Os vs older 32bit game / video code looking for something that's not around anymore or who knows and stalling for years.

Ps in DirectX 9 vs newer version of DirectX, Direct Draw was replaced with Direct2d and all hell happened in DirectX 10 or newer versions for older 2d sprite 32bit coded based games.
Funny too for win7 you have to install directx9 after a fresh install just for compatibility with older games yay and if DirectX 10~11 in win7 bugs you can't re-install it anyways … windows. ….

Solution ?

Kill gameux.dll any way you can I mean back it up on a different part of your hdd and if it works out delete the thing, Don't Delete Rundll32.exe, apparently it's needed or something but the other burn the thing and problem solved imho.

Games so far with know problem on this topic “age of empires & Diablo II last patch versions”

System tested on, intel core quad QX6700 @ 3000mgz 1.3v vcore, 8gigs ddr2 , geforce 640gt asus 2gig, sound blaster X-fi Ti, mobo asus striker extreme newest bios, windows 7 64bit ultimate SP2 "yes their is a unofficial sp2"

To do it in windows do the following or download a copy of Linux mint “live boot no install needed” and just move and rename the thing but get rid of it.

[You must login to view link]

To rename the file on a windows desktop do the following "gameux.dll" in "windows\syswow64\" or "windows\system32\". In order to do so, you need to:

1) Start a cmd shell as administrator
2) cd to the corresponding folder (syswow64 or system32)
3) Get ownership of this file by typing "takeown /f gameux.dll"
4) Get permissions to change the file by typing "cacls gameux.dll /E /P %username%:F"
5) Rename the file by typing "ren gameux.dll gameux_dll_bak"
6) Close the shell by typing "exit"

Remark: All commands have to be typed in of course without apostrophes "".

Thanks for the tutorial. I strongly advise to use this article at your own risk. Windows 7 is an EOL operating system and it is not recommended to install any unofficial service packs or renaming any files in the System32 system folder.