Your steam is not updating the game properly.
Or
You do not have the same mod as your other player

• Right click Starwars EAW from library
  
• Properties
  
• Open Updates tab
  
• Ensure it says "always keep this game up to date" and wait for steam to update

Or

• Under properties of EAW
  
• open Local files tab
  
• "Verify integrity of game cache"
  
• Steam will then check the game in a very slow process and download and fix any files missing

May 11th update made it so mismatched version games can still be viewed from in game.

[may11th update-2018] update caused this error and since should be obsolete if you encounter this issue you can manually attempt this fix yourself

Reason behind lag when starting a battle and coming out of one for some is the game now allows save games to work proper. No more crashes with loading save games or modded save games being too large. The cause is broken autosave now.

• Go to

• Right click and click properties on

• Checkmark Read only
  
• Apply and close

Your game will no longer autosave but will also no longer lag when launching an attack, loading a planet, or after a battle. Remember to manually save more often.

Now stay with me this is called a mouse I keep seeing a lot of people confused about how to operate such a device when I see comments in mod pages "How do I download" .. bare with me you

1. Take the mouse in palm of your hand curved part upward flat part down flat on desk
   
2. put fingers out towards the mouse scroll wheel so your index finger can press down on the left
   
3. Now carefully press the left button down... you got the basics hold on !
   
4. Find that big green button on the mod page that says Subscribe and click on it

Its alot of brain power I know guys but its okay... you can do it nothing bad will happen I promise you. I even left you a diagram incase it gets confusing for anyone.

32470 This is Starwars EAW store product code this number is saved inside every steam games directory in a text file and if it has workshop will guide you to
%Drive%:\Path-to-Steam\Steam\SteamApps\workshop\content
Where all mods for installed games rest finding the store product code for your game, and inside is Mod numbers each mod number can be found by going to a steam workshops mod page and right clicking and coppying its adress. There will be a number with the adress that taken out of the adress will be the mod you were on.

Or just copy the end string of numbers on the mods url where you subscribe Instead of spamming a comment section with 100 other posts stating the same thing.
(Steam settings > Interface > Check "Display steam url address bar when available")

All mods are located inside

• Right click Starwars EAW from your games
  
• Properties
  
• Launch options

Some mods are packaged impropperly on workshop by their creators
If not too far gone the settup should be following

Directly inside the Mod Number folder

• "Data" Folder
  
• Thumbnail image (if uploaded with one)
  
• Documaintation files (if uploaded with any however unimportant for this)

Inside "Data"
Each file will be seperated with its category

• XML
  
• Audio
  
• Art
  
• scripts
  
• Ect, ect, ect

At least some should be pressent inside of "Data"

There are some other odd issues that could be deeper problems and usually going to the mods website or ModDB following comments or other instructions there you will find someone with a solution once you find your mod.

**Notice no where here did I say use the mod launcher inside the game, that is because it is garbage and doesnt work.

Using mods that are not from the workshop from sites such as Nexus Mods[www.nexusmods.com] Or
Moddb

• Go to

• Create Folder named "Mods"
  
• Directory should look like when opened

• When you download a mod if it is in a .Zip file of any kind extract it
  
• Should come in a folder with the mods name simply drag the whole folder into the "Mods" folder

Mod may or may not come with a launcher, launch instructions if no launcher included may be packaged with the mod inside a folder in a .txt file or presented on the mods site.

Generally an issue with people who use windows 8 and windows 8.1 this issue occurs, or if your system is full or nearly full without much excess storage regardless of how small the save file is it needs excess sometimes to be recognized (Example: a 5mb file needing 20mb in order to save) . Make sure you have excess storage before saving (I have noticed needing around 3+GB before for my FoC to recognize save space available)

• %drive%\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Star Wars Empire at War
  
• right click both "runme.exe" , "runme2.exe" check "Run this program in compatibility" select Windows 7 (also try windows xp SP3)
  
• check"Run this program as an administrator" in both
  This was a hit an miss sollution for some users
  
  Or if you are using windows 8 and above or have a forign copy of game
  Accents on your username could be misinterpreted by the game and in a rare case the game miscreated a save folder and the folder did not appear in a correct location or under the right username
  You would have to fix the bracket username to fit your name and delete the files inside and verify your steam cache to redownload the files correctly.
  
  \Users\[username]\Saved Games\Petroglyph\Empire At War\Save
  and
  \Users\[username]\Saved Games\Petroglyph\Empire At War - Forces of Corruption\Save
  
  This was hit an miss solution but worked well for some.

"did you update your drivers" outdated drivers can cause issues with directx and other random errors

Simply follow to your graphics cards website follow to a drivers download and follow instructions from there, be sure to only download from the offical site your graphics card originated from (nvidia,amd,ect) do not download drivers from 3rd party sites.

Put all sweaw .exe's into Windows 7 Compatibility mode
They are

• Right click sweaw, Click properties
  
• Move to local files tab and browse local files, locate all game related .exe's
  
• Right click .exe, properties, Compatibility
  
• Checkmark run in compatibility and select windows 7 (or windows xp with highest service pack provided if windows 7 does not show)

Originally posted by Bevo:

Mine was doing the same until I updated my graphics drivers, Windows 10

Originally posted by The Trench Bucket Trader:

if you have direct x error you have to go into the runme and runme 2 properties and go into the compatibility settings and check "Disable fullscreen opmizations"

Open directx diag tool and upon oppening the diag tool it will run a quick diagnostic if there are detected errors if nothing is detected it will list "No problems found"

• Windows Key + R , type "dxdiag" and run the program

(Even if there are no detected errors you may still want to try the below repair option)


Try reinstalling the drivers for dx9 (provided with most every game of the era)

• Right click sweaw, Click properties
  
• Move to local files tab and browse local files open _commonRedist (redistrubutables)
  
• First open vcredist and run the x64.exe and x86 select repair for the C++ redistributables
  
• Second open Directx folder from _commonRedist folder and scroll to find "DXSETUP.exe"
  
• Run this to reinstal and repair the 2010 Dirextx9 Drivers

Try a fresh reinstall of the game if this does not work

This was hit an miss solution but worked well for some.

Originally posted by spire May 7, 2014:

I had the same problem on Core i7-3610QM, HD 4000

Go to C/windows/regedit and find [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Petroglyph\StarWars\Profiles\Profile0\Player]

apply these changes:

"ShaderDetail"=dword:3
"WaterDetail"=dword:2

This solution did work well for a few listed below
Source: https://steamproxy.net/app/32470/discussions/0/558755529477943047/

Some users reported sound errors in game while the games files and sound files where intact in the games install directory, reporting that verifying the game cache did not solve this problem however is still recommended to try first.

Originally posted by Jeckyll'n'Hyde Mar 25, 2014:

...I ended up doing a complete uninstall and reinstalled on a different HDD. Original install was on a SSD... to stop the game freezing when I tried to enter multiplayer I had to delete the "gameconstants xml" files...I would avoid installing this game on a SSD.

If installed on a SSD try installing to another drive or location if available, try re-installing the game and verifying the entire game is uninstalled in the directory you installed it in first before you re-install the game.
Reason for verifying the game is uninstalled is mod files and any user edited files can linger in a directory and rarely a regular un-install can leave things behind.

The game actually performs WORSE with higher processors this is an old game its not made to handle modern quad core processors.

• Task manager
  
• Details
  
• Right click "StarWarsG.exe"
  
• Set affinity
  
• select core to run on (#3 is recommended)
  
• Relaunch game

Some report this issue, while others have no issue for games that run on for awile, usually in space battles or late game conquests.

Got forced into windows 11 sadly and had some issues, this is what worked FOR MYSELF no guarantee it will work for everyone its just the first thing I tried.



Rename your .Exe's as mentioned above in a earlier section first

Next

Put all .Exe's into windows 7 compatibility mode for Corruption and Base game.



And that is it, game was crashing upon startup not even reaching load splash screens and this should fix your issue.

Are you both stupid and an Nvidia user like me? You might be getting ♥♥♥♥ graphics by default because Nvidia wants to use your integrated GPU (assuming you have one)

I played this game for a year on my system without realizing it was defaulting my graphics and making the game run like trash on a integrated GPU and not my actual Nvidia GPU... it made a huge difference in smoothness of the game.

1. Nvidia control panel
   
2. Manage 3D settings under "3D settings tab"
   
3. Programs Settings tab on this page
   
4. "Select a program to customize" - If not listed in this drop down, add FOC
   (FOC folder, starwarsg.exe)
   
5. "Select the preferred graphics processor" - In drop down "High performance Nvidia processor"

Touch nothing else

Reboot the game, click on video in settings you should see a difference in smoothness of the game already in the menus and you should see your actual GPU named in this window

First step to any game in steam with bugs before a complete reinstall is

• Properties
  
• Local files
  
• Verify integrity of game cache

• The game launches the swfoc.exe
  
• The one that works is named StarWarsG inside Corruption folder
  
• Switch the names of the files and steam now launches the game properly.
  
  "swfoc.exe" TO "StarWarsG" and vise versa
• Same applies for EAW base game: Switch sweaw and StarWars G and it'll run.

• A mod recomended turning off hardware mouse inside video settings due to creating lag, after running the game for several hours with this off in this mod performance is better and might help in other mods
  
  
  
• A mod also made the connection between corrupted save games and saving your game while paused, DO NOT save your games while paused as a trick to prevent save game corruption it may not help every time but might explain some issues with it.
  
  
  Other helpful links
  All credit goes to the author of these guides
  https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2471524929 (Thanks to @Midori for finding this) It includes a lot of other detail on fixing mid and late game lag problems
  
  =========================== ===========================
  If there is a mod that needs a specific fix and one is easily found mention a mod or a bug in comments and ill see if there is a fix being spread around and list it here with that mod labbeled. There is usually a fix for most anything floating somewhere.