In fact only basic game suffers from this problem is not the extension. Renaming sweaw.exe to swfoc.exe fixes it to ram. So in fact the patch EAW_RAM_MPLobby_update.exe is only installed for the extension on the gog version not on the base game.

Even installing the same EAW_RAM_MPLobby_update.exe file does not work because it does not detect the gog version.

I contacted the sav so that it fixes itself problem.In meanwhile you can played the game by renaming sweaw.exe to swfoc.exe

Good game

So all you have to do is rename the file and it'll fix the issues with the game? I'll have to try and see if this fixes my problems. Love the game but these crashes and choppy frame rate ruin the experience. I know its not that my PC can't handle the game.

Just wondering if the game is working fine does doing the filename switch still boost the game in general?

It works, but i cant launch it via Galaxy now.

I don't have Empire at War on Gog, however I know with some games, you can edit the gog(some number).info file in the directory the game is installed in. If EAW has that file, just open it up with notepad, and you can change it to point to swfoc.exe. That will allow you to run it from Galaxy.

If it doesn't have the .info file though, I'm not sure other than opening up through a shortcut.

This allows the game take full advantage of your discrete gfx card or IGP as well. When you use the Windows 98/ME compatibility fix it does the majority of the graphics effects in software/cpu mode instead of using your gfx chip/card to do the effects.

Go to the install directory and find the file labeled "Launch Star Wars - Empire At War". Right-click and select "properties". Then, in the target field, change the name of the exe from sweaw.exe to swfoc.exe. That worked for me.

This worked wonders, but I can only play the og game, forces of corruption wont open, is this a thing?

OK. So after some poking around, I think you should be able to do this:

1) Make a COPY of `sweaw.exe' in the GameData folder, and rename it to 'swfoc.exe', so you should have both sweaw.exe and swfoc.exe in GameData\ that are copies of each other.
2) Edit the 'Launch Star Wars - Empire At War.lnk' shortcut (in the base game folder) so that it starts swfoc.exe instead of sweaw.exe (GOG uses this shortcut to start the game)

Both EAW and the FOC expansion should launch correctly, and somehow EAW doesn't appear to have the bug when launched this way. I don't even want to know what kind of black magic they're using that triggers the bug based on the name of the exe file...

There has been a fix for years, just search for the 4 gb patcher. I think there is one made specifically for EAW. I cant find the link for the one I had, but im shocked it wasnt in the top 3 results when you searched the issue online

Something like this: https://softradar.com/4gb-patch/