This is for AOW 1 on Win10

I don't know what is going on, but I have already done the few things that I could find on the internet and nothing has worked. It was playing just fine no problems until I tried to change my resolution.

Well, it worked once and then it didn't work. I tried to use 1440 but it was too small but I tried to switch to 1080. I ran into the memory issue, finally was able to change the resolution but now it just crashes. And now I'm having the memory error again trying to change the settings.

Does playing on windowed mode dodge the issue? You can stretch the window however you like so it's pretty much as good and allows free alt-tabbing.
There's also the showscene crash patch, run as admin, and compat mode which you may've tried already

It only works if I disable sound, like everyone else.

It works just fine for me on Windows 10, sorry I can't offer anything more helpful than that.

Do you have AoW1 installed in a standard windows location? Sometimes installing in the wrong directory can cause permission issues when access is attempted.

If you try changing your Windows user profile to an admin, does that help? (not just accessing the file as an admin)

I encountered the same issue whenever I install. Following these instructions worked for me:

Game Technical Issues & Game specific troubleshooting

If you encounter such problem, please download a workaround from Github:

https://github.com/int19h/aow-patch/releases/tag/v1

Installation instructions:
- Please download the archive.
- Unpack it in the game installation folder
(default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Age of Wonders).
- Launch it and select: location of the Ilpack.dpl file
(usually this file should be located automatically by the installer).
- Press apply, launch the game and check if the problem still persists.