If the game was installed from CD and the game running on Windows 10 you need to patch it.
the CD version of the game comes with 1.04 and the latest is 1.08. go and find a patch file and install it come back if anything changes.
If the game was installed from Origin platform it would be working with no problems. but that's not always the case.
it's the little things that makes differences.
So try with other sound format Bit and Hz.
try to reinstall the right version of DIRECTX.exe when the game come out.
if you got an existing settings folder for the game at C: drive/documents
Delete current and Copy paste these
AntiAliasing = 1
BuildingOcclusion = yes
CampaignDifficulty = 2
DynamicLOD = yes
ExtraAnimations = yes
GameSpyIPAddress = 0.0.0.0
Gamma = 29
HeatEffects = yes
IPAddress = 0.0.0.0
IdealStaticGameLOD = Low
LanguageFilter = false
MaxParticleCount = 5000
MusicVolume = 50
Resolution = 1920 1080
Retaliation = yes
SFX3DVolume = 70
SFXVolume = 70
ScrollFactor = 93
SendDelay = no
ShowSoftWaterEdge = yes
ShowTrees = yes
StaticGameLOD = Custom
TextureReduction = 0
UseAlternateMouse = yes
UseCloudMap = yes
UseDoubleClickAttackMove = no
UseLightMap = yes
UseShadowDecals = yes
UseShadowVolumes = yes
VoiceVolume =60
Try aswell to update sound drivers, in my opinion it should not need to but this depends on what you got.
THANK YOU!! this fixed my direct x 8.1 issue deleting the .dll file did nothing but copying and pasting that info (in your post) did the trick
