Are you using standard mouse settings?
'Cause if you have a customized cursor, this might cause graphical problems like the one you described.
from the readme file on the gold edition cd:
Mouse Pointer -- Some video adapters may not display the custom mouse cursor correctly. To fix this problem, you can add the NormalMouse parameter to the command line in the Age of Empires shortcut. For information about adding parameters to the command line, see "Command Line Parameters" under "Performance Troubleshooting" later in this Readme file.
"It has been difficult because we have so often been on the attack and not had the opportunity to defend" Yannick Jauzion. [This message has been edited by Enriquillo (edited 05-11-2001 @ 05:14 PM).]