Age of Empires II distorted colors - tried common fixes no luck

I have installed Age of Empires II and The Conquerors expansion along with the 1.0c patch on Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I am having an issue where the colors are distorted in the main menu and within the game. It is not the problem where only the grass and water are red and purple. It is completely messed up colors throughout the game. Not really playable. Hurts the eyes.

I have searched the internet high and low and tried a whole mess of different proposed solutions included but not limited to:
Compatibility mode to install
Compatibility mode for the game exe, all sorts of option combinations
Killing explorer manually and with a batch file
Leaving resolution window open
Changing Windows 7 theme to basic, and classic
Changing color depth to 16 bit
Tried both VGA and DVI ports/cables
Voobly client (supposedly includes fix)
Community 1.0e patch

And still have the same problem! You would think at least one of those would work but no! Is there anthing else I can try, short of installing it under Windows XP? It worked fine on my previous Windows 7 box, although it was 32 bit. Is this why?

Not sure why you're asking me but yes it is a legit retail physical box set purchased in retail store, best buy I believe. how do you update directx. I am on Windows 7 with DX 11. And I tried the Direct Draw fix referenced in that post, still no luck. thanks.

Or you could buy the new version released by steam with full Windows 7/8 Support.