Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
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| Developers | |
|---|---|
| Ensemble Studios | |
| Publishers | |
| Microsoft Studios | |
| Engines | |
| Genie | |
| Release dates | |
| Windows | September 30, 1999 |
| Mac OS (Classic) | October 2001 |
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Warnings
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
- The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.
Key points
- A HD re-release of the game with updated graphics and Steam matchmaking is currently available.
- UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update adds support for widescreen/multi-monitor resolutions.
General information
- Age of Empires II Official Microsoft Site (archived)
- Age of Empires Wiki Wikia for the entire series
- Age of Kings Heaven Community Site and Map Archive
- AoCZone Community Site for competitive gaming
- /r/aoe2 Age of Empires 2 Subreddit
Availability
- The "Age of Empires Collector's Editon" can often be found on store shelves. It is the most cost effective way of acquiring the game, as it contains the following games on a single DVD-ROM:
- Age of Empires
- Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
- Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
- Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
- NoCD version, DVD only necessary for installation.
- All games are already fully patched.
- However, it should be noted that the DVD re-release of these games does not feature the Red Book audio stored as separate audio tracks on the original games' discs. As such, the game music will not be played while the DVD is in the drive.
Demos
Essential improvements
Patch 2.0a (The Age of Kings)
The latest patch for the base game is Version 2.0a.
Patch 1.0c (The Conquerors)
The latest patch for The Conquerors is Version 1.0c.
Unofficial Patch 1.0e (The Conquerors)
The unofficial patch for Conquerors, which includes NoCD is Version 1.0e.
UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update
The unofficial UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update patch for The Conquerors adds many fixes including widescreen support, UPnP port forwarding, and various optional tweaks. Although it doesn't include a NoCD, it will not remove a valid NoCD. If it is installed on top of Version 1.0e, no CD is required.
Age of Empires II: Forgotten Empires
Age of Empires II: Forgotten Empires is an unofficial expansion which adds new civilizations, maps and other fixes.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
| System | Location |
|---|
Save game data location
| System | Location |
|---|
- Player settings are saved in
<path-to-game>\Player.nfp(determines unlocked scenarios etc.) - Custom campaigns are saved in
<path-to-game>\Campaign\ - Custom scenarios are saved in
<path-to-game>\Scenario\
Save game cloud syncing
- No save game cloud syncing information; you can edit this page to add it.
Video settings
Widescreen resolution
Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update then set your resolution in-game. Your chosen resolution is used during gameplay; menus are letterboxed 4:3.
Multi-monitor
Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update then set your resolution in-game. Your chosen resolution is used during gameplay; menus are letterboxed 4:3. The main game interface is shown on the far left.
Windowed
Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update and select Windowed mode support, then set your resolution in-game. Your chosen resolution is used during gameplay; menus are windowed 4:3.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update and select Windowed mode support, then set the in-game resolution to the same as your desktop resolution. Your chosen resolution is used during gameplay; menus are windowed 4:3.
Input settings
Audio settings
Localizations
| Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| French | ||||
| German | ||||
| Italian | ||||
| Japanese | ||||
| Korean | ||||
| Spanish | ||||
| Traditional Chinese |
Issues unresolved
Dell laptop compatibility issues
On some older Dell laptop models (e.g. the M1530) an issue occurs where the OS crashes and a blue-screen of death is displayed. This issue occurs after a seemingly random amount of gameplay time (from <30 seconds to 10 or 20 minutes). Many things have been tried to fix the issue including changing graphics card drivers, limiting the frame rate to mitigate overheating and running on virtual machines of different OSs (e.g. windows 98). As far as can be seen, this issue has never been resolved nor will it be, rendering AoE2 unplayable on the affected models of laptop. This issue can be mitigated by playing through Voobly.com game client and selecting 32-bit DirectX mode in the lobby options. It is actually caused by an unterminated loop in the graphic card driver. However, Age of Empires II HD (the re-mastered version of the game released in 2013) is unaffected by this problem.
Issues fixed
Windows Vista and 7 colours
See Also: Color Fixes For Older Games
Windows Vista and 7 (NT 6.0 and 6.1) can have issues with displaying true colours in Age of Empires II correctly. This is because the game uses an outdated and no longer supported palette-based drawing method. Note that this doesn't apply to Windows 8 and newer, which now uses software palette conversion from 8-bit to 32-bit (though often resulting in performance penalties in various other games due to the poor implementation). There are currently several methods available to resolve this issue.
| Instructions |
|---|
| Instructions |
|---|
LAN connectivity with Windows Vista/7/8
| Instructions |
|---|
- A much simpler method is to install GameRanger or Voobly and use it for lobbying (thus making all of the above obsolete).
MIDI music
| Instructions |
|---|
- The “-midimusic” parameter is no longer supported in UserPatch, however its m3u playlist system allows any audio format to be used for in-game music, including wav, mp3, wma, aac, and flac, as long as the required DirectShow codecs are installed.
System requirements
| Windows | ||
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Recommended | |
| Operating system (OS) | 95 | 98 |
| Processor (CPU) | 166 MHz | 450 MHz |
| System memory (RAM) | ||
| Hard disk drive (HDD) | 300 MB | 300 MB |
| Video card (GPU) | SuperVGA 2 MB of VRAM | Nvidia TNT2 or Rage 128 16 MB of VRAM |