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Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

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Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Age Of Empires 2 The Age Of Kings Dvd-cdcovers cc-front.png
Developer(s) Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s) Microsoft Game Studios
Engine Genie
First release date September 30, 1999
Age of Empires
Age of Empires 1997
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings 1999
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Age of Mythology 2002
Age of Mythology: The Titans
Age of Empires III 2005
Age of Empires Online 2011
Age of Empires II HD 2013

Key points

Information A HD re-release of the game with updated graphics and Steam matchmaking is currently available.
Advantage UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update adds support for widescreen/multi-monitor resolutions.

Contents

[edit] Availability

Source(s) Store unlock Notes
Amazon Retail Collector's Edition
Retail Retail
Information 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:
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.

[edit] Improvements

[edit] Patch 2.0a (The Age of Kings)

The latest patch for the base game is Version 2.0a.

[edit] Patch 1.0c (The Conquerors)

The latest patch for The Conquerors is Version 1.0c.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Age of Empires II: Forgotten Empires

Age of Empires II: Forgotten Empires is an unofficial expansion which adds new civilizations, maps and other fixes.

[edit] Save Game data

[edit] Save game location

  Location 
Save game location C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\SaveGame\
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\Player.nfp
Campaign files location C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\Campaign\
Scenario files location C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\Scenario\
Configuration files location C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\config.xml
Information You will need to backup all of the above folders and the .nfp file to have all of your player data and progress.

[edit] Save Game Cloud Syncing

System Native Notes
Dropbox Native
GameSave Manager Impossibru!

[edit] Video settings

Graphics option Native WSGF Notes 
Widescreen resolution Hackable WSGF WS Limited.png See Widescreen resolution. 
Multi-monitor Hackable WSGF MM Limited.png See Multi-monitor. 
Windowed Hackable See Windowed. 
Borderless fullscreen windowed Hackable See Borderless fullscreen windowed. 
Vertical sync (Vsync) Hackable See Borderless fullscreen windowed.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Input settings

Input Settings Native Notes 
Remapping Native    
Mouse acceleration Impossibru!    
Controller support Impossibru!   

[edit] Network Issues

[edit] LAN connectivity with Windows Vista/7/8

Fix Setting the IP address to Static and the Default Gateway to nothing • Link

Information This method allows gaming over LAN between Windows Vista/7/8 64-bit systems.
  1. Navigate to the Network and Sharing Center.
  2. Right-click on the LAN adapter and open "Properties".
  3. Highlight "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and click on "Properties".
  4. Check "Use the following IP address:" and enter an address which is not currently being used on your network (such as 192.168.1.[1-253] e.g. 192.168.1.11 ). Also change the Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and leave the default gateway blank.
While in use, internet connection will be lost until the settings are switched back to "Obtain an IP address automatically", but LAN will function in-game.
Advantage A much simpler method is to install GameRanger or Voobly and use it for lobbying (thus making all of the above obsolete).

[edit] System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Windows 95 Windows 98
Processor (CPU) 166 MHz 450 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB 64 MB
Video card (GPU) SuperVGA 2 MB of VRAM Nvidia TNT2 or Rage 128 16 MB of VRAM
Hard disk drive (HDD) 300 MB 300 MB

[edit] Issues unresolved

[edit] 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 framerate 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.

[edit] Issues fixed

[edit] Windows Vista/7/8 Colours

See Also: Color Fixes For Older Games

Windows Vista/7/8 (NT 6.x) 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 colour method. There are currently three available solutions to this issue.

Fix UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update • Link

Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update . This includes a color fix.

Fix DirectDrawFix • Link

A small user made patch that applies the required compatibility fixes to the registry. The user account installing this fix must be an admin for the application to perform its updates.

http://www.xomicron.com/software/directdrawfix/

Fix Explorer.exe • Link

Information The Windows 7 Explorer introduces a number of new features which conflict with the game's palette-based colour system. One solution is to end the explorer.exe process every time you start the game - as follows:
  1. Open Age of Empires II
  2. Alt-Tab out of the game
  3. End the explorer.exe process
    1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
    2. Go to the "Processes" tab
    3. Find explorer.exe in the "Image Name" column
    4. select explorer.exe and click "End Process"
  4. Alt+Tab back into the game - note the colours should now be fixed. When you have finished playing you may close the game and complete the following steps.
  5. Restore explorer.exe
    1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
    2. On the menu bar, click "File" and "New Task (Run...)" - the "Create New Task" window will pop up
    3. Enter explorer.exe in the open:[textbox] and confirm with "Ok"

Notes

Information This process can be automated with a batch file. Save this text into a file named "AgeFix.bat" 
REM -AgeFix.bat
  taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
  age2_x1.exe
  start explorer.exe
Store the batch file in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\age2_x1
Run the bat, NOT the exe in order to run the game.

Fix Windows 7 Theme • Link

Changing the aero theme can also remove the colour issue.

  1. Change Windows 7 theme to Windows Classic (right click Desktop, select Personalize and choose Windows Classic theme).
  2. Open Screen Resolution window (right click Desktop, click Screen Resolution). There is no need to change any settings, leave this window maximized in the background and run the game. It should show normal colours.

[edit] MIDI Music

Fix Copy files from demo version • Link

  1. Download the demo version of Age of Empires II - mirror
  2. Copy the midi folder from the sound folder of the demo of AOEII
  3. Paste the folder in the sound folder of the full game e.g. 
    C:\\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\sound
  4. Create a shortcut of the age2_x1.exe in the age2_x1 folder
  5. Click properties and add to the target (with quote marks) 
    “-midimusic”
  6. Start the game with the afformentioned shortcut and the game will have background music
  7. You can also do the same with the sound files from the Conquerors expansion demo, however, it is important to rename the midi files from music 1-8 to 9-16 to prevent replacement of existing files.

[edit] Links

References

ELECTRONIC ARTS, INC. (Origin Store)
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