Today’s patch is aimed at addressing stability and performance issues, as well as some focused fixes for Xbox players.

Be sure to dig down into the post below to get all of the smaller details before hopping in-game and checking them out firsthand.

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

Thank you again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team

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Game

Stability and Performance

• Fixed a freeze that could occur during the Match Found screen in Quickplay games, if a certain number of Team maps were banned.
  
• Fixed a crash related to Intel Graphics drivers.
  
• Fixed a crash that could occur when villagers were trying to reach an obstructed area near the corners of the map.

Multiplayer

• Fixed an error when attempting to update SSL certificates.

Xbox

• Fixed a freeze that could occur during multiplayer games.
  
• Fixed a freeze that could occur during long gameplay sessions, if any of the Narration options, such as Chat Narration, were enabled.
  
• Fixed an issue where some special units & technologies from Victors & Vanquished scenarios would not appear in the radial menu when playing with a controller.
  
• Fixed an issue in Victors & Vanquished where certain scenario-specific buildings had their Command Menus disabled when playing with a controller.

Ongoing...

Investigation

As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates.

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

The Steam Summer Sale is happening now! Complete your Age of Empires collection with up to 75% off on all your favorites - it’s time to Age up your Summer!

Don’t wait – sale ends July 11th at 10 AM PT (17:00 UTC).

Can't get enough castles and knights? Then bundle together all the Medieval things and get Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition plus the expansions: Lords of the West, Dawn of the Dukes, and Dynasties of India! Don't wait - get a 60% discount for a limited time!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/42279/Mount__Blade_II__Age_of_Empires_II/

Age community, your opinions matter and we're always eager to hear from you! Share your thoughts on your favorite Age titles, gaming preferences, and more in our latest survey before it closes!

Warlords III is an Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition tournament hosted by Memb TV. Warlords III brings together the best players in the world on a diverse set of maps. Each player has their strength put to the test in a variety of settings with a map pool that showcases many different play styles!

Only 4 players remain as the competition heats up after an intense week of competition from the top 16 players. Be sure to tune in this weekend to catch every moment of excitement: Saturday for the Semifinals and Sunday for the 3rd place match and an epic Grand Finals to Warlords III!

Today’s hotfix is aimed at addressing pressing performance and gameplay related issues.

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

Stability and Performance

• Fixed an issue that could result in freezes or crashes during gameplay.
  
• Fixed an issue that allowed Units to be fused as a single entity in one tile following a certain order of commands.

Ongoing Investigation

• We are still looking into an issue where the Quick Play screen will freeze upon finding a match when having any Team map bans selected. In the meantime, please do not select any Team map bans before queueing to avoid the issue.
  
• We are still looking into additional reports of games freezing or crashing on all platforms.

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Today’s hotfix is aimed at addressing stability and performance issues, along with some map fixes.

Be sure to dig down into the post below to get all of the smaller details before hopping in-game and checking them out firsthand.

Thank you again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!
—The Age of Empires Team

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

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Game

Stability and Performance

• Fixed a variety of crashes.
  
• Addressed an issue preventing the game from starting on certain Windows 10 and earlier systems.
  
• Resolved a crash when loading old Return of Rome saves in Single Player mode.

Graphics

• Animated Profile Icons are now moving as intended in the Player Icons menu.

Settings

• Clamping mouse to window now works properly with multi-monitor setups on any monitor.

Xbox

• Fixed an issue that caused navigation issues in the Radial Menu when playing with a controller. Positions of items in the radial menu should be back to normal.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Y button in the controller to behave unintendedly when a building was selected depending on the current Age or the player’s civilization. The Y button should now produce the intended unit for each building no matter the Age or civilization.

Random Maps

General

• Fixed a bug that caused villagers to sometimes generate on top of forest trees, making them unable to work or move, when playing Empire Wars.
  
• Fixed foragers or miners sometimes not generating in the appropriate number when playing Empire Wars.
  
• Fixed mills and mining camps sometimes generating off-grid.
  
• Fixed villagers sometimes not properly depositing resources to mills and mining camps.

Map Balance

• Cliffbound:
  
  • Added preventative measures to ensure villagers no longer generate trapped inside forests when playing Empire Wars.
• Dunesprings:
  
  • Relics are now more evenly spread out across the map.
    
  • The player’s starting gold deposit has been reduced from seven to five tiles.
• Golden Stream:
  
  • The middle now scales more appropriately when playing on larger map sizes.
• Hollow Woodlands:
  
  • The spacing between the player’s town centres and the water is now more even.
    
  • Adjusted resources to ensure a more balanced distribution between players.
    
  • Heavily decreased the chance of villagers generating trapped between forest trees.
    
  • Neutral huntable animals now spawn in groups of three, instead of groups of four.
• Isthmus:
  
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to sometimes wall across the unbuildable terrain.
    
  • Increased the width of the unbuildable terrain.
    
  • Fixed stone not generating on the small islets when said islets are generating too close to the edge of the map.
    
  • Islets now generate more evenly between the two bodies of water.
    
  • Islets have been increased in size, allowing for more resources and easier building placement.
    
  • Fixed islets not generating appropriately when playing on larger map sizes.
    
  • Fixed units behaving strangely when fighting around the central pyramid.
• Karsts:
  
  • The player’s starting stone deposit has been reduced from five to three tiles.
    
  • Minor aesthetic adjustments have been made.
• Mountain Dunes:
  
  • The elevation on the map now scales more appropriately on larger map sizes.
• River Divide:
  
  • Shorefish now consistently spawn on the player’s side of the river.
• Sandrift:
  
  • Fixed some incorrect terrains occasionally appearing out of place on the map.
    
  • Fixed a bug that caused forests to not generate correctly for all players.
• The Passage:
  
  • Fixed some forests acting like straggler trees, making them removable by placing buildings on top of them.
    
  • Fixed relics sometimes not being retrievable when generating on shallows that were too small.
    
  • Fixed resources sometimes generating further away from the player’s town centres than intended.
    
  • Docks and watch towers are now exclusive to Empire Wars and generate much farther away from enemy docks.
    
  • Fixed player-specific resources sometimes not generating on larger map sizes.
    
  • Fixed a bug that caused forests to not generate correctly for all players.
• Shrubland:
  
  • Added preventative measures to ensure villagers no longer generate trapped inside forests when playing Empire Wars.
    
  • Relics are now more evenly spread out between the players.
    
  • Fixed relics sometimes being inaccessible after generating inside forests.
    
  • Fixed the relic on Capture the Relic being entrapped and impossible to retrieve.
    
  • Slightly reduced the number of forage bushes on the map.
    
  • The player’s starting gold deposit has been reduced from seven to five tiles.
    
  • Fixed relics sometimes generating trapped between forage bushes.

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Hey Community!

Today we’re ready to launch our May Public Update Preview available via a Beta branch on Steam: This will be a small and focused update to address priority issues including critical bugs affecting gameplay and stability, much desired adjustments to the new Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado Ladder maps, and other important issues from your reports!

Our teams are still working to investigate issues with Quickplay matches not starting or becoming unresponsive. We’ve also temporarily adjusted the penalty players receive when leaving a match early (for our quickplay users only) so no one is timed out from this issue.

While our PUP is only available on Steam, we do want to let console players know that we’ve also got fixes for Xbox planned for the next update to address reported issues with both the radial menu and y-button functionality.

Best queue times while searching for Lobbies in PUP continue to be:

• 11:00am-1:00pm PT
  
• 6:00pm-8:00pm PT
  
• 7:00pm-9:00pm GMT

Thank you for playing, and we look forward to your feedback in the Steam forums:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/813780/discussions/30/4357872852123023203/

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• Fixed a variety of crashes.
  
• Addressed performance issues affecting users on Windows 10 and earlier systems.
  
• Resolved a crash when loading old Return of Rome saves in Single Player mode.

• Clamping mouse to window now works properly with multi-monitor setups on any monitor.

• Animated Profile Icons are now moving as intended in the Player Icons menu.

• Addressed an issue where foragers were not dropping off food to a nearby mill.
  
• Fixed an issue where units could repeatedly attempt to attack a neutral map object (such as a pyramid) they cannot interact with.

• Cliffbound:
  
  • Added preventative measures to ensure villagers no longer generate trapped inside forests when playing Empire Wars.
• Dunesprings:
  
  • Relics are now more evenly spread out across the map.
    
  • The player's starting gold deposit has been reduced from seven to five tiles.
• Golden Stream:
  
  • The middle now scales more appropriately when playing on larger map sizes.
• Hollow Woodlands:
  
  • The spacing between the player's town centres and the water is now more even.
    
  • Adjusted resources to ensure a more balanced distribution between players.
    
  • Heavily decreased the chance of villagers generating trapped between forest trees.
    
  • Neutral huntable animals now spawn in groups three, instead of groups of four.
• Isthmus:
  
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to sometimes wall across the unbuildable terrain.
    
  • Increased the width of the unbuildable terrain.
    
  • Fixed stone not generating on the small islets when said islets are generating too close to the edge of the map.
    
  • Islets now generate more evenly between the two bodies of water.
    Islets have been increased in size, allowing for more resources and easier building placement.
    
  • Fixed islets not generating appropriately when playing on larger map sizes.
    
  • Fixed units behaving strangely when fighting around the central pyramid.
• Karsts:
  
  • The player's starting stone deposit has been reduced from five to three tiles.
    
  • Minor aesthetic adjustments have been made.
• Mountain Dunes:
  
  • The elevation on the map now scales more appropriately on larger map sizes.
• River Divide:
  
  • Shorefish now consistently spawn on the player's side of the river.
• Sandrift
  
  • Fixed some incorrect terrains occasionally appearing out of place on the map.
    
  • Fixed a bug that caused forests to not generate correctly for all players.
• The Passage:
  
  • Fixed some forests acting like straggler trees, making them removable by placing buildings on top of them.
    
  • Fixed relics sometimes not being retrievable when generating on shallows that were too small.
    
  • Fixed resources sometimes generating further away from the player's town centres than intended.
    
  • Docks now spawn much further apart when playing Empire Wars.
    
  • The dock and watch tower now only generates during Empire Wars.
    
  • Fixed player-specific resources sometimes not generating on larger map sizes.
    
  • Fixed a bug that caused forests to not generate correctly for all players.
• Shrubland:
  
  • Added preventative measures to ensure villagers no longer generate trapped inside forests when playing Empire Wars.
    
  • Relics are now more evenly spread out between the players.
    
  • Fixed relics sometimes being inaccessible after generating inside forests.
    
  • Fixed the relic on Capture the Relic being entrapped and impossible to retrieve.
    
  • Slightly reduced the number of forage bushes on the map.
    
  • The player's starting gold deposit has been reduced from seven to five tiles.
    
  • Fixed relics sometimes generating trapped between forage bushes.

The 1v1 ranked ladder for Empire Wars will be temporarily shelved and replaced by a new 1v1 ranked ladder for the upcoming Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado tournament. This is a new ladder that levels the playing field as you compete for ELO and opportunity. The map pool is also being updated to the Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado tournament maps, providing the pool with a welcome refresh.

Fear not, however; some time after the tournament has concluded, the prior Empire Wars ladder will be restored and existing ratings and leaderboards will return to the state they were in before this swap-out.

The Team Game ladder will also receive an update to the map pool, but the TG ladder is not associated with the tournament – only the 1v1 ladder. This means that your Empire Wars Team Game rating and statistics will remain unchanged during this period.

The new ladder is being used as part of the upcoming Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado tournament as a method to qualify for the event. In order to ensure an even playing field for all competitors, the leader board has to be temporarily reset. The four with the highest Elo rating achieved on the leaderboard by the 28th of July will be directly invited to the Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado event taking place at the Castillo de Almodóvar del Río in Spain.

Your experience will remain the same; however, you may find that your 1v1 rating will require a few games before it settles. With this change, you will be able to experience what it’s like to play on the settings and maps of one of the biggest tournaments for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. The ladder holds no restrictions, anyone is free to play on the ladder whether they intend to participate in the tournament or not.

Please be aware, there is a Controller Only ladder visible for Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado for those playing on Xbox. However, this ladder will not be eligible for qualification. Remember to enable crossplay, as qualification will only be available to those on the cross-play enabled ladder.

Click for more information on the tournament.

Welcome to another fun-filled update for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition! This is a small one with bug fixes, balance changes, and some new quality of life features. While there are plenty of notable things to look forward to in today’s build, here’s some of the big highlights coming with this month’s update:

• New QoL Features:
  
  • Farms can now be automatically placed around a Mill or a Town Center by holding Shift (LT for Xbox) and clicking the Farm over the Building.
    
  • All scouting units can now use the Auto Scout functionality instead of just the starting one.
• Bug fixes based on your feedback
  
• Balance changes

Be sure to dig down into the post below to get all of the smaller details before hopping in-game and checking them out firsthand.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team

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Build Spotlight

Temporary Reset of Empire Wars 1v1 Ladder During Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado

The 1v1 ranked ladder for Empire Wars will be temporarily shelved and replaced by a new 1v1 ranked ladder for the upcoming Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado tournament. This is a new ladder that levels the playing field as you compete for ELO and opportunity. The map pool is also being updated to the Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado tournament maps, providing the pool with a welcome refresh.

Fear not, however; some time after the tournament has concluded, the prior EW ladder will be restored, and existing ratings and leaderboards will return in the state they were in before this swap-out.

The Team Game ladder will also receive an update to the map pool, but the TG ladder is not associated with the tournament – only the 1v1 is. This means that your Empire Wars Team Game rating and statistics will remain unchanged during this period.

Why is the ladder being temporarily reset?
The new ladder is being used as part of the upcoming Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado tournament as a method to qualify for the event. In order to ensure an even playing field for all competitors, the leader board has to be temporarily reset. The four with the highest Elo rating achieved on the leaderboard by the 28th of July will be directly invited to the Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado event taking place at the Castillo de Almodóvar del Río in Spain.

How does this affect you?
Your experience will remain the same; however, you may find that your 1v1 rating will require a few games before it settles. With this change, you will be able to experience what it’s like to play on the settings and maps of one of the biggest tournaments for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. The ladder holds no restrictions, anyone is free to play on the ladder whether they intend to participate in the tournament or not.

Please be aware, there is a Controller Only ladder visible for Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado for those playing on Xbox. However, this ladder will not be eligible for qualification. Remember to enable crossplay, as qualification will only be available to those on the cross-play enabled ladder.

Click for more information on the tournament.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.