How to run Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition on Windows 10?

Description

Age of Empires, the pivotal RTS that launched a 20-year legacy returns in definitive form for Windows 10 PCs. Bringing together all of the officially released content with modernized gameplay, all-new visuals and a host of other new features, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is the complete RTS package. Engage in over 40 hours of updated campaign content with new narration and pacing, jump online in up to 8-player battles with new competitive features and modes, experience 4K HD visuals with overhauled animations, get creative with the scenario builder and share your creations. There’s never been a better time to jump in to Age of Empires. Welcome back to history. * Requires a free Xbox Live account.

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• Description
• Published by
• Developed by
• Availability
• Version differences
• Monetization
• DLC and expansion packs
• Essential improvements
• Skip intro videos
• Unofficial patches (The Conquerors)
• Forgotten Empires
• Configuration file(s) location
• Save game data location
• Localizations
• Multiplayer types
• Connection types
• Issues unresolved
• Dell laptop compatibility issues
• "Access Denied - Please login with administrator privileges and try again" error on launch (Windows 10)
• Issues fixed
• Color issues
• LAN connectivity
• Other information
• Command line arguments
• System requirements
• How to install Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition on Windows 10?
• Does Age of Empires 2 definitive edition work on Windows 10?
• Will Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition run on my PC?
• How to play Age of Empires 2 on PC?

Published by

Xbox Game Studios

Developed by

Forgotten Empires

This page is for the original game. For the 2013 HD Edition, see Age of Empires II (2013). For the 2019 Definitive Edition, see Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Developers
	Ensemble Studios
Mac OS (Classic)	Westlake Interactive
macOS (OS X)	Westlake Interactive
Publishers
	Microsoft
Re-releases	Ubisoft
Mac OS, OS X	MacSoft
Engines
	Genie
Release dates
Windows	October 10, 1999
Mac OS (Classic)	October 2001
macOS (OS X)	October 2001
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Themes	Asia, Europe, Middle East, Pre-Columbian Americas, Medieval
Series	Age of Empires

⤏ Go to series page
Age of Empires	1997
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings	1999
Age of Mythology	2002
Age of Empires III	2005
Age of Empires Online	2011
Age of Empires II (2013)	2013
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition	2014
Age of Empires: Castle Siege	2014
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition	2018
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition	2019
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition	2020
Age of Empires IV	2021
Age of Mythology: Retold	TBA

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.

General information

Official Discord server for the series Age of Empires II Official Microsoft Site (archived) Age of Kings Heaven Community Site and Map Archive AoEZone Community site for competitive gaming /r/aoe2 Age of Empires 2 Subreddit

Availability

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions). Free demos are available for The Age of Kings and The Conquerors Expansion.

Version differences

Age of Empires II: Gold Edition contains the base game and The Conquerors expansion, first released in 2001. Age of Empires: Collector's Edition contains Age of Empires and Age of Empires II with their respective expansion packs. The later DVD-ROM releases include the latest patches and are DRM-free, but are missing Red Book CD audio.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	The expansion pack includes new civilizations, units, technologies (some civilization-unique) and campaigns.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
The Conquerors	Windows version is sold separately, Mac OS version only in Gold Edition.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Start game with -nostartup parameter[3]

Patches

The latest patch for the base game is Version 2.0a. The latest patch for The Conquerors is Version 1.0c. Alternately, the latest official patches are available at soggi.org.

Unofficial patches (The Conquerors)

1.0e includes exploit fixes, a fix for a rare issue with missing permissions when overwriting files, a no-CD patch and a version switcher. The uninstaller cleanly reverts to the official 1.0c version. UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update adds many fixes including widescreen support, UPnP port forwarding, and various optional tweaks. If it is installed on top of v1.0e, no CD is required.

Forgotten Empires

Forgotten Empires is a mod which adds new civilizations, campaigns, maps and other fixes. It was later made available as offical DLC for the HD Edition and is included by default with the Definitive Edition - as a result, the mod version is no longer supported.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Save game data location

Player settings are saved in \Player.nfp (determines unlocked scenarios etc.) Custom campaigns are saved in \Campaign\ Custom scenarios are saved in \Scenario\

Video

In-game options menu.

Input

In-game key map settings.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio		On Windows, CD music might not play correctly; see the troubleshooting guide for solutions.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation by .:i2k:. and kds link #1, link #2
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Connection types

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	2300-2400, 47624
UDP	2300-2400

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

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 operating systems (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 graphics card driver. However, Age of Empires II HD (the re-mastered version of the game released in 2013) is unaffected by this problem.[citation needed]

"Access Denied - Please login with administrator privileges and try again" error on launch (Windows 10)

Install UserPatch to fix this for The Conquerors (this does not fix the issue for the base game).[citation needed]

Issues fixed

Color issues

Windows Vista and 7 can have issues with displaying true colours in Age of Empires II correctly. This issue does not occur on Windows 8 and later. See DirectDraw troubleshooting for further details.

UserPatch[citation needed]
Install UserPatch. This includes a color fix for Vista and 7, and will also set a registry flag, allowing modern Windows systems and newer to emulate the 256-colour mode. It will also optionally provide support for loading the windowed mode plugin, which, apart from its direct purpose, also performs software palette conversion to 32-bit, resolving said issues.

DirectDrawFix[citation needed]
Use DirectDrawFix to apply the required compatibility fixes to the registry.

LAN connectivity

This method allows gaming over LAN on modern versions of Windows.

Setting the IP address to Static and the Default Gateway to nothing[citation needed]

Go to the Network and Sharing Center. Right-click on the LAN adapter and open "Properties". Highlight "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and click on "Properties". Check "Use the following IP address:" and enter an address which is not currently being used by the 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.

MIDI music

Copy files from demo version[citation needed]

Download the demo version of Age of Empires II. Copy the midi folder from the sound folder of the demo of AOEII. Paste the folder in the sound folder of the full game. Run the game with the -midimusic command line argument. Notes Music from the Conquerors expansion demo can also be used; rename the Conquerors MIDI files from music 1-8 to 9-16 to prevent replacement of existing files. 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.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	6.1
OpenGL		Mac OS only.

Executable	PPC	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)				Intel support was added with the 1.0.6 patch, which converts the game to a universal binary. Still 32-bit only.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Multiplayer	MSN Gaming Zone

Command line arguments

Command[5]	Description
NoStartup	Skips the intro
800	Forces the 800x600 resolution
1024	Forces the 1024x768 resolution
1280	Forces the 1280x1024 resolution
Mfill	Fixes horizontal line issue related to contemporary Matrox video adapters
NormalMouse	Replaces the ingame cursor with the standard Windows one
NoSound	Disables game audio with the exception of cinematics
NoTerrainSound	Disables ambient audio
NoMusic	Disables music
Msync	Fixes lockups related to contemporary SoundBlaster AWE configurations

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	98
Processor (CPU)	166 MHz	450 MHz
System memory (RAM)	32 MB	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	300 MB
Video card (GPU)	2 MB of VRAM DirectX 6.1 compatible	Nvidia TNT2 ATI Rage 128 16 MB of VRAM

Mac OS
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	8.6
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC G3 300 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	750 MB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Rage 128

500 MHz is required for online play.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.0.5
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC G3 300 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	750 MB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Rage 128

500 MHz is required for online play.
When applying the UB patch, the minimum supported OS is 10.3.9.

Notes

1. ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

1. ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
2. ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
3. ↑ Known video issues in Age of Empires II
4. ↑ Age of Empires matchmaking has been retired from MSN Games - MSN Games - Free Online Games
5. ↑ AoE2: Command Line Parameters - Voobly

How to install Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition on Windows 10?

Does Age of Empires 2 definitive edition work on Windows 10?

Will Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition run on my PC?

How to play Age of Empires 2 on PC?