This page is for the original game. For the re-release, see Age of Empires: Definitive Edition.
General information
- Official Discord server for the series
- Microsoft's Official game page (archived)
- Age of Empires Heaven is an active fan website and forum that offers support and extra game content.
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
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Version differences
- Age of Empires: Gold Edition contains the base game and The Rise of Rome expansion, first released in 1999.
- Age of Empires: Collector's Edition was first released in 2000. It contains:
- In later DVD-ROM releases, it includes the latest patches and is DRM-free for all titles. However, such releases are missing the Red Book audio.
Demo
Monetization
DLC and expansion packs
Name |
Notes |
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Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome |
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Essential improvements
Patches
- This patch updates both Age of Empires (to 1.0c) and The Rise of Rome (to 1.0a): English, German, and French or Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
- Alternately, the latest official patch is available at soggi.org.
- Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome 1.0a suffers from a serious bug in saved games. If a projectile (arrow from archers, ships, towers, siege weapons) is "flying" through the air while saving a game, the saved game becomes corrupted; loading it will crash the game.
- Unofficial patch that contains bug fixes and improvements for modern operating systems. Does not require any previous patches.
- Fixes the color problem caused in newer systems
- Fixes the save game bug of version 1.0a
- Requires The Rise of Rome expansion
Skip intro videos
Use the NoStartup
command line argument.[1]
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System |
Location |
Windows |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Games\Age of Empires\1.00\ |
Mac OS (Classic) |
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Save game data location
- Campaign progress is stored in
<path-to-game>\game0.nfo
- Custom scenarios are stored in
<path-to-game>\scenario
- Custom campaigns are stored in
<path-to-game>\campaign
- You will need to backup all of the above files and folders to have all of your player data and progress.
Video
Input
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
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Surround sound |
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Subtitles |
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Closed captions |
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Mute on focus lost |
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Red Book CD audio |
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On Windows, CD music might not play correctly; see the troubleshooting guide for solutions. |
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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French |
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German |
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Hungarian |
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Fan translation by .:i2k:. link #1, link #2 |
Italian |
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Portuguese |
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Spanish |
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Network
Multiplayer types
Connection types
Ports
Protocol |
Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
TCP |
2300-2400, 47624 |
UDP |
6073, 2300-2400 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
Issues fixed
Game uses weird colors
Playing the game on modern versions of Windows may cause it to use weird colors. Repetitive red and purple specks in water and marsh areas are the common issue. This can be fixed by downloading and using DirectDrawFix.
Weird colors fix[citation needed]
|
- Download and extract the DirectDrawFix zip file.
- Run
DirectDrawFix.exe .
- Use the browse button to locate and select
EMPIRES.exe .
- Press the apply button.
- Repeat for
EMPIRESX.exe .
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Could not initialize graphics system error[3]
|
- Run the game in Compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 2
- Disable Visual Themes
- Disable Desktop Composition
- Run this program as an Administrator
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Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
DirectDraw |
5 |
|
Executable | PPC | 16-bit |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows | | |
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Mac OS (Classic) | | | |
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Middleware
|
Middleware |
Notes |
Multiplayer |
MSN Gaming Zone |
Discontinued.[4] |
System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
95, NT |
98, 2000, ME |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 90 or higher | |
System memory (RAM) |
16 MB |
32 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
80 MB | |
Video card (GPU) |
Local SVGA bus video display 1 MB of VRAM DirectX 5 compatible | |
Notes
References