Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

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, Mac OS X	Westlake Interactive
Publishers
	Microsoft
Mac OS, Mac OS X	MacSoft
Engines
	Genie
Release dates
Windows	October 10, 1999
Mac OS (Classic)	October 2001
macOS (OS X)	October 2001
Taxonomy
Monetization	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

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

Base game does not work on Windows 10 due to SafeDisc support being discontinued (UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update fixes this issue for The Conquerors).

UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update adds support for widescreen/multi-monitor resolutions.

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

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc DRM.

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Demos are available for The Age of Kings and The Conquerors Expansion.

Version differences

The "Age of Empires Collector's Edition" first released in 2000 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 (although initial releases supplied separate CDs for each game):

• Age of Empires
• Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
• Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
• Age of Empires II: The Conquerors

No-CD patches are already applied; the DVD is only necessary for installation - which ensures compatibility with modern operating systems; and all games are fully patched to their latest versions.

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.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors	Windows version is sold separately, Mac OS version only in Gold Edition.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Start game with -nostartup parameter

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 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.

Voobly.com

Adds Online Matchmaking and automatic UserPatch installation.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\config.xml
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SaveGame\
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)

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\

Video settings

In-game options menu.

Input settings

In-game key map settings.

Audio settings

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

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8
Online play		8

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking		MSN Gaming Zone support has been discontinued. Community has moved to http://voobly.com[citation needed]
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

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.

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

Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update to fix this for The Conquerors (this does not fix the issue for the base game).

Issues fixed

Windows Vista and 7 colours

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 rainbow color problems in older games for further details.

UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update[citation needed]
Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update. This includes a color fix for Vista and 7, and will also set a registry flag, allowing Windows 8+ to emulate the 256-colour modes, required by the game. 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 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.

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.

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

Install UserPatch: Conquerors Feature Update to fix this for The Conquerors (this does not fix the issue for the base game).

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	6.1
OpenGL		Mac OS only.

Executable	PPC	16-bit	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.
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Multiplayer	MSN Gaming Zone

System requirements

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

macOS (OS X)

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	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.