This page is for the 2013 HD Edition. For the original game, see Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. For the 2019 Definitive Edition, see Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
Age of Empires II (2013)
 |
|
Hidden Path Entertainment |
|
Ensemble Studios |
| DLC |
SkyBox Labs |
|
Forgotten Empires |
|
Microsoft Studios |
|
Genie |
| Windows |
April 9, 2013 |
| Metacritic |
68 |
| Monetization |
One-time game purchase, Expansion pack |
| Microtransactions |
None |
| Modes |
Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
| Pacing |
Real-time |
| Perspectives |
Bird's-eye view, Isometric |
| Controls |
Multiple select, Point and select |
| Genres |
RTS |
| Themes |
Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Pre-Columbian Americas, Medieval |
| Series |
Age of Empires |
|
Age of Empires II: HD Edition (silently renamed on the Steam store page to Age of Empires II (2013) on August 15, 2019[1]) is an updated version of the 1999 Medieval RTS Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and its The Conquerors expansion pack. It features native high resolution support and new multiplayer servers.
This version's first expansion, The Forgotten, was released in November 2013. It is an officially supported version of the Forgotten Empires mod for The Conquerors which had received an estimated 500.000 downloads prior to the official release of said expansion.[2] This was the point at which the mod's developers, the Forgotten Empires, would become involved with further development of the HD Edition and subsequently future releases of Age of Empires.
Two other expansions were released, each bringing new civilizations and campaigns: The African Kingdoms in November 2015 and Rise of the Rajas in 2016. These expansions would use a separate data set to the one used in the base game. Players who would not purchase any expansion would get free access to a limited set of expansion factions in multiplayer which would rotate daily.
The game was supported officially until patch 5.8 was released in September 2018, transferring all efforts to development and post-launch support for Definitive Edition.
With time, the game's multiplayer stability and responsiveness issues became more apparent, so players would move to the original version with back-ported HD Edition expansion content until the release of Definitive Edition, to which the most of the Age of Empires II community as a whole would move, leaving the HD Edition effectively abandoned. Its servers are still online, but seldom used.
General information
- PC Report
- Official Discord server for the series
- Steam Community Discussions
- AoEZone - an active Age of Empires community
- Age of Empires Online Forum - the 'official' forum.
Availability
Monetization
| Type |
Notes |
| Expansion pack
| The expansion packs include new civilizations, units and campaigns. They have a separate balance set that can be chosen in skirmishes and multiplayer. Players who own no expansion packs are given a limited number of civilizations in skirmish and multiplayer modes that rotate every day. |
| One-time game purchase
| The game requires an upfront purchase to access. |
DLC and expansion packs
- The Conquerors expansion is included in the base game.
| Name |
Notes |
|
| The Forgotten |
A tweaked and officially supported version of the Forgotten Empires mod for the original The Conquerors. |
|
| The African Kingdoms |
|
|
| Rise of the Rajas |
|
|
Essential improvements
Skip intro videos
Skip launcher
|
Change launcher file[4]
|
- Go to the installation folder.
- Delete or rename
Launcher.exe.
- Rename
AoK HD.exe to Launcher.exe.
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
- Custom campaigns are stored in
<path-to-game>\resources\_common\Campaign
- Custom scenarios are stored in
<path-to-game>\resources\_common\Scenario
- Custom campaigns initially made for the original game are compatible with the HD edition.
Video
Input
In-game key map settings.
Audio
| Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
| Separate volume controls |
|
Master, Music. |
| Surround sound |
|
|
| Subtitles |
|
|
| Closed captions |
|
|
| Mute on focus lost |
|
|
| Royalty free audio |
|
|
Localizations
| Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
| English |
|
|
|
|
| Simplified Chinese |
|
|
|
|
| Dutch |
|
|
|
|
| French |
|
|
|
|
| German |
|
|
|
|
| Hungarian |
|
|
|
Fan translation, available on: Steam Workshop |
| Italian |
|
|
|
|
| Japanese |
|
|
|
|
| Korean |
|
|
|
|
| Brazilian Portuguese |
|
|
|
|
| Russian |
|
|
|
|
| Spanish |
|
|
|
|
Network
Multiplayer types
| Type |
Native |
Players |
Notes |
| LAN play |
| 8 |
Requires connection to the master server for lobby creation |
| Online play |
| 8 |
|
Connection types
Ports
| Protocol |
Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
| UDP |
3478, 4379, 4380, 27000-27015, 27015-27030 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
Issues fixed
Missing DPI scaling
|
Manually set scaling mode[6]
|
- Go to
(<path-to-game>
- Right-click on
Launcher.exe and choose Properties.
- Go to the
Compatibility tab and check Override high DPI scaling behavior.
- Set
Scaling performed by to System.
- Do not choose
System (enhanced) as it breaks the input.
|
Other information
API
| Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
| Direct3D |
9.0c |
|
| Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
| Windows |
|
|
|
Middleware
System requirements
| Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
Vista, 7, 8 Pro+ | |
| Processor (CPU) |
1.2 GHz | |
| System memory (RAM) |
1 GB | |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2 GB | |
| Video card (GPU) |
DirectX 9.0c compatible | |
| Other |
|
900x600 minimum display resolution |
- This game requires a resolution of at least 900x600.
- Windows XP support has been discontinued; the last working version is available from the game's betas tab in the Steam client.[7]
Notes
References
