Anno 1404: History Edition

Anno 1404: History Edition

Developers
	Ubisoft Mainz
Publishers
	Ubisoft
Release dates
Windows	June 25, 2020
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Building, Strategy, Simulation
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Historical, Fantasy, Renaissance, Medieval
Series	Anno

Anno 1404: History Edition is a singleplayer multiplayer strategy game and an updated version of the 2009 game Anno 1404. The game, developed by Ubisoft Blue Byte and published by Ubisoft, uses an enhanced version of the proprietary game engine from the all-time popular Anno series.

Anno 1404: History Edition released for Windows through the Epic Games Store, Uplay, Steam, GamersGate, Gamesplanet and GMG on June 25, 2020.

This version of the game includes all of the DLCs and bonus content including the Venice expansion. Beyond that, this version includes a special commemorative Anno 1404 wallpaper and a company logo for use in Anno 1800. Also, the full Anno History Collection (consisting of the four popular games: Anno 1404: History Edition, Anno 1602: History Edition, Anno 1701: History Edition and Anno 1503: History Edition) on Uplay includes an additional fifth company logo, plus a special ornament for use in Anno 1800 and a new History Edition Suite encompassing the main themes of all four games, which can be enjoyed with Anno 1404: History Edition, alongside the rest of the game’s digital soundtrack. Now users can create new custom scenarios or import and play old scenarios created with the editing tools.

The game is now much more optimized for modern PCs with newer hardware as well as software. One of the biggest changes to this game is it is now 64-bit only, meaning it can now take full advantage of all RAM in modern computers; hence, the issue of the game running out of RAM is eliminated. Along with all this, the game supports screen resolutions up to 4K and enables the use of multiple displays. The game's multiplayer functionality has also been tweaked to support improved and enhanced multiplayer functionality via Uplay. There is also a quick match function and desync recovery like the one seen in Anno 1800.

As of July 2020, Ubisoft has fixed the issue where the game would crash at launch for multiple users. The game has received its second feature update since its release which aims to fix multiple bugs and issues in the game.

General information

Official Support Page

Steam community discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store
GamersGate
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam
Ubisoft Store		Included with Ubisoft+.

All versions require Ubisoft Connect DRM.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via Ubisoft+.

Essential improvements

Patches

This patch was created for the original Anno 1404 but also works with the new Anno 1404: History Edition.

The Unofficial Anno Patch is a hybrid localization, bugfix, and restoration patch. It requires Venice and will have no effect on the base game.

Anno 1404 has a dubious English translation, with many places being seemingly machine-translated with spelling, grammar and formatting errors. So an unofficial patch was created for a truly professional English translation, both for British and American English.

It also includes a few mods that can be used without breaking achievements or medals. The mods are infinite water for Norias, infinite Natural Resources, no "Production Halted" sounds, and only have one person to find for all "Wanted Person" quests.

• The patch can be downloaded here: Anno 1404 Unofficial patch

Skip intro videos and splash screen

Download RDA Explorer

Open eng0.rda located at <path-to-game>\maindata using RDA Explorer. Once the .rda file is open, go to data\loca\movies and find the start_logo_list.txt file. Right-click that .txt file and click Delete. Then go to File and click Save Notes Create a backup of the .rda file in case of any problems or want to re-enable the movies. The .rda file must be opened only using the open method and not the open - read-only method.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Ubisoft\Anno1404\Config
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1281630/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Anno1404\Savegames %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Anno1404 Venice\Savegames
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1281630/pfx/

Original game save files are compatible with this game.

To use existing singleplayer save games from the original version of the game, copy them into the above location.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Video

General Settings

Advanced Graphics Settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		UI scales automatically.
Multi-monitor		Stated in the DevBlog
Ultra-widescreen		Hor+, Checked at 3440*1440 screen resolution. The game automatically scales the user interface to remain comfortably playable even at such a high resolution
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 8x
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Game is capped at 60 FPS by default. See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

High frame rate

The game limits frame rate to 60 FPS by default.

Remove FPS cap
Go to the Configuration file(s) location. Open Engine.ini with a text editor. Change <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate> to the desired refresh rate.

Input

Key remapping Settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Audio Settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Up to 8.1 discrete channels. Dolby Surround and SRS Circle Surround support.
Subtitles		Cutscenes only
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		DirectSound 3D support.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech
French
German
Italian
Polish
Russian
Spanish

Network

Interface Settings

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play		8
Online play		8

The History Edition does not use separate profiles for singleplayer and multiplayer

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking		Only for Quick-matches

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP	18000

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

This game does not support multiplayer between the original game and the Anno History Edition.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c, 10, 11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3-3220 3.3 GHz AMD FX-4130 3.9 GHz	Intel Core i5-4460 3.2 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	7.8 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 AMD Radeon R7 265 2 GB of VRAM DirectX 9.0 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 AMD Radeon RX 470 4 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.