Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition News

Good day, everyone! Today’s small update introduces a handful of fixes for issues that continue to disrupt normal play. The team is continuing to work on improvements to the game based on feedback and issues identified by the community, so keep weighing in on the topics that are most important to you on the official forums or Steam discussions.

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

We will be watching the performance of today’s hotfix as we continue to prepare a new game build with additional fixes and additions. We’re here for the long run, and appreciate everyone who has been communicative and constructive in helping us improve the game over the past month!

—The Age of Empires Team

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[h3]Stability & Performance[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where players would receive a “low disk space” warning when queuing for multiplayer matches.

[h3]Audio[/h3]

• Added new voice-over lines for Chinese units.

• Reverted the change which encouraged Settlers to seek out and collect distant resources, as it could lead to several unintended behaviors.
  
• Corrected an issue where the building and upgrade buttons could shift down in the UI after receiving certain cards from the Home City, thus making them inaccessible.

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As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. The notes have not changed from our last major update as we continue to focus on the most important issues impacting your play:

• Units getting stuck in immobile objects: There are several unique circumstances which can result in units getting stuck in objects, and we’re looking to track down and fix them all! Watch for more fixes in future updates.
  
• Ongoing investigation into issues with Attack-Move: We’ve read your reports and want to continue working on improving the behavior of and fixing issues related to the Attack-Move command.
  
• Adding additional Treaty options to Ranked: Of course we’re working on new tools for you to use in your games!
  
• Explorers can refuse to build Trading Posts: We’re sending out Marshalls to have a word with them…
  
• Ongoing stability improvements! Stability and performance are areas where we will always strive to improve the game, and we have more on the way soon!

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!

[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try disabling your installed mods before trying again.

Still having trouble? Visit our support page!

Good day, explorers! Today’s update is the latest in the series of change logs based on the community feedback we’ve collected over the past few weeks. While you can read through the full list of changes below, here’s the short list of highlights coming with the build:

• Fixes for several crashes, out-of-sync errors, and other stability issues!
  
• Additional fixes to prevent units from getting stuck in immovable objects (and still more to come)!
  
• Treasure Guardians will now be visible behind their treasures!
  
• Fixed several issues noted when the Allow Conflicts hotkey setting was enabled.
  
• Revolt Decks can no longer be copied and deployed outside of an actual revolution!
  
• Balance changes to the Chinese, Incas, Indians, and Japanese civs.
  
• Replaced the wood cost with a coin cost to train Chimu Runners.
  
• Several actions will now respond to the click rather than the release of the button press for improved feedback.

As always, we are continuing to seek out community conversations focused on the evolution of the game in a critical, yet constructive manner. For those looking to inspire change, the quickest way to do so is by garnering the support of the community, so be sure to start or join the conversations taking place on our official channels:

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

If you’re still having trouble with stability or playing the game, we want to hear from you! There’s a dedicated support team waiting to help you troubleshoot the problem; reach out to them, explain your experience, and they’ll do everything in their power to get you in and playing!

We’ll be watching today’s update to see what issues continue to pop up following its release. We appreciate everyone working with us to make Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition even better, and hope to continue doing so in the years to come!

See you on the battlefield!

—The Age of Empires Team

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[h3]Stability & Performance[/h3]

• Fixed a crash that could be triggered on the postgame screen in certain circumstances.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by closing the game with an active multiplayer pop-up window.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by closing the application with an open chat room.
  
• Fixed a crash triggered when closing the game while units were garrisoned inside a Kallanka.
  
• The game will now check for available disk space when launching the game and display a warning message if less than 500 MB is free.
  
• Added a new warning message when the client tries to write out a Home City file to a drive that lacks the required space: “File transfer failed. Please ensure free disk space before retrying.”
• Implemented safeguards against a potential crash related to the Home City Deck.
  
• Implemented fixes and additional checks for several out-of-sync errors.

If you are encountering any instabilities with your game, please contact our support team with any error logs generated during the process.

[h3]Graphics[/h3]

• Graphics settings now default to the minimum specifications to run the game.
  
• Updated treasure nodes to ensure that their Guardians are outlined when hidden behind the treasure structure or other buildings. Note that the Treasure itself will no longer be visible behind other structures as a result of this change.
  
• Removed unnecessary weight from the Catamaran to prevent it from appearing submerged beneath the water.

[h3]Audio[/h3]

• Added auditory feedback sounds when interacting with sliders in the settings menu.
  
• Fixed an issue where the ♪ “Can’t Do That” ♪ sound effect could trigger for all allied players as opposed to (exclusively) the one player to which it applied.

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Updated the size, color, and added a dark border to shipment numbers to improve their visibility in all HUD layouts.
  
• Increased the size of the Idle Villager banner buttons for all three HUD layouts.
  
• Fixed a community-reported typo of the country name, “Colombia.”
  
• Corrected the tooltip of the Papal Guard politician to no longer reference "Royal" guards: "Crossbowmen and Pikemen reach Guard status."
• Manor: Tooltip now mentions that it spawns a Settler: "More expensive than a normal House. Spawns a Settler when built. Supports 10 population."
• Teepee: The tooltip before and after it is built is now consistent and correct.

[h3]Profanity Filter[/h3]

• The
• ***** profanity filter should now only filter out the part of a sentence that was deemed profane instead of the entire
• ***** sentence.

• Revolt decks can no longer be copied.
  
• Revolt cards will be removed from users’ decks when a Home City is loaded.
  
• Implemented a fix for units being deselected when issued a command while the Allow Conflicts (Hotkeys) option was enabled in the settings menu.
  
• Increased the radius in which Settlers will seek out and collect their respective resources to prevent them from idling when uncollected resources are within view.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented the hunt of animals or construction of a Trading Post when directly adjacent to a Settlement.
  
• Added a Construct Tribal Marketplace hotkey to the Legacy ‘Building Construction Hotkeys’ bindings. It is X by default.
  
• Added a Find Tribal Marketplace to both the Default and Legacy bindings. It is CTRL+B for Default and CTRL+X for Legacy.
  
• Added the Train Grenadier hotkey to the Legacy ‘Fort Hotkeys’ bindings. It is unbound by default.

Several buttons will now respond to the initial press rather than the release of the button for improved responsiveness:

• Change Unit
• Queue
• Select
• Banner
• Home City Shipment

This addresses an issue where commands would fail to queue if performed quickly before re-focusing on another area of the game.



[h3]General[/h3]

• Fixed an AI crash that could disrupt certain campaign missions, including the Bolivar’s Revolt scenario.

[h3]Historical Battles[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where troops would not start garrisoned within Drake’s Galleon at the start of the ‘Raid on the Caribbean’ scenario.

[h3]The Chinese[/h3]
▶︎ CARDS

• Town Rickshaw + 5 Villagers: Now properly respects Villager build limits.

[h3]The Incas[/h3]
▶︎ UNITS & BUILDINGS

• Maceman: Now properly gain a brief speed boost after landing an attack, like other hand infantry units.
  
• War Chief: Increased speed from 4.25 ▶ 4.5.
  
• War Chief: Adjusted the hand attack to have a “negative” multiplier of 0.75x vs. Heroes to account for other, hidden multipliers.

Several adjustments have been made to Chimu Runners:

• Adjusted the cost from 65 food, 35 wood ▶ 65 food, 40 coin.
  
• This change aims to address an issue in Team Supremacy where the unit was considerably more ‘efficient’ than expected after multiple wood gathering improvements had been researched. It also reduces the civilization’s reliance on wood in the Treaty game mode, and should make gathering and controlling coin mines more crucial in 1v1 match-ups.

Adjusted the Stronghold as follows:

• Removed the minimum range from (was previously 6)
  
• Reduced the area damage from 3 ▶ 1.5. Due to the number of projectiles fired, it remains comparable to the European Fort (which has 3 area damage).
  
• The damage bonus granted by garrisoned military units is now capped at 25 units rather than all 50, similar to the behavior of the Town Center.

▶︎ UPGRADES

• Sacsayhuaman: Changed benefits granted to the Stronghold +3 range, +50% hp ▶ +1 area damage, +50% hp.
  
• Coca Cultivation (Big Button): Reduced the coin trickle granted to Estates from 1 c/s ▶ 0.8c/s.

▶︎ CARDS

• Cloud Warriors: No longer grants Chimu Runners and Jungle Bowman increased speed while using their stealth ability.
  Town Ceremony: No longer available to the Inca.

[h3]The Indians[/h3]
▶︎ UPGRADES

• 4 Settlers: The Villagers delivered via the Ottoman Consulate now also grant +4 to the Villager build limit for the purposes of Treaty balance.

[h3]The Japanese[/h3]
▶︎ UPGRADES

• Consulate: Fixed an issue where choosing to End Relations/Isolation would not properly restore unit attack damage to pre-isolation levels. Units will no longer gain a permanent (stacking) +2% increase to their damage by starting and ending relations with the Consulate.

• Improved the display of civilizations and flags on the loading screen into a ranked match.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where spectators could be trapped on the “Waiting for Players” screen if a player exited while the spectator loaded into the match.

• Disabled the ability to Revolt (excluding South Africa) while a Treaty is still active.
  
• Implemented a fix for long loading times into certain water maps with a Nomad start.

• Mods can no longer be utilized in Ranked multiplayer matches.
  
• Ranked game invites can no longer be extended to other players when mods are installed.
  
• Multiplayer is no longer accessible after installing a mod until the game has been restarted. New warning messages have been implemented when browsing through multiplayer screens while running mods.

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As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief update from our Production team regarding some of what is still in the works:

• Units getting stuck in immobile objects: There are several unique circumstances which can result in units getting stuck in objects, and we're looking to track down and fix them all! Watch for more fixes in future updates.
  
• Ongoing investigation into issues with Attack-Move: We've read your reports and want to continue working on improving the behavior of and fixing issues related to the Attack-Move command.
  
• Adding additional Treaty options to Ranked: Of course we're working on new tools for you to use in your games!
  
• Explorers can refuse to build Trading Posts: We're sending out Marshalls to have a word with them...
  
• Ongoing stability improvements! Stability and performance are areas where we will always strive to improve the game, and we have more on the way soon!

[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try disabling your installed mods before trying again.

Still having trouble? Visit our support page!

Hello and welcome to the first week of November! Today's update not only re-syncs Steam with the Microsoft Store so players from both worlds can enjoy each other's company, but comes with a large number of fixes and updates aimed at improving the stability, performance, and playability of the game.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fixed a severe performance issue when scrolling while running the game in Chinese and other non-English languages.
  
• Fixed several crashes in the story, multiplayer games, and multiplayer lobbies!
  
• Updated game settings to better-detect the optimal configuration.
  
• Fixed the "Cav Box" exploit used to compact units!
  
• Civilization balance updates for 9 Civs!
  
• Localization fixes for most languages!
  
• ...and more!

The team is already hard at work on the next update, which includes more fixes and adjustments based on your feedback. As always: keep visiting the forum to leave your thoughts, contribute or +1 others' threads, and stay involved!

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

If you’re having trouble playing the game, remember that we have a dedicated support team to help you troubleshoot the problem! You can also visit the knowledgebase to see if there’s already an answer to your question—especially if you're dealing with stability or performance issues.

More news to come! Stay tuned and let us know what you think of Update 5208 when you've had a chance to play!

—The Age of Empires Team

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[h3]Stability & Performance[/h3]

• Fixed an issue which caused non-English characters (such as Chinese) to slow the game to a crawl when click-dragging to select units.
  
• Exiting the Clan menu while in a lobby will no longer prevent the multiplayer menu from opening.
  
• Fixed an infinite loop in the AI code which would cause the Bolivar's Revolt mission to crash.
  
• Fixed an uncommon crash when selecting a random civ before starting a game.
  
• Fixed a crash when repairing certain buildings to 100% hp.
  
• Fixed a rare multiplayer lobby crash caused by players leaving or joining a lobby in certain circumstances.
  
• Fixed a crash when loading a save game with incorrect unit references.
  
• Fixed a crash when scrolling through the lobby list.
  
• Out of an abundance of caution, additional safeguards have been added to the mod manager to ensure player-created mods do not incorrectly alter the expected mod install path and only remove the files included with the mod when unsubscribing / removing them from the game.

[h3]Graphics[/h3]

• Fixed the alignment of the "garrisoned" flags on the Bandit Catamaran, Marathan Catamaran, Ironclad, and Atakebune ships.
  
• Improved the quality of the Torp Aura visual decal.
  
• Updated Malta to use the Maltese cross Home City flag rather than the British flag.
  
• Implemented several changes to the "Headed West" cinematic to prevent it from failing when watched in an extreme widescreen format.
  
• Implemented several visual improvements to the Act 3 ("Old Coot") cutscene.
  
• Implemented several visual improvements to the Act 2 ("Trail to Warwick") cutscene after sharing some director tips with the overacting Supply Wagon.
  
• Corrected the Boneguard flag in the "Lake of the Moon" cutscene to match flags used in the subsequent cutscene, "The Fountain of Youth."
  
• Fixed Nonakee's broken-looking shoulder animation in the Reunion cutscene.

[h3]Audio[/h3]

• Implemented a fix to prevent certain game sounds from repeating twice.
  
• Updated the sound effect for the newly-designed ♪ Carolean Charge ♪ and ♪ Sürat Assault ♪.

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Corrected the name of the legacy Crackshot hotkey to Eye of the Assassin.
  
• Corrected the tooltip of the Agrarian Ways card to read: "Farm and Estate upgrades available before the Imperial Age are now free."
• Added additional options to the Clan context menu, including the ability to "Add Friend."
  
• Fixed the Definitive and Legacy UI to display health bars in stacked selection.
  
• Fixed the location of infantry health bars to be consistent when changing stances.

[h3]Settings[/h3]

• Updated the game to more reliably determine the default settings of the game based on hardware specifications.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Video detection would always set the graphics to "Low," even on more powerful computers.
  
• The default resolution will now pick the closest minimum resolution instead of trying to scale up. The maximum default resolution of the game has been set to 1080p in order to prevent laptops from overexerting themselves.
  
• Updated the Super Sampling setting to SSAA, and updated the tooltip description to be more helpful.
  
• The Accessibility color options now refresh when restoring defaults.
  
• Fixed five instances of mismatched subtitles and voiceover audio.

• It is no longer possible to exploit the Defend Mode stance in order to create a "Cav box"—where up to 49 heavy cavalry units could be squeezed into a tiny space if grouped with a single ranged cavalry unit. This fixes a prevalent late-game balance issue where buildings could be destroyed too easily, as considerably more units were able to stack and move rapidly into sieging distance.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused livestock to rally at the Town Center when a Villager was tasked to gather food from them.
  
• Fixed an issue which could prevent the destruction of a player's armies after they lose.
  
• SHIFT + clicking the Idle Villager banner will now properly select all idle Villagers.
  
• Fixed an issue where scroll hotkeys would cease functioning after two to three presses.

• Fixed a bug that prevented several cinematics from progressing.
  
• Various fixes and tweaks to the Historical Battles.

[h3]General[/h3]

• Added an 0.5x Cavalry and Shock Infantry multiplayer to the Li'l Bombard's "Cannon Attack." This should allow the unit to perform similarly to other artillery when upgraded, such as when The Mercenary Contractor (V) politician is selected.
  
• The Medicine card now properly reduces the cost of Villagers after losing access to them via a Revolution and regaining access with the Citizenship card. Similar cards have been adjusted accordingly.
  
• Units can no longer clip through any Church structure thanks to corrections to the ObsctructionRadiusX (from 4 ▶ 3.5) and ObstructionRadiusY (from 4 ▶ 5). The Dutch Consulate Church has been adjusted accordingly.
  
• Aligned the build limit of all Native Mercenaries (NatMercs, or Native Warriors delivered by shipments) to deliver the same number of warriors sent by 'Infinite' native warrior cards. This change aims to address an issue predominantly found in Treaty games, where such shipments could be sent more frequently than intended. The build limits of Native Warriors recruited from Trading Posts are not affected by this change.
  
• To account for the above change, Native Warrior shipments which can only be sent once now ignore build limits. This ensures that they can always be sent, but also facilitates greater synergy with the ‘Infinite’ Native Warrior cards that grant Champion upgrades.
  

Corrected the mercenary stats of the Harquebusier to properly mirror the Swedish Hakkapelit:

• Reduced ranged attack damage from 97 ▶ 80.
  
• Increased rate of fire from 1.5 ▶ 2.0 seconds.
  
• Added a splash damage radius of 1.

[h3]The Dutch[/h3]
▶︎ CIVILIZATION

• Starting crates adjusted from 100 wood, 500 coin ▶ 100 food, 200 wood, and 400 coin.

[h3]The Germans[/h3]
▶︎ CIVILIZATION

• Following a Revolution, Settler Wagons can now properly be trained from Mills if both the Germantown Farmers and Citizenship cards have been sent.

▶︎ CARDS

• Citizenship: Now renames the Settler Wagon to Citizen Wagon and adjusts its cost to 70 coin and 100 wood.
  
• Native Lore: No longer delivers 2 bonus Uhlans, as it is no longer an Age 2 card.

[h3]The Incas[/h3]
▶︎ CIVILIZATION

• Artillery units can no longer be garrisoned in the Stronghold. This restriction already applied to the Kallanka.

▶︎ UNITS & BUILDINGS

• Chasquis are no longer able to receive Home City Shipments after advancing to the Commerce Age via The Messenger. The politician description has been adjusted to: “Ages up very fast and Chasquis can receive shipments in the Fortress Age.”
• Plumed Spearman: Reduced siege damage from 44 ▶ 42.
  
• Bolas Warrior: Increased rate of fire from 3.5 ▶ 3.0 seconds.
  
• Chincha Raft: Reduced ranged attack damage from 30 ▶ 29.

▶︎ CARDS

• Chimu Support: Improved the wording of the card text.
  
• Colla Support: Now properly improves all Bolas Warrior melee attack actions.

[h3]The Indians[/h3]
▶︎ CIVILIZATION

• Corrected the display of the Indian flag in the Definitive HUD layout.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Indian Home City shipments to deliver a “bonus” villager even after reaching the Villager build limit.

▶︎ UNITS & BUILDINGS

• The Urumi and Mansabdar Urumi now correctly heal while idle, while the Gurkha does not (as described in the ‘Release Day Gameplay Changelog’).

▶︎ UPGRADES

• Crushing Force: Now properly improves the hit chance of the Monk’s passive, “Stomp” ability.

▶︎ CARDS

• 4 Settlers: Available from the Ottoman Consulate, the card can now be sent regardless of Villager build limits, as in the legacy game. This re-enables "over-popping" to 103 Villagers for the purposes of Treaty balance.
  
• 11 Chakrams: Now properly respects build limits like other Native Warrior shipments, which can be sent infinite times.
  
• Urumi Swordsmen Regiment: Now properly enables the Mansabdar Urumi to be trained from the Charminar Gate, as described in the ‘Release Day Gameplay Changelog’.

[h3]The Japanese[/h3]
▶︎ CIVILIZATION

• The radius which restricts the placement of the Cherry Orchard near the Town Center has been adjusted to the intended distance.

▶︎ UNITS & BUILDINGS

• Monk: The Divine Strike ability will no longer trigger when fighting War Ships, Leather Cannons, or other artillery units.

[h3]The Lakota[/h3]
▶︎ CIVILIZATION

• Tashunke Prowler: Build limit reduced from 15 ▶ 14.
  
• Tashunke Prowler: Siege damage reduced from 22 ▶ 18.
  
• Tashunke Prowler: Reduced the Imperial Age ‘shadow improvement’ from +50% ▶ +25% attack and hp.

▶︎ CARDS

• The Marauders: Reduced the bonus build limit granted to the Tashunke Prowler from +50% ▶ +30%.

[h3]The Ottomans[/h3]
▶︎ UNITS & BUILDINGS

• Nizam Fusilier: Increased siege damage from 20 ▶ 25 so it mirrors the base stats of the Janissary.

[h3]The Spanish[/h3]
▶︎ UPGRADES

• Wild Geese: Now properly sends Harquebusiers instead of Hackapells.

[h3]The Swedes[/h3]
▶︎ CIVILIZATION

• Fixed an issue which prevented Mines created by the Prospector Wagon from being accessible to all players.
  
• Fixed a bug which prevented Heavy Cannons from using their ordinary long-range Bombard Attack on units and buildings after the Case Shot card was acquired.

▶︎ UNITS & BUILDINGS

• Carolean: Corrected the ranged attack multipliers versus Eagle Runner Knights from 1.3x ▶ 1.5x.
  
• Horse Artillery: Corrected the “Case Shot” attack damage from 13 ▶ 12.5.

The Carolean Charge mechanic has been reworked!

• Caroleans no longer gain additional speed when switching to their melee stance.
  
• Added a new Carolean Charge ability with the tooltip: “All Caroleans draw their swords and gain a brief speed boost.”
• This ability grants all Caroleans +1 speed and locks them into melee mode for 8 seconds. The ability has a 90 second global cooldown.
  
• Reduced the hand attack from 20 ▶ 19.

Nizam Fusiliers have been adjusted accordingly. Their charge ability is named Sürat Assault.

▶︎ CARDS

• Berry Bush: Fixed tooltip text errors.
  
• Cronstedt Reforms: Now only reduces the population cost of Leather Cannons, Heavy Cannons, and Falconets rather than all artillery.
  
• Engelsberg Ironworks: Reduced the coin gathering bonus from +150% ▶ +125%.
  
• Great Northern Forests: Updated the card icon.
  
• Surströmming: Now has a build limit of 8 for the purpose of Treaty balance.

[h3]Canada[/h3]

• Updated the icon for the 12 Métis Pathfinders card.
  
• The 12 Métis Pathfinders and 10 Métis Voyageurs cards now properly respect the Villager and Coureur des Bois build limits, as well as the population cap.
  
• The Canadian Revolution now properly improves the rifle attacks of Coureur des Bois and Cree Coureur des Bois by +17 damage (up from +13).
  
• Fixed a bug where the bonuses intended for Grizzly Bears were mistakenly applied to Black Bears. (Zoologists rejoice!)

[h3]Chile[/h3]

• Fixed a bug where the Chilean Revolution would negate the build limit of Mapuche Bolas Riders.

[h3]Egypt[/h3]
Added the following, new cards to the Egyptian Revolution:

• Egyptian Army Reform: The reform of your army allows you to train Nizam Fusiliers from Forts. Instead of a Mameluke, you are now granted 3 additional Nizams Fusiliers.
  
• Flood of the Nile: Mills spawn a food crate and Estates spawn a coin crate. Villagers collect from Berry Bushes, Mills, and Estates at a faster rate.
  
• Suez Canal: Trade Route upgrades are free and research instantly. Delivers 3 Trading Post Wagons.
  
• INF 2 Horse Artillery: Quick moving artillery; strong against infantry.

[h3]Haiti[/h3]

• Updated the voiceover audio of the Privateer and Buccaneers.
  
• Updated the visual model of the Buccaneer.

• Fixed an error when attempting to load the Hokkaido map.

• Reversed the default sort order of the multiplayer 'Browse Games' list to display the most recently-created lobbies first.
  
• Ranked games once again draw from the Standard map pool rather than the Competitive set.
  
• Added a tooltip when using the lobby browser which, when hovering over a player, provides visibility into their Elo standings.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented Elo gain or loss in ranked multiplayer games.
  
• A player’s profile ID will no longer be displayed when joining and leaving chat rooms.
  
• Added messaging when attempting to invite other MS Store users to a game lobby.
  
• Added an Invite button to the casual game multiplayer lobby.
  
• Civilization flags will now be displayed when loading into a ranked match.
  
• Fixed the display when Random Personality is selected in the Ranked lobby. Both the flag and civilization level will now be shown as “?”.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented the Options button from working while in a multiplayer menu.
  
• Fixed an issue where joining a different lobby while already in a lobby would break the UI for that player.

• Improved how AI players utilize and employ Revolution features.
  
• AI are no longer allowed to both Revolt and advance to the Imperial Age.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where Settlers could get stuck in training.
  
• Improved various situations where the AI would not be as aggressive as it should.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented computer players from sending certain Home City shipments.

• Fixed several localization errors in the multiplayer chat rooms.
  
• Updated numerous translations in the following languages: French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese

• Updated the miniz zipping library to assume utf8 encoded file paths on Windows rather than ANSI.
  
• Removed filter options from selecting a mod thumbnail file dialog as part of uploading a mod.
  
• Fixed a back-end authentication bug that could stop mods from working.
  
• Fixed a “zip error” when attempting to publish a mod.

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As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief update from our Production team regarding some of what is still in the works:

• Aztec War Chief: The balance team is looking to improve the Aztec War Chief’s “Cuachic Ascension” ability in a future update!
  
• Crash Fixes: We are continuing to deep-dive into crash reports and late-game problems in multiplayer games in an effort to improve the stability of the client. For players experiencing stability or performance issues, please contact support so they can work with you to troubleshoot, collect information, and diagnose the issue.
  
• Units getting stuck in structures: This is a prominent issue with several different fixes in the works. We’ve heard you and will be implementing updates as soon as we’re confident in them!
  
• MS Store user names showing up as Numbers: Another issue on the forefront!

[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try disabling your installed mods before trying again.

Still having trouble? Visit our support page!

Today's hotfix has been pushed to Steam users as quickly as possible in an effort to patch a memory leak specific to the Steam version of the game. Steam users can download it now, while Windows Store users will have access to additional fixes in a larger update scheduled for next week.

:alertalert: Note that cross-play will be temporarily unavailable until the builds can be re-synced next week.

Remember that if you encounter any game issues, please head to support.ageofempires.com.

—The Age of Empires Team

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• Fixed a potential memory leak that could result in a crash and, in extremely rare cases when using certain mods, corrupt local, game-specific player profile files on Steam.
  
• Fixed a crash that could occur in The Siege of Osaka Story Mode Mission.

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We have several fixes in the works which will be ready for next week's build. These will be tested and packaged for both Steam and the Windows Store simultaneously when they are ready to ship:

• Additional crash fixes.
  
• Fixes for some cinematics not progressing correctly.
  
• MS Store: Ensure that mods properly appear in-game on the mod browser.
  
• MS Store: Fix for player names not displaying correctly in matches.
  
• ELO stats will display in casual lobbies when hovering over player names.

Other current projects which will be available later on:

• Adding the ability to choose 20 or 40 minute treaty options for ranked games.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try disabling your installed mods before trying again.

Still having trouble? Visit our support page!

Good day, explorers! Today's update includes several critical fixes to the most prevalent crashes identified over the past week—all of which have been packaged up, tested, and released as soon as possible to mitigate the disruptions to your play. While this does mean that today's update is smaller than the first release, our primary goal right now is to ensure that players are able to play and enjoy the game without disruption. Doing so ensures less disruptions for everyone: leading to more enjoyable matches and the opportunity to focus on adjusting the balance and mechanics of the game later on!

If you are continuing to experience issues, we still want to hear from you! If you have not already, visit our discussion channels to describe your experience:

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

If you are experiencing crashes or disconnects from the game, you should also take a moment to contact our awesome support team for assistance! Any number of factors can cause disruptions—be it hardware, software, network, or other factors tantamount to witchcraft—and our support team has the tools to help you diagnose and determine the best course of action to play the game.

We'll be watching the forums and responses closely following the update, and will be sure to update you next week with more information about our plans as we continue to grow Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition. We already have another update in the works, which includes even more fixes to the most critical issues identified by the community!

For now, we'll see you on the battlefield!

—The Age of Empires Team

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[h3]Stability & Performance[/h3]

• Fixed a crash triggered when moving to a new Age after constructing a Torp on certain terrain types.
  
• Fixed a crash triggered after using a cheat code in a scenario and then trying to access the Home City deck builder.
  
• Fixed a crash triggered by closing the game with the deck builder open.
  
• Implemented several programmatic improvements aimed at game stability.
  
• Implemented fixes to plug a potential memory leak.

[h3]Graphics[/h3]

• Fixed the appearance of black streaks in Paris caused by water rendering on certain Intel integrated graphics and driver combinations.

• Fixed an out-of-sync error in the Instant spectator mode triggered when the user's machine was notably faster than the host's.

◆ ONGOING INVESTIGATION ◆

As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief update from our Production team regarding some of what is still in the works:

• Stability: Stability continues to be a top concern, and we are continuing to gather and investigate issues as they are raised by the community. If you are having trouble downloading, playing, connecting, or staying connected to the game, please reach out to our support team so they can work with you to determine the best solution to the issue at hand.
  
• Optimization: We are continuing to work on improvements to the optimization and performance of the game for a wide range of machines and specs. This is important to us, and will continue to be a focus as we improve the experience for more and more players around the world.
  
• Player Bug Reports: The team is also working to enter your reported issues as quickly as possible! Visit the forums to create or add to a post about the bugs you encounter in the game!
  
• More information next week! In the ongoing interest of keeping things active and moving, we'll report back next week to talk about what's coming next and what sort of timeline you can expect. Stay tuned for more!

[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try disabling your installed mods before trying again.

Still having trouble? Visit our support page!