Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition — Small Update 18493

Hello Age III explorers! We’re following up this month’s regular game update with a smaller release and a handful of important fixes for the game. This includes stability improvements as well as fixes to a few accessibility issues, and lays the groundwork for a larger list of changes coming in next month’s release—some of which is teased in the ‘Ongoing…‘ section, below.

Remember to stay involved in our forum and social communities, as this is one of the best ways to stay apprised of the latest changes.

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We’ll see you next month!

—The Age of Empires Team

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Download on the MICROSOFT STORE

Remember that you’ll need to update your game in the Microsoft Store:

Open the Microsoft Store.
Click the [ ∙ ∙ ∙ ] symbol next to your profile picture.
Select Downloads and updates.
Press the Get updates button to automatically detect, download, and install the latest changes to your game!
Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 18493

If you are unable to launch the game after downloading the update, make sure you add (or re-add) the Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition client or folder as an exception to your firewall and antivirus program.

That’s it; you’re ready to play!

Download on STEAM

Remember that you’ll need to update your game in Steam:

Open Steam.
Click on Library to see your games list.
Click Downloads at the bottom of the Library window.
[If the new build does not download automatically,] click the Download Now button to manually download the new update.
Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 18493

That’s it; you’re ready to play!

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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 site!

GAME

Stability & Performance

Fixed an issue with screen space calculations that led to the game looking blurry in certain cases.
Fixed a crash that could happen late in the shutdown process.
Fixed a potential crash that could occur on game startup in certain, limited circumstances.
Made an adjustment to the Bar files, which should allow game updates to be downloaded and installed more quickly following this hotfix.

UI

Corrected an issue which would cause grey boxes to display on the Historical Battles and Home City Customization menu screens.

Settings

Fixed an issue where the Enable Friend/Foe Outlines and Enable Pattern Overlay accessibility options would not enable after being selected and applied in the options screen.
Fixed several narration and accessibility issues.

GAMEPLAY

Disabled the use of cheat codes in the Bombard Brawl challenge scenario.

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:

Stuck Units: We believe we have fixes for most of the root problems causing this issue. Once they’ve been tested and included in a build, the most valuable thing you can provide if you encounter it again is 1) a replay file that shows the units getting stuck, 2) the name of the map, and 3) detailed steps of what commands were issued or steps resulted in the unit(s) getting stuck. Create a new thread on the official forum and we’ll do what we can to investigate and implement a fix!
Attack-Move Optimization and Fixes: A prevalent topic of discussion, the team is continuing their investigation and looking into solutions to ensure that it performs as expected in all circumstances. More updates to come!
Crashes: As always, the stability of the game continues to be a primary focus of our efforts. If you are experiencing crashes, disconnects, drops, performance problems, or other technical issues which affect your experience, please contact our support team so they can help you and collect information for our team.
Low-end PC Performance: We’ve been focused on improving the performance of the game when running on older hardware, and believe that the game will run much more smoothly after the next update.
Quality of Life Improvements: As we continue to lock down the most critical issues, we’re continuing to work on quality of life improvements to the game, mod support, and other areas in need of some love. We’re excited to share everything we have in the works, so stick around!

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

DISCLAIMER

Please note that 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.

What's on the Horizon

Next month’s update is a maintenance patch, which means that it will be both smaller than a regular release and will not introduce a new event and challenges for you to tackle. What it will introduce is some quality of life features that we think you’ll enjoy. Here’s a small taste of what’s on the horizon:

Resources per Minute: On top of your total resources, you will be able to see your resource gain per minute, giving you greater control over your economy.
Flags of Civilizations in the Score panel: A long-standing ask since the game’s release, we’re excited to introduce this to Age III: DE.
Display the Attack Radius of Units: When units are selected, holding ALT will display the attack radius of the selected units.
Toggle your Preferences: New settings options will let you toggle most of the new behaviors to prevent them from disrupting your game or introducing scary new changes. The power is yours!