3D water shader no longer works since July PUP/update 153015

Age of Empires II: DE II - Report a Bug
1

:play_button: GAME INFORMATION

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

  • GAME BUILD #: 153015, 153638
  • GAME PLATFORM: Steam
  • OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 11

:play_button: ISSUE EXPERIENCED

:backhand_index_pointing_down: DESCRIBE THE ISSUE IN DETAIL (below). LIMIT TO ONE BUG PER THREAD.

Regardless of the 3D water being enabled in the settings the 3D water doesn’t show up ingame, all water is simply 2D texture like it would be if the 3D water was turned off

:play_button: FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

:backhand_index_pointing_down: How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST!

  • 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)

:play_button: REPRODUCTION STEPS

:backhand_index_pointing_down: List CLEAR and DETAILED STEPS we can take to reproduce the issue ourselves… Be descriptive!

Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue:

  1. Open up the game
  2. Enable 3D water in settings
  3. Load any water map or mixed map either in skirmish or multiplayer modes
  4. use marco polo cheats to see the 3D effect on the water being missing, or scout the water manually

:play_button: EXPECTED RESULT

:backhand_index_pointing_down: What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present?
3D effect on the water should’ve applied when the setting is enabled

:play_button: IMAGE

:backhand_index_pointing_down: ALWAYS attach a PICTURE (.jpg, .png, .gif) or VIDEO (.mp4, YouTube link) that highlights the problem.

20250813101057_1
20250813101057_11920×1080 229 KB

20250813101104_1
20250813101104_11920×1080 182 KB

:play_button: GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)

:backhand_index_pointing_down: Attach a SAVE GAME (.aoe2spgame) or GAME RECORDING (.aoe2record) of the match where you encountered the issue. Link it below if using an external file service.

1 Like
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  • No 3D water in Single >> Skirmish
  • It loads normally in Single >> Campaigns/Historical Battles
  • IDK about Multiplayer
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can confirm it loads the 3D shader for campaigns and historical battles interestingly also CO-OP campaigns and historical battles, skirmish and the rest of the multiplayer meanwhile it doesn’t still

4

in scenario editor there is also this weird result, the water already placed at X position keep the render but not on new water place (drowned sand grass snow and trees in this example lol)

waterbroken
waterbroken1920×1080 361 KB

5

Thank you for the report, we’re tracking this!

1 Like
6

The “Nomad” map can “reset” 3D water to normal (for a few games), then it is bugged again

7

also found my water shader starting to work again after specifically loading a skirmish on the map capricious
seems to work now, i’ll see if i can find what exactly could’ve broken it

20250826161839_1
20250826161839_11920×1080 243 KB

seems to break almost at random
but loading a game on capricious always loads the old 3D water shader in for as long as you’re ingame, once you exit the game and relaunch it the shader fails to load again

8

report on latest patch 155976
can’t reproduce this glitch anymore
its fixed

1 Like