I have been playing an AOE:ROR map called #2 Eastern Meditteranean - 8 player. The original version of the map is in this map pack
http://aoe.heavengames.com/dl-php/showfile.php?fileid=2547
(If you use that map pack, delete the “Mediterranean Sea” map. It can make your game crash.)
I tried playing that map about 10 times using the original AOE:ROR edition on Gameranger, and about half the time the game started freezing until it locked up totally. I guess that the map has a problem therefore.
I tried playing the same map with a player in India named SRK (I am in the US). First we played on the West India server and the gameplay was smooth, but a message said that I was dropped from the server about 5 minutes into the game. Next we tried on the West UK server and about 23 minutes into the game, I got dropped. I can’t tell if this problem is the server or from a glitch in the map. My guess is that it’s from the server, because I know that the US Region server was buggy.
The only solutions that I can think of are:
- Try playing someone who lives closer.
- Try playing on a better server (which one?)
- Try resaving the map in AOE:DE scenario format.
What do you think?
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I eventually got this map to work with someone on Multiplayer.
But it’s still common for me to have Sync Errors on Multiplayer, in particular when I play with multiple people on Custom Maps.
I hear that it’s a common problem with Custom maps with more than 2 people.
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I think the problem is with the map. Maybe something about it is “corrupted” or something. I would scan the complete map pack, with an antivirus software. Alternatively, if that still doesn’t make the map work as it should, you can re-make the map, from scratch 
It could be possible that, having created the scenario with a slightly older version, it doesn’t fully work with the 46777 one.
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What zoom settings do you use, @Rakovskii? If your CPU is under heavy stress, and your random access memory isn’t enough for the game, crashes may occur.
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Thanks for replying, Slender.
There are two maps. One was made with an old build of AOE DE, but the second map was made with AOE ROR. They are not corrupted and don’t have any viruses. I have Norton Antivirus. I use regular Zoom settings. I have 7.9 GB of RAM and AOE DE’s requirement is 4 GB of RAM, so I don’t have a RAM problem. I played the two maps several times on AOE DE Multiplayer with 5-6 total players a month ago, and they work fine on Single Player, so they should work on AOE DE Multiplayer. I am in the US and played on the US and UK servers. I guess that the problem could be related to me using WIFI, so I bought a ethernet cable a few days ago to give me a solid and stronger internet connection, which should help.
Supposing though that the problem is my nice new ASUS laptop or my broadband internet connection, and that I somehow make them work 100% perfectly. Considering that my computer and internet are probably on the standard to good level for what AOE players have today, then it is highly unlikely that I will get a total of 6 Players on an AOE Multiplayer map to have computers much better than me. When my own game round dropped, everyone else in my game room got a sync error too. This makes it pretty unlikely for me to get a functioning 6 Player map because all it takes is one player out of the six players in the room to have a standard computer or worse to sink the whole match.
If you have played much AOE Multiplayer, then you probably know that there are tons of Vietnamese and Hispanic, not to mention Middle Eastern players too. For me to get a room of 6 Players going, then realistically I am going to have someone from one of those countries in my room. So even if I will get my computer and internet to work perfectly, or if my new ethernet cable gives me a perfect connection, probably one of the other players will have a computer or internet connection that is standard level like before I perfected it, in other words not perfect.
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Have you tried loading the maps in the “new” editor, changing some tiny thing that no one notices and then resaving the scenario?
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I thought about that too, maybe if that’s done, file(s) get saved/updated with latest version of the Definitive Edition, thus probably removing incompatibilities.
Best wishes.
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Good idea, and maybe I will try that. But I said, I have two maps made on two different AOE1 game engines, and they both are having the same sync error problem, so having made the map on an old build probably isn’t the cause, for a couple reasons. The Canaan map is made in an old build of AOE DE and the Mideast map is made in AOE ROR, which AOE DE runs automatically.
- If the Canaan map is busted on Multiplayer because it was made in an old build, then almost all Custom AOE DE maps are busted too, because almost all of them have been made in an old build.
- In the AOE series, all maps made on earlier versions typically work on later versions, but not the other way around. For example, AOE1 (original .scn) maps work on AOE ROR and AOE DE, but AOE ROR maps only work on ROR and DE. And AOE DE maps don’t work with AOE1 or ROR. The same principle applies to AOE2 and AOM (original) vs AOM:TT vs. AOM EE. Based on this principle, maps made in earlier “builds” of AOE DE should probably work on later builds.
- I hear from a few experienced gamers that AOE DE Custom maps don’t work now or only work with 2 Players. I plan to try the maps with two players this weekend. If it works with 2 Players but not with 6, then the problem likely isn’t the map itself, but AOE DE’s servers’ or game engine’s difficulty in running Custom maps.
- The Mideast Map was made with AOE ROR, so if the problem is from a build change, then this build change is affecting both AOE DE older build maps and also AOE ROR maps. And if this build change is affecting both kinds of maps, then this build change is a big mistake or design flaw, because AOE DE is intended to play AOE ROR maps.
- If the solution is re-releasing it to address a build change issue, then I am going to have to re-release my map in the Mod workshop every time that AOE DE does a build change, which could be once a year. No bueno. Further, even if the problem is from a build change the issue could be not maps made with the old builds being incompatible, but the new build having difficulty running Custom maps in general, even ones made with the new build.
- All 6 players have the same exact copy of the map because they downloaded it from me via the game lobby room. And the error says that it’s a “sync” error between players, not a map error.
Have you tried loading the maps in the “new” editor, changing some tiny thing that no one notices and then resaving the scenario?
I would like to try that for the Canaan map, but there is no way to do that for the AOE ROR Mideast scenario, and AOE DE is intended to run AOE ROR scenarios in Multiplayer. AOE ROR is simpler than AOE DE, so it’s like playing chess on a checkers board and using the checkers as pawns.
