AoE2DE hogging my bandwidth when open – unable to play multiplayer

[TommoChocolate]

GAME INFORMATION

^{These details are CRITICAL; DO NOT skip them or your issue may not be reviewed.}

• GAME BUILD #: 101.101.54684.0 7486483
• GAME PLATFORM: Steam
• OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 10

ISSUE EXPERIENCED

^{DESCRIBE THE ISSUE IN DETAIL (below). LIMIT TO ONE BUG PER THREAD.}

When AoE2DE is open its network usage (as listed by Task Manager) is constantly at around 10 Mbps, even when the game is not being played (e.g. when it is simply open on the main menu). This is literally all of the internet bandwidth I have. The result is that other programs and devices are not able to use my internet connection while AoE2DE is running.

I usually play multiplayers with my brother and chat with him on Skype at the same time – but we are unable to do this because this problem prevents me from using Skype. Additionally, when my brother hosts a game and tries to invite me, the invite does not come through.

I am not sure when this problem started – sometime after 17th October, which is when I last successfully played a multiplayer game and used Skype simultaneously.

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

^{How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST!}

• 100% of the time whenever the game is open (including when the game process is still open for a few minutes after the game itself has been closed) (ALWAYS)

REPRODUCTION STEPS

^{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 AoE2DE
2. Once the main menu has loaded, observe that Task Manager says AoE2DE is using about 10 Mbps network usage.
3. Try to use the internet for something else on this or another computer/device (e.g. browsing, Skype, etc.) and find that nothing loads.

EXPECTED RESULT

^{What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present?}

I am not sure what the expected network usage is, but my brother said his version was using no more than 0.1 Mbps.

The expected functionality is that the internet is still usable while AoE2DE is running.

IMAGE

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

GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)

^{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.}

(N/A)

[TommoChocolate]

One extra thing: I thought this might be caused by or related to Xbox live. However, when trying to test whether this was the case, I discovered that I am unable to sign out of Xbox live. When I try to sign out of it (from the game’s main menu – I don’t know any other method), it says “Signing out of Xbox live” but never actually completes the sign out.

Is there a way to start the game without also signing into Xbox live in the first place?

[TommoChocolate]

Update: I think this may be caused by a mod:

The two Historical Accuracy mods are constantly shown downloading. There is no way to stop the download and no way to unsubscribe until the download has finished, which it never does. As far as I can tell, this is the only thing my game is trying to download, so it’s presumably the cause of the problem.

I can’t find a way to unsubscribe. Apparently you’re supposed to be able to do it from the website, but that doesn’t work for me. Removing them from mod-status.json also has no effect – when I start up the game they just reappears on my list of mods.

Edit: I managed to unsubscribe and it wasn’t caused by this after all. Shucks.

[ChristheCo]

Hey,
thats really weird, if reinstalling the game and veryfying the game on steam didnt help, please
contact our Support team https://support.ageofempires.com/hc/en-us/requests/new so we can investigate what is happening. Please include your DxDiag and logs . Steps to find those are here: https://support.ageofempires.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052783111-How-to-find-information-for-troubleshooting-with-Support¨.
Hope it will help, have a nice day

[TommoChocolate]

Thanks. I was about to submit a support request, booted up the game to generate a log file, and discovered that the problem is no longer happening. I have no idea why not – it happened when I tried yesterday, and I haven’t changed anything since then. Very strange…

[VeniVidiEdi]

Hey, any idea what caused this? I’m having the same issue now. Going to verify game file integrity now and all that stuff.

[TommoChocolate]

Sorry, this happened ages ago and I don’t remember what fixed it now. If I recall correctly, it was not anything specific to AoE2 – I think other programs did the same thing.