Hi @GMEvangelos,
Checking my system…
- I have the current Nvidia game ready drivers 442.50 installed.
- There are no available Windows 10 updates. I’m on version 18363.693
- I have installed this VC redist https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x64.exe and it doesn’t appear to have made a difference.
What tests do you suggest that I run on my router, modem and antivirus/firewall? I have Windows Defender. Xbox Networking in the Settings app shows no issues.
Edit: Turning down all the graphics settings appears to resolve the issue. This is surprising to me because my system with an i5 8600 CPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 500GB SSD and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GPU should be able to handle this game without an issue. It appears that AoE II: DE players are experiencing the same issue, so I’m inclined to think that the issue has nothing to do with my system. I did not have this connection error issue until the most recent update to the game.
What I don’t understand is why a multiplayer server connection is now required to play single player games at all. 