Game Version/Build: 101.103.48086.0 (#179158) 23798925
The Problem:
Since the June 18 patch, the game crashes consistently at approximately 25-30 minutes of in-game time during both replays and live gameplay. Frame drops/stutters are sometimes visible immediately before the crash. Crashes occasionally take the entire OS down (confirmed full system crashes in Windows Reliability Monitor on 6/29). Issue started around June 21-22 with no hardware or software changes on my end. No issues for over a year prior on the same setup.
Reproduction Steps:
- Launch AoE2 DE via Steam
- Watch any replay or play a live game vs AI
- Game crashes consistently between 25-30 minutes of in-game time
- Frame drops/stutters visible in the seconds before crash
- Occasionally takes entire Windows OS down with it
Crash Signature:
- Fault Module: StackHash_71cd
- Exception Code: c0000005 (access violation)
- No entries appear in Windows Event Viewer Application or System logs after crashes
- Confirmed via Windows Reliability Monitor
System:
- GPU: GTX 1080 (8GB VRAM), driver 582.53
- Windows 11 25H2
- Steam version
What I tried (all unsuccessful):
- RAM test — clean
- Full clean DDU driver reinstall, tested multiple driver versions (582.66 and 582.53)
- Full clean AoE2 reinstall including manual folder deletion
- Windows sfc /scannow (found and repaired corrupted files) + DISM /RestoreHealth
- Running with and without CaptureAge
- Running as administrator on/off
-d3d11onlylaunch parameter — stabilized FPS at 60 throughout (vs dropping to 10-12 previously) and pushed crash slightly later (28-30 min vs 25-27 min) but did not prevent it
Notes:
The -d3d11only flag improving FPS stability but not preventing the crash suggests a memory management issue in the game simulation layer introduced in the June 18 patch, unrelated to rendering or system load. CPU stays at ~30% and GPU at 25-55% at crash time — no resource ceiling is being hit.