Open Beta Channels for Testing Patches

The latest patch again introduced a number of new severe problems. Here are two examples:

Given that almost every new patch seems to introduce such severe and/or obvious problems, it seems that something is wrong with the development process. It appears as if new patches receive only a minimal amount of testing before they are released. As evidenced by the problems that each new patch introduces, this does not work out well at all. Thus, dear developers, please consider increasing the testing efforts for patches!

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I completely agree. There are mechanisms in place for both the Microsoft Store and Steam platforms which allow for fans to install beta or pre-release game updates for testing. I requested during the beta phase that the team please consider continuing with a beta channel after release, however it appears that suggestion wasn’t approved. Like several things with this game I am cautiously optimistic that they will change but I’m not convinced they will any time soon because of my experience with Age of Empires: Definitive Edition.

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Even HD had open betas before releasing patches, so why was this dropped with DE ? Doesn’t make sense.

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Agreed.

The latest patch was a big step back with the glitches and the khmer super buff. These problems should be tested before releasing the patches.

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Khmer buff = step back? I mean plz be reasonable, you can’t compare a trash-tier civ getting a deserved buff (in the SOTL test this bonus makes them as good as Aztecs before researching hand cart, so it helps them without making them OP) to game breaking glitches that give unfair advantadges to griefers.

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My friend and I are experiencing some serious lag since patch. Played better before, Ive had a scout jump through and enemy wall and seen my vill walk through a stone patch haha

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Is this new team trying to doom the DE Brand by not following the success of HD, I mean come on is it budget cuts to not hold beta channels to test patches to better a product to might bring in more profit later due to a better product. This pushing aside of thoughts from gamers and testers alike is very dangerous. but its in DE teams hands

This patch is total garbage so far. When you load into the game even its very slow and you cannot skip the intro. Furthermore, team games especially, the lag and delay is awful. Seems like every time you clowns put out a new patch the game is garbage for a solid week. Back to Warthunder until this stuff is addressed. Like the title says on this thread try testing out your patch before releasing it to the public. Game feels like it’s back in an Alpha stage.

P.S. Still waiting for my Goths to get a buff too. Nothings changed with them since the AOC days.

The glitches are a HUGE problem and they all need fixing but Khmer hasn’t been “super buffed” … Spirit of the Law did a video and their farms are still not quite as good as Aztecs or Slavs ( surprising, I know, but they’re not as strong as you’d expect them to be). Except maybe in the super late game but Khmer will still usually get killed by stronger civs before then on all but the most closed maps.

Khmer has indeed been buffed heavily but it’s not like they’re the strongest civ in the game now. They’re not like pre-nerfed Cumans.

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Agreed. I see lags in unit movement after they are created: the rally point of TC is set on tree, newly created villagers do not walk to the tree smoothly but with pauses… The same I can say about group of elephants, I click to attack an enemy, Elephants begin to move, then stop and then I usually click again to attack and they proceed…

I am not sure this patch helps the game to be better.

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Thanks for clarifyiing! I played them a couple times and the scout rush looked super OP. But maybe it was my first impression. Gonna check the video you are refering to.

Perhaps since they don’t need barracks plus the new farm bonus, the scout rush looks super smooth and it makes it look like the farmers are OP, but yes, it must be the combination of both bonuses.

They’re not OP but I highly doubt they’re the worst Arabia civ anymore.

I need help! I’m trying to find a way to play the original version of Age of Empires (97)
I used to play it on my old mac but it is no longer w/ us…
Call me old school… can’t get into the newer versions.

I am willing to do what ever it takes. I am excited to use this at my school for all my students. Please advise. Thank you in advance.
mark@rhinosfl.com

??? This sounds totally misplaced in this thread. But anyway go buy the CD, I’m sure you can find someone trying to seel his old copy online.

Sadly I don’t think it is simple as get the CD and play :joy:. It probably has some compatibility problems.

Actually Aoe1 should work if you install the CD on Windows 10 (and it did for me when I installed it from the Gold Edition CDs). See Matt Pritchard’s explanation here: https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe/comments/7x2gf4/pleasantly_surprised_that_aoe_gold_edition_runs/du53x6q/

Give some credit to the people who make your video drivers at AMD, nVidia and Intel.
Modern video drivers have a list of older games they provide custom support for and AoE is one of them.
The game shipped in October of 1997 - at that time DirectX 5.0 was the newest version and modern 3D cards didn’t exist. AoE and AoK assumed they were running on 2D cards using DirectDraw, and there was a programming error in video card memory access that didn’t matter on Windows 95/98 using 2D Cards.
When later 3D cards came along on Windows XP and Windows 7+, the game couldn’t access the card’s video memory properly in all cases (specifically the custom mouse pointer), so the video card driver makers added special work around code to Make the DirectDraw calls work differently just for AoE.
If you rename the .exe file for the game, it will likely crash as the driver doesn’t realize what game it actually is, and doesn’t turn on the workarounds.

And if just the CD still doesn’t work (or even if you want some bug fixes if it does work), then you can install the UPatch mod: https://upatch-hd.weebly.com/

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That’s so cool! Thanks for the info!!

Works great for me. Love it. Enjoy it a lot more than AoE2:HD. Don’t like going back to AoE2:HD to play with people who don’t have DE.

I’m sure the patches are tested beforehand. Unfortunately, it’d be impossible for devs to account for the infinite # of PC combos that exist out there. Also, have you seen the size of the patches? Lots of updates and fixes have gone into them, imo.

The legacy lives on! Spend a dime on it (i.e., full or sale price in store) and see if you like it from a firsthand, post-launch perspective.

I’ll probably tossing my dimes at AoE3:DE and AoE4, based on my AoE1:DE and AoE2:DE experiences, and great dev support of them. Okay, maybe AoE1:DE support could be a bit better, but it’s still a cool DE :slight_smile:

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sorry if im missing something. but how on earth are aztec farms better than khmer? +5 carry will never cancel out “drops off directly from origin”. i can understand slavs. ive seen the data on the effect of the harvesting rate khmer gives, while at the same time people are neglecting that the harvest bonus is also a massive defense buff, thanks to being able to put farms around defensive buildings instead of scattered only around TCs that then fill up and leave workers stranded

pretty sure it didnt require an infinite number of combos to work out that units can move through walls, buildings, stone, cliffs etc, it just need a bit of play testing…

same for the crashes… both of these occurances are way to common to attribute to “the world is full of possibilities devs cant cater for”

i say the devs have had budget cuts and team downsizing, resulting in inadequate post release service

still loving the game though, but wish MS would put more effort into it…

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