[Restore Game] Restoring a multiplayer save clears the Regicide flag while the checkbox is locked

Age of Empires II: DE II - Report a Bug
1

:play_button: GAME INFORMATION

:backhand_index_pointing_down: These details are CRITICAL; DO NOT skip them or your issue may not be reviewed.

Game: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Game build: 101.103.48987.0
Steam build ID: 24094652
Platform: Steam / PC
Operating system: Windows 10 Pro 22H2, build 19045.6466
Incident date: July 25, 2026
Reproduction frequency: 1/1 observed incident

:play_button: ISSUE EXPERIENCED

When that save was loaded through Multiplayer > Restore Game, the restored lobby showed Regicide as unchecked. The Regicide checkbox was locked, as expected for a restored game, so the host could not re-enable it.

Starting the restored game then created a new recording with the Regicide setting genuinely cleared. This is therefore not only a visual problem in the restore-lobby interface.

The out-of-sync save itself still contains the original Regicide setting. The setting is lost after the save is loaded, while the game is constructing or launching the restored multiplayer session.

:play_button: FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

:backhand_index_pointing_down: How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST !

  • 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)

:play_button: REPRODUCTION STEPS

:backhand_index_pointing_down: List CLEAR and DETAILED STEPS we can take to reproduce the issue ourselves… Be descriptive!
REPRODUCTION STEPS FROM THE INCIDENT

  1. Create a custom multiplayer game.
  2. Enable the Regicide checkbox.
  3. Start the match.
  4. Play until an out-of-sync event causes the game to create a restoration save.
  5. Return to Multiplayer and select Restore Game.
  6. Select the generated multiplayer save.
  7. Observe the restored lobby.
  8. The Regicide checkbox is unchecked and locked.
  9. Start the restored game.
  10. Observe that the newly generated recording no longer contains the Regicide flag.

SUGGESTED QA REPRODUCTION

A developer may be able to reproduce this without deliberately causing an out-of-sync event:

  1. Start a multiplayer game with Regicide enabled.
  2. Create a multiplayer save and exit.
  3. Restore that save through the multiplayer Restore Game screen.
  4. Compare the saved secondary-mode bitmask with the setting passed to the restored lobby and resumed simulation.
  5. Repeat for Empire Wars, Sudden Death, and combinations of the secondary-mode checkboxes.

If a manual multiplayer save does not reproduce the problem, the attached out-of-sync save reliably contains the state from the affected match.

:play_button: EXPECTED RESULT

:backhand_index_pointing_down: *What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present?
*
A restored multiplayer game must retain every gameplay setting from the saved game, including secondary/advanced game modes such as Regicide .

If settings are locked in a restored lobby, the Regicide checkbox should be checked and disabled because Regicide was enabled in the saved game.

The resumed game should continue using Regicide rules.

ACTUAL RESULT

The saved game contains the Regicide flag, but the restored lobby displays Regicide as unchecked and disabled.

The host cannot correct the setting.

After the restored match is launched, the new recording also contains a zero value for this setting, confirming that Regicide was cleared during restoration.

TECHNICAL EVIDENCE

All three artifacts were produced by game build 101.103.48987.0 and use the same DE save/header version.

In the decompressed DE settings header, the relevant four-byte field is located at offset 0xC8 for these particular files. The offset may be build-dependent because earlier variable-length header data can affect its position.

Values:

  1. Original Regicide recording:
    04 00 00 00

  2. Out-of-sync multiplayer save:
    04 00 00 00

  3. Recording created after restoring the save:
    00 00 00 00

For this match, 0x00000004 empirically corresponds to the enabled Regicide/secondary-mode state.

The original recording and the out-of-sync save agree. Only the recording created after restoration has the field cleared.

This isolates the problem to the restore path:

  • The original lobby correctly enables Regicide.
  • The multiplayer save writer correctly serializes it.
  • The restoration save correctly retains it.
  • The restore-lobby/session initialization path fails to copy or apply it.
  • The restored game is consequently launched with the field set to zero.

LIKELY AREA TO INVESTIGATE

Please inspect the code that transfers serialized match settings into the restored multiplayer lobby/session.

In particular:

  • Read and preserve the complete secondary/advanced-game-mode bitmask.

  • Bind the restore-lobby checkboxes to the values loaded from the save before locking those controls.

  • Forward the same bitmask into the resumed simulation and recording header.

  • Confirm that no default lobby-settings initialization overwrites the loaded value.

  • Add regression coverage for Regicide, Empire Wars, Sudden Death, and combined checkbox values.

    The cause of the original out-of-sync event is a separate issue. The available local sync log does not contain an explicit exception or mismatch identifier.

    This report is specifically about the reproducible restoration defect: the save contains Regicide, but the restore process clears it.

    There is no user-facing workaround because the Regicide checkbox is disabled in the restored lobby. Restarting the entire match is currently the only way to continue with the intended Regicide rules.

:play_button: IMAGE

:backhand_index_pointing_down: ALWAYS attach a PICTURE (.jpg, .png, .gif) or VIDEO (.mp4, YouTube link) that highlights the prob le m.

:play_button: GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)

:backhand_index_pointing_down: 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 ser vi ce.

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