Where is the support?

The UPatch unofficial HD Mod is what I would call “AOE1 HD”. It was released within a few years of “AOE2 HD” (2013 version), as I recall.

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Maybe the Devs would take some volunteers to help fix the game’s glitches.

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Yeah, UPatch is cool. But there should really be an official release of the original AoE on GoG - which we could then apply UPatch to, or maybe it would even come with it pre-applied. I’d buy AoE again if it were there.

Microsoft’s AoE DE is one of the most disappointing releases in gaming history, IMO.

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You mean AoE: DE, don’t you?

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Yup, I do. I’ll edit my post.

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I tried that. They didn’t officially implement my work (I fixed/improved the in-game texts for Latin American Spanish, since it had lots -believe me, LOTS- of issues).

There are other mods (by other people), that involve gameplay changes, for the better, that weren’t implemented either.

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Well, I agree that AOE:ROR is a great game. :+1: I hope that someone will come along and fix the bugs in AOE:DE, because I like it too. :point_up_2:

I’m not familiar with how G.O.G. works. The last two words in that abbreviation match the name of a reliable pay site with Customer Service marked “©2020 San Pedro Software Inc.” at the bottom offering the whole original “Age of” (CD) series for download for a low price. But I am skeptical whether they have a license to sell the game, so I’m hesitant to post the link.

In any case, it sounds like you are talking about the Designers updating AOE:ROR (CD) to work for Windows 7/10, making it downloadable, fixing glitches, making it compatible with playing AOE1.0A players online, and keeping it otherwise the same.

AOE1:ROR (CD) works on Windows 7 and 10, but there are glitches on both. On Windows 10, the Diplomacy menu doesn’t show the colored flags for the Players, so you have to use tricks to find out what their colors are.

I ended up buying the AOE2 CDs online this winter because there are actually a bunch of neat AOE2 scenarios that ONLY work on the AOE2 original version. Plus, I was having too much trouble trying to get even the copyright-allowed download versions of AOE2, like using the “Compatibility Patch” on AOE2:HD, to work on Windows 7 due to graphics issues.

Good luck.

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Good job with the language fixes! :+1:

I remember the Project Lead for Forgotten Empires that made much of AOE: DE asking for help (I think he meant programmers) for his company not long ago on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/cysionbe
I am not great with Twitter and I don’t see the particular Tweet though now.

I really do think it would be neat if AOE: DE would fix the bugs. They would clearly get more positive feedback if they did.

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Right now, the game has 81% positive reviews on Steam. If most annoying bugs got fixed, I feel that number would rise up to at least 90%. I already gave it a positive review (well deserved even with all those bugs and missing content/features), but without doubt the game could get a lot better with some patches. It desperately needs at least one big update before being left aside indefinitely, like it has since July 2020.

The Steam version was released on Steam, August 2019. At this time of the year 2021, it still feels unpolished.

We need updates so we can go back to this beautiful game! :broken_heart::broken_heart::broken_heart::broken_heart::broken_heart:

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Where do we give game reviews, is it just on Steam where we do that?

My biggest complaint so far is that you can’t use the Scenario Editor to successfully add a map to the Instruction Screen like you can in AOE1(original version). The AOE DE Editor has a entry box for it in the Cinematics menu, but it is not actually effective. Someone who had worked with the developers in the past told me that it does not have the “wires” in the User Interface to connect what you put into the map entry box in the Editor with any actual map .bmp file on your computer. In other words, it sounds like this tool was left uncompleted.

AOE1 (original version) has actually had lots of good, important patches over the last 20 years since it came out, by comparison. For example, it has three official patches (the last being 1.0c) and it has an Expansion pack (ROR) that also has a patch version (1.0A). Most people play ROR 1.0A online. On top of all that, there are lots of strong utilities like ROCKNROR Mod and CustomizeAOE, as well as the UPTACH HD 1.1 Mod from 2011-2014, which is currently on “version 4”.

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GOG here means Good Old Games, which is a digital games retailer like Steam. But GOG, which is owned by CD Projek (makers of the Witcher and CyberPunk games), only sell games without DRM in them.

As the name suggests, they have a focus on older games. They get rights to resell games that you often can’t buy anywhere else anymore, and they update them to work properly on modern OSes, then they sell the updated package of those games through their store.

They also often include extras with their games, like a digital version of the original manual, the soundtrack, official artwork, and whatever else they can get their hands on.

Here’s GOG’s website: https://www.gog.com/

I recommend searching on it for some old games and seeing what you find.

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I believe you can also review the game having bought the game from the Microsoft store.

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You can and I gave it a really positive review too.

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I am tempted to give you the name and link for the “©2020 San Pedro Software Inc.” website that I mentioned that is selling AOE:ROR for download. Specifically, you need to buy membership on their website and then you get access to their games. It seems like a good quality site, but I don’t know if they have a license. My guess is that the “San Pedro” website hasn’t changed AOE:ROR to fix the bugs it has on Win 10.

But there are only two AOE:ROR bugs on WIN 10 that come to mind anyway. One is that the colored flags don’t show up in the Diplomacy menu, and the second bug is that the Message fields in the Editor are all black but flicker white sometimes, so you mostly have to copy and paste text into them instead of drafting Messages there directly.

You really shouldn’t give your credit card details to a website as sketchy as “©2020 San Pedro Software Inc.” If you really want the original RoR just look it up EBay or Craigslist and buy an old CD. I would only trust my credit card details with GOG, Steam and Microsoft Store.

You can review on Steam if you spend at least $5 on a game.

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Yes, I have spent that much on Steam. Maybe San Pedro will take checks. However, I can’t recommend them from any experience.

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I think that Microsoft should make AOE:ROR easily downloadable on Steam for a nominal fee like $1-6. After all, AOE:DE has gone on sale temporarily for about $6-11. CDs are clunky and take longer to use because the PC has to “mount” or run the CDs when starting the game or switching music tracks. AOE:ROR is better than a lot of games on Steam in terms of graphics quality.

There are a couple glitches in AOE:ROR on Windows 7 and 10, but the company Programmers could fix it.

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If you have the Age of Empires Collector’s Edition, you don’t need the CD to run the game.

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The photo for that 3 CD collection shows the AOE1 CD to be the “Gold Edition.”
https://www.ebay.com/c/1342609453

And the Gold Edition does not require a CD.

However, the Gold Edition installs AOE:ROR 1.0, and when you install the official AOE:ROR 1.0A patch, it changes the .exe so that it demands inserting a CD to run. I don’t know if Voobly gives you a free NO-CD 1.0A patch upgrade.

Perhaps I am mistaken about something.

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