14 DAY TRIAL // Age of Empires 2 HD, the recently released remake of the classic real-time strategy game, has just received a special beta patch on the Steam service that brings a 500% performance improvement for players with high-end machines, and should eliminate plenty of problems.
Age of Empires II delighted millions of fans back in the late 1990s and early 2000s with a top-notch strategy experience that was enhanced through the Conquerors expansion.
Microsoft recently tasked Hidden Path Entertainment with remastering the game in high definition for current PCs, and released the title on Steam earlier this month.
Sadly, the game wasn't so impressive, as while the title works, its graphics aren't that impressive and there are still plenty of issues particularly with the framerate that lags even on powerful PCs.
In order to solve these issues as soon as possible, Microsoft has confirmed that a beta performance patch is now available via Steam.
Users only need to select Age of Empires 2 HD from their library, right click it, select properties, and then choose in the betas tab the performance option.
Bear in mind that multiplayer will only work with others who also have the performance update installed.
While the patch doesn't solve all the issues, as Microsoft notes that it has lengthy lists of complaints and feedback, it does bring quite a few improvements in terms of framerate.
Check out the full changelog below.
- Frame rate & performance improvements that increase frame rates up to 50% on low end machines and up to 500% on the high end systems previously experiencing frame rate issues.
Visual fixes: - Windows DPI scaling no longer zooms the in-game perspective - Default scroll speed increased
Multiplayer fixes including: - Quitting a multiplayer game triggers a resignation instead appearing as a ‘drop’ - Private lobbies stay private - Quick match no longer crashes - Long Steam usernames no longer cause crash - Hotkeys for multiplayer are correctly saved - Lobby now enforces that you only play multiplayer with the same build version - Visual indications of players in your lobby and in game who have low frame rate - Better networking verification prior to entering game (prevents getting stuck on the voting screen) - Performance warning if you have high ping to one other player who isn’t host or if your data is being relayed - Multiplayer quick match speed defaults to normal - Quick match has additional map size filter - Multiplayer Lobby doesn’t lock to a region for displaying games
Achievements fix: Single player unlocks achievements properly
Microsoft and Hidden Path are also working on adding options for full screen multi-monitor support or mouse bounding.
Sadly, there's no word on when the performance update exits the beta stage and when the new fixes will be implemented.