Launching a game is never easy. Problems will arise seemingly out of thin air and challenge development teams to continuously test and roll out new updates to keep the game not just playable, but seamlessly. The less this has to happen, the better, but it’s a near-inevitability that something will need to be updated or hotfixed. Launching the massive definitive edition to one of the most legendary strategy games ever released, however, is a whole new level of stressful.
Such is the story of the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition release. As of writing this, it’s been out less than a week and is still continuously getting updates to deal with issues that have arisen.
The update of today’s topic – Game Update 33059 – fixes a couple of games that don’t just hinder the playability of the game but make the game completely unplayable.
As a tl;dr, here’s what’s getting fixed in the update, which went live early on November 20th. The following is the highlights that Age of Empires includes with the announcement on their official website:
- Fixed an issue where various units did not produce death sound effects when killed.
- Fixed an issue where the Enhanced Graphics option would appear grayed out despite having installed and enabled the DLC
- Fixed an issue that would cause a File Error 12 crash that prevented the successful launch of the game.
- Fixed an issue where the Spectator Lobby displayed outdated games which could not be joined.
There’s still much more in progress. For example, they’re asking that players continue to send crash reports or other such bug occurrences to the team so that they can continue to work on fixing the stability and performance of multiplayer servers.
UPDATE 33059 for MS Store and Steam – HIGHLIGHTS: Many Items Fixed (File error 12 crash, spectator lobby, death sound effects, enhanced graphics (UHD), crossplay, etc) in-progress items and more! Read about all of these and how to update your client here: https://t.co/YCzTQ5G0NI pic.twitter.com/rq7nIL17xC
— Age of Empires (@AgeOfEmpires) November 20, 2019
Additionally, the Enhanced Graphics Pack DLC continues to provide performance and stability issues. This is partially because the pack is absolutely massive and completely rehauls and remasters the already-impressive graphics of the game. To fix this, the suggestion provided is to uninstall it if you aren’t using it (it comes as an optional DLC and is only usable if you meet the high standards of the system requirements).
That seems to be it for this patch. Relic Entertainment asks that you continue to send them your crash updates and bug reports so that they can keep tracking down and fixing issues. There’s not much worse than having your unsaved game shut itself off right as you’re marching a dozen or so trebuchets into the heart of your enemy’s base, so keep sending those bug reports!
