Age of Empires II Update 188329 Fixes Campaign, Unit and Stability Bugs

The patch addresses crashes, multiplayer issues, pathfinding problems and exploits affecting units and civilizations.

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A crowned warrior raises a sword beside a woman warrior on dark update artwork.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Update 188329 addresses a wide range of issues, including crashes, out-of-sync errors, campaign bugs and exploits involving several units and civilizations. The October 27 update also fixes multiplayer matchmaking, Steam achievement tracking and a PlayStation 5 save-restore issue. The official Update 188329 notes include changes across the game, campaigns, AI, pathfinding, modding and localization.

Several fixes touch content added with The Viking Sagas, including campaign decisions, treasure bonuses and the Varangian Guard’s gold-generating attack. The update follows September’s Update 185872, which introduced the expansion’s new units alongside broad AI and pathfinding changes.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Update 188329 Patch Notes

Game

Stability & Performance

Fixed an out of sync issue related to box formation.
Fixed an out of sync issue occurring when watching replays with Reveal Map set to “Explored” or “All Visible”.
Fixed an issue where the game would be unresponsive for a few seconds after fully loading the map and just before starting the game (more obvious with larger maps and more players).
Fixed a crash occurring when loading into Stranded map.
Fixed a crash occurring in scenarios when using the Lock Civ option with civilization set to Random.
Fixed some rare crashes with custom content (mods, scenarios).

UI

Fixed an issue with the fonts in the game appearing lower quality, more visible in higher resolutions.
Bonus attack from Hamask technology is now displayed in the UI even when the unit is not attacking.
Fixed an issue where “0” was inserted before Text to Speech chat messages.
Added the missing mute button to mute your own audio in Multiplayer lobbies.

Hotkeys

Hulks and Transport Ships no longer have the same default hotkey in Classic Hotkeys profile.

Multiplayer

Fixed an issue where lobbies could not be found when searching by Game ID.
Fixed an issue where a Matchmaking Error would appear when attempting to queue with a full party.

Steam

All achievements are now grouped per each DLC they pertain to, allowing their unlock progress to be counted individually.

PlayStation

Fixed an issue where Playstation 5 players were not able to restore a saved multiplayer game.

Gameplay

Fixes

Fixed an issue where garrisoned units would be deleted if the building containing them is destroyed while having no space to ungarrison.
Fixed an issue where converted units with blast radius (like Mangonels) would inflict zero damage when killed with their projectile already in the air.
Fixed an issue where Varangian Guards with the Gothikon Upgrade were able to generate gold by fake-attacking (attacking and immediately canceling the attack) with their ranged attack.
Fixed an issue where Castle foundations with more HP could be destroyed with one hit by units dealing area damage (Rams, Elephants, etc).
Fixed an issue occurring when stealing boar type animals from an ai player at the same time as the ai player tries to lure them – your villager could automatically start walking towards the enemy Town Center.
Chicken/rabbit type animals can no longer be tricked by the player into walking large distances (funneling).
Fixed an instance where Dane bonus resources from destroyed buildings were not granted if the owner of the building deleted it after it came under attack.
Fixed an issue where walls and gates didn’t count as destroyed buildings for the Danes civilization bonus.
Fixed an issue where different types of food could be mixed to trigger the Varangian and Portuguese food bonuses. For example, gathering 9 food from berries and then 1 food from sheep with the same villager would give you 1 gold for Varangians.
Fixed an issue where map areas revealed by Circumnavigation would automatically update to show depleted resources (thus revealing player information).
Fixed an issue where Tupi units would not return any of their cost when killed.
Fixed an issue where Follow command could result in a slightly angled approach of the following unit towards the followed unit.
Fixed a rare issue where Stop command could be triggered in buildings, cancelling units/technologies queued there.
Very minor adjustment to the Saxon infantry discount for the internal values to better fit the described numbers.

Campaign

Fixed an issue where Decisions tab would appear empty when moving between the 3 campaigns within “The Viking Sagas”.
The Exiled Prince 3: “Fires of the Whale-Road”: Fixed an issue where you could win with relic victory.
The Exiled Prince 3: “Fires of the Whale-Road”: Fixed a rare issue where Zoe could spawn in double.
The Exiled Prince 4: “Death’s Handmaid”: Fixed an issue where the treasure bonus from Ulfberht Sword (10% faster attacking for infantry units) didn’t apply to some unique infantry units in the next missions and the following two campaigns.
The Exiled Prince 5: “The Bulgar-Burner”: Fixed an issue where a Dyrrhachium player’s monk could heal Bulgar units if they get close to the walls.
The Exiled Prince 6: “The Warrior Who Fed the Wolves”: The Objective to bring Harald to the red Monastery now changes appropriately when using Color Blind Modes.
The Hard Ruler 3: “The Wayward Men of Norway”: Fixed an issue with line of sight in the left corner of the map.
The Last Viking 1-4: Fixed the treasure bonus for hero health regeneration from The Hard Ruler 1: “Kings and Cowards” not applying to Tostig in The Last Viking campaign.
The Last Viking 1-4: Fixed an issue where Tostig would receive a treasure bonus intended for Stable units from The Hard Ruler 5: “The Battle of Nisa”.
The Last Viking 1: “Westward, the Carrion’s Call”: Fixed an issue where the decision panel in the campaign UI was showing the wrong decision.
The Last Viking 1: “Westward, the Carrion’s Call”: Fixed an issue where Hearth Troops would not receive the treasure bonus for unique units from The Hard Ruler 5: “The Battle of Nisa”.
The Last Viking 1: “Westward, the Carrion’s Call”: Some ai fixes and ai adjustments were applied to the computer players in the scenario.
The Last Viking 2: “The Storm-Driver of the North”: Fixed the Castle received from the Scots not being able to garrison any units inside.
The Last Viking 4: “The Battle of Stamford Bridge”: Fixed an issue where the decision panel in the campaign UI was showing the wrong decision.
Victors and Vanquished: “Vortigern”: Fixed an issue where player’s Hearth Troops would not get converted to enemy Saxons when the Saxons betray you.
Historical Battles – “Hastings”: Fixed an issue for users that don’t own “The Viking Sagas” DLC where enemy players would start with random civilizations.

AI

General

Fixed an issue where computer players on Hard and Hardest were not gathering their nearby boar type animals.
Added a new strategic number sn-disable-attack-group-transporting to prevent attack groups from using transports in specific scenarios and conditions.
Fixed an issue where AI players could place their starting houses outside of the walls on Arena map.

Pathfinding

Villagers are no longer prioritizing gathering from dead sheep over alive ones when they are too far away.
Fixed an issue where a large group of units selected together would slow down their movement when passing through obstructions and tighter spaces.
Fixed a rare issue where some units on Aggressive stance would not auto-attack enemies nearby.

Modding

General

Fixed an issue where .wav files used in mods would not work properly for sounds defined in data.
Fixed a minor issue with incorrectly defined sound files in data, only affecting mods.

Scenario Editor

Fixed an issue with “Varangians”, “Danes” and “Saxons” not showing up as technologies in trigger effects/conditions.
Fixed an issue with Hulk line not showing up in the list of units in Options.
Fixed an issue where human player units were not automatically attacking Gaia units with “Convert Never (Gaia Aggressive)” capture flag.

XS Scripting

Fixed an issue where xsSetUnitProperty could crash when setting the garrisoned in unit id.
Added new XS functions to support syncing data across players. A maximum of 256B worth of data can be shared per player, up to a maximum of 4 times per second.
Note: It is highly encouraged to use these functions for unsync data in single-player content as well, as doing so enables proper replay playback.
- void xsResetNetData()
- int xsWriteNetInt(int value)
- int xsWriteNetFloat(float value)
- int xsWriteNetVector(vector value)
- int xsWriteNetString(string value)
  - Note: The above functions return how many bytes were actually written. For strings, truncation can happen when the 256B limit is hit. For other types, the write simply fails, and no truncation occurs.
- bool xsSendNetData(string callback)
  - This pushes the data to all players and then calls the function with the provided name. The written data can then be read using xsReadNet functions below. This runs with a delay in MP depending on latency, and with a delay of two ticks in SP.
- string xsReadNetString()
- int xsReadNetInt()
- float xsReadNetFloat()
- vector xsReadNetVector()
- bool xsSetWriteNetDataPosition(int position)
- bool xsSetReadNetDataPosition(int position)
- int xsGetWriteNetDataPosition()
- int xsGetReadNetDataPosition()
- bool xsUnsyncIsSandboxMode()
  - Returns true in replays and in campaigns where the user chooses sandbox mode

Localization

Fixed missing localization for the message that appears when starting The Hard Ruler 1 or The Last Viking 1 without completing the last scenario from the previous campaign.
Fixed missing Korean localization in some places.
Fixed an issue where Champi Scout and Champi Runner had the same name in Portuguese.
Fixed some instances where map names were inconsistent with map description in some languages.
Return of Rome: Fixed an issue where “Zealotry” and “Fanaticism” had the same name in the Technology Tree in some languages.
Chronicles: Fixed an issue where the “Battle For Greece” text was not translated when viewing Chronicles Grand Campaign in Italian, French and Turkish.
Other minor localization fixes.

Custom mods may not be compatible with the update. If the game has trouble launching or running after installing the new build, the developers recommend disabling installed mods before trying again.

Which fix will make the biggest difference to your next game, the campaign corrections, the unit exploit fixes or smoother movement through tight spaces? Share your view in the comments, and follow the continuing updates through X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular strategy games ever with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a new and fully remastered soundtrack, and brand-new content, “The Last Khans” with 3 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations.