About this FAQ:
The Known Issues & Solutions page is available to help provide information regarding high-priority issues, such as those impacting a fair number of players, or that are most disruptive to gameplay.
Disclaimer
Below is a list of known issues we are tracking for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Note that this is not a comprehensive list; we will continue to update it with new issues as they are reported and fixed, will only include the most visible or disruptive issues that prevent you from enjoying the game. Issues that could be leveraged for an unfair gameplay advantage (AKA exploits) will never be included in this list.
Table of Contents
Below is a quick overview of the different sections of Known Issues for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. If you are looking for something specific please use the quick links here to navigate to the necessary section.
How do I report an issue?
If you encounter a bug or any other issue that is not on the list below please follow these steps:
- Check our Support pages for common troubleshooting and workaround steps.
- Search the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition forums for existing reports to add a comment with your example.
- Start a new thread on the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Report a Bug forums to report a new issue.
- Submit a ticket our Customer Support team with a description of the issue, what troubleshooting steps you may have already performed, and if relevant, any files, screenshots or video links that may help with the investigation.
Thank you for taking the time to help keep our game clean and bug-free! We will try to update this list each month, as well as provide solutions to any new issues over on the official forum or through Customer Support.
This page was last updated on May 19, 2025.
ISSUE STATUS KEY
Issues have been marked with a status that best represents their current state:
| Tracking |
|---|
A tracked bug means that it has been reproduced by our test team. The team now has to determine whether and how they solve the issue: whether it requires a fix, a change to the design or code of the game, or if there are other solutions that need to be considered.
| Examples Needed |
|---|
This issue has been reported, but we need further information to continue our investigation; please read the issue description for details.
| Fixed |
|---|
Once the fix is available in the game, we'll check things off of the list. Eventually, these items will be hidden to make way for other issues as they are identified, tracked, and prioritized.
TRACKED (KNOWN) ISSUES
These are issues which have been reported and reproduced by our Quality Assurance (or Test) team. Issues are listed in the areas of the game they impact, below, and in no particular order.
Bugs
| Tracking |
| Art of War Cinematics do not play on certain monitor types |
| We are aware of an issue where the Art of War cinematics do not play. When this issue occurs, the audio from the cinematic can still be heard. To workaround this issue, please turn off the 'Optimization for Windows Games' setting. This is located under Settings > System > Display > Graphics >Default Graphics settings |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store |
| Tracking |
| 'Failed to download match content' error |
| When attempting to spectate a game either by the aoe2.recs or by using the game ID link, spectators may recieve the error message 'Failed to download match content'. To try and workaround this issue please restart the title and try again. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store |
| Tracking |
| Unable to access Deluxe Edition content on Gamepass |
| Some player on Gamepass may encounter an issue where they are unable to access the Deluxe Edition Add-On Civilizations after installing the DLC. There is no workaround at this time. |
Platforms Affected:Microsoft Store | Xbox |
| Tracking |
| Certain sounds are muted when a mod adding or replacing them is enabled. |
|
This affects the following sound groups only: - Event overrides (such as UI) - New external sounds (such as filenames used in Scenario Triggers and Slideshows) While the team investigates the issue, a workaround has been found for the Steam platform. Details can be found in our forums here. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store |
Connection Issues
| Tracking |
| Out of sync may occur at the start of a multiplayer match. |
| We are aware of an issue causing some maps to trigger an out of sync or fail to generate the map as expected at the start of a game. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store | Xbox |
| Tracking |
| Loss of functionality when a spectated player resigns from match. |
| Players are unable to spectate other players remaining in the match. There is no workaround at this time. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store | Xbox |
Crashes
| Tracking |
|
Crash occurring for players whose system language is set to anything that dose not use English characters. |
|
Players whose systems and platforms are configured to use non-English characters have reported experiencing crashes upon launching the title following the 143421 update. As a temporary workaround for this issue please navigate to Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region > Administrative Language Settings and then select Change System Local located under Language for non-Unicode programs. In the following window enable the option called Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support. After this is done, try relaunching the game again. Should the issue continue please reach out to Customer Support and confirm that the workaround did not resolve the issue. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store |
Performance Issues
Fixed Issues
These are issues which we presume to be fixed as of a recent update. If you continue to encounter the issue, please visit the official Age of Empires forum to report your experience:
|
Fixed |
| Game language changes upon title launch |
|
If you are still encountering this issue please try navigating to the in-game settings and then change the language from your preferred / default, save, and then change it back to the preferred language again. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store | Xbox |
|
Fixed |
| Chronicles: Battle for Greece crash while launching into the Grand Campaign |
|
If you are still encountering this issue please make sure to restart your game and then try again. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store | Xbox |
| Fixed |
| Missing or incorrectly displayed Campaign medals after update 141935 |
| Fixed in Update 143421. |
Platforms Affected:Steam | Microsoft Store | Xbox |