Below is a list of known issues we are tracking for Age of Empires III: 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, and will never include exploits that could be leveraged to gain an unfair advantage over other players.
If you encounter a bug that is not listed below, take a moment to contact our Support team or visit the official Age of Empires forum and report the problem:
- Visit the official Age of Empires Forum.
- Click 'Report a Bug' in the Age of Empires III category.
- ALWAYS search the sub-forum for similar issues before creating a new post.
- If the issue has already been reported, add a comment to the existing thread.
- If the issue has not been reported, start a new thread.
- Read up on How to Report a Bug or Exploit to make sure you have everything you need to post about an issue.
- Click Create Topic to finish creating your thread!
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.
This page was last updated on September 14, 2021.
ISSUE STATUS KEY
Issues have been marked with a status that best represents their current state:
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.
| STATUS: Fix Awaiting Update |
Once a fix has been identified, it needs to be tested and packaged with a game update. Note that this is not always the very next update: a fix may be held for additional testing or to be paired with other similar fixes.
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.
GAME
| Chat rooms may appear empty in the chat browser even when others are present. |
| There is no workaround at this time. |
| STATUS: Tracking |
| Online Lobbies appear in the Lobby Browser after toggling ‘Multiplayer’ to ‘LAN’. |
| There is no workaround at this time. |
| STATUS: Tracking |
GAMEPLAY
| Attack-Move Optimization and Fixes |
| A prevalent topic of discussion, the team is continuing their investigation and looking into solutions to ensure that it performs as expected in all circumstances. |
| STATUS: Tracking |
| The game suffers from an FPS drop when playing 4v4 using the ‘Fast’ speed. |
| 4v4 is possible, but has issues when playing on the ‘Fast’ speed setting. It is recommended that you play at the ‘Normal’ speed unit this can be addressed. |
| STATUS: Tracking |
| Chinese "Villages" that are under attack will show the number of attackers as current gatherers on the building. |
| There is no workaround at this time |
| STATUS: Tracking |
| Chinese Monk's combat stances disappear from the HUD after sending the "Snatch the Pebble" shipment and researching the "Training Forms" technology |
| There is no workaround at this time |
| STATUS: Tracking |
AI
| AI is inconsistent when the player asks them to tribute resources or if the player contributes resources to the AI. |
| There is no workaround at this time |
| STATUS: Tracking |
| If the AI revolts while building, it still attempts to build with the transformed villagers. |
| There is no workaround at this time |
| STATUS: Tracking |
CAMPAIGN
| The objective counter for Colonies Raided 0/5 does not increase after destroying all of the military units occupying the Northern colony. |
| Some of the units have shifted to the long, central island, just North of the Colony closest to the center of the map. Defeating these stranded units will increment the Objective counter and trigger the destruction of some buildings within the North Colony. |
| STATUS: Tracking |
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 or Contact our Support team to report your experience:
| In rare circumstances, players may receive a 'Connection Lost, Exiting Game" message joining a ranked game in a party. |
| Fixed in Update 14825 |
| FIXED |
| After adding a card to a deck, removing an upgrade card will instead remove the card next to it. |
| Fixed in Update 14825 |
| FIXED |
| Unable to open game |
|
Fixed in Hotfix 21704. If you continue to have issues opening the game from the Microsoft Store, please reach out to Support.
|
| FIXED |
| Steam users who sign into Xbox Live will see a button to send Xbox Live invites which then display an error message when pressed |
| Fixed in Update 23511 |
| FIXED |
| When playing a campaign, new cards chosen upon finishing a scenario are not adding to the deck |
| Fixed in Update 23511 |
| FIXED |
| No sound while clicking on buttons in main menu |
| Fixed in Hotfix 24632 |
| FIXED |
| Stuck Units |
|
The team believes it has fixed the route cause of various pathfinding issues in Update 26865, including:
- Units becoming stuck in buildings.
- Unit groups becoming stuck in Trading Posts.
- Livestock moving into Trading Posts making them impossible to gather.
|
| FIXED |
| Challenge progress reset after Update 26865 |
|
US Civ challenge progress has been restored for most players in Hotfix 27330 and Hotfix 27812. If there is still missing progress in your game, please contact our Support team and we will work with you to get it back.
|
| FIXED |
| Cannot copy another player’s deck(s) when playing as the same civilization. |
| Fixed in Update 29715 |
| FIXED |
| Accepting a Steam invitation to a ranked game lobby will launch the game but fail to place you in the lobby |
| Fixed in Update 29715 |
| FIXED |
| When using mods, lobbies that do not share the exact same mods will not be displayed. |
|
Behavior changed in Update 29715. A new icon will indicate which mods are “safe for multiplayer”, meaning that a player with the mod can be matched against others without it enabled.
|
| FIXED |
| USA's Saloon "Refreshing Beverages" technology only affects 2 Outlaws while it should affect all of them |
| Fixed in Update 38254 |
| FIXED |
| Using Griots Crashes the game when language is set to Portuguese, Spanish or Turkish. |
|
Fixed in Hotfix 39346
|
| FIXED |
| Adding the Fulani Archer card to a deck can cause a crash |
|
Fixed in Hotfix 39346
|
| FIXED |
| Players cannot join ranked lobbies together if one of them previously left a lobby while it was searching for opponents |
| Fixed in Hotfix 39346 |
| FIXED |
| Russian card "Dueling School" message in the chat still refers to TEAM while it's no longer a team card. |
| Fixed in Update 43871 |
| FIXED |
| Spanish card "Advanced Trading Post" does not allow Trading Posts to attack while playing on South American maps with Inca trade routes. |
| Fixed in Update 43871 |
| FIXED |
| Inca: Sending American Allies + Blood Brothers HC Cards will clear all upgrades from Native Embassy |
| Fixed in Update 43871 |
| FIXED |
