Age of Empires 2 HD is broken, much anger is being felt

[CC17]

I preordered Age of Empires 2 HD on steam, as did many others. It became available to play and ever since then there have been masses of complaints from people about it crashing, bugging out or just plain not working. I myself am unable to play it as it won't even launch without crashing (apparently this is happening to anyone who tries to play it on xp or a 32-bit version of vista). Given that this is basically just an HD rerelease of an old game that worked fine, how have the developers managed to screw it up so badly?

EDIT: The system requirements specifically state it should work on xp.

 

[TheSaw]

I had trouble with it as well.
Every time I opened the launcher it would just "Launcher has stopped working."
I've seen a lot of complaints and people demanding refunds.

Just in case anyone had the same problem as I did.
Go into AoE2HD's folder, and there should be AoK HD.exe and Launcher.exe
Delete launcher.exe (back it up somewhere just in case) and rename AoK HD.exe "launcher.exe" instead.
That makes it so the game loads without the launcher, and it fixed it for me. Hopefully it'll

 

[BrotherRool]

I've seen a lot of complaints and people demanding refunds.

Look it sucks that the game isn#t working properly. It really sucks, I wanted that game. But this is why people should stop pre-ordering stuff. It's digital game, it's not going to sell out. Normal consumer habit should be to wait to see if what they're buying is functional before buying it.

 

[Octorok]

I've seen a lot of complaints and people demanding refunds.

Look it sucks that the game isn#t working properly. It really sucks, I wanted that game. But this is why people should stop pre-ordering stuff. It's digital game, it's not going to sell out. Normal consumer habit should be to wait to see if what they're buying is functional before buying it.

In all fairness, it's an HD rerelease, in which they explicitly stated they were not changing levels or mechanics. Beyond the functionality of the new online infrastructure, there was no reason for anyone to assume anything wouldn't work.

I'm still with you on the pre-order thing, I just feel that there was no need for suspicion in this case.

OT: This makes me very sad. I bought the 4-pack, and in the name of fairness, I should say that neither I nor my friends have experienced any issues. I hope the devs sort it all out. Best of luck to any AoEII player trying to play their game.

 

[Goofguy]

I've seen a lot of complaints and people demanding refunds.

Look it sucks that the game isn#t working properly. It really sucks, I wanted that game. But this is why people should stop pre-ordering stuff. It's digital game, it's not going to sell out. Normal consumer habit should be to wait to see if what they're buying is functional before buying it.

I'm thinking most people got it as a pre-order because it has been on 'sale' on Steam for the past two weeks leading up to the release. Who can resist a sale?

 

[Sean951]

I would buy an Age of Mythology re-release, but I don't have much interest in AoE II anymore. I moved on to other RTS games years ago and the "HD" doesn't look like much of an upgrade.

 

[TheNecromancer]

I looked into Age of Empires 2 HD a while back, and it didn't look like it added anything that hasn't already been done, besides Steam support. If you do manage to get a refund, or don't feel like paying the absurd price for it http://www.forgottenempires.net/ will be what you want. This modifies the game some, allowing you to raise pop cap as well as supporting 1920x1080. It tries to fix some of the color issues as well. You still will have issues hosting but there is a free service that allows you to host games (gameranger).

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I've seen a lot of complaints and people demanding refunds.

Look it sucks that the game isn#t working properly. It really sucks, I wanted that game. But this is why people should stop pre-ordering stuff. It's digital game, it's not going to sell out. Normal consumer habit should be to wait to see if what they're buying is functional before buying it.

I'm thinking most people got it as a pre-order because it has been on 'sale' on Steam for the past two weeks leading up to the release. Who can resist a sale?

It was only 10% off.. you're saving what $2? Surely people can resist that...

Anyway this really sucks, I was planning on buying it but I guess I won't anymore =/

 

[omicron1]

Isn't it out on April 9? Maybe they uploaded a broken/incomplete dataset?

 

[IntangibleMango]

The only issue I've run into is the laggy multiplayer, where it stops and starts quite frequently, but that has subsided a bit over the last day.

It's a shame so many people are having problems, as I'm really enjoying playing it again.

 

[NWJ94]

Wow, sorry to hear that, per-ordered and been having zero problems so far several hours in. Hope they patch it soon, its a great game.

 

[Goofguy]

It was only 10% off.. you're saving what $2? Surely people can resist that...

Anyway this really sucks, I was planning on buying it but I guess I won't anymore =/

A Steam sale is a Steam sale... like lambs to the slaughter.

 

[templar1138a]

Not too surprised really. Still, I was holding off on this game anyway. I like it, but not enough to spend more than ten bucks on. By then, someone will probably have figured out how to fix any issues with it. I'll just have to do my research before buying it. Like I usually do.

Captcha is "rule of thumb." Quite appropriate.

 

[BrotherRool]

I've seen a lot of complaints and people demanding refunds.

Look it sucks that the game isn#t working properly. It really sucks, I wanted that game. But this is why people should stop pre-ordering stuff. It's digital game, it's not going to sell out. Normal consumer habit should be to wait to see if what they're buying is functional before buying it.

I'm thinking most people got it as a pre-order because it has been on 'sale' on Steam for the past two weeks leading up to the release. Who can resist a sale?

That's the problem with preorders, there's always some small gain to be weighed against the chance you might not have bought the game with full knowledge

 

[Smooth Operator]

You pre-ordered... with no knowledge what so ever about the product, well GG lesson learned.
We can only tell you so many times not to run head first at a wall but broken bones in the end are a better teacher.

 

[Sealpower]

It works great for me (except the achievements, but who cares about that?) and since the original doesn't work on this computer (lag and green/purple mess) I guess I'm a happy customer.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

I preordered Age of Empires 2 HD on steam, as did many others. It became available to play and ever since then there have been masses of complaints from people about it crashing, bugging out or just plain not working. I myself am unable to play it as it won't even launch without crashing (apparently this is happening to anyone who tries to play it on xp or a 32-bit version of vista). Given that this is basically just an HD rerelease of an old game that worked fine, how have the developers managed to screw it up so badly?

EDIT: The system requirements specifically state it should work on xp.

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and say this isn't really thread worthy in my opinion. I've had no problem with the game thus far. Played a couple 3 our games online last night.

There always seems to be one person in the forums making a thread about the game within the first 24 hours of release screaming about how the game sucks/doesn't work. Happens all the time. Its a PC game, there will be a fix done by someone who has the game or the developers themselves.

But you do have to realize that Windows XP is getting sold old that almost every new game today (even HD rereleases like this)is going to have some problems. Its no longer supported by MS, and it's 11 years old. Its going do become more of a pain to use Windows XP than a good OS to use. I can't expect many developers to bother focusing on Windows XP compatibility for much longer.

 

[Korica]

I preordered Age of Empires 2 HD on steam, as did many others. It became available to play and ever since then there have been masses of complaints from people about it crashing, bugging out or just plain not working. I myself am unable to play it as it won't even launch without crashing (apparently this is happening to anyone who tries to play it on xp or a 32-bit version of vista). Given that this is basically just an HD rerelease of an old game that worked fine, how have the developers managed to screw it up so badly?

EDIT: The system requirements specifically state it should work on xp.

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and say this isn't really thread worthy in my opinion. I've had no problem with the game thus far. Played a couple 3 our games online last night.

There always seems to be one person in the forums making a thread about the game within the first 24 hours of release screaming about how the game sucks/doesn't work. Happens all the time. Its a PC game, there will be a fix done by someone who has the game or the developers themselves.

But you do have to realize that Windows XP is getting sold old that almost every new game today (even HD rereleases like this)is going to have some problems. Its no longer supported by MS, and it's 11 years old. Its going do become more of a pain to use Windows XP than a good OS to use. I can't expect many developers to bother focusing on Windows XP compatibility for much longer.

Going to have to agree with this guy. Have not had any problems so far.

 

[omicron1]

Ok, here's my problem with this: Preordering equals achievements ("Dark Ages Rush")? How callous can you possibly be, Microsoft?

 

[spartandude]

You pre-ordered... with no knowledge what so ever about the product, well GG lesson learned.
We can only tell you so many times not to run head first at a wall but broken bones in the end are a better teacher.

they arent complaing the game sucks, as most people who brought this played it (its an HD re-releae) they know what to expect, however they should not be blamed for expecting it to work