Setting Up Age of Empires Multiplayer
Many people aren’t able to play Age of Empires multiplayer due to numerous reasons. But now let’s fix these problems and play Age of Empires multiplayer successfully.
This guide will help you setup Age of Empires to be able to play human players over Hamachi. First you will need to install Hamachi, a free program which creates a virtual network between the players. Read the Hamachi installation guide at http://www.computersight.com/Communication-&-Networks/Hamachi-Installation-Guide.320119 to install Hamachi and the Hamachi User Guide at http://www.computersight.com/Software/Hamachi-User-Guide.317079 to learn how to use Hamachi. After you have installed Hamachi perform the following steps.
The first thing you have to do is make Hamachi the highest priority connection because Age of Empires uses the connection with the highest priority. Below are instructions for both Windows XP and Windows Vista on how to specify Hamachi as the highest priority connection.
Windows XP
Double-click “My Network Places”
On the left hand side click “View network connections”
You will be taken to a page like the one below. On the toolbar select “Advanced” and then “Advanced Settings”
A box like the one below should pop up. Highlight Hamachi and then click the green up arrow to move it to the top. Press OK.
Windows Vista
- Click Start and go to Control Panel
- Click Network and Sharing Center
- On the left side, click Manage Network Connections
- Press the “Alt” key and click Advanced then Advanced Settings at the top
- Click Hamachi and then click the green up arrow to move it to the top
-
Press OK
Kamran Ayub http://blog.lib.umn.edu/ayubx003/dividebyzero/2008/06/24/how_to_play_age_of_empires_iii.htm
Same Version
In order to play a human player in Age of Empires you need the same version and same game. For example if you are using Age of Conquerors (Expansion pack) and your opponent is using Age of Kings (Original), it won’t work. Even if both players have the same game, you will also need to make sure they have the same version.
Age of Conquerors
To find out your current version of Age of Conquerors, on the main menu press the banner:
Then a box like the one below should pop up. Beside “Version” you should see your Age of Conquerors version. In this case it is 1.0c.
Currently the latest version for Age of Conquerors is 1.0e. But the official version released by Microsoft is 1.0c. I would recommend either. You can download 1.0c at http://download.microsoft.com/download/ageIIConquerers/Update/1.0c/W982KMe/EN-US/Age2XPatch.exe. Visit http://www.gamepark.eu/en/DownloadStart.asp?idD=5 to download 1.0c and 1.0e. This includes both versions meaning you can alternate between the versions. Both updates are free.
Age of Kings
To find out your current Age of Kings version, click Start>Run> C:program filesMicrosoft GamesAge of Empires II.
Find empires2 and then right-click it and select Properties.
Click Version. Then under Item name click “Product Version”. On the right hand side, under value, your current version should appear. In this case it is 2.0a.
The latest version is 2.0b. But the official version released by Microsoft is 2.0a. 2.0a can be downloaded from the official Age of Empires site at http://download.microsoft.com/download/aoeaok/Update/2.0a/W9XNT4/EN-US/Age2upA.exe. Version 2.0b can be downloaded at http://www.gamepark.eu/en/DownloadStart.asp?idD=19.
Firewalls/Routers
In order to create a game so others can join or join someone else’s game, you will need to open some ports on your firewall or router.
47624 TCP/UDP, Incoming and Outgoing
2300-2400 TCP, Incoming and Outgoing
2300-2400, UDP, Incoming and Outgoing
If you use a router please download UnPlug n’ Pray at http://www.grc.com/files/unpnp.exe. This utility makes it easy to disable UPnP. There are two reasons in which you should disable UPnP.
- By leaving UPnP running, you are vulnerable to attacks
- Others won’t be able to find your games and you won’t be able to find theirs if you are using a router and leave UPnP enabled
To read more on UPnP please visit: http://www.grc.com/UnPnP/UnPnP.htm. Even if you don’t use a router, I still recommend for you to disable UPnP for security purposes.
After downloading UnPlug n’ Pray a box should pop up with 3 possible messages.
- UPnP is NOT installed on this system
- UPnP is Currently Enabled!
- UPnP is Safely Disabled
If it says either 1 or 3, you don’t have to do anything. But if it says 2, please follow below.
Please press Disable UPnP. If this is completed successfully, it should now say UPnP is Safely Disabled.
If you have followed all the above steps, you should be able to play Age of Empires multiplayer through Hamachi.
Hi! I tried to turn off this UPnP, but it shows the following message: “Admin Privilegs Required”
The problem is that I’m the administrator…
I use Windowa Vista, could you send me a solution by e-mail?
Try right clicking and selecting: run as …. try entering your current user info or Administrator. There should be an Administrator account by default (no password)
-Waterburn (author)
If Hamachi doesn’t work for AOE2, and a lot of the time it doesn’t, you should try Tunngle. It works EVERY TIME!
yes,worked when i disabled upnp,ty.
Got here by accident trying to solve the same connection issues me and a bunch of friends have been having with connections (seeing games but not being able to join, not seeing at all, etc..)
and didn’t find any other page telling to disable UPNP. After disabling everyone who had issues can now connect.
Serious high five to you sir.
Seriously, forget Hamachi. I and about 10 friends from college (when AOE2 came out) started playing AOE2: The Conquerors every weekend a while ago and we struggled with random Hamachi issues for over a year. It’s just plain random. Sometimes it works for everyone, other times some people can join but others cant. Somtimes doing the tips above helps, but half way through the night everything stops working. Other times only certain computers can’t see each other but can join: the two computers are in the game lobby but can’t see each other’s chats. There’s no pattern we could find between LAN and Hamachi and settings and firewalls and DMZ or any mix of them. It’s just plain random.
THE ANSWER TO FLAWLESS AOE2 ONLINE MULTIPLAYER GAMING:
1. Make sure your AOE2 is running version 1.0c. You can get that patch or version in the same way you got the main AOE2 program. You know where you got it. (Buy a copy if you haven’t already, it’s only like $10 and is an awesome game. But don’t worry about USING the copy you bought.)
2. Download and install GameRanger, and point GameRanger to your AOE2 1.0c version executable.
This works 100% of the time with no problem at all. LAN, internet, or a mix of both: no problems. There is no need to set ports or firewalls or DMZ or anything. Just have everyone join GameRanger and use GameRanger’s interface to create your game and invite your friends into it.
(Of course, if you have Vista you may have your own set of weird issues. The above works perfectly on about 15 different laptops and desktops running Windows XP, Windows 7, and Mac Powerbooks running Windows XP in Boot Camp. We have 2 Windows Vista laptops that are flaky to begin with.)
Every time i try the unplugin upnp it don’t anser. Why?
My computer is not old and it has vista.
Hi Supertosse,
Try right clicking and selecting: run as …. try entering your current user info or Administrator. There should be an Administrator account by default (no password)
You can also try compatibility mode for XP.
-Waterburn (author)
I have runed as anministrator but it dont work. I think i can run it with a differet PC, but on my PC i dosen’t work.
Is it written in the corner as folow in norwegian: “svarer ikke”
It means, dosen’t reply (the software dosen’t reply).
It is a way to unplug the UPnP whitout the unplug’n pray software?
Yes look around in the route configuration page. To access try typing: 192.168.2.1
or 192.168.0.1 etc.. in your browser.
What is the make of your router?
I tried the GameRanger, but it didnt work, still saying we need the same version (even though we do)