XP Users

[76561198072433336]

Windows XP had a long run, and was a great OS - but over a year ago the operating system was discontinued and support stopped. In many ways, supporting XP held back development of new features for AOE II HD, both within the rendering engine as well as numerous calls we make to the operating system that are only available in newer versions.

In my announcement I mentioned that XP is not a supported OS for AOE II HD anymore (like the OS hasn't been supported for some time). But for the extremely small percentage of customers who purchased the game and are playing it on windows XP - we made sure to archive the previous build to ensure you can still play the game if for some reason you must stick with the OS.

To activate it - right click on AOE II HD in your library, go to "properties" and then the "beta" tab. Use the dropdown to select "last win XP build" and you should be able to launch the game again. Note that this build will be essentially frozen, and is not forward compatible with newer versions.

[Revelanth]

Fair enough.

[TLmule]

Thank you for the little "fix". I'm sure that there are a lot of people still using XP that cannot afford a new computer to play an old game.

[Loggy]

Originally posted by TLmule:

Thank you for the little "fix". I'm sure that there are a lot of people still using XP that cannot afford a new computer to play an old game.

Linux.

Also, using an old OS will probably catch up with you from either a security or "I can't run new programs!" point of view sooner or later...

[AlexMex90]

Originally posted by Loggy:

Originally posted by TLmule:

Thank you for the little "fix". I'm sure that there are a lot of people still using XP that cannot afford a new computer to play an old game.

Linux.

Also, using an old OS will probably catch up with you from either a security or "I can't run new programs!" point of view sooner or later...

If only this game was available on Linux :(

[Loggy]

Apparently, it works?

[AlexMex90]

Originally posted by Loggy:

Apparently, it works?

It seems, I would prefer to avoid having Wine installed in my system, to focus on the native Linux Steam, for the game, I think a Windows build wrapped in a tweaked Wine would be enough, TeamViewer does this for its 'Linux' Version.

[NABN00B]

If I'd known that XP support was going to be dropped then I wouldn't have bought the game.

[SizzlingReefer]

Anyone who's running xp and wants people to play with online add me sizzlingreaper1

[NABN00B]

Sizzle: Do achievements work in the XP branch?

[Krtek]

Well i love win XP, thats why im still ok with that.. this change make me actually sad, cuz i dont wanna upgrade windows for one game. I play AoE just for fun with friends but now i cant play with them.. tears
Edit: nah we can play if they have same settings for XP :)

[76561198072433336]

Originally posted by k!:

Well i love win XP, thats why im still ok with that.. this change make me actually sad, cuz i dont wanna upgrade windows for one game. I play AoE just for fun with friends but now i cant play with them.. tears
Edit: nah we can play if they have same settings for XP :)

Based on your edit I think you discovered that anyone using newer versions can always go back to play with friends on XP by selecting the XP build.

Still for security reasons it is obviously inadvisable to have an XP machine on your network, especially if you use it for anything outside of just playing games.

Nab,
Achievements should still work yes.

XP support as an OS ended last year, after originally supposed to be closed back in what..2011 I think? As for the game, XP is no long supported in upcoming patches, however it is important to note that buyers stuck on the OS can still play on the alternate branch. Think of it more like you've got a CD version that still functions, and some of the patches are available for XP - but at a certain point we have to stop patching for XP.

[NABN00B]

Originally posted by MS Ryz0n:

Think of it more like you've got a CD version that still functions, and some of the patches are available for XP - but at a certain point we have to stop patching for XP.

Originally posted by MS Ryz0n:

Nab,
Achievements should still work yes.

I could deal with that but any upcoming achievements wouldn't work because they wouldn't be implemented, which would have a negative impact on my statistics, if I started playing the game. Therefore it would have a negative impact on my statistics.

[76561198072433336]

Originally posted by NABN00B:

Originally posted by MS Ryz0n:

Think of it more like you've got a CD version that still functions, and some of the patches are available for XP - but at a certain point we have to stop patching for XP.

Originally posted by MS Ryz0n:

Nab,
Achievements should still work yes.

I could deal with that but any upcoming achievements wouldn't work because they wouldn't be implemented, which would have a negative impact on my statistics, if I started playing the game. Therefore it would have a negative impact on my statistics.

I admit that is not a heavily considered scenario, but your logic is sound. (Achievement perfectionists and XP users are both pretty small groups, the Venn diagram would be a fraction of a % at most of customers).

[TLmule]

Originally posted by Loggy:

Originally posted by TLmule:

Thank you for the little "fix". I'm sure that there are a lot of people still using XP that cannot afford a new computer to play an old game.

Linux.

Also, using an old OS will probably catch up with you from either a security or "I can't run new programs!" point of view sooner or later...

This is precisely the opposite of my problem, I have several old (expensive) programs that will not be supported by newer OS. XP is the limit of backwards compatibility for some of them. Not willing to lose 15 years worth of data. (sigh)

Old geeks like playing this game too. And I can still play with my partner who uses win7 if he clicks back to 3.8. We are glad we don't have to go back to the CD version. Thank you.

[RaphaniacZX]

Originally posted by TLmule:

Originally posted by Loggy:

Linux.

Also, using an old OS will probably catch up with you from either a security or "I can't run new programs!" point of view sooner or later...

This is precisely the opposite of my problem, I have several old (expensive) programs that will not be supported by newer OS. XP is the limit of backwards compatibility for some of them. Not willing to lose 15 years worth of data. (sigh)

Old geeks like playing this game too. And I can still play with my partner who uses win7 if he clicks back to 3.8. We are glad we don't have to go back to the CD version. Thank you.

You do realize there's backward compability means for those programs, right? From virtualization to compability mode. I can't say they're perfect solutions out of the box, but if you really need the solutions, they're prescent there. Not sure what programs are the ones you want to keep but there's either workarounds to get them working in newer systems (not half as complex as people want to make them see) or alternatives. I mean, if you're set to keeping your system that far back for some pieces of software you are going to get stuck eventually. Is like saying web developers should still be having headaches because a little bit of people still use Internet Explorer 6. I'm pretty sure the means are there. Not saying you've to use them or change if you simply don't want to. But at least make it that and not a couple of apps.