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Zitat

Possibly one of the best things that happened inside the AoC community for a decade and more, if not the very best ever - the well known UserPatch is about to see it`s final release, coming on March 30th... Heralds, drum roll, please!

An unbelievable project brought all the long way up by the members of the community itself, for free - hidden by shadows, humble as they are, masters forged it in their spare time, yet widely supported by game fans and lovers.

Carefully listening to voices of the players and driven by strong emotions for the game that became a part of our lives, wishing to save it from years of being officially neglected, to inhale it some fresh energy, fix the bugs, improve game features and support for nowadays computers and operative systems, making sure to allow for many more years of enjoyment with our beloved "Age of Empires II" - they brought us UserPatch.

Confirming its importance, some of the features and ideas from UserPatch can already be seen implemented in AoC online playing clients, but now, after more than 2 years, the long journey has reached an end, and the final result we all waited for is here, oh, and what a result that is!

For those not yet familiar with all the improvements the UserPatch brings, here`s the short list:


General Features and Improvements

• Population caps have been extended up to 1000 (preferred 200-250)
  
• All available video resolutions, including widescreen, are selectable.
  
• Choose between the standard centered interface or the spanning alternative.
  
• Mirror player civilizations with the new Team Random civ option.
  
• Select a maximum age for advancement using the "Starting Age" dropdown.
  
• Random Map script can generate 4,294,967,296 unique maps (increased from 32,768).
  
• Multiplayer games can be started with only one human player (for practice with lag).
  
• Single player mode now operates at 60fps (instead of 20fps in v1.0c).
  
• The patrol system responds like The Age of Kings with little to no delay.
  
• New Random button above game settings for new styles of play.
  
• Flares are now larger and more bold on the mini-map display.
  
• Expanded stats in economic mini-map view.
  
• New higher resolution 1:1 and 1:2 full map captures with "Ctrl+F12".
  
• Age advancement notifications are now shown in each player's color.
  
• Restored games can now be recorded in all game modes.
  
• The vote panel/serial sync bug has been fixed for multiplayer.
  
• New auto-save if a problem occurs to ensure that resuming is possible.
  
• Optional multiple building queue to auto-distribute unit training (one click per unit still).
  
• Many, many bug fixes for the core game and many, many improvements for the AI system (details).
  
• The installer will correct any color problems on Windows Vista and later.
  

Windowed Mode

• Select a resolution lower than your desktop resolution to enable.
  
• Press "F7" to toggle displaying the window on top of other windows.
  
• Press "F8" to toggle running even when the window is not focused.
  
• Thanks to menopem for d3dhook, and VEG for wndmode.
  

Port Forwarding

• Install with admin privileges to automatically setup your firewall.
  
• Forwarding ports is only necessary to connect outside a LAN.
  
• Ports will be forwarded dynamically as required when installed.
  
• UPnP must be enabled on your router for this feature.
  

M3U Music Playlists

• Set your favorite tracks as background music during gameplay.
  
• Create a "music.m3u" playlist in the "Sound" folder of the game.
  
• Press "F6" to skip to the next track during gameplay.
  
• Please see the "Music" section of the guide for more information.
  

Scenario Editor

• Press "Ctrl+S" to toggle grid placement of non-building objects.
  
• Enable free placement of all objects by pressing "Ctrl+S" a second time.
  
• Fill new maps or modify existing maps with any available terrain.
  
• Create maps using custom rms scripts directly in the editor.
  
• Trees can now be properly replicated by the map copy feature.
  
• Change the names of units in a specific area, without having to preselect.
  
• Use negative numbers more freely with trigger conditions and effects.
  

AI & RM Scripts

• Random Map Scripts now generate 4,294,967,296 unique maps (seeds) (increased from 32,768).
  
• New maps can use team positioning for a different experience.
  
• Start your civilization on maps with new elevation attributes.
  
• AIs are selectable in multiplayer (direct ip or lan games are most stable).
  
• Multiplayer games can be started with only AI players for practice.
  
• AIs can now choose to close openings created in their walls.
  
• Boar hunting and luring is now fixed and operational for AIs.
  
• Ungrouped AI players will not ally themselves against humans.
  
• The reference guide describes all of the new features.
  
• Please visit the aiscripters forum for more information.
  

One more important thing to mention, for all those that maybe wonder -- UserPatch does not change the gameplay nor game balance in any way! "Age of Empires II: The Conquerors" with UserPatch stays the game we all love, just tightened, cleaned up and polished to perfection

In order to install the UserPatch, you`ll need to have a valid installation of "Age of Empires II: The Conquerors" with the latest official patch (1.0c) - and that`s it, off you go, enjoy playing with your friends and family!

A new age is upon us...

Zitat von »nC_Raegan«

Voobly wird umgestellt? Also automatisch 1.2? Dann brauchen wirs ja in der Zone nicht mehr extra..., anonsten am besten den "nc zone mod" mal upgraden.

Zitat

As for using it on Voobly, no installation will be necessary. We will take care of that for you when we merge this completed version with our own version of the exe.