What's Changed since last stable release

Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition support

Added support for this game on Steam and Microsoft Store/Xbox, however, as of writing, has the following specific issues:

• #402
• #403
• #404
• #406
• #407
• #417

Authentication

The server is introducing authentication options so the server owner has the option to properly authenticate the user, configurable as follows:

• required: the server will authenticate the user with the official servers everytime.
• cached: the server will force the clients to authenticate with the official server at least once every 30 days. The cache would be tied to the user platform user id (as the other info saved per user).
• adaptive: the server will use cached if internet is detected on the server or disabled otherwise.
• disabled (default). No authentication as before this release. The server's owner (and to a lesser degree their clients) is/are legally responsible and must ensure that they own the game (and any DLC's) in the proper platform.

This is necessary to support AoE IV game as the server can decide which DLC's the user has access to and give the users the choice on how strict the server is so the repo is not seen as a piracy tool but rather as a way to keep games alive and allow true offline functionality

General

• 🔝 Enhancement: added support for age4 game.
• Enhancement: now client requests include the header User-Agent to ageLANServer/1.0 so it's identifiable as this software to others.

Server

• 🔝Enhancement: added support authentication with the new config Authentication key (default 'disabled'), not compatible with GeneratePlatformUserId unless it is 'disabled'.
• 🔝Enhancement: added support for AoM update 18.65484 including the modifications to Gauntlet mode
• 🔝Enhancement: improved support for managing user items and now are saved persistently.
• 🆕 Enhancement: added support for groups (used in age4).
• 🆕 Enhancement: added support for lobbies/groups to change leader.
• 🆕 Enhancement: Added support for user presence (including its properties).
• 🆕 Enhancement: Added support for user properties.
• 🆕 Enhancement: Added partial support for managing item loadouts.
• Enhancement: added Playfab support for age4.
• Enhancement: now LAN lobbies are detected more reliable and faster when hosting them.
• 🐛 Fix: persistent data not being read correctly
• 🐛 Fix: Log setting/param being ignored.
• 🐛 Fix: lobbies/groups now properly return when is observing enabled and the observer password.
• 🐛 Fix: cloud/getFileURL when there are not URLs.
• 🐛 Fix: item/getInventoryByProfileIDs now properly return correct location IDs.
• 🚧 Update: login data for all age of empires games.
• 🚧 Update: modernized proxy implementation and made the configured/server hosts coherent by launcher/server respectively.

Launcher

• 🆕 Enhancement: add option Server.StartWithoutConfirmation so pressing enter is not needed when starting a server if no other servers are found.
• 🆕 Enhancement: added option to choose not to add the certificate to game's store with Config.Certificate.CanTrustInGame.
• Enhancement: moved checks and messages earlier so it fails faster if it needs to.
• 🐛 Fix on Windows: failing to get the steam installation path after a Steam Emu messed up the registry.
• 🐛 Fix: properly restore the configuration at start if the previous unclean finish was a different game.
• 🐛 Fix: print config when logging to file.
• 🚧 Update: Renamed Config.CanTrustCertificate to Config.Certificate.CanTrustInPc.

Battle Server Manager

• 🐛 Fix: printing the configuration even without logRoot being passed.

Other

• 🐛 Fix: server/BattleServers.md doc.

What's coming in the future?

See this.

Sponsors/Donations

• Thanks to @codabrink for the continued monthly sponshorship and for AoE-Archiver that enables easy auto-configuration of this project in combination with the companion and steam emu for AoE II: DE on Windows!

There are multiples ways to help: starring the repo, spreading the word, contributing to the repository, making an issue report, sponsoring me monthly or a one-time donation!

See Github differences v1.12.3...v1.13.0

Files

The following assets are directly compiled and listed next to the release notes:

• Full:
  • Windows:
    • 10 on x86-64: ..._full_v1.13.0_win10_x86-64.zip
    • 7 on x86-64: ..._full_v1.13.0_win7_x86-64.zip
    • 11 on ARM: ..._full_v1.13.0_win11_arm64.zip
  • Linux:
    • x86-64: ..._full_v1.13.0_linux_x86-64.tar.gz
    • ARM64: ..._full_v1.13.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
• Launcher:
  • Windows:
    • 10 on x86-64: ..._launcher_v1.13.0_win10_x86-64.zip
    • 7 on x86-64: ..._launcher_v1.13.0_win7_x86-64.zip
    • 11 on ARM: ..._launcher_v1.13.0_win11_arm64.zip
  • Linux:
    • x86-64: ..._launcher_v1.13.0_linux_x86-64.tar.gz
    • ARM64: ..._launcher_v1.13.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
• Battle Server Manager:
  • Windows:
    • 10 on x86-64: ..._battle-server-manager_v1.13.0_win10_x86-64.zip
    • 7 on x86-64: ..._battle-server-manager_v1.13.0_win7_x86-64.zip
    • 11 on ARM: ..._battle-server-manager_v1.13.0_win11_arm64.zip
  • Linux:
    • x86-64: ..._battle-server-manager_v1.13.0_linux_x86-64.tar.gz
    • ARM64: ..._battle-server-manager_v1.13.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
• Server:
  • Windows:
    • 10 (IoT), Server (IoT) 2025 on ARM64: ..._server_v1.13.0_win10_arm64.zip
    • 10 (IoT), (Storage) Server 2016, Server IoT 2019 on x86-64: ..._server_v1.13.0_win10_x86-64.zip
    • 7, Server 2008 R2, Home Server 2011, Embedded 7 on x86-64: ..._server_v1.13.0_win7_x86-64.zip
    • 10 (IoT) on x86-32: ..._server_v1.13.0_win10_x86-32.zip
    • 7, Embedded 7, Thin PC on x86-32: ..._server_v1.13.0_win7_x86-32.zip
  • Linux:
    • ARM64: ..._server_v1.13.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
    • ARM32:
      • ARMv5 (armel): ..._server_v1.13.0_linux_arm-5.tar.gz
      • ARMv6 (sometimes called armhf): ..._server_v1.13.0_linux_arm-6.tar.gz
    • x86-64: ..._server_v1.13.0_linux_x86-64.tar.gz
    • x86-32: ..._server_v1.13.0_linux_x86-32.tar.gz
  • macOS - Monterey (v12): ..._server_v1.13.0_mac.tar.gz

Note: If you are using Antivirus it may flag one or more executables as virus, this is a false positive.

Verification

The verification process ensures that the files you download are the same as the ones that were uploaded by the
maintainer.

1. Download the ageLANLanServer_v1.13.0_checksums.txt and ageLANLanServer_v1.13.0_checksums.txt.sig files.
2. Import the release public key and import it to your keyring if you haven't already.
3. Verify the ageLANServer_v1.13.0_checksums.txt file with the ageLANLanServer_v1.13.0_checksums.txt.sig file.
4. Verify the SHA-256 checksum list inside ageLANServer_v1.13.0_checksums.txt with the downloaded archives.

Simplest way to use it

1. Download the proper full asset.
2. Uncompress it somewhere.
3. Windows Optional: You may need to add the launcher/server binaries to the exception list of your Antivirus.
4. Windows Optional: Unblock the .exe files as explained here
5. If not using the Steam or Xbox launcher, edit the launcher/resources/config.<game_title>.toml file with a text editor (like Notepad) and modify the Client.Executable section to point to the game launcher path. In this case, you also need to modify Client.Path to point to the game's directory. You will need to use a custom launcher (plus what my other repo provides) for 100% offline play.
6. If you are using a custom launcher, (or you are using AoE IV/AoM and don't have AoE II: DE installed) edit the battle-server-manager/resources/config.athens.toml file and point Executable.Path to the game's "BattleServer.exe" (or specifically AoE II: DE one for AoM) executable (it's portable), for example, 'S:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\AoE2DE\BattleServer\BattleServer.exe'.
7. Execute launcher/start_<game_title> script: you will be asked for admin elevation and confirmation of other dialogs as needed, you will also need to allow the connections via the Microsoft Defender Firewall or any other.
8. Repeat the above steps for every PC (except the point 6) you want to play in LAN with by running the launcher, the first PC to launch it will host the "server" and the rest will auto-discover and be prompted to connnect to it.
9. In the game, just host a new lobby via the Multiplayer section. Setting it to public visibility is recommended.
10. If the lobby is Public, they can join directly in the browser or you can Invite friends by searching them by name and sending an invite as needed. If the game allows, you can share the link to join the lobby automatically (only works if already in-game).

Help

Look for the Troubleshooting if you have any issues (or QA for any doubt), create an issue or look for other related issues.