UPatch HD 1.2 - 10th anniversary update news

UPDATE: A hotfix resolving some issues has been released, click the Download button above to get it.

UPatch HD, the unofficial patch for Age of Empires 1, was created 10 years ago. It started as a simple data mod with some fixes, but then quickly turned into the most popular and most downloaded AOE1 mod ever made. All of the fixes and most of the balance changes in UPatch HD were later incorporated in the official Definitive Edition.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary, I decided to update the mod again (first time since 2017) with the latest balance from DE (which significantly improved balance since its release). This update is mostly intended for those who still want a more classic experience, closer to the original game, and/or are limited by older hardware/software. But of course you can still play UPatch HD on Windows 11 with latest hardware. Now with improved balance.

>>>>>>>>> For more information about UPatch HD and all of its features - visit the official site.

These are the most notable changes in this update (compared to the last UPatch HD version):

- Original (vanilla) AOE music now plays in-game, followed by Rise of Rome music (original quality, not MIDI).
- Added Japanese as a new language option.
- New options to disable startup videos and terrain sounds. Previously these were disabled in UPatch by default.
- "Fixed Position" lobby option renamed to "Team Together" (same functionality).
- Added some mods as part of UPatch, check the information below.

Balance:
- Shared exploration with allies now enabled from the start of the game. "Writing" technology is disabled.
- Warships and Slingers no longer have a minimum of 1 damage against buildings. They now have the same minimum damage as other ranged units.
Note: This reduces Slinger attack vs normal buildings and Scout Ship attack vs towers/walls.
- Scout is now auto attacking enemy units (previously it would only attack when manually tasked or when fighting back).
- Oasis map updated to work like in DE (with a central oasis).
- One straggler tree near the Town Center is now always generated per player on all maps. Additional straggler trees are random, as before.
- Random maps updated with DE balance.
- Gold Mine 400 -> 450 Gold
- Stone Mine 250 -> 300 Stone
- Farms can be built on elevations.
- Villagers move 10% faster in Tool Age.
- Wheel adjusted to 50% faster speed for villagers (60% total with the Tool Age bonus, which brings it close to the original game's 64%).
- Slinger training time increased from 24 sec to 35 seconds (in line with DE).
- Scout food cost to 90F (was 100F), LOS -1.
- Cavalry and Heavy Cavalry +1 pierce armor.
- Legion -20 HP (from 160 to 140 HP).
- Cataphract +40 HP, +1 armor, +1 pierce armor (in addition to the previous improvements).
- Cataphract upgrade cost reduced to 1600 F, 600 G.
- Chariot units no longer have bonus damage vs Priests and are now 2x more resistant to conversion (previously 8x).
- Scythe Chariot -1 armor, upgrade cost to 1400 W, 1000 G (from 1200 W, 800 G), +50 sec. upgrade time.
- Towers have +25/+35/+40/+40 HP (Watch/Sentry/Guard/Ballista Tower).
- Armored Elephant no longer requires Iron Shield, cost increased to 1200 F, 1500 G (from 1000 food, 1200 Gold), research time +50 seconds.
- Elephant Archers +1 attack, gold cost restored back to default 60G (previously 45G).
- Siege weapons updated with DE balance.
- Academy cost reduced to 175W (previously 200W).
- All civilizations now get Wheel, Heavy Transport and Coinage.
- Assyrian and Yamato villagers are now 10% faster (previously 15%).
- Babylonians - new bonus: Market technologies are 30% cheaper.
- Choson - new bonus: Storage Pit technologies are 40% cheaper.
- Choson: Axemen/Short/Broad/Long swordsmen and Legion have +5/15/20/60/80 HP respectively.
- Egyptians - new bonus: Farms are 20% cheaper; Priest back to +3 range (previously +2).
- Greeks - Get Fire Galley in addition to Catapult Trireme/Juggernaught; new bonus: Town Centers work 10% faster stating from Tool Age (affects villager creation and aging up).
- Minoan ship cost bonus back to the original game value of -30% (previously -20%).
- Macedonians: Get Catapult upgrade, Siege Workshop units cost -25% (previously -50%). Academy units get +1 pierce armor in Bronze Age, +2 in Iron Age (instead of +2 directly).
- Romans: Buildings (except towers, walls and Wonders) cost -10% (previously -15%); towers cost -40% (previously -50%).
- Carthaginian: new bonuses: starts the game with +50 of all resources, Camel Riders have +15% HP.
- Yamato: all cavalry units and Horse Archers cost -15% (previously -25%).
- Other smaller balance changes.

Mods and modding:
Some useful mods are now included with the patch. The "old balance" mods have been available for download on the official UPatch site since 2016, but a lot of people probably didn't see them/didn't know about them. So now they are also included inside the patch. You can enable mods from the UPatch HD Launcher by clicking on Mod Manager. The included mods are:
* Balance from v1.0 - a mod restoring the gameplay and balance from Rise of Rome v1.0, including all gameplay/data bugs, but still keeping all extra features of UPatch (like custom resolutions).
* Balance from v1.0A - same as above but balance is from Rise of Rome v1.0A (also known as update 1.0c).
* Unlimited Farm Food - a mod with unlimited farm food + a combination between this and the above 2 mods.
* 2 mods setting the population limit in Single Player to 100/200.
* No Scout Auto-attack - a mod disabling Scout auto-attacking (which is now on by default in the base game).
* No Shared Exploration - a mod that disables Shared Exploration (from the start of the game) and restores the "Writing" technology.
- Just remember that when using mods in Multiplayer all players need to have the exact same mod enabled in order to play.
- New options for modding - ScoutAutoAttack (controls Scout attack behavior), BalanceMod (controls mod directories), MPCompatible (for simple mods, which don't break multiplayer compatibility), LoadExtResource (to load external dll file for modding - experimental and mostly untested). For more information on modding - Check Creating mods.

+ Some other smaller improvements and fixes.

Full list of changes in this version can be found here.
List of changes compared to the original game can be found here.

For more information - visit the official site.