Command Line Options

To improve your game experience, there are some things you can do before you even start up the game! It's a fairly easy modification too. Simply make a shortcut to the game, and include a command line listed on this page at the end of the command line URL ("C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\age2_x1.exe" CommandLine). The following information lists the command line parameters you can use to start the game.

AutoMPsave

This will cause the game to save every five minutes or so. ES_Winter tells us that it's not really necessary since the multiplayer status system will allow people to vote to save the game, should any problems occur.

NoStartUp

Skips all cinematic sequences before the game starts. Very useful if you dislike clicking out of them when the game is starting up.

800

Sets the screen resolution for the game to 800 x 600 pixels.

1024

Sets the screen resolution for the game to 1024 x 768 pixels.

1280

Sets the screen resolution for the game to 1280 x 1024 pixels.

Mfill

Fixes horizontal line display issues and black screen areas that may occur with some video adapter configurations.

NormalMouse

Replaces the custom mouse pointer with a standard mouse pointer.

NOSC

Turns off detection of the Microsoft Strategic Commander controller.

NoSound

Turns off all sounds, except those played in cinematics.

NoTerrainSound

Turns off all terrain sounds.

NoMusic

Turns off all music.

SystemMemory

Use System Memory instead of Video Memory.

Msync

Fixes a problem where the computer stops responding with some SoundBlaster AWE configurations.