Age of Empires III and Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs
"Out of sync" error with OS X 10.5 Leopard Intel Macs running OS X 10.5 Leopard and playing Age of Empires III (or the Warchiefs expansion) in multiplayer mode may experience an "out of sync" error when playing against other Intel Macs running OS X Tiger or against any PPC-based Mac. Please download and install the new Age of Empires III 1.0.3 update below. Also see the Warchiefs update further down the page.
Problems with Quicktime 7.1.5 and OS X 10.3.9 Apple has addressed the issues caused by the 7.1.5 Quicktime update. Please update to Quicktime 7.1.6 using Software Update on your Apple Menu or using the link below. This will allow you to play Age of Empires III as originally intended.
Software Update for Age of Empires III and the Warchiefs expansion: This update is for the English version with Age of Empires III and contains several fixes for known issues, including, but not limited to:
IMPORTANT! Please note that: You must be logged in as the user who originally installed the game software to apply this update. Additionally, you may need to supply an Administrator's password. If you're not logged in as the appropriate user, you may receive an error during the update process, and your original Age of Empires III software will be left unupdated. After downloading and unzipping the Age of Empires III Update double-click the Age of Empires III 1.0.2 Updater (US) to run the application. To perform the update, click the "Locate Age of Empires III" button. Then, navigate your way to your Age of Empires III file and select the "Choose" button. Follow the on screen directions to complete the update process. This update fixes the "out of sync" error on Intel Macs running OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Quicktime 7.1.6 Update from Apple
Age of Empires III Update Version 1.0.3
For a complete list of updates, please read the Application Notes.
Age of Empires III: Warchiefs Update Version 1.0.3
NOTE: You must first install the Age of Empires III 1.0.3 update before installing this update for the Warchiefs Expansion.
System Requirements: Age of Empires III requires an Apple Macintosh computer with the following minimum hardware and software specifications:
Recommended System Requirements: Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs requires a Macintosh computer that meets the above specificaitons and requires the original Age of Empires III game. Troubleshooting:
Difficulty playing Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs with a Limited User Account. Some users have reported difficulty playing Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs when using a Limited User Account type. In order to fix this issue, the permissions need to be changed for both Age of Empires III and the Warchiefs expansion. These steps use the name "admin" for the shortname of the Administrator account. Repeat these steps using the Warchiefs icon rather than the Age of Empires 3 icon in Step 2 and 9. The game should now run when logged in under a Limited User Account. Multiplayer:
To play a multiplayer game: To Host or jost a LAN/Direct IP multiplayer game Multiplayer Troubleshooting Performance: The following guidelines are recommended for a good multiplayer experience: These specifications are per machine. Try to ensure that the player with the fastest Mac acts as the Host for the game. Direct IP / GameRanger and Routers: Players who are situated behind a NAT or router may encounter problems when attempting to connect to Direct IP or GameRanger games over the Internet. This is due to the fact that the Mac is most likely being assigned a local IP address (such as 192.168.1.1) which is unsuitable for use over the Internet. There are two ways to address this issue: --OR-- Port Override: If multiple Macs on a single LAN want to participate in a Direct IP or GameRanger game, youll need to provide each of them a unique Port number. To do this, start the game and click Help and Tools, then Options, and then the Game Options tab. Starting with 2300, enter a unique Port number in the section marked Direct IP / GameRanger Override Port. For example, the first Mac on the LAN could use port 2300, the second Mac could use 2301, etc. Finally, quit and restart Age of Empires III for your changes to take effect. NAT / Routers: Ideally, computers situated behind Routers or NAT devices should be placed into the routers DMZ before when playing Direct IP or GameRanger games. Consult your routers documentation for information on how to do this. Alternately, you may try using port forwarding on UDP and TCP ports 2300-2310. Graphics Troubleshooting Shaders: Age of Empires III uses vertex and pixel shaders extensively to render its graphics. To change the shader quality setting, click on Help and Tools at the main menu, then click Options, then go to the Graphics Options panel. Under the Shader Quality popup menu, you will see one or more of the following options: Animated Shadows: Animated shadows can be turned on by choosing Help and Tools from the main menu, then selecting Options, then clicking on the Graphics Options panel. There, you can set the Shadow Quality popup menu to either High or Very High. Animated shadows require a large off-screen buffer in floating-point format in order to work properly. This capability is available mainly for the latest 3D video hardware and OS versions. If the Shadow Quality popup does not list the High and Very High options, then animated shadows are not supported by your card and/or OS version. Please note that turning on animated shadows can decrease performance quite a bit, so they should only be enabled if you have a very fast computer and video card. On PowerPC Macs, animated shadows currently do not work when using NVIDIA hardware, and only work on very new ATI cards such as the X800. For Intel-based Macs, animated shadows will work with all current ATI and NVIDA hardware, but will not work with the Intel GMA series of video cards. These restrictions may change in future releases of Mac OS X.
Once you have your WAN IP address, start the game and click Help and Tools, then Options, and then the Game Options tab. Enter the WAN IP address in the section marked Direct IP / GameRanger Override Address. Finally, quit and restart Age of Empires III for your changes to take effect. Now youre ready to try to Host or connect to a Multiplayer game.
Please note that if your ISP assigns your WAN IP address dynamically and it changes, you will need to update the Override Address setting with the new value to continue playing games over the Internet. Also, if you decide to play a LAN game (rather than a Direct IP or GameRanger game), youll need to remove the Override Address setting altogether.
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