I finally got the time to finish the changelog and here it is (includes both the changes and the new features, no need to check previous posts). Remember, it lists only changes since Beta2 (I left few details, but all gameplay changes are fully included). As you will probably notice, some of the most important gameplay changes were posted and discussed before. A lot of things were restored or brought closer to default and everything is much more polished.

I already started working on the short and full list of changes (since the original game), the modding guide and the rest of the info will follow. I plan to add F.A.Q. at some point too, to avoid repeated questions. All the information will be sorted in an easy to navigate list of links and will be posted on the new site. I'll regularly post links here when each any new part of info is completed. All this will take time, so please be patient.

Changelog: UPatch HD 1.1 Beta2 --> UPatch HD 1.1 Final

----- New features
- HD interface graphics - interface background screens enhanced to HD quality! No more upscaled blurry low resolution/low quality screens.
The original graphics were cleaned, enhanced and restored carefully in high definition (filters are not good for 256 color images, because they destroy too much details). The difference between the original graphics and the new ones is HUGE (check images here), especially in high resolution. It took me months to complete all of them, with a lot of reworks, but I think it was worthed!
- The AOE logo on the main screen is redone in high quality!
- UPatch HD includes the original Rise of Rome CD soundtrack in mp3, replacing the midi version!
- Original soundtrack (now in mp3) enhanced for less centered sound. Appropriate for all configurations: headphones, stereo speakers and multichannel speakers.
- 2 new random map types! The new maps are:
Rivers: Similar to Highlands with rivers, but much better. Rivers are twice wider and have more fish. Computer players will properly recognize the map type and build Docks and ships (unlike Highland). Rivers may or may not separate all players.
Oasis: An all desert map with most of the wood concentrated in several oases. This map is very open, with less wood and few berries, but much more Gold, so expect some fierce battles.

- The original AOE and ROR trial campaigns (Reign of the Hittites, First Punic War) and scenarios (Multiplayer Rumble, Multiplayer Mediterranean) are now installed with UPatch HD. These were created by Ensemble Studios and should be part of the game.
- New HD Launcher - a remake of the original game launcher (do you remember it?), now a central place for all UPatch HD settings and the Mod Manager.
- New Mod Manager and modding system - allows you to apply mods without affecting the original game. It also gives mod creators the ability to create proper mods with small size, containing only the changes from the original game, without replacing any original files.
NOTE: More information about the Mod Manager and detailed guide on how to use the new system will be posted soon. Please do not ask me anything regarding modding before I release the entire guide. It will take time to write everything, please be patient.

--- New UPatch HD settings (open the new HD Launcher and select "Settings"):
- Player Name: allows you to change your default name in the game. Previously you could only use your custom name in Multiplayer, but UPatch HD allows you to use it in Single Player as well - just enable the additional checkbox "Use in Single Player".
When used in Single Player, your custom name replaces the default "You" (or the word used in your language). This option does not replace custom names/profiles for campaigns. For Single Player scenarios - this option will not overwrite player names chosen by the scenario designer - you will see your custom name only if the player name was left empty in the scenario (same as with "You" before).
- Game Language: allows you to easily change your game language without reinstalling the game or the patch.
- File Check: new option to check your game installation for missing/corrupted files. You should always run this check before reporting any problems to ensure your game installation isn't the problem. Please read the information here for details.

- The game now properly saves screenshots (CTRL+F12) to a new dedicated folder /screenshots, instead of filling your main game folder with files.
- All ai related files .ai./per/.cty now reside in the new dedicated /ai folder. This doesn't affect scenarios/campaigns that are already saved, but for new scenarios (or when editing old ones) create your files in the new folder.
- The new HD Launcher supports high DPI. The game also works properly under high DPI settings.
- Windows 10 is now supported.

----- Gameplay and other changes:
- Chariot Archer - range and hitpoints are restored to default (as discussed before, many users didn't like these changes).
- Archer fire rate restored to default, except for Chariot Archer (7% slower).
- All archers, except Bowman, are 10% slower to train (previously Horse Archer and Heavy Horse Archer had slower fire rate instead; Elephant Archer is unchanged).
- Elephant Archer cost to 180F, 45G (was 180F, 50G in Beta2).
- Short Sword directly available in Bronze Age without any previous researches.
- All swordsmen (including Legion) -2 sec. train time.
- Researching Broad Sword takes +10 sec.
- Improved Bow researched faster (-15 sec.)
- Wheel researched slower (+15 sec.). Wheel is important upgrade and shouldn't be faster to research than other Market upgrades.
- Writing is researched in half the time.
- Logistics extra effect (train time) removed, now back to default.
- Jihad: re-added villager speed bonus (+10%), villager carry capacity penalty reduced.
- Hunter carry capacity back to default 10 (work rate remains +15%).
- Camel train time to +2 sec (was +5 sec in Beta2). Camels are still much faster to train than Cavalry.
- All catapults to 15% slower reload (compared to default); same as Beta1, previously 18% slower in Beta2.
- Catapult Trireme and Juggernaught to 12% slower reload (was 15% slower in Beta2).
- Catapult Trireme and Juggernaught move 10% faster (previously they were a little too slow).
- Helepolis: 4% faster fire rate (still much slower than default, but attack remains 50).
- Ballista Tower 6% faster fire rate (closer to default, but still slightly slower).
Don't forget that ballista projectiles (bolts) and catapult projectiles (stones) are faster than those in the original game and harder to avoid, that's why fire rates were reduced (this haven't changed since before Beta1).
- All Towers (except Ballista Tower) have the same fire rate as foot archers (= 7% faster). Previously it was slower.
- Cataphract attack reload restored to default; attack vs infantry to 6 (was 5).

- Minoan archer bonus restored to default (= Composite Bowmen +2 range in Bronze Age).
- Minoan Farm bonus removed.
- Hittite: Metallurgy, Ballista Tower and Tower Shield restored (the latter doesn't matter much).
- Choson: the added in Beta1 swordsmen bonus in Bronze Age now removed, Iron Age bonus back to +50% (was +40%).
- Choson: get Nobility.
- Assyrian and Sumerian restored to their default Egyptian tileset (building architecture and interface graphics).
- Babylonian tower bonus to +75% HP in all ages.
- Greek: Academy units 20% cheaper (previously 25% cheaper in Beta2).
- Phoenician: the added in Beta1 Dock trading bonus is removed (it affected only other players trading with your Dock).
- Heavy Transport availability for civilizations back to default.
- Highland maps no longer have rivers (use the new Rivers map instead).
- Narrows maps always have rivers (otherwise too similar to Continental).
- Continental maps no longer have rivers (too little space available for player land, use Narrows instead).
- Gold Mines back to default 400 Gold in each piece.
- Increased Gold on maps.
- Multiplayer maximum pop limit to 400.
- The Low starting resources option to: 200 Wood, all other resources 0; appropriate for Nomad start.
- Added bonus computer player resources for Hard difficulty (+500). This makes computer players a little closer to human development speed and is the recommended difficulty.
- Computer player bonus resources for Hardest difficulty to +1500 (default: +2000, Beta2: +1000). This setting is for those who like the challenge.
- Farm upgrades no longer affect gathering speed (back to default; they had very small work rate increase in Beta2); food bonuses remain the same as in previous versions.
- Wonder hitpoints restored to default.
- Most Hero and special unit stats restored to default (except for fixes that don't affect scenarios). Only "Hero" (previously known as "Hero 12") remains the same as in Beta2.

----- Bug fixes and improvements:
- Improved player colors and mini map colors: orange and red are now much more distinguishable.

- Fixed the walking animation of many units! For example swordsmen previously looked too much like running in one place, while Axemen looked too much like "sliding" when walking.
- Dock work rates redone to function properly. Dock work rate now increases gradually (~ +15% in Bronze and Iron Age); in the original game it jumped to 30% faster in Bronze Age (this was never documented).
- Dock unit train times and research times fixed (they were quite messed up in the original game).
- Fix: Fanaticism to 50% faster recharge rate (as it should be), was +75%. Text description improved to be more clear.
- Fix: Babylonian rejuvenation is +30% as it should be (was +35%).
- Wood upgrades set to multiplication (Gold and Stone already are).
- Fisherman work rate now same as Hunter (it was slightly slower in Beta2, by default it was improperly faster).
- The repeated scenario unit name Rock8 changed to Rock27, leading zeros added (0#) for better sorting in Units menu.
- Few small fixes on terrain data.
- Some small fixes and tweaks for random maps.
- Bird speed retweaked to be more realistic (slightly faster than default).
- Siege weapons selection radius improved.
- Tree selection radius improved.
- Some additional checks added to the game to ensure everything works correctly, this will also prevent some types of cheats.
- Multiplayer games can better detect version mismatch (this will prevent some possible out of sync errors).
- Path Finding buttons now in correct order (Medium/High/Very High).
- The 2 new random map types added to all menus (initial findings to enable the first map: by chab with fixes by LucTieuPhung).
- Some wrong unit descriptions were fixed, some menu descriptions improved.
- kill9 cheat code corrected to kill8
- Beta2 fix: Full tech tree incorrectly added +1 range for Scout Ship and War Galley in Iron Age.
- When hit by ally, computer players will change their diplomacy if the player attacking them has switched their diplomacy to enemy (no changes, just a more accurate description). Accidental hits by allies don't count.
- Fixed Beta2 Fire Galley bug with Alchemy/Carthage - it gave 3 extra attack vs ships.
- The game can now read mp3 files, instead of midi (thanks to LucTieuPhung).
- Fixed delays when loading next music track.
- Music volume slider now works properly (thanks to LucTieuPhung).
- Improved save game fix (thanks to JustTesting). The old one worked too, but this one is more proper.
- Fixed an ai bug that can block some researches in scenarios (thanks to chab).
- Mouse is no longer auto centered when starting a game or the Scenario Editor (thanks to chab for finding the function).
- Fixed some possible scenario/campaign crashes on loading/ending a scenario (happened mostly in languages different than English with high resolution).
- Some data was redone to work more properly (with no significant changes in functionality).
- Few small adjustments on some ai files (to accommodate the new changes).

[This message has been edited by aoe_scout (edited 07-03-2015 @ 06:13 PM).]

A question, which tree does lack graphics (and looks invisible in game) ?
Thanks

@aoe_scout
Finally it released! And it released right on my birthday (3rd of July, 2015). Thank you aoe_scout for your time put into making this awesome patch!

Actually it was released on 27th of June, but enjoy it anyway.

@chab: I can't remember right now (and I'm on another computer), just check which tree is hidden or check the original game.

The new current version of the U-Patch is looking very good. I loved that you fixed more bugs. However, I was surprised that I didn't see the Technology trees yet. Will they ever still be added?

@aoe_scout: I know but the post that I saw first about it with the changelog was made on 3rd of July, but still, awesome patch.

Also it seems like the laggy scrolling problem got fixed, it's almost pixel perfect now. How did you manage that?

I love the new Mod Manager and that the music slider works, and the new HD launcher. Awesome features dude! You bring this game back to life with this amazing patch

Oh, and props to the dudes who helped you with the code. Such as Chab, LucTieuPhung, JustTesting and all the other helpers.

[This message has been edited by ScarXL (edited 07-05-2015 @ 11:40 AM).]

Actually there are very few new things not done by me in this version and they are all properly credited in the changelog. Most notably the mp3 music by LucTieuPhung (huge thanks to him!). But these people don't work with/for me or anything, they just contributed with their work for the game and I included it.

@SonicBlade: Will probably be added along with the documentation in the new site.

@aoe_scout: Still, how did you manage to make the scrolling smoother? Or did they help you with it? It works a lot better in the final than the betas for some reason.

EDIT: And yes, I know LucTieuPhung helped with the mp3 and the music slider, and the others with other things, because I did read the changelog.

[This message has been edited by ScarXL (edited 07-05-2015 @ 02:32 PM).]

As I explained, everything contributed by other people is properly credited, but these people don't help me or work with me (for example, I don't even know who menopem is, but I know the windowed mode was initially developed by him, so his work should be respected and he should be credited).

There is nothing new with scrolling, the value is simply set higher during install (same tweak was already present in Beta2 and you could do it manually from game settings even in Beta1).

EDIT: I edited this post to clarify it and avoid creating new one. Sorry if I misunderstood anything.

[This message has been edited by aoe_scout (edited 07-05-2015 @ 08:11 PM).]

@aoe_scout:
"[...] so his work should be respected and he should be credited."
I do respect their work. The only thing I'm wondering about is how the scrolling isn't laggy like the other betas.

This will be my last reply for now to not flood the thread again.

Congrats on finally releasing it! I'm excited to try it out, and if it's easy enough to use modpacks with, I'll make it required for the next Age of The Ring version.
Cheers!

edit: now I am trying it out, after several unsuccessful launches, I notice that the game does NOT work when it's in Windows 98 compatability mode. Turning that off fixed the "files missing or corrupted" message and failure to launch. In both cases, the file checker showed green.

I absolutely love how much better the music sounds! This patch is fantastic!

Stupid question: Does this include all the fixes of the official 1.0c patch?

Better question: How does the delivery method for modpacks work? Is there going to be a proprietary file type or something like that?

[This message has been edited by sonictimm (edited 07-06-2015 @ 09:11 PM).]

The patcher doesn't seem to recognize my installation of aoe. It says it can't find the game installed, even though I just played a game of 1v3 vs ai.

Reinstall the game (I assume you have Rise of Rome). The patch will only work with proper installation, this is required for all the compatibility fixes and settings (and also to ensure you have original game). The unpatched game doesn't care for any of these problems (even for missing files), that doesn't mean it's working properly (especially under modern OSes and higher resolution).

@sonictimm: You should not use Compatibility Mode, especially for Win98/95 (resolutions can't work this way and that's why you get error). All fixes from update 1.0c (= ROR version 1.0a) are included. As for modding, I explained the situation in my previous posts (I need time to complete everything).

[This message has been edited by aoe_scout (edited 07-07-2015 @ 12:18 PM).]

Please put something about compatibility mode in the documentation. Most of my friends use Windows 7/8, so they always run in compat. mode for Win98. Even after reinstalling the game, I still had to manually turn it off. Just something for the troubleshooting section.

The patch removes all compatibility settings before install, so it shouldn't be a problem unless someone manually turns them back on. May be I could add it to the File Check and F.A.Q. as well, thanks for the reminder. UPatch HD is tested and works with all modern Windows versions (as listed in Requirements), automatically providing the necessary compatibility adjustments.

In general people shouldn't touch compatibility settings unless a program doesn't work correctly (even then Win95/98/NT/2000 compatibility should be avoided).

[This message has been edited by aoe_scout (edited 07-07-2015 @ 07:30 PM).]

This patch is better than any other official patch.

Is there any other OFFICIAL patch ?

1.0c?

Well, there is 1.0a for ROR and 1.0a/b/c for the original AOE. Anyway, how many patches the game had is not relevant.

My idea about this version of UPatch HD was to make it look similar to an official HD release of the game (with the enhanced graphics, music, new Launcher, etc). And so far it has been a big success - over 1600 downloads (from all mirrors) in less than 2 weeks.

Is there any chance to add Black Forest map type to the game? And, if possible, fix the path-finding? It's terrible and drives me crazy when i try to march with an army through a small area. And also, is there possible to rise the 50 population limit in single player, and maybe make the farms passable? Like in AOE2?

[This message has been edited by realeg (edited 07-10-2015 @ 04:06 PM).]

I already answered about maps few posts above, not possible with the AOE1 engine. Same goes for path finding (needs source code). An increased pop limit (proper and fully working for ai) will likely be included at some point, but it will take time.

@Epd999 I think your right about what you said on the last sentence. The Greeks should have Chariots since its Historical accurate as the Greeks did use Chariots.

Chariots were a rarity in Greece. While it is true they were used by kings and wealthy leaders they were not available in large numbers, as opposed to the civilizations in Egypt or Mesopotamia. I think Greek and Western Anatolian geography wouldn't make chariots too useful in the battlefield.

Hi everybody, I'm back with 2 more suggestions:
- would it be possible to create a new game mode where players would start with their villagers + 1 scout (or a unit with no attack to avoid laming)? It is quite frustrating having to give up 1 villager to be able to scout the map.
- I think it would make sense to make chariot units slightly slower than mounted units. That would also reduce the chariot archer's effectiveness at kiting infantry units.

I would like to hear your thoughts about these suggestions

It would be great to start with one scout by default. I played yesterday and thought about that same thing.

I don't think Greeks should get chariots. Not only were they not known for using them much during classical times and after, but even if they did use them, the AoE civs cannot be totally tied to history. If that were the case, the Romans should not really get scythe chariots, but should get horse archers and cataphracts, as they did use them.