I am reviewing the available platforms or servers that I read about on the "After zone dies, new places to play" thread in this forum. (https://aoe.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=5,5541,,10) I am describing their status as I found them today (9/22/20).
GAMERANGER
I installed it and hosted a few games successfully. It's free. There are about 17-27 rooms up at any time, it seems. There is a Game Ranger AOE club on Facebook. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/125311717561893)
In Gameranger you can play with UPatch on ROR if you and your friend both have ROR 1.1.(ie. the UPatch). When you load up the game in Game Ranger, it will say next to the Player's information (eg. Civ) what version they have, including "1.1", ie. the UPatch. If you know how to backup, move and copy your EMPIRESX.EXE files in your Age or Empires folder, you can switch between different versions of ROR because Gameranger automatically loads up whichever one you have as the default, ie. the file in your AOE folder saying EMPIRES.EXE.
Voobly
I installed it and hosted games. It's free. It installs ROR 1.0a on your computer, which is nice because it has 200+ population limits. Typically, the AOEI room seems to have 20-30 users and the ROR room has 4-7. But maybe 80% of the people are away or in games or just want to do DMs, so most don't acknowledge or accept my offers to play Custom Scenarios, which are my favorite. I read that in Voobly you need ROR 1.0 or 1.0A, which means that you can't use UPATCH.
Discord Servers
These are a way to discuss AOE:ROR online in real time so you might have a faster way to find someone to play with you.
r/aoe https://discord.com/channels/327900287144689664
Age of Empires https://discord.com/channels/585165441790509094
AKC Clan https://discord.com/channels/327900287144689664
Valhalla Clan https://discord.com/channels/684130066871091300
Gametv Plus
https://plus.gtv.vn/
It is in Vietnamese but it has an option for English that might be in development. See Bichho's description later in this thread.
Kali
Their website still works and has AOE, but I'm not sure about AOE ROR. (http://www.kali.net/default.asp) I installed their program and a message said that they emailed me a code "0 minutes ago" to register to make my program work... but I haven't gotten it yet, and it's been awhile. I used a different email and tried again and still haven't gotten anything.
AGSM
The AGSM website works and mentions AOE1 but not ROR (http://www.agsm.net/games.php). The review on the other thread said: "This is a freeware platform to play I found 2 months ago, I don't really know how it works but it looks interesting." I installed it. It has a box saying LAN and INET. But it's not like a normal game server. The program must be a way to connect to other people whose information you already know to play via LAN.
SXPORT - https://puffinsoft.com/
The review said: "This is an old platform but useful for people who still uses it." When I ran the Program, it has a box for Start Port, and one for End Port. But that is it. There are no servers.
Hamachi
Hamachi's website works, but it is $49/year, looks a bit confusing and I don't notice AOE being listed prominently on it (https://www.vpn.net).
Garena.com
It doesn't have AOE listed among its PC Games. I installed it, but couldn't find a way to play AOE on it. It looks like Garena had a makeover and focuses on a more limited number of games.
EmpiresLegacy.com is down.
https://www.tunngle.net is down.
http://www.aoezone.info/ is down.
http://ww1.ewarzone.com/ is down.
http://www.gamepark.eu/en/ is down
Xfire (https://slotsbang.com/news/what-happened-to-xfire/) is down.
I installed it and hosted a few games successfully. It's free. There are about 17-27 rooms up at any time, it seems. There is a Game Ranger AOE club on Facebook. (
In Gameranger you can play with UPatch on ROR if you and your friend both have ROR 1.1.(ie. the UPatch). When you load up the game in Game Ranger, it will say next to the Player's information (eg. Civ) what version they have, including "1.1", ie. the UPatch. If you know how to backup, move and copy your EMPIRESX.EXE files in your Age or Empires folder, you can switch between different versions of ROR because Gameranger automatically loads up whichever one you have as the default, ie. the file in your AOE folder saying EMPIRES.EXE.
I installed it and hosted games. It's free. It installs ROR 1.0a on your computer, which is nice because it has 200+ population limits. Typically, the AOEI room seems to have 20-30 users and the ROR room has 4-7. But maybe 80% of the people are away or in games or just want to do DMs, so most don't acknowledge or accept my offers to play Custom Scenarios, which are my favorite. I read that in Voobly you need ROR 1.0 or 1.0A, which means that you can't use UPATCH.
These are a way to discuss AOE:ROR online in real time so you might have a faster way to find someone to play with you.
It is in Vietnamese but it has an option for English that might be in development. See Bichho's description later in this thread.
Their website still works and has AOE, but I'm not sure about AOE ROR. (
The AGSM website works and mentions AOE1 but not ROR (
The review said: "This is an old platform but useful for people who still uses it." When I ran the Program, it has a box for Start Port, and one for End Port. But that is it. There are no servers.
Hamachi's website works, but it is $49/year, looks a bit confusing and I don't notice AOE being listed prominently on it (
It doesn't have AOE listed among its PC Games. I installed it, but couldn't find a way to play AOE on it. It looks like Garena had a makeover and focuses on a more limited number of games.
EmpiresLegacy.com is down.
Xfire (
[This message has been edited by rakovsky (edited 09-20-2021 @ 10:57 AM).]