Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Southeast Asia (Philippines)
80-250ms to Singapore Azure relay- PLDT and Converge route traffic through suboptimal paths to Azure Singapore relay
- Filipino players frequently report 120-250ms to Southeast Asia server
- High ping causes game slowdowns for entire lobby in lockstep matches
- No dedicated Philippine server — closest is Singapore
South America (non-Brazil)
80-200ms to Brazil Azure relay- Players outside Brazil must connect to Brazil South Azure server or US East
- Routing from Colombia, Peru, Argentina to Azure Brazil South can be inefficient
- ISPs in these countries often route through US before reaching Brazil
- Results in 80-180ms depending on country and ISP
Middle East
70-200ms- No dedicated Middle East Azure relay for AoE2:DE
- Players connect to West Europe (Netherlands) or South India servers
- Results in 70-150ms for Turkey, 100-200ms for Gulf region
- Routing heavily dependent on local ISP peering with Microsoft
India
40-120ms to Azure South India relay- BSNL and some regional ISPs have poor routing to Azure South India
- Players between India and Southeast Asia server may get similar or worse latency
- Azure South India coverage is improving but routing quality varies by ISP
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Use Ethernet instead of WiFi
1. Connect your PC directly to the router with an Ethernet cable 2. In Windows Settings > Network & Internet, disable the WiFi adapter 3. Launch AoE2:DE and start a multiplayer match 4. Monitor for the 'slow game' effect — if it disappears, WiFi jitter was the cause
Eliminates WiFi jitter — the single most impactful fix for lockstep RTS games. In lockstep, jitter causes visible stutters for all players in your lobby.
02 Close background bandwidth consumers
1. Before starting a match, pause all downloads in Steam, Epic Games Store, or Windows Update 2. Close streaming apps (Discord video, Twitch, YouTube) 3. Disable cloud sync (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive) 4. AoE2 uses very little bandwidth for game data (community estimates ~2 KB/s for lockstep inputs), but competing traffic creates jitter
Reduces jitter spikes. In lockstep simulation, even a momentary bandwidth spike causing a 50ms packet delay is immediately felt by all players as a stutter.
General network tips (not Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition-specific)
03 Check which server region gives you the lowest ping
1. In AoE2:DE, go to Multiplayer > Lobby Browser > Create Lobby 2. Look for the Server Region dropdown — it lists available regions but does not show ping 3. To estimate your latency, open Command Prompt and run 'ping eastus.cloudapp.azure.com' or 'ping westeurope.cloudapp.azure.com' (these are general Azure endpoints — actual relay ping may differ by ~5-15ms) 4. Use PingPlotter for more accurate traceroute analysis 5. Select the region with the lowest and most stable ping results
Can reduce ping by 20-80ms if your ISP routes better to a different Azure datacenter. Essential for players between regions.
04 Open required firewall ports
1. Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security 2. Create Inbound and Outbound rules allowing: - UDP Port 9999 (game traffic) - TCP Port 8888 (session management) - UDP and TCP Port 3478 (Xbox Live relay) - UDP and TCP Port 5222 (Xbox Live services) 3. Alternatively, temporarily disable Windows Firewall to test if it's blocking connections 4. Check router firewall settings and enable the same ports
Fixes failed lobby connections, being unable to host matches, and NAT-related multiplayer issues.
05 Sign into Xbox Live before launching the game
1. Open the Xbox app (install from Microsoft Store if not present) 2. Sign in with your Microsoft account 3. Launch AoE2:DE via Steam — it will use your Xbox Live sign-in 4. If prompted to sign in within the game, complete the process before entering multiplayer 5. A failed or timed-out Xbox Live authentication is a common cause of multiplayer connectivity errors
Fixes mysterious multiplayer failures that appear as connection errors but are actually authentication issues with Microsoft's services.
06 Disable all non-official mods before multiplayer
1. In AoE2:DE main menu, go to Mods > My Mods 2. Disable all mods that are not purely cosmetic or audio 3. Even popular quality-of-life mods can introduce tiny non-deterministic behaviors 4. In ranked matches, mods are typically auto-disabled, but verify in custom lobbies
Prevents desync (out-of-sync) errors — the most common multiplayer-ending bug in AoE2:DE. Desync crashes the entire lobby for all players.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.