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AoE3 UnHardcode Patch

From The ESOC wiki for Age of Empires 3

UHC

Mod type
Tool / Enhancement
Initial release
March 2016
Stable release
July 25, 2019
Website
Official website
Developed by
kangcliff
danielpereira


AoE3 UnHardcode Patch (also known as UHC) is a project started by AoE3 modders kangcliff & danielpereira with the main purpose to investigate and research on the hardcoded features of Age of Empires III that pose a limitation to modding. Since its inception in early 2016, UHC has been able to remove several limitations from the game that modders could previously not overcome, such as the maximum AI/civilization limit. UHC has also introduced the UHC Plugin System, allowing modders to create custom game modules written in the C++ programming language.


How to use UHC[edit | edit source]

To use it, just extract all UHC files to any folder and either drop your age3y.exe to the UHCPatcher executable, or open the Patcher executable and find the age3y.exe of your AoE3 installation manually. You’ll be able to choose which patch options you would like to enable from the interface of the patcher, before applying the patch.

Even though the Patcher will work regardless of the directory in which it is located, the UHC team recommends extracting the patcher and its required files to the main AoE3 installation (usually C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires III for CD installations and C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Age of Empires III\bin for Steam-based installations), since, this way, the patcher will detect the main executable used by your AoE3 installation automatically.


UHC Plugin System[edit | edit source]

Since its version 1.5, the UnHardcode Patch allows modders to create custom modules, called “plugins”, which are custom DLLs that follow a specific coding specification and can be used to apply additional custom patches and implement custom game syscalls and cheat codes, using native UHC Patch features.

Syscalls are hardcoded native functions which are used in AIs, RMs, Trigger Scripts, Interface files and other contexts of the game to perform specific actions. The UHC Patch allows the implementation of custom Syscalls through the Plugin System.


Adoption[edit | edit source]

UHC has been first adopted by game overhaul mods such as Napoleonic Era or Wars of Liberty, due to the importance of removing maximum AI/civilization limit from these mods. As time went by, more game mods began utilizing UHC enhancements, including the ESOC Patch.


List of existing UHC Plugins[edit | edit source]

Name Developed for Initial release Latest release Additional information
ESOC UHC Plugin ESOC Patch 28 May 2018 18 December 2018


External Links[edit | edit source]