The new patch brings back Xbox cross-play and delivers important performance fixes for stuttering and desync issues. All changes and patch notes at a glance.

The wait is over: Update 1.3 for Anno 117: Pax Romana is now available. We’ve summarized the most important changes for you below.

The comeback of Xbox cross-play

Probably the most important news for anyone who wants to get started right away: With version 1.3, cross-play for Xbox will be reactivated.

The reason for the temporary deactivation was desynchronization issues, which had recently significantly dampened the fun of multiplayer gaming. According to the patch notes, the developers were able to identify and fix various causes for these connection interruptions.

Since all three platforms will be running the same version number again from 11 a.m. and the desync errors should be fixed, nothing stands in the way of joint games between console and PC.

Apart from multiplayer, the update focuses primarily on stability:  Those who have struggled with stuttering in the past – especially during large battles with many ships or during busy festivals – should notice a significant improvement after installation. Problems with Intel GPUs and a bug that caused the game to freeze for ten seconds when exiting have also been addressed.

As for the gameplay itself, some curious bugs have also been fixed:

• A bug that caused deities such as Ceres, Neptune, or Mars to suddenly disappear from the religion menu is now a thing of the past.
• Upgrading blueprints for slot buildings (such as in swamp areas or on rivers) and farms was sometimes impossible – this has also been fixed.
• When you sink pirate ships, they will now drop more items. This makes combat more rewarding again.

There is one change you should pay particular attention to when starting a new game today: map generation has been improved to prevent missing islands. However, this also means that the seeds will change. So if you had your eye on a specific map seed, it will likely generate a different world after the update than it did before.

You can find the complete patch notes on the second page of this article.

Complete patch notes for Anno 117: Update 1.3

General improvements

• Pirate ships now drop more items when destroyed.
• Shrines can now also be built on plaza surfaces
• The credits now have subtitles
• Map generation has been improved. Islands should no longer be missing
  • Please note that this will change the seeds
• General improvements to the construction of roads and paths.

Bug Fixes

Crashes & Performance

• Various technical improvements, such as optimizations to game stability and performance, including:
  • Fixed severe stuttering during battles with many ships and/or land units
  • Fixed severe stuttering when enemies triggered feasts under certain circumstances
  • Fixed stuttering during benchmarks
  • Fixed an issue where the game would not start
  • Fixed performance issues with Intel GPUs
  • Fixed lag when opening the storage menu
• Fixed an issue where the title would freeze for 10 seconds after pressing the “Exit Game” button in the main menu
• Fixed an issue where the game would crash under certain circumstances when moving an aqueduct

General

• Fixed an issue that prevented ruins from being repaired immediately
• Fixed an issue that made it impossible to upgrade blueprints for slot buildings (mountain, river, swamp) and farms
• Fixed an issue where destroyed rival shipyards continued to produce ships
• Fixed an issue where the trading post menu was unusable if the trading post was destroyed and there was no villa
• Fixed an issue where deities (Ceres, Neptune, Mars) disappeared from the religion menu if the player disabled or lost access to the Hall of Fame
• Fixed several issues with gates and walls
• Gates could be built without requiring resources
• Gates had no maintenance or construction costs in the build menu
• Walls could be placed on rivals’ islands
• Fixed an issue where the Albion Villa Garrison cavalry required labor
• Fixed an issue where cisterns had no water supply cost
• Fixed an issue where the Naumachia event did not always display the Naumachia (naval battles)
• Fixed an issue where additional needs were consumed before they were unlocked via the research tree
• Fixed an issue where the research tree queue was interrupted after changing the research speed when a research was active
• Unlocking a discovery via the Hall of Fame no longer unlocks the entire research cluster around it.
• The placeholder AI artwork in the loading screen and in a campaign cutscene has been updated.
• Fixed an issue where the city status notification was displayed too often
• Fixed an issue where rivals invited after the game started were not included in diplomatic comparison reasons
• Fixed an issue where the deposed emperor continued to grant prestige
• Fixed an exploit that allowed +100 prestige
• Improved the handling of land units boarding ships
• Fixed an issue where rivals’ land units were teleported during patrol
• Fixed an issue where ranged units did not defend themselves in melee combat
• Civilian ships have been adjusted so that they no longer follow a group attack command when grouped with warships
• Fixed an issue where land units did not defend themselves if they had not yet fully landed
• Fixed an issue where the festival banner reappeared every time a player jumped back to their island
• Fixed an issue where pirates were not displayed on the map.
• Fixed an issue where the contents of the Builder Pack were not available when starting the game for the first time.
• Fixed an issue with the new Asset ModOp.

Rival Behavior

• Fixed an issue where easy and medium opponents would colonize all islands in a session.
• Fixed an issue where swamp buildings would not be destroyed by opponents when the swamp was drained.
• Fixed an issue where opponents would not take into account the correct cost of building trading posts.
• Improved enemy defense behavior during island invasions.

Multiplayer

• Various desynchronization errors have been fixed.
• An issue has been fixed where trade route warning messages in multiplayer mode did not have icons.
• An issue has been fixed where the “Save Game” menu was empty after activating “Persistent Coop” or loading a live save game during gameplay.
• Added a confirmation pop-up when attempting to overwrite a cross-progression save file
• Fixed an issue where players were displayed as connected in the lobby screen of a multiplayer game (when loading a saved game) players were displayed as connected even if they were not present in the lobby.
• The “City Status Impact on Incidents” difficulty setting has been locked so that it can only be changed by the host and not by other participants.
• Fixed an issue where Hall of Fame specialists were only available to the host and not to other players.
• Fixed an issue where players could not host a multiplayer game if the Hall of Fame was disabled
• It is now more clearly visible when a teammate selects or moves a building in co-op mode
• The multiplayer lobby user interface has been improved

Controls

• Fixed an issue where gamepad controls would become unresponsive when a player’s or enemy’s landing unit retreated.
• Fixed an issue where mines would be selected even when the mouse pointer was far away from them.
• Fixed an issue where trade routes could not be renamed via gamepad.
• Fixed an issue where uppercase letters were not supported when using non-English keyboards for save games.
• Fixed an issue where mouse and keyboard did not always work simultaneously on PlayStation 5.
• Fixed an issue with highlighting when moving the mouse pointer over a drainage channel with the gamepad
• Improved the placement of floor ornaments when using a gamepad
• Added various usability improvements for gamepads

Music & Audio

• Fixed an issue where upgrading buildings from blueprint mode did not always play a sound effect
• Improved audio feedback when redeeming rewards in the Hall of Fame via gamepad
• Various audio improvements, including a fix for audio distortion during longer gaming sessions.

UI

• The “Repair Damage” info icon is now only visible when hovering over damaged buildings. It is no longer constantly displayed when a building is damaged.
• The display of aqueduct and swamp building connection points has been improved and standardized.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltips for trading posts were not accessible when the passive trade pop-up window was open.
• Fixed an issue where a water-consuming building was listed in the menu of multiple cisterns within range of the building.
• Fixed an issue where sheep were displayed instead of flax in the production chain for couches
• Corrected incorrect construction phase numbers for the amphitheater monument
• Fixed an issue where the “Wonders” category for Patricians in the residence menu did not appear to be fully completed, even though all requirements were met
• Fixed an issue where Albion was always the default selection in the trade route menu
• Hovering over a good on the trade route map now displays information about the warehouse
• Fixed an issue where the route between regions was not displayed on the world map during manual ship transfers
• Fixed an issue where the icon for the Twitch Drop “Nova Alba Skin” was missing.

Art

• Fixed an issue where ruins were illuminated at night (we called the Ghostbusters).
• Level 3 Roman-Celtic houses in Albion now use assets appropriate for the region.
• Fixed an issue where the player logo was not displayed on sails.
• Improved the visibility of low morale by making unit banners flash.
• Feedback units in the swamp area now better match the production buildings there
• Fixed an issue where a placeholder logo was displayed on “generic enemy” ships
• Fixed an issue where male priests became invisible
• Fixed an issue that caused the loading screen to occasionally display a black image
• Fixed various issues with the lighting of character portraits
• Railings have been installed to prevent feedback units from falling (and falling up) from some temples

Quests & Achievements

• Fixed an issue where markers during the Inferno Quest would not appear in a different province after switching between provinces
• Improved spawn behavior for quest objects.
• Improved quest behavior related to save and load functionality.
• Fixed several issues that caused tutorial buttons to not disappear, including the “All buildings require a road connection” speech bubble.
• Campaign: It is no longer possible to activate Caeso via the game setup menu.
• Campaign: Quest “Empty Coffers”: Fixed an issue that caused players to interact with rivals that did not exist on the map.
• Campaign: The end screen has been adjusted to better guide players into Endless Mode.
• Fixed an issue where the “Hic Svnt Dracones” achievement would not unlock when the player explored 100% of Albion in Campaign mode.
• Quest “Ultima Ratio”: Fixed an issue that prevented the quest from being completed with Celtic ships
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Emperor’s ships from counting towards the “A Wet Death” achievement
• Quest “Mare Infestum”: Fixed an issue that could cause the “Select Ship” objective to hang if the player was in a different region.
• Quest “Impression by Intrusion”: Fixed a translation issue.
• Quest “The Stuff of Legends”: Fixed an issue with the translation.
• Fixed an issue where quest bubbles did not show the exact location of the quest giver’s ship.
• Quest “Weapons from the Stars”: Fixed an issue that occurred when the ship had a specialist in the captain slot.
• Quest “Tarragon’s Problems”: Fixed an issue where the final objective of the quest was skipped, preventing the player from completing the quest.
• Quest “At Venus”: Fixed an issue that prevented the quest from completing.
• Governor’s Decision “Gymnasia”: Fixed an issue that randomly selected the trading post in Latium or Albion after selecting the “Promise them writing materials” option.
• Quest “Lost Family”: The quest is triggered at the earliest with Equites.
• Quest “Potion Seller”: The placeholder text ‘Decision’ has been replaced with “Decide the fate of the hermit.”
• Quest “Games with Metal”: Fixed an issue where the interaction bubble with the weaponsmith was not displayed when delivering iron ore.
• Quest “Sacred Stones”: Fixed an issue that prompted players to deliver materials that were still locked at this stage of the quest.
• Quest “Cut the Chains”: Fixed an issue where the quest item appeared in a different province.
• Quest “Dominus Mirabilium”: The spawn location of the quest item has been adjusted.

Text & Localization

• Corrected some incorrect text in city status names.
• Various changes and additions to the credits.
• Various fixes for text and translation issues.