My Top 10 Mods
Things have changed since I shared my favorite Age of Empires II mods with you. Some have become obsolete, others I replaced with mods that I like better. See for yourself.
One of the things, I appreciate the most, are User Interface (UI) related mods. Among other things, they allow us to customize the game’s UI to our respective needs. For me, it was all about focus and centralization of the displayed information. Ok, ok … there are also some comfort features, that I really like. Here are my top 10 UI and comfort mods.
No Intro
(saves time)
I am not using this mod anymore. Instead, I use the SKIPINTRO parameter in steam directly. But if you are not playing the game on steam, click here for details.
Why I use it
As much as I like the intro movie, there are only so many times, you can or want to watch it. SKIPINTRO simply helps me to save a bit of time. Is it absolutely essential? No. Is it useful? Yes.
[UFS] Orginal Main Menu UI Theme
If you like it dark
Creator: UnluckyForSome9
Why I use it
What can I say? I like it dark. And this beautifully made menu background combined with the colors of the other UI elements just does it for me. I also replaced the background image in the main menu with my own.
Additional benefit: after each update – when all mods get disabled automatically – I notice it immediately and can activate them before starting the first game.
Custom UI – Centered Modern (black and white)
Creator: daehiise
As I used to play on a 34″ UWD monitor and now use a 49″ one, I modified this mod to fit them. If you are in a similar situation and want to avoid whiplash while playing, you can find those mods here (34″) and here (49″), respectively.
Why I use it
Two main reasons
- I like the simple and clean UI. No clutter, and everything perfectly readable.
- I am playing on a 49″ ultra-wide monitor with a resolution of 5120×1440. With the default UI, the information is very distributed, and I need to look around a lot to check on resources, mini-map, or building queues.
I customized this mod, and now all elements are nicely organized, and I can find all the information at the bottom center of my screen.
Why I use it
The standard town center can make it difficult to select and arrange sheep and villagers during the dark age. With this mod, the TC is simplified during the dark age, helping with that.
Why I use it
While the original trees are gorgeous, they also make preventing and detecting holes in your walls difficult. The ‘Small Trees’ mod helps a bit, and until recently, I was using ‘Identical Pine Trees with Grid Shadow’. When it became available for UHD, I switched to ‘Selected Small Trees with Grid Shadow’ because it offers a bit more variety instead of turning all trees into pine trees. Additionally, this mod also removes tree stumps – so I don’t need an additional one to do that. And yes, I still manage to have holes in my walls – though I can hardly blame this excellent mod for it.
Why I use it
I always found the purely decorative plants very distracting. When I found a mod that removed any plants that could not be harvested or cut down, I was delighted indeed.
Why I use it
Finally, no more useless tooltips constantly popping up. Subscribe to clean up your game or stream.
This mod does not remove any unit/building/upgrade tooltips from the bottom left panel.
Please make sure to enable “Toggle Extended Tooltips” in options/interface. Can be used alongside other tooltip mods.
Why I use it
Even though this has been around for a while, I came across it only recently. This is probably the most useful grid mod. It does not just provide a subtle grid but helps with identifying every 5th and 10th line easily.
Why I use it
This is a modified version of 0xDB Map Color Clarity UI 2.0b
- No green minimaps.
- All buildable terrains share the same color.
- 2D hills
Why I use it
That’s another one that helps me to see things better without disrupting the overall impression. It’s a subtle and useful mod.
Why I use it
Good players recognize buildings based on their foundations. Alas, I am not one of them. This mod puts a little icon on the foundations. With that, even I know what my opponents or teammates are building. Also, the icons are in the respective player’s color. Very useful during team games.
Honorable mentions
New Palisade Wall (with Player Color) Small Flags Version by Anne_HK
Improved Mangonel Shot Visibility by iD4NG3r3694
Better Civ Emblems by Xyrr6134
And that’s a wrap! What do you think? Are you using some of those? What are your favorite mods? Let me know.