Will Age of Empires 4 have map editor?

Wondering if you can create custom maps or custom scenarios in Age of Empires 4? Here's what you need to know about the map editor.

One of the most interesting things about the Age of Empires series is being able to edit maps and scenarios to create your own campaigns and skirmishes. Every game in the series has some sort of editing tool that allows for making things as simple or as detailed as you'd like. But does Age of Empires 4 have a map or scenario editor?

The unfortunate answer, at least right after launch, is no: Age of Empires 4 does not have a map editor or a scenario editor. The game launched without such a feature, much to the chagrin of many fans who tout it as one of the series' best aspects. 

Currently, you can create semi-custom skirmishes and multiplayer matches by choosing between the available civilizations, maps, and win conditions. And while you can also choose terrain types, your starting age, and how many resources are available in these modes, that's about it. 

You can't create new maps or scenarios from scratch. There is an option to select "Crafted Maps" in the Map Setup menu in Skirmishes, but it cannot be chosen as of this writing. And there is a way to replay specific map layouts via seeds.

We've reached out to the team to see if there is new information regarding when or if a scenario editor or map editor may show up in Age of Empires 4. Some posts of Reddit and other forums posit that such a feature may arrive in 2022, when it appears mod support may also be integrated. But that's unconfirmed as of now. Until then, stay tuned and check out our other Age of Empires 4 content.

Published Dec. 15th 2021

Mod tools and a map editor are in the works for medieval RTS game Age of Empires IV, and while their official release won’t be for another week, you can try some of them out now. A few lucky Age of Empires IV players have gotten invites to try out the Age of Empires IV mod and map editor tool, but everyone with the game can currently try out a few new in-house mods the dev team has created ahead of their launch at the start of Season One.

To access the list of mods the developers have created and curated, you need to opt into the Public Update Preview branch. To do this, open Age of Empires IV options menu in your Steam library, select the Betas tab, and select “future_live – Public Update Preview” from the drop-down menu. Once the game updates, you’ll be able to check out the build of that game currently due to roll out with the start of Season One on March 18.

The mods you can try out are a mix of maps and ‘tuning packs,’ which alter the characteristics of specific game elements. One, called Dire Wolves, makes the game’s wolves larger and deadlier – they’ve got increased damage and hit points, so they’re a more serious threat than they are in the vanilla game. Others double the number of peasants you train at a time, or double the amount of wood available in each tree.

There’s also a modded game mode called Royal Rumble that you can try in the PUP, and this one will be instantly familiar to anyone who played the Regicide game mode in Age of Empires II. It’s every king for themself, and the last king standing wins.

There’s a huge list of civ balance changes, map improvements, and fixes coming in the March 18 update, too. If you own a copy of the game on Steam, you can read the full patch notes in the Age of Empires IV discussion forums.

Being able to customize maps and scenarios is one of the reasons why players love RTS games. Age of Empires IV now has that feature with Content Editor. This is still in beta, so don't expect too much for now. But it's good to know this feature is now in the game and today, we look at what it can offer so far.

In a post, the development team revealed that the Content Editor serves as the one-stop-shop for custom play. This beta release of the Content Editor allows everyone to play around with some of the customization options.

One of the things players can do with the Content Editor is to come up with their own custom maps through Crafted Maps. These can be used for multiplayer, skirmishes, or custom games. This is by far the easiest tool to use and it features terrain elements, wildlife, resources, units, and even scripted events.

The next is the Tuning Packs. It has a difficulty level of Intermediate, meaning that it's not going to be that easy to use. Basically, this tool allows players to modify the unit cost, speed, toughness, and attacks. Pretty much anything that affects unit behavior.

A bit higher are Generated Maps, which need more experience. This mode allows players to generate maps that follow a set of rules of their choice. There are templates and documentation available for those who want to see how this works and the team assures everyone that there will be variation each time players play using the map generator. Those who have experience can immediately put their programming skills to good use and create complex maps.

By the way, Generated Maps allow players to create randomly generated maps for skirmishes or multiplayer. The main difference between this one and Crafted Maps is that players can "nudge" the random map generation to a direction that they choose.

Finally, the most difficult, and likely the most fun, is the Game Mode. It's seen as the ultimate way to script matches. Considering the level of difficulty, this is for expert modders. That's because it needs knowledge not only in Lua but also SCAR.

What do you think? Ready to create your own content? Age of Empires IV is available on PC.

How do I get AoE 4 content editor?

How do I enable mods in Age of Empires 4?

What are tuning packs AoE 4?