Fix AoE2 DE ALT-TAB Colored Pixel Glitch

Ever alt-tab out of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, jump back in, and suddenly your screen went all glitchy with a bunch of colored pixels everywhere?

I had the exact same problem. Game runs smooth. Everything looks fine. Then I alt-tab once and the screen becomes glitchy.

Here’s what actually fixed it for me.

Go to your Steam Library and right click Age of Empires II Definitive Edition > Manage >  Browse Local Files. Here is a how to screenshot:

Then here is what to do next; I recorded a video going through the steps below in case you get lost:

1. First Close “Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition”
2. Find AoE2DE_s.exe
3. Right-click > Properties
4. Go to the Compatibility tab
5. Check the box next to Disable Fullscreen Optimizations
6. Hit Apply and OK
7. Start the game
8. That’s it. Once I did this, no more pixel party after alt-tabbing.

Solution 2: Try Different Display Modes

If the above doesn’t fully do it, try switching:

1. From Full Screen to Full Desktop Mode
2. Or from Desktop Mode back to Full Screen
3. Worst case, run it in Windowed Mode

Here is a video on how to switch display modes:

I sure hope that by now you have solved the glitchy screen. Feel free to leave a comment if this has solved the issue for you or something else fixed it for you.

Thank you 🙂
GLHF