Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots interesting problem?

So obviously it is an old game. Maybe a year ago, I downloaded the trial version on a previous laptop because I just felt like playing it. If you know anything about the trial version, you know that there are only 4 playable nations and the settings for each game mode are grayed out (save Assassin and Barbarians at the Gates). However, whilst playing with some of the options I managed to unlock custom settings for every game mode! I have no idea how I did it, but it was great!

Now, I have downloaded the trial version yet again because I feel like playing it. My question is, if anyone ran into this "problem" before, do you know how to replicate it? Thanks!