In this post, I'll show you some tricks to improve performance in Age of Empires IV. With a few changes, it is possible to fix the problems you encounter in Age of Empires 4, such as low fps, stuttering, huge lag.
How to increase FPS in Age of Empires 4
Here are tips for higher performance in AOE 4:
1. Graphics settings
If you have a high-end PC (RTX 3080/3090) but are experiencing performance issues, I suggest you set the "Texture Detail" lower in the graphics settings. High quality is targeted for 4K resolution and not optimized enough. You can select the Medium quality for performance.
"Geometry Detail" and "Shadow Quality" (although not as much as "Texture Detail") are other graphics settings that affect performance in Age of Empires IV.
If your computer can barely handle the game, it's a good idea to lower the resolution as well. Or, lower the Resolution Scale. But it can cause slightly blurry graphics.
You can change the graphic settings with the help of the table below. (Settings > Graphics)
| Minimum System | High Performance | Performance | |
| Game Window | Exclusive Fullscreen | Exclusive Fullscreen | Exclusive Fullscreen |
| Resolution Scale | 80 | 100 | 100 |
| Image Quality | Low | Medium | High |
| Animation Quality | Low | High | High |
| Shadow Quality | Off | Medium | Medium |
| Texture Detail | Low | Low | Medium |
| Geometry Detail | Low | Medium or High | High |
| Anti-Aliasing | Off | Off | High |
| Physics | Off | Low | High |
| Vertical Sync | On | On | On |
| Movie Quality | 1080p | 4K HDR | 4K HDR |
2. Camera setting (Stuttering Fix)
If you experience huge fps drops when you move the camera, it is most likely caused by "Pan Acceleration". Go to the Camera settings menu (Settings > Camera) and disable the Pan Acceleration.
I've heard that there is something else that causes the stuttering problem in AOE 4, maybe it will work for you, you can try it. Turning "Image Quality" down in the graphics settings reduced the stuttering problem for some.
3. Graphics drivers
There are graphics drivers released for Age of Empires 4, so check your GPU driver is up to date. If it is not up to date, you can get drivers from official websites.
- Nvidia: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/drivers/
- Amd: https://www.amd.com/en/support
- Intel: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/80939/Graphics
You can use the DDU utility (Display Driver Uninstaller) for a clean driver upgrade/downgrade. If you do not know how to use DDU, you can check the guide from the link.
You can find more performance tips in my guide: How to optimize your PC for gaming and boost FPS
I hope this article helped you. I will keep you updated if I hear anything more about increasing the performance in Age of Empires 4.