Age of Empires stuttering fps drops – This guide will show you how to fix stuttering and fps drops issues in Age of Empires 4. A lot of users are experiencing this. So don’t worry, you are not alone.
Players are facing Stutters and FPS drops whenever they are trying to pan the camera in Age of Empires 4
The fourth installment in the Age of Empires series, Age of Empires 4, is finally out on PC. I read some post and comments on the forums, and it looks like players are enjoying the game so far. Of course, you need to be a fan of RTS game in order to like this game.
The game is a significant improvement over Age of Empires III, and it indeed looks like a next-gen AoE title. There is no doubt that Age of Empires 4 is an awesome game. But the game has some performance issues, and needs to be optimized. A lot of users are facing stutters and fps drops while panning the camera. Check out this post from a user:
There’s camera stutter. Pan the camera around a while and you’ll feel it. Even though your counter says 100+ fps it feels like 20 when moving the camera.
Now, you have two options here. You either wait for the developers to release a performance patch, or take care of the issues yourself. Here are some steps that might help get rid of some performance issues in Age of Empires 4.
How to fix the Stuttering and FPS Drops
Age of Empires 4 – Official System requirements
Before we begin, I would like you to take a look at the official system requirements for AOE 4. Just to make sure that the issue is from the end of your hardware.
| # | MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS | RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS |
| Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | |
| OS | Windows 10 64bit | Windows 11 64bit | Windows 10 64bit | Windows 11 64bit |
| PROCESSOR | Intel Core i5-6300U or AMD Ryzen 5 2400G | CPU with AVX support required | 3.6 GHz 6-core (Intel i5) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 | CPU with AVX support required |
| MEMORY | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| GRAPHICS | Intel HD 520 or AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 | Nvidia GeForce 970 GPU or AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU with 4GB of VRAM |
| DIRECTX | Version 12 | Version 12 |
| STORAGE | 50 GB available space | 50 GB available space |
The reason I am recommending that you check the requirements first, is because I saw a lot of laptop users complaining on the forums. And some of them had really old laptops, with Integrated GPUs that really outdated.
Though, Age of Empires 4 might look like a less demanding title. It actually isn’t. You need a Ryzen 5 1600 paired with a RX 570, to run this game smoothly at 1080p, at high settings.
Download and install the GPU drivers optimized for Age of Empires 4
Nvidia has already released a Game Ready Driver for Age of Empires 4. The version is 496.49. You can download it from this link or directly via GeForce Experience.
AMD has also released a driver optimized for Age of Empires 4. The version is called Adrenalin 21.10.3 Optional. You can download it from this link, or via AMD Auto-Detect. Doing this would also fix any DirectX or Direct3D errors in Age of Empires 4.
You can get Intel drivers from here. Laptop users, I would recommend that you go to the official site of your brand, and download the drivers from there.
Set your Game Window to Full Desktop
This is one of the confirmed fixes for the camera stutter issue. A lot of users have tried it, and fixed the problem. All you have to do it set your Game Window to Full Desktop. By default, it is set to Borderless Fullscreen.
- Open the Settings Menu
- Click on Graphics
- Under ‘Display’ you will notice the ‘Game Window’ option
- Set it to Full Desktop
If you are using a dual monitor setup, then I would suggest that you turn off your secondary monitor first. And do this on your primary monitor.
Tweak Age of Empires 4 Graphics Settings
A lot of users fixed the stuttering by just tweaking a few settings in the graphics settings menu. Here is what I think are the best graphics settings for Age of Empires 4:
- Game Window: Full Desktop
- Resolution: 1920×1080
- Gameplay Resolution Scale: 100
- Lock Mouse to Window: On
- Image Quality: Medium
- Animation Quality: Low
- Shadow Quality: Low
- Texture Detail: Medium
- Geometry: Medium
- Anti-Aliasing: Low
- Physics: Low
- Vertical Sync: Off
- Framerate Limit: Unlimited
- Movie Quality: 1080p (You will get Black Screen issues if you set this to 4K HDR)
Note: These settings are for those you have really low-end GPUs. If you are experiencing stutters and fps drops, even after applying the graphics settings given above. I would suggest that you, straight up set everything to the lowest possible setting. You don’t have any other option.
Select the correct Graphics Processor
Considering that a lot of people like to play games like Age of Empires on their gaming laptops, a lot of times they forget to switch to their dedicated graphics card. If your laptop features a dedicated graphics card inside, then you need to make sure your laptop is using that instead of the low powered integrated one.
If your laptop has an Nvidia GPU, then here is what you need to:
- Launch Nvidia Control Panel
- Click on Manage 3D settings located on the left side
- Click on the Program Settings tab
- Under “Select a program to customize” select Age of Empires 4
- If it is not there, then click on Add and then select it
- Now set “Select the preferred graphics processor for this program” to “High-performance NVIDIA processor”
If your laptop has an AMD GPU, then here is what you need to:
- Open your AMD Control Panel.
- Go to Graphics and then PowerPlay.
- Set the Plugged In and Battery options to Maximum Performance.
- Click Apply.
- Next, go to Graphics and then 3D.
- Move the Performance slider until it is set for Optimal Performance.
- Click Apply.
- If you have a Switchable Graphics tab, click it, locate Age of Empires 4 in the list, and set it for High Performance.
- Click Apply.
Finally, don’t forget to disable overlays from apps like Steam, Nvidia GeForce Experience, Windows Game Bar, etc. They up a lot of resources. I am watching all the forums very closely. I will update this article as soon as something new comes up.
- Click here to check out the Official Steam Discussions page of Age of Empires 4
- Click here to report a bug to the developers
If you think this guide has helped you, then let us know in the comment section below. Also, if you are facing other problems with the game, then try checking out our other guides on Age of Empires 4. Who knows, you might end up finding a fix.
That’s all folks!
Last Updated on October 28, 2021
Shoaib, 30, is a simple guy who loves to play video games, and enjoys new cuisines sporadically. He has been gaming since he was 7 years old, and with an experience of 22 years, under his belt, there is not a single AAA game in this world, that he hasn’t played. Despite being a MBA Graduate he decided to follow his passion. And because of his love for gaming, Frondtech came into existence.
