Tips and Tricks for Age of Wonders 4 – Performance Boost for Best Settings

This tutorial guide will help you how to boost your game performance. Use RAMDisk among other things to boost up your game!

Video Settings

Before you start this, make sure to have your GPU drivers properly installed after the usage of Display Driver Uninstaller.

Download your latest graphics cards drivers from official resources

For the latest Nvidia drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx – [nvidia.com]

For the latest AMD drivers: hhttp://support.amd.com/en-us/download – []

Display Driver Uninstaller you get from here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html – [guru3d.com]

Once done we access the graphics configuration file for the game

The file you are looking for can be found here: ..\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Age of Wonders 4\Config\PlatformSettings0.cfg

You can open it with an editor and access and edit the video settings of the game without launching the game itself. Especially helpful when you have troubles launching the game to begin with due to graphics cards error.

The content looks somewhat like this

Audio.BackgroundSound=false
GraphicsOptions.AmbientOcclusionQuality=3
GraphicsOptions.AntiAliasMode=1
GraphicsOptions.BloomEnabled=true
GraphicsOptions.DepthOfFieldEnabled=true
GraphicsOptions.EdgeBlurEnabled=true
GraphicsOptions.EditorQualityMode=3
GraphicsOptions.IBLQuality=1
GraphicsOptions.LightingQuality=2
GraphicsOptions.QualityMode=6
GraphicsOptions.ReflectionsEnabled=true
GraphicsOptions.RenderScale=1.000000
GraphicsOptions.ShadowQuality=3
GraphicsOptions.SoftParticlesEnabled=true
GraphicsOptions.SoilCoverQuality=3
GraphicsOptions.TerrainQuality=2
GraphicsOptions.TextureQuality=3
GraphicsOptions.VolumetricsEnabled=true
Video.DiagnosticVideo=false
Video.DisplayAdapterID=-1
Video.DisplayAdapterName=<default>
Video.DisplayOutputName=0
Video.FocusFPSLimitEnabled=false
Video.FullScreenH=1080
Video.FullScreenW=1920
Video.FullScreenX=0
Video.FullScreenY=0
Video.RefreshRate=60.000000
Video.SafeAreaRatio=1.000000
Video.VSyncRate=1
Video.WindowMode=1
Video.WindowedScreenH=751
Video.WindowedScreenMaximized=false
Video.WindowedScreenW=1288
Video.WindowedScreenX=227
Video.WindowedScreenY=196

Every line is of interest.

You can adjust the render quality according to the modifications of these settings.

Boolean aka false/true options can be changed by using the desired option e.g.

GraphicsOptions.BloomEnabled=false

turns off the bloom effects

Integer values can be adjusted by range, starting with 0 e.g.

GraphicsOptions.ShadowQuality=0

GraphicsOptions.SoftParticlesEnabled=false

GraphicsOptions.SoilCoverQuality=0

GraphicsOptions.TerrainQuality=0

GraphicsOptions.TextureQuality=0

GraphicsOptions.VolumetricsEnabled=false

It makes sense to turn these options off initially when troubleshooting or trying to improve overall performance. You can then tweak them as you go, increasing the values as you go.

If you suspect issues with your video graphics drivers

Video.DiagnosticVideo=true

Video.DisplayAdapterID=-1 <— delete this line

Video.DisplayAdapterName=NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB <— the display adapter name must be exactly the same as listed in your device manager

Access Device Manager via Windows Settings -> System -> About -> Related Settings

Make also sure to cap your FPS

(Approach might differ for different graphics cards software, this is for Nvidia)

Open the Nvidia Control Panel and click on Add program with the Manage 3D Settings

Select AOW4.exe from the list to add

(the exact location for your PC will most likely differ)

You can now set the framerate cap

Start with 30 then see if it still works well with 60

Some players also reported turning VSync level to half helped them.

Set it first to 0 in the PlatformSettings0.cfg, then change it ingame.

Hotseat & Steam Remote Play

There are many reasons why desynchronisations can happen often in multiplayer. Until this is addressed by the developers, please consider giving Steam Remote Play and the hotseat feature of the game a try. That and playing by email are much less vulnerable to desynchronisation issues.

Change also your DNS. For example

The Google Public DNS IP addresses (IPv4) are as follows:

 

• 8.8.8.8
• 8.8.4.4

The Google Public DNS IPv6 addresses are as follows:

• 2001:4860:4860::8888
• 2001:4860:4860::8844

You can use either address as your primary or secondary DNS server.

Source: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using – [google.com]

Change DNS

Stuttering, freezes, connection issues.

And that all despite everything on your side seems to be in order.

• You have a good download and upload rate.
• You have a stable wireless connection at highest standards or use a cable to connect your PC with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) device or router.
• You have a good PC which is not lacking any resources to run internet services at all.
• You are running out of ideas what else you could possibly do but moving to a different place as it might be a regional ISP hardware thing.

Well.

Changing the DNS (Domain Name System) servers, those which are responsible to assign your connections to the worldwide servers, from the default ISP one to a different service might just do the trick.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the hierarchical and decentralized naming system used to identify computers reachable through the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The resource records contained in the DNS associate domain names with other forms of information. These are most commonly used to map human-friendly domain names to the numerical IP addresses computers need to locate services and devices using the underlying network protocols, but have been extended over time to perform many other functions as well.

 

Why would it differ and how could it?

I am not 100% sure either, but I am 100% certain the internet where I live is sub-par. Often below third-world-standards, especially when you are living at the countryside. Within cities it is hardly different.

I assume it is because of a very bad local infrastructure that some DNS servers which are local and provided as default by your ISP can turn out bad, when the ISP decides not to upgrade the infrastructure properly but keep making new contracts with more and more users. I imagine it like a traffic jam where new cars are just coming into the pool but the lanes are never adjusted since like forever. The one who could change something about it (the ISP) will not do anything to save costs, the ones who could force a change are not understanding the importance of good internet.

So what do you do now?

 

How about trying a public DNS?

The Google Public DNS IP addresses (IPv4) are as follows:

 

• 8.8.8.8
• 8.8.4.4

The Google Public DNS IPv6 addresses are as follows:

• 2001:4860:4860::8888
• 2001:4860:4860::8844

You can use either address as your primary or secondary DNS server.

Source: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using – [google.com]

The Cloudflare Public DNS IP addresses (IPv4) are as follows:

 

• 1.1.1.1
• 1.0.0.1

The Cloudflare Public DNS IPv6 addresses are as follows:

• 2606:4700:4700::1111
• 2606:4700:4700::1001

You can use either address as your primary or secondary DNS server.

Source: https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/dns/what-is-1.1.1.1/ – [cloudflare.com]  or https://1.1.1.1 – []

I am not going to even try giving you a tutorial on how you do it. It differs from setup to setup, whether you do the change via your OS, your router or whatever other device you are using. There are too many options and there is no way I could cover them all. And I do not have to as the providers have already good and easy to understand manuals how to do so.

Keep in mind, the change you are applying is going astray the standards you have been following so far. Therefore make sure you read properly, understand and take notes – especially since it can differ from setup to setup.

For me personally it is easy: the DNS server I have to use was setup by my ISP. My router does all the work by connecting me to the ISP and I do not have to do anything in regards of the default setup as it will always load the default automatically provided by the ISP, unless I manually change it. So I can revert it anytime without issues. With different hardware worldwide just keep in mind: it is an easy and safe to use change. But it can look different for everyone. So give it a try, with care.

Manual by Google

https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using – [google.com]

Manual by Cloudflare

https://developers.cloudflare.com/1.1.1.1/setup/ – [cloudflare.com]

Deactivate Steam Cloud Service

Disable the Steam Cloud Service for the game to reduce the likelihood of save game corruption.

Skip Paradox Launcher

Set Launch Option to sklp Paradox Launcher

The Launch Option is the standard path for the game’s executable on your PC plus

%command%

As can be seen in my example above:

"G:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Age of Wonders 4\AOW4.exe" %command%

You can access that window by

Right-clicking on the game in your Steam Library -> select Properties

To find your executable

Right-click on the game in your Steam Library -> select Manage -> Browse Local Files

Offline Singleplayer

The game is constantly communicating with the multiplayer servers, even when you are playing single-player. Presumably it is waiting for global notifications when it is your turn in an ongoing multiplayer session.

If you are playing singleplayer, I strongly recommend that you log out of your Paradox account within the game.

This tweak works best with the Skip Paradox Launcher tweak mentioned above, as otherwise you will be logged back in when using the launcher while logged into your Paradox account with the launcher.

Auto-Skip Intro Video

Right-click on the game in your Steam Library -> select Manage -> Browse Local Files

Find the video file in the subfolder

..\Age of Wonders 4\Content\Title\Videos\Frontend\IntroVideo.webm

Rename that file to e.g. IntroVideo.off

or (if you have the file extensions hidden)

IntroVideo -> NoIntro

That will disable the intro video from showing up in the future and instead you might spot a faint message of the developers saying You shouldn’t be able to see this 😀

Increase Virtual RAM

First go to the Windows Settings and there select the System category

In the section About we go for Advanced system settings on the right

In the subsection Performance Options we go for the Advanced tab and select change for the Virtual Memory

As you can see in this example, it is pretty low. I recommend a size of at least 8 GB

Increase Shader Cache

The approach will vary depending on your graphics software. The screenshot below is for Nvidia.

Setup RAMDisk

Download the ImDisk Toolkit (open source) and install:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/ – [sourceforge.net]

Set 1024 MB, Allowcate Memory Dynamically (optional), Drive Letter pick what you like (I chose R: for RAMDisk), Set TEMP Variables

If you have more RAM to spare (> 24GB) I recommend 2048 MB and Allowcate Memory Dynamically

Click Set All To R:

Confirm twice with OK – the tool creates a virtual drive which hosts your TEMP files, making your PC now faster. After the app said it has mounted the drive, you can exit. In your Explorer when accessing your Computer overview there is now the new R: drive.

How does it make your PC and the game faster?

Every turn the PC calculates all effects of the game, then write them down on your storage. Then it loads all the data. Write, read, repeat – massive amount of TEMP data. Put it into your RAM is better than put it on your storage. SSDs dislike unnecessary read/write processes. The effect is even greater with HDDs. – the related issue is supposed to be fixed with hotfix #2 – nonetheless the optimisation potential with the tool is still remarkable and confirmed by users after hotfix #2.

Use MSI Afterburner

Download here: https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards – [msi.com]

Make a more reactive fan reaction speed curve to counter performance spikes.

My PC is old with bad cooling. For normal use default is okay. For games like Age of Wonders 4, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous or Killing Floor 2 I max out fan speed to prevent overheating of GPU/CPU.

Thank you for taking the time to read Age of Wonders 4 – Performance Boost for Best Settings, inspired by the remarkable work of アンジェル. If you have ideas for improving this content, we’d be happy to hear them in the comments. Have a great day, and remember to bookmark us for more fresh updates and posts!