Age of Empires 4 in the test: Sorry, AMD, we'll take care of Radeon later

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Microsoft's Age of Empires 4 is here. But instead of the graphics quality, the control or the gameplay, the desolate performance on Radeon stands out in the test, which even a new driver from AMD cannot cure. Microsoft is aware of the problem, but an update will not be available for a few weeks.

Table of contents

  1. 1 Sorry, AMD, we'll take care of Radeon later
    1. Continued after a 16-year hiatus
    2. Microsoft cites problems with AMD Navi 21
    3. Adrenalin 21.10.3 is faster, but not a panacea
    4. Flawless appearance aside from the Radeon theme
    5. A simple graphics menu with a few options
    6. Graphic presets sometimes show big leaps in performance
  2. 2 graphics card benchmarks in Full HD, WQHD & amp; Ultra HD and frame times
    1. The test system and the benchmark scene
    2. Benchmarks in Full HD, WQHD and Ultra HD
    3. Irregular frame times are no problem
  3. 3 CPU benchmarks and game criticism
    1. Processor benchmarks show low requirements
    2. How good is Age of Empires IV?
    3. Fun like it used to be
  4. 4 Conclusion
    1. A catastrophe with AMD Radeon at the start
    2. AMD is playing fire brigade with a new driver
    3. A modern Age of Empires

Continuation after a 16-year break

Age of Empires 4 is possibly the most important game release of the throughout the year, because the title should be groundbreaking for the genre of real-time strategy games. The success of Age of Empires IV could decide whether the genre degenerates into a pure niche scene or is revived again.

And not only that. After a 16 year break, AoE 4 continues one of the most important game series on the PC. And one of the best too. The expectations are correspondingly high.

As usual from ComputerBase, the focus in this report is on the technology, although there is also a conclusion on the gameplay. Graphics card benchmarks hold a big surprise in store. And that's what it has to be about right from the start.

Microsoft names problems with AMD Navi 21

Microsoft and AMD are currently having a bit of a hard time working together the pc. After Ryzen CPUs under Windows 11 run up to 15 percent slower than under Windows 10 due to an error in the operating system and non-optimal chipset drivers, according to official information, Age of Empires 4 is the next performance issue – from a “disaster” to speaking is not an exaggeration in this case.

Microsoft and Relic address directly in the release notes that AoE 4 will have performance problems on “Navi-21 graphics cards” at the start, neither partners mention details or other GPUs. Comparable GeForce RTX graphics cards are said to run significantly better in the game at the moment.

Current optimizations allow for a wide range of hardware to play Age of Empires IV, including integrated devices the ones referenced in the minimum spec. Work will continue post-launch to ensure performance parity between high-end Nvidia and AMD video cards as part of the pre-holiday update. If reviewing from an AMD Nav 21 card, please note that you may experience performance issues in contrast to the comparable Nvidia RTX cards.

From the release notes for the game

At the same time, Microsoft is already announcing a patch for the US “Holiday Season” that is supposed to eliminate the bug. Supposedly, high-end graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia should then run quickly in the strategy game. The patch can be expected towards the end of November.

Radeon is miles behind GeForce

And how serious are the problems mentioned by Microsoft? Benchmarks show: Age of Empires 4 offers an almost subterranean performance on all Radeon graphics cards with the Adrenalin 21.10.2. The resolution, the quality setting or the test scene are not important, all AMD GPUs are always slower than competing Nvidia graphics cards. In numbers: The GeForce RTX 3080 is up to 77 percent ahead of the Radeon RX 6800 XT.

ComputerBase informed AMD of the desperate results last Wednesday and asked for a driver that is optimized for AoE 4. Because even if the problem seems to be rooted in the game, it cannot be ruled out that a driver adapted to it can help. Indeed, AMD has made progress, albeit, as expected, with no problem solving with a new driver. At the request of the editors, the driver was made available in advance on Friday evening. And indeed: Adrenalin 10/21/3 is faster.

Adrenalin 21.10.3 is faster, but not a panacea

The more the GPU is loaded, the greater the benefits of the new driver. For example, the Radeon RX 6800 XT in 3840 × 2160 with the adrenaline 21.10.3 increases by a high 33 percent in the average FPS and by 37 percent in the percentile FPS – there has seldom been such a big leap in performance due to a new driver. Only with the new driver does the AMD GPU crack the 60 FPS mark, the gaming feel is significantly better than with the old software version.

«Previous AMD Adrenalin 21.10.3 in comparison – 3.840 × 2.160AMD Adrenalin 21.10 .3 in comparison – 2,560 × 1,440AMD adrenalin 21.10.3 in comparison – 1,920 × 1,080 Next »

In lower resolutions the increase is then small. In 2,560 × 1,440, the adrenaline 21.10.3 in AoE 4 “only” increases by 13 or 16 percent, respectively, in 1,920 × 1,080 there are 7 percent left.

AMD's driver is faster and at the same time shows that Microsoft has not announced the first major patch as a solution for AMD GPUs for nothing, the cause of the problem is obviously to be found in the game. Nevertheless, every player with AMD Radeon should play the Adrenalin 21.10.3 before Age of Empires 4 is started for the first time, because the game runs noticeably better with this.

Error-free appearance apart from the Radeon topic

During the test, the PC version of Age of Empires 4 was otherwise stable, there were not a single crash, performance problems with GeForce, graphics errors, bugs or other difficulties that indicate a problematic state of the PC version. It is still unclear how the situation around the multiplayer server will develop after the release for all players.

The fourth part of the real-time strategy games is not developed by a Microsoft studio, but by Relic Entertainment, who are responsible for the strategy series Company of Heroes and Dawn of War. AoE 4 also uses the latest iteration of Relics technology with the Essence engine, whereby version 5.0 will be used for the first time in Age 4 and later also find its way into Company of Heroes 3.

Age of Empires 4 is optically based on its predecessors, but also goes its own way. Like its predecessors, the game remains very colorful, and for the first time an influence of cartoon graphics can be guessed. There has been a lot of controversy about the graphics quality of the game. However you like the look personally, it is definitely not “next-gen”. Nevertheless, AoE 4 looks good.

As an AAA game it should be a little more

At the end of the day, it is an excellent opportunity to discuss whether a strategy game in 2021 should also be a little more, especially if it is such a large and important AAA title. Perhaps Relic and Microsoft were simply too afraid of higher system requirements and thus a potentially smaller group of players. The game still has to put up with this criticism. AoE 4 was implemented with the low-level API DirectX 12. Another interface is not available.

A simple graphics menu with a few options

Age of Empires 4's graphics menu is simple. There are graphic presets, individual graphic options and apart from that, the game's own upscaling, which allows a rendering resolution between 50 and 100 percent of the set resolution in 1 percent steps. In addition, there is an FPS limiter that only offers fixed values, but these are varied with 30 FPS, 60 FPS, 75 FPS, 90 FPS, 120 FPS, 144 FPS and 165 FPS.

The strategy game does not offer any further features or comfort functions such as sample screenshots for the individual functions. In this regard, other titles are sometimes significantly further.

  1. The graphics menu of Age of Empires 4

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The graphics menu of Age of Empires 4
The graphics menu of Age of Empires 4

Age of Empires 4 uses numerous real video sequences in the campaign. These are available in a 1080p resolution, but if you want you can also select Ultra HD including optional HDR in the options menu. To do this, around 25 GB of additional video files have to be downloaded, which are stored in the Steam menu as free DLC.

Graphic presets sometimes show big leaps in performance

Age of Empires 4 offers three different graphic presets on the PC with “Low”, “Medium” and “High”. The highest possible optics is not yet high, the option of geometry details can still be set to “Ultra” or “Maximum”. If you want to compare all options quickly and directly, you have had bad luck in many cases: Most changes to the graphics have to be restarted.

If you switch down to high instead of the maximum graphic details, you don't have to do without a lot of optics. Nothing at all changes in the actual game world, but the units are shown in a little less detail. This can be seen on closer inspection, but is usually not a loss.

  1. Maximum graphic details download

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Maximum graphic details
High preset
Medium preset
Low-Preset

The middle preset, on the other hand, looks significantly worse than high. This is primarily due to the fact that funds are massively reducing the shadows. As a result, buildings and units appear to float, which visibly tarnishes the graphic. Even if there are only small differences apart from that, the medium preset should only be used as an emergency solution if the game simply does not want to run usable otherwise. With the low preset, AoE 4 becomes ugly. The floor is now muddy, there are hardly any surface structures and apart from that, numerous compromises have to be accepted.

The FPS- Jumps are clear

If you forego the maximum graphic details and only play with the high preset, you only have to expect minimal losses in optics, but the performance hardly increases either. Both the Radeon RX 6800 XT and the GeForce RTX 3080 are just 2 percent faster. With the medium preset, the real-time strategy game looks much worse, but there are also more FPS. On the Radeon the frame rate increases by 23 percent, on the GeForce it is a higher 37 percent. The ugly low preset brings a massive plus, the AMD GPU is 140 percent faster and the Nvidia chip is 119 percent faster. The really bad optics then deliver more than twice the performance.

Graphics presets in comparison – 3,840 × 2,160 units: frames per second (FPS)

  • AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT:
    • Low-Preset236.6
    • middle preset98,4
    • high preset80,1
    • Maximum graphic details78.4
  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080:
    • Low preset292 , 1
    • Medium preset133,1
    • High preset97,3
    • Maximum graphic details95 , 0

Due to the savegame problem discussed below, the test sequence actually used by ComputerBase was not used in the preset benchmarks. Therefore the frame rates are not comparable with each other.

Savegames with other graphic details – that doesn't always work

Age of Empires 4 or the Essence engine used has a very unusual peculiarity with the savegames. First of all, everything looks normal: the game always saves automatically when a new mission has been unlocked and at certain time intervals during a game. In addition, savegames can also be created manually.

While the savegames always work with newly activated missions, this does not apply to the saved games that have been created within a game. Because for inexplicable reasons these do not work with every level of detail. For example, if you switch back from the full graphic details to the low preset, you can suddenly no longer load the game. If you create a game with low graphic details, you cannot use the medium preset or any other setting with this. Switching from medium to maximum or the other way around is not a problem, only the low preset literally only works for itself. Why this limitation exists is unclear.

On the next page: Graphics card benchmarks in Full HD, WQHD & amp; Ultra HD and frame times