EUIV Low FPS on Gaming Laptop

[werrec]

After a 1-2 week break, I wanted to get back into EUIV with my friend and continue on our previous save. However, upon launching the game, I experienced significant lag and FPS drops. While I previously enjoyed 20+ FPS, my current session was limited to a mere 5-10 FPS range, accompanied by persistent frame drops.​

My system specifications are as follows:

• i5 11400h
• RTX 3050
• 24GB RAM

I can confirm that my laptop does not suffer from any overheating issues.

 

[AndrewT]

Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-EU4
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/Europa Universalis IV AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV folders - In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam EU4 or Documents EU4 locations, before installing again.
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add EU4.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.

Run eu4.exe directly from File Explorer (to make the settings.txt we need below) then exit it.

THEN
Right click on eu4.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.

Edit that settings.txt to say:

refreshRate=60
fullScreen=yes
borderless=no

vsync=no

Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode.


IF that doesn't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log .

 

[werrec]

Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-EU4
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/Europa Universalis IV AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV folders - In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam EU4 or Documents EU4 locations, before installing again.
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add EU4.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.

Run eu4.exe directly from File Explorer (to make the settings.txt we need below) then exit it.

THEN
Right click on eu4.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.

Edit that settings.txt to say:



Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode.


IF that doesn't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log .

After making the settings you mentioned, there was a slight improvement, but I still think I don't have enough FPS, so I continue to ask for help.

 

[AndrewT]

Do you still get the drops you mentioned too?

Does this also show as jerkiness in zooming or scrolling the map,or only the actual frame rate number?

Your Nvidia driver is from 2021; please do a clean update:

- uninstall it with this tool https://developer.nvidia.com/cleanup-tool
- reboot
- install April 2024 https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
- reboot again
- unload geForce Experience if it loads then

Is that any better?

 

[werrec]

Do you still get the drops you mentioned too?

Does this also show as jerkiness in zooming or scrolling the map,or only the actual frame rate number?

Your Nvidia driver is from 2021; please do a clean update:

- uninstall it with this tool https://developer.nvidia.com/cleanup-tool
- reboot
- install April 2024 https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
- reboot again
- unload geForce Experience if it loads then

Is that any better?

Oh sorry i missed this driver, there are small drops when moving left and right or back and forth on the map, but they are not disturbing. My FPS approached +20 as before.

 

[AndrewT]

Great! All the best.