Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Southeast Asia
40-200ms to Singapore Azure- ISPs in Philippines (PLDT, Converge) route traffic suboptimally to Singapore Azure, resulting in 120-200ms+ ping
- Small regional player pool means matchmaking sometimes pairs players across SEA and East Asia servers
- Lockstep model amplifies jitter — even brief routing instability causes simulation pauses visible to all players
South America (outside Brazil)
80-200ms to Brazil South Azure- Players outside Brazil (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru) connect to Brazil South with 100-200ms depending on ISP routing
- Small player pool means cross-region matchmaking into US East or EU West is common, increasing latency further
- Lockstep simulation stalls caused by jitter on South American ISP transoceanic links
Middle East / North Africa
80-150ms to West Europe Azure- No dedicated AoE4 server in Middle East — players connect to West Europe or India with 80-150ms
- Routes through multiple ISP handoffs before reaching Azure West Europe
- Players often forced to choose between latency (EU closer) and player pool (EU has most population)
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Check your server ping in the AoE4 main menu
1. Launch Age of Empires IV 2. On the main menu, find the connection bar in the bottom-left corner 3. Click it to open the server region selector 4. You will see your ping to each available region 5. Select the region with the lowest ping that still has a reasonable player pool 6. Note: the region showing lowest ping may not always have the best routing quality — if you experience stalls after selecting it, try the next lowest
Identifies if you're connected to a suboptimal region. Switching from a 180ms region to an 80ms region reduces your input delay by roughly 100ms.
02 Switch to Ethernet and eliminate WiFi jitter
1. Connect your PC to your router with an Ethernet cable 2. In Windows Settings > Network & Internet, disable your WiFi adapter 3. Launch AoE4 and start a multiplayer match 4. Observe if the periodic 'freeze' or simulation pauses disappear 5. WiFi jitter is especially damaging in lockstep games — even a 2.4GHz interference spike can stall the match
Eliminates the primary cause of lockstep simulation stalls for WiFi users. A single WiFi packet delay can freeze the game for all players in the lobby.
03 Close background applications before ranked matches
Pause downloads, close streaming services, and disable cloud sync (OneDrive) before launching a ranked game. Even brief bandwidth spikes can cause packet delay in the lockstep model.
Prevents bandwidth competition that causes the lockstep simulation to stall for all players in your match
General network tips (not Age of Empires IV-specific)
04 Open AoE4 firewall ports
1. Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security (search in Start) 2. Create Inbound Rules for: - TCP ports: 3478, 5222, 8888 - UDP ports: 3478, 5222, 9999 3. If using Steam, also allow TCP 27015, 27036 and UDP 27015, 27031-27036 4. Restart Age of Empires IV 5. Check connection bar — NAT type should improve
Resolves connection issues caused by strict NAT. Proper port access ensures you connect to dedicated relay servers instead of P2P fallback, which typically has higher and less stable latency.
05 Run Windows Network Diagnostics and flush DNS
1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator 2. Run: ipconfig /flushdns 3. Run: netsh winsock reset 4. Run: netsh int ip reset 5. Restart your PC 6. This resolves routing issues from stale DNS entries and corrupted network state
Fixes sudden connectivity degradation that can occur after Windows updates or long uptime. Quick 2-minute fix that sometimes resolves persistent Xbox Live connection issues.
06 Verify Xbox Live / PlayFab server status
1. Visit https://www.ageofempires.com/aoe-server-status/ to check if AoE servers are down 2. Also check https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live-status for Xbox Live status 3. During scheduled maintenance (usually Wednesdays), multiplayer is unavailable 4. Announcements are posted at https://forums.ageofempires.com
Confirms whether connectivity issues are on your end or the server side. No fix needed if it's a server outage — just wait.
07 Set QoS on your router to prioritize UDP port 9999
Access router admin panel, enable QoS, and prioritize UDP traffic on port 9999 (RelicCardinal.exe). Some routers allow application-level prioritization by process name.
Ensures AoE4 game packets are processed first during household bandwidth contention — reduces jitter under load
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Age of Empires IV automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Age of Empires IV by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.