Manor Lords seems surprisingly stable for an early access game, and the developer says: '99% crashes so far are old drivers'

GamesCity BuilderManor LordsManor Lords seems surprisingly stable for an early access game, and the developer says: ‘99% crashes so far are old drivers’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Slavic Magic)

A medieval village

The game of the moment? The medieval city builder, Manor Lords, of course. The game burst into early access over the weekend and has so far sold over one million copies on Steam. Moreover, it reached a high point for strategy games at over 170,000 players playing at once. With figures like that, for a game in early access, I’ve come to expect reports of performance issues. Yet there have been surprisingly few. Of those, the developer says, most ending up in a system crash are the result of outdated drivers.

“99% crashes so far are old drivers. And when people say ‘I updated the drivers’, I check logs and see old drivers,” the Manor Lords official account says on X.

All three GPU manufacturers have released driver packages with optimisations for Manor Lords:

Nvidia, AMD, nor Intel list any specific performance increases in Manor Lords with the latest driver packages, but that’s no reason not to upgrade. If your drivers are any older than those listed above, you’d best update for the smoothest experience.

C:\Users[Username]\AppData\Local\ManorLords\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor

Open that file with a text editor, even the Notepad app will do, and remove the line in there to prevent FSR being used on game boot.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

(Image credit: Future)

Manor Lords settings.ini file open in Notepad.

This issue will reportedly receive a fix with a future update.

FSR should be a boon to performance, as an upscaling technology designed to render the game at a lower resolution and make up the detail using its own clever algorithm. But how well it plays on older GPUs all depends on the game. If you are already seeing decent performance on an older GPU in a given game, chances are FSR might help you push your frame rate a bit further. However, if you cannot reach a decent frame rate without FSR, the technology doesn’t often help much.

Speaking of which, there are threads over on Reddit that suggest Manor Lords is fairly easy-going on older and entry-level graphics cards.One poster saysthey’re seeing decent performance out of the early access game at 1440p on a GTX 980 Ti, which was a great card back in its day, but is getting on a bit now.Another saysthey’re seeing solid 1080p performance on a mobile GTX 1660 Ti.

Those are just a few anecdotal reports to go from, but there aren’t many complaints about performance to go off. Flicking through the game’s reviews on Steam, some comment onhow stable the game is, in fact. Inour experience so far with the game, performance hasn’t really ended up on anyone’s radar. It’s been working just fine for us even onIntel’s Arc A770, a card not known for its historical stability. The worst I’ve come across is a thread with a handful of players complaining the gamemakes their PC turn off, which is admittedly quite a serious concern, but does not appear to be affecting a huge number of players.

Manor Lords system requirementsare “mercifully modest”, which might go some way to explaining why it’s running smoothly on plenty of systems.

Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.

Best gaming PCBest gaming laptop

Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.

TOPICSHardware

TOPICS

More about city builderI played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor LordsLatestSorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our faultSee more latest►

More about city builderI played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

More about city builder

I played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

A city near a waterfall

I played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favorites

Best City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

LatestSorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our faultSee more latest►

Latest

Sorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our fault

Herobrine standing in front of a foggy forest

Sorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our fault

See more latest►

Most PopularMSI intros cheaper ‘back connect’ Project Zero Intel motherboards for super-clean PC builds you might actually be able to affordThermaltake’s new 2000 W PSU is too powerful to be sold in the USA and comes with four PCIe 5.0 GPU power connectorsAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortageThis Jinx-inspired gaming PC is my favorite of CES 2025 and I’m head over heels for the hardwareHarrowing report alleges years of horrific abuse at Brandoville Studios, an Indonesian support studio that worked on Assassin’s Creed Shadows and The Last of Us RemakeTencent says it’s not a Chinese military company and is willing to sue the US Department of Defense if it isn’t removed from a blacklistAll Zenless Zone Zero 1.5 livestream codesAsus reveals three new Slash Travel Bags for carting around your ROG Ally—however, none of them are particularly fashion forwardToday’s Wordle answer for Friday, January 10We may not have a roadmap or balance patch just yet, but at least Path of Exile 2’s bugfix patch notes are funnyDeus Ex: Mankind Divided writer didn’t like the ending either: ‘Nothing is resolved’

Most Popular

MSI intros cheaper ‘back connect’ Project Zero Intel motherboards for super-clean PC builds you might actually be able to afford

Thermaltake’s new 2000 W PSU is too powerful to be sold in the USA and comes with four PCIe 5.0 GPU power connectors

AMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage

This Jinx-inspired gaming PC is my favorite of CES 2025 and I’m head over heels for the hardware

Harrowing report alleges years of horrific abuse at Brandoville Studios, an Indonesian support studio that worked on Assassin’s Creed Shadows and The Last of Us Remake

Tencent says it’s not a Chinese military company and is willing to sue the US Department of Defense if it isn’t removed from a blacklist

All Zenless Zone Zero 1.5 livestream codes

Asus reveals three new Slash Travel Bags for carting around your ROG Ally—however, none of them are particularly fashion forward

Today’s Wordle answer for Friday, January 10

We may not have a roadmap or balance patch just yet, but at least Path of Exile 2’s bugfix patch notes are funny

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided writer didn’t like the ending either: ‘Nothing is resolved’

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals