The Last of Us Part I PC performance fixes for stuttering, crashes and low FPS

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If The Last of Us Part I stutters, crashes while building shaders, or runs at unexpectedly low FPS, use this order: update the game, let shader compilation finish, install the current public driver for your GPU, lower settings that match the actual bottleneck, and only then choose an upscaling or frame-generation mode. The latest PC patch listed by Naughty Dog is v1.1.5, released July 3, 2025. It includes general performance optimizations, crash fixes, stability improvements, and AMD FSR 4 support for compatible Radeon GPUs.

Do not judge normal gameplay while shaders are still being built. Shader compilation can cause long waits and first-run hitching, but it is different from a continuing CPU, GPU, VRAM, or storage bottleneck. Crashes also need symptom-specific diagnosis: an AMD shader-build crash, an Intel Arc boot crash, an NVIDIA Ultra-setting crash, and a low-FPS problem are not the same failure.

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Use this troubleshooting order first

1. Update the game. Install the newest build offered by your storefront. Naughty Dog’s PC patch history contains repeated performance, shader, and stability fixes, so testing an older build can send you toward the wrong solution.
2. Complete shader compilation. After a fresh installation or an update that triggers a rebuild, leave the process running. Do not interrupt it unless the game has clearly stopped responding for an unusually long period.
3. Update the GPU driver. Use the current publicly released driver for your AMD, NVIDIA, or Intel GPU, restart the computer, and test again. Historical patch notes identify older driver-specific conflicts; those version numbers should not be treated as current advice in 2026.
4. Establish a conservative baseline. Use the Very Low preset, keep resolution and display mode fixed, and test a repeatable scene. Raise one group of settings at a time after the baseline is stable.
5. Match the fix to the bottleneck. Lower texture and streaming controls for VRAM pressure, effects and lighting controls for GPU pressure, and crowd or AI controls for CPU pressure.
6. Choose upscaling deliberately. FSR Super Resolution can improve rendering headroom; frame generation can increase displayed frames but is not a replacement for adequate base performance and may be unsuitable for latency-sensitive play.

There is no responsible universal FPS percentage for these changes. Results depend on the CPU, GPU, VRAM capacity, output resolution, driver, game build, and the scene being tested.

Confirm the current PC patch before changing anything

Naughty Dog’s official PC patch index lists v1.1.5 above v1.1.4, v1.1.3.1, v1.1.3, v1.1.2, v1.1.1, and v1.1.0. The latest listed release is v1.1.5 on July 3, 2025. Its general notes list various performance optimizations, crash fixes, and stability improvements. It also adds AMD FSR 4 support for compatible AMD Radeon GPUs and reports the FSR version according to driver information.

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Earlier releases explain why updating is the first step:

If the launcher reports an older build, update before interpreting a crash or stutter. A patch may change shader data and settings behavior, so comparing an old installation with a current one is not a clean diagnosis.

Why shader compilation causes stutter and crashes

The game builds shaders so it can prepare effects for your specific graphics hardware and driver. A fresh install, a driver change, or a patch can make this preparation run again. During that period you may see a progress screen, long loading, or severe hitching when a new effect first appears.

Let the build finish after an update

Patch v1.1.0 explicitly warns that the update triggers a full shader rebuild. Patch v1.0.5 reduced shader-building times and fixed crashes that could happen before compilation completed. Therefore, wait for the build to reach completion, then restart the game if it requests one. Do not evaluate ordinary gameplay FPS until the process is finished.

Separate first-run hitching from a persistent bottleneck

Once compilation completes, play the same area for several minutes. If hitching steadily decreases and then stops, the shader process was likely the main cause. If frame time remains high in every scene, investigate CPU, GPU, VRAM, or streaming limits instead. Lowering every visual setting cannot repair a driver conflict or an interrupted shader build.

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If shader building crashes

1. Install the latest game patch available in your storefront.
2. Install the current public driver for your GPU and reboot.
3. Start the game again and allow the compilation stage to run without switching repeatedly between applications.
4. If it fails again, record the GPU vendor, the exact point of failure, and whether the crash happens before the build starts, during the build, or after reaching the menu.
5. Use the vendor-specific guidance below rather than applying a blanket rollback or a universal preset recommendation.

Identify the limiting resource before lowering settings

Low FPS on a powerful-looking PC is usually a resource mismatch, not proof that one setting is universally broken. Keep the resolution, refresh rate, and test location constant while changing one control group. A repeatable scene makes it easier to tell a genuine improvement from normal frame-time variation.

• GPU-limited symptoms: the GPU is close to full utilization, frame rate falls in effects-heavy or lighting-heavy scenes, and reducing effects, dynamic lights, or output resolution helps.
• CPU-limited symptoms: busy scenes with many characters or active simulation cause drops while GPU utilization has unused headroom. Crowd density and AI Quality are the relevant first tests.
• VRAM-limited symptoms: texture quality or streaming changes cause hitching, delayed texture detail, or instability. Lower texture quality and Texture Streaming Rate before sacrificing every other visual setting.
• Shader-related symptoms: hitching is concentrated on first encounters with effects or immediately after a patch and improves after compilation completes.
• Storage or streaming symptoms: loading and asset streaming are unusually slow when the game is installed on a hard disk drive. An SSD can improve those conditions, but it cannot repair insufficient VRAM, a CPU limit, a driver fault, or a game bug.

Graphics settings that give you useful headroom

Naughty Dog exposed several scalability controls across its PC patches. Use Very Low as a diagnostic baseline, not as a permanent requirement. If Very Low makes the game stable, raise settings in groups so you can identify which resource is being exhausted.

These controls are documented options, not guaranteed FPS multipliers. A setting that helps a VRAM-limited GPU may do little for a CPU-limited system, and the same option can behave differently at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.

A practical escalation sequence

1. Apply Very Low and keep the display resolution unchanged.
2. If the game is now stable, raise texture quality first only if VRAM monitoring shows comfortable headroom.
3. Raise crowd density and AI Quality together only after CPU-heavy scenes remain smooth.
4. Raise Effects Density and Dynamic Lights Quality while testing scenes that actually use those effects.
5. Adjust Texture Streaming Rate last, because streaming behavior can be mistaken for shader or storage problems.

Use FSR and frame generation according to your priorities

FSR support expanded through several patches. The game includes AMD FSR3 Super Resolution and Frame Generation from v1.1.3, improved FSR3 Frame Generation support in v1.1.3.1, FSR3.1 Super Resolution and Frame Generation in v1.1.4, and FSR4 support for compatible AMD Radeon GPUs in v1.1.5.

Compare modes using three criteria: output image quality, input latency, and frame-time stability. For a latency-sensitive player, a lower but natively rendered frame rate can feel preferable to generated frames. For a cinematic single-player experience, smoother presentation may be worth the trade-off if controls still feel responsive. Change one mode at a time and test the same scene after shaders have completed.

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Crash troubleshooting by when the game fails

Crash during shader building

Allow the build to finish on a current game version and current public GPU driver. AMD shader-building crashes were specifically addressed in the PC patch history, so AMD users should not assume that lowering every graphics option is the answer. If the crash repeats, note whether it occurs at the same percentage or shader stage and include that detail when seeking support.

Crash at boot or before the menu

Verify the game update and driver first. Intel users should pay particular attention because official notes document multiple Intel GPU crash fixes, including an Intel Arc boot-crash fix. Remove unusual beta or insider drivers when a known conflict is suspected; do not roll back every NVIDIA or AMD system automatically.

Crash when opening graphics options or applying changes

Reset settings cautiously and apply changes in smaller groups. Start from Very Low, restart if the game requests it, and change one control at a time. A crash tied to a specific menu action or setting change is different from a crash that happens only after a long session.

Crash while loading a save

Naughty Dog documented historical NVIDIA save-loading crashes. Use the current public driver and current game build first. Treat any old driver-specific workaround as historical: only consider it if the same conflict can still be reproduced and current support guidance confirms it.

Crash in a particular chapter or after a long session

Check the official patch notes for location- or session-specific fixes before changing unrelated settings. Record the chapter, activity, approximate play time, and whether the failure is repeatable. That information narrows the diagnosis more effectively than reporting only that the game ‘randomly’ crashed.

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Vendor-specific checks

AMD Radeon and Ryzen systems

AMD-related notes include shader-building crash fixes, CPU and GPU fixes in earlier releases, and the later expansion of FSR support. Use a compatible current public driver, let shaders finish, and distinguish a build-time crash from ordinary low FPS. If the game reaches normal gameplay but remains slow, use the bottleneck sequence: texture and streaming controls for VRAM pressure, effects and lights for GPU pressure, and crowd or AI controls for CPU pressure.

NVIDIA GeForce systems

Official notes document crashes involving Ultra settings, save loading, and a historical conflict with a particular NVIDIA Insider driver. These are not grounds for telling every NVIDIA user to roll back. Prefer the current public driver unless the same conflict is reproduced. If Ultra is the trigger, establish stability at Very Low, then raise settings in groups rather than jumping directly back to Ultra.

Intel graphics, including Arc

Intel users should verify both the current game build and current driver before lowering every option. The PC notes document multiple Intel GPU crash fixes and a specific Intel Arc boot-crash fix. Once the game is stable, use the same CPU, GPU, VRAM, and streaming tests as any other system; vendor identity alone does not identify the bottleneck.

When an SSD is worth considering

Steam’s official technical-support listing marks an SSD as recommended in the PC system requirements. If the game is installed on a hard disk drive, moving it to solid-state storage can improve installation, loading, and asset-streaming conditions. A 1TB NVMe SSD is a reasonable search phrase for a reader who needs additional fast capacity, but storage is an enabling upgrade, not a guaranteed cure.

An SSD will not by itself fix shader compilation, a driver fault, insufficient VRAM, a CPU limit, or a game bug. Before buying an M.2 NVMe drive, check that the motherboard has a compatible M.2 slot, that there is enough free capacity, and that an internal SATA SSD is not the better fit for the available connectors and budget. If the game is already on an SSD and the symptoms are shader crashes or low GPU utilization, investigate software and hardware limits before replacing storage.

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How to verify that a change actually worked

1. Use one repeatable test. Choose the same chapter, area, camera angle, and activity. Avoid comparing a quiet corridor with a crowded combat encounter.
2. Wait for shaders. After every update or driver change that causes a rebuild, complete compilation before recording results.
3. Change one variable group. Do not change resolution, preset, FSR mode, and driver at the same time or you will not know which change mattered.
4. Record frame-time behavior, not only the highest FPS. Note average smoothness, severe hitching, and whether the problem appears when entering a new area or during sustained action.
5. Retest after a restart. A setting that appears stable only in one session may not survive a clean launch or shader rebuild.
6. Keep a rollback point. Write down the previous preset and FSR mode so you can return to a known-good configuration if a new combination causes crashes.

Common mistakes that waste time

• Judging performance before shader compilation finishes. This confuses a one-time preparation step with a permanent bottleneck.
• Using an old driver number as universal advice. Patch notes mention historical driver conflicts; current public drivers change over time.
• Lowering textures first on a CPU-limited system. Texture changes cannot solve crowd or AI simulation costs.
• Turning on frame generation to hide a weak base frame rate. Generated frames do not remove the rendering work that produces the real frames and may increase perceived latency.
• Assuming an SSD fixes every stutter. It helps storage throughput and streaming conditions, not every software or hardware fault.
• Changing many settings at once. Without a controlled test, a perceived improvement may simply reflect a different scene or a completed shader cache.

Recommended decision paths

If the game stutters only on the first run or after an update

Update to the current build, complete shader compilation, restart, and retest the same scene. Do not buy hardware or reduce every setting until you know whether the hitching persists after the build finishes.

If FPS is low everywhere

Start at Very Low, keep resolution fixed, and determine whether GPU or CPU frame time is dominant. Lower effects, Dynamic Lights Quality, or upscaling for a GPU limit; lower crowd density or AI Quality for a CPU limit; lower textures and Texture Streaming Rate for VRAM pressure.

If FPS is acceptable but new areas hitch

Check shader completion and storage conditions, then test texture and streaming controls. An SSD may help when the installation is on an HDD, but verify that the game is not still rebuilding shaders or encountering a driver issue.

If the game crashes

Classify the failure by timing, update the game and driver, and apply the vendor-specific branch. Avoid universal rollbacks and avoid assuming that one graphics preset fixes all crash types.

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