How To Fix The Last Of Us FPS Drop, Stuttering, Freezing Issues on PC?

M. Mateen
Mar 31, 2023

The Last of Us is one of the most beloved video games of all time, and its recent release on PC has given players a chance to experience the game in even greater detail. However, some players have been experiencing FPS drops, stuttering, and freezing issues while playing the game on their PC.

Several factors can contribute to FPS drops, stuttering, and freezing issues in The Last of Us on PC. Some of these factors include outdated drivers, system specifications, graphics settings, and other factors that can affect the overall gaming experience.

These issues can be frustrating and can detract from the overall gaming experience. Fortunately, there are a few steps that can be taken to fix these issues.

Fix The Last of Us FPS drops, stuttering, and freezing issues on PC

Before we dive into the fixes you must need to do these things:

First, Restart your PC.
Update The Last of Us.
Update your Windows OS to the latest version.
Run The Last of Us as an Administrator

If the problem persists then move to below mentioned fixes.

1. Check System Requirements

Before considering playing The Last of Us, it is important to check the system requirements as the game relies heavily on graphics.

MINIMUM:

OS: Windows 10 (Version 1909 or Newer)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, Intel Core i7-4770K
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 470 (4 GB), AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (4 GB), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (4 GB), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB)
Storage: 100 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD Recommended

RECOMMENDED:

OS: Windows 10 (Version 1909 or Newer)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, Intel Core i7-8700
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB), AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (8 GB), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (8 GB), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (8 GB)
Storage: 100 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD Recommended

2. Disable/Enable FSR or DLSS

To start optimizing your gameplay experience, it’s important to determine whether you require the FSR or DLSS features. If your graphics card is compatible, it’s advisable to enable these features as they can enhance performance. However, if these options are unavailable, you may encounter frame-rate issues that can only be resolved by the game developers.

3. Adjust Graphics Settings

Try lowering the resolution or disabling some of the more demanding graphics options to see if this improves performance.

Launch The Last of Us on your PC.
Navigate to the “Options” menu.
Select “Video” to access the graphics settings.
Try lowering the resolution, disabling anti-aliasing, lower texture, lower shadow, lowering the water effect, or turning off other demanding graphics options.
Apply the changes and test the game to see if performance has improved.

4. Update the Graphic Card

You can also typically download the latest drivers from your graphics card manufacturer’s website.

Right-click on the Start button and click on Device Manager.
Expand Display adapters by clicking the arrow button.
Right-click on the display driver and select Update driver.
Click on Search automatically for drivers and it will automatically update drivers.

Best Alternate To Update Graphics Driver

NVIDIA and AMD do release game-specific updates that you can download and install on your PC but it takes time.

Especially, if you are a newbie or you don’t have time or skills then there are chances that you might end up installing the wrong graphics drivers.

So we recommend downloading Driver Easy software on your PC. This program is a professional system driver updater that automatically scans a PC’s old driver and updates them instantly.

We have personally used this tool on our Windows 11 PC. The most favorite part is its outstanding scanning feature. You can instantly know which PC part needs to be updated.

The Driver Easy is an N0.1 software updater tool in its field with a mega database of more than 600000 drivers. Users have been using this tool for the last 12 years to fix their PC errors.

So download Driver Easy and let it deal with all the system drivers.

5. Set High Priority

This can improve the performance of The Last of Us:

Open The Last of Us on your PC.
Simultaneously press the “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” keys to open the Task Manager.
Click on the “Details” tab.
Find The Last of Us process by scrolling down the list or using the search function.
Right-click on the process and select “Set priority” from the context menu.
Select “High” from the submenu.
A warning message will appear informing you that setting the priority to high can cause other programs to run slower. Click “Change priority” to confirm.
Test the game to see if performance has improved.

6. Disabling Fullscreen Optimization

Follow these steps to disable Full-Screen Optimization that can help to solve the issue:

Right-click on The Last of Us shortcut or exe file and select “Properties“.
Navigate to the “Compatibility” tab.
Under the “Settings” section, check the box that says “Disable fullscreen optimizations“.
Click “Apply” and then “OK“.
Launch The Last of Us and test to see if the issue has been resolved.

7. Close Background App

Background apps can put a strain on your system resources and cause performance issues in The Last of Us on PC.

Open the “Task Manager” on your PC.
Navigate to the “Processes” tab.
Identify any unnecessary apps or processes that are using system resources.
Right-click on the app or process and select “End Task” to disable it.
Launch The Last of Us and see if performance has improved.

8. Use a Performance Optimization Tool

There are several performance optimization tools available that can help to improve the performance of The Last of Us on PC:

Download and install a reputable performance optimization tool, such as Razer Cortex or CCleaner.
Launch the tool and navigate to the performance optimization section.
Run the tool to identify and fix any performance issues automatically.
Restart your PC and launch The Last of Us to see if performance has improved.

9. Verify The Last Of Us

Here are the steps to verify The Last of Us game files:

Open Steam and go to your library.
Right-click on The Last of Us and select “Properties“.
Navigate to the “Local Files” tab.
Click on the “Verify Integrity of Game Files” button.
Wait for Steam to verify the game files. This process may take several minutes to complete.
Once the verification process is complete, restart your PC and launch The Last of Us to see if your performance has improved.

10. Limit FPS

Putting a cap on FPs before playing a game is quite useful to resolve stuttering, freezing, or framerate drop. You can give it a try. In case you are using the Nvidia control panel then there is also an option under “Manage 3D Settings.”

11. Switch to Borderless or Windowed Mode

It is recommended to switch between fullscreen borderless and windowed bordered display modes from the in-game settings menu to ensure smooth performance of the game files, depending on your screen resolution and PC specifications.

This simple tweak has helped some players improve their gameplay experience, so it may be worth trying out for yourself.