How To Fix The Last of Us Part 1 Screen Flickering or Tearing Issue on PC?

M. Mateen
Mar 31, 2023

The Last of Us Part 1 is a critically acclaimed action-adventure survival game. While the PC version of the game brings several enhancements, some users have reported experiencing screen flickering or tearing issues, which can be frustrating and distracting.

This issue occurs when the game’s frame rate is not synchronized with the monitor’s refresh rate. The monitor updates its display at a fixed rate, which is measured in hertz (Hz). If the game’s frame rate is higher or lower than the monitor’s refresh rate, it can cause screen tearing or flickering.

In this article, we’ll discuss why this issue occurs and how to fix it.

Fix Screen Flickering or Tearing in The Last of Us Part 1 on a PC

Before trying the fixes, you need to follow some steps:

First, Restart your PC.
Update The Last of Us.
Update your windows to the latest version.

1. Enable V-sync

One of the easiest ways to fix screen flickering or tearing in The Last of Us Part 1 on PC is to enable VSync (Vertical Synchronization) in the game’s graphics settings.

Launch The Last of Us Part 1 on your PC.
Navigate to The Last of Us graphics settings.
Look for the V-sync option and turn it on.
Save the changes and restart the game.
Check if the screen flickering or tearing issue has been resolved.

2. Lower Graphics Settings

If V sync doesn’t improve much then try to lower the in-game graphics setting. There is an auto feature in The Last of Us that automatically set the most reliable setting. Use it.

3. Update Graphics Driver

Outdated graphics card drivers can cause performance issues and screen tearing or flickering in games.

Open the Device Manager on your PC.
Expand the Display Adapters category.
Right-click on your graphics card and select Update Driver.
Choose the option to automatically search for updated driver software.
Follow the prompts to install the latest graphics card drivers.
Restart your PC and launch The Last of Us Part 1.

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.

4. Disable Third-Party Software

Try disabling any background software, such as antivirus or screen recording software, to see if it resolves the issue.

Close The Last of Us Part 1 and any other programs running on your PC.
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager.
Go to the Processes tab and look for any background software that may be running.
Right-click on the software and select End Task.
Restart The Last of Us Part 1.
Check if the screen flickering or tearing issue has been resolved.

5. Disable Overlays

Try disabling any overlays you have enabled to see if it fixes the issue:

Open the application that is displaying the overlay (e.g., Discord, or GeForce Experience).
Navigate to the settings or options menu.
Find the overlay settings or options.
Turn off the overlay feature.
Save the changes and exit the application.
Launch Sons of the Forest and check if the screen flickering or tearing issue is resolved.

6. Adjust Your Screen Resolution

High screen resolutions can cause the screen to flicker or tear.

Right-click on your desktop and select Display settings from the dropdown menu.
In the Display settings window, scroll down to the Resolution section.
Use the slider to adjust the resolution to a lower setting.
Click on Apply to save the changes.
Launch The Last of Us Part 1 and check if the screen flickering or tearing issue has been resolved.

7. Verify Game Files

Verifying the game file is another solution that can help fix issues with The Last of Us Part 1 on PC, including screen flickering or tearing. Here are the steps to verify the game file:

Launch Steam on your PC.
Go to the Library tab and find The Last of Us Part 1.
Right-click on the game and select Properties from the dropdown menu.
In the Properties window, go to the Local Files tab.
Click on the Verify Integrity of Game Files button.
Wait for Steam to verify the game files. This may take a few minutes.
Once the verification process is complete, restart The Last of Us Part 1.

8. Set the Power Options to High Performance.

Simply select the High-Performance option under Power Options if your Windows PC is already operating in Balanced mode for better results.

Open Control Panel by searching it on Start.
Select Power Options from Hardware and Sound by going there now.
Click High Performance and close this window.
Now restart your computer.

9. Set High Priority

You can use the Task Manager to increase the priority of your game, which will help Windows allocate more system resources to it and improve its performance during execution.