The Last of Us Part 1 Patch 1.0.4 Tested – Improved Performance and new PC settings

Is the Last of Us Part 1’s PC version fixed? No, but it is moving in the right direction

With Patch 1.0.4.0, The Last of Us Part 1 now runs a lot better on PC, and the game’s VRAM requirements have become a lot more reasonable than they were at launch. In addition to this, many of the game’s most irritating bugs have been eliminated, both by GPU driver updates and by game updates. We are happy to see that Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy have made a lot of progress with The Last of Us Part 1’s PC updates, though we would not go so far as to say that the game is fixed, at least not yet. 

With regards to shader compilation times, The Last of Us Part 1 does appear to make these times shorter, though this step still look a long time with our Ryzen  5 5600X processor. That said, 20-30 minutes is a lot better than 55 minutes, though I would like to see this time shortened further.

While patch 1.0.4.0 does deliver generic optimisations that allow the game’s CPU and GPU performance to improve throughout the game, the real innovation that comes with update 1.0.4.0 is The Last of Us Part 1 is the game’s new “Ambient Character Density” setting, which allows gamers to scale down the number of NPCs in non-combat sections of the game to unlock additional CPU headroom and boost game performance. Lowering this setting can dramatically increase game performance in The Last of US Part 1’s most demanding areas, and it is a must lower setting for gamers who do not own an ultra-high-end processor.

What surprises me most about The Last of Us Part 1’s Ambient Character Density setting is that lowering it does not dramatically impact the look and feel of The Last of Us Part 1’s affected areas, as NPC numbers remain suitably high in demanding scenes and I honestly did not notice the lack of ambient NPCs during gameplay. This setting is a great addition from Naughty Dog, and an effective way top reduce The Last of Us Part 1’s CPU loading. Well done Naughty Dog for adding this feature.

Had The Last of Us Part 1 launched in its current state, the game would not have received the same critical reception that it did at launch. Yes, the game is still a demanding title, and yes we feel that there is room for additional optimisation, but as of now many of the game’s most critical flaws have been mitigated. 

We hope that future patches will continue to improve The Last of Us Part 1’s performance on PC, as while great strides have been made, CPU performance remains a bugbear for many, and shader compilation times remain long.

You can join the discussion on The Last of Us Part 1’s patch 1.0.4.0 on the OC3D Forums.