If you’ve dived into The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PC and were brought down by lag, frame drops, or infuriating stutters fear not, you’re not the only one. While the game is absolutely gorgeous, it is a little demanding, particularly on low VRAM GPUs such as the RTX 3050 4GB, GTX 1650, or RX 580 4GB.
Luckily, the gaming community has stepped in once again. With some intelligent tweaks, bug fixes, and community-made mods (all of which are available primarily on Nexus Mods), you can greatly improve performance and play at silky-smooth 60 FPS even on mid-range hardware.
Optimization and freeze fix for The Last of Us Part II Grab it from Nexus Mods
Recompiled built-in GPU decompression shaders with DXC version 1.8.2405.
Bug Fixes
- Fix deadlock in built-in decompression threadpool.
- Disable asserts for release builds.
- Fix race condition in file IO stack when multiple threads were submitting read requests.
- Fix race condition that would, in some rare circumstances, cause DirectStorage to stop processing requests when the CPU is under high load.
- Change DirectStorage worker thread to wakeup periodically and process requests to catch rare cases where processing has stopped.
Low VRAM Optimization: 4GB GPU Mod Grab it from Nexus Mods
With a 4GB VRAM GPU like a GTX 1060 or RTX 3050? You’re in luck. There’s a custom 60 FPS Optimized Settings Config available for you.
This fan-made mod is a godsend for owners of low to mid-range graphics cards. It is a basic.reg file that simply places optimized values directly into the Windows Registry because The Last of Us Part II Remastered does not employ standard.ini config files.
What the mod does:
- Utilizes performance-optimized graphics settings tuned for 60 FPS
- Removes unwanted visual effects for a clean image
- Turns off vignette effect, eliminating those dark corners on screen
- Runs perfectly fine on GTX 1650, RX 580 4GB, GTX 1060, and RTX 3050 4GB
How to use it:
- Download the.reg file from the mod page (see Nexus Mods).
- Double-click the file.
- Accept the offer to add the settings to your registry.
- Launch the game and enjoy smoother performance!
- Smooth Performance on the Best Low-End Settings on Low-End GPUs
- Other than the mod, here are some in-game manual adjustments you can make (if necessary):
- Texture Quality: Low or Medium
- Shadow Quality: Low
- Ambient Occlusion: Off
- Depth of Field: Off
- V-Sync: Off (unless you experience screen tearing)
- Render Resolution: 85-90%
- These adjustments strike a balance between fidelity and performance visually so that you can play the game without incessant stutters or below 60 FPS dips.
Last-Minute Tips: Smooth Out Your Experience
Update your GPU drivers (especially with NVIDIA and AMD now providing game-ready drivers).
Close background applications like Discord overlays, browsers, or recording programs.
Set the game as “High” priority in Task Manager.
Turn on Windows Game Mode to unlock the additional performance enhancement. Conclusion With a little tweak here and there, some community magic, and the right settings, The Last of Us Part II Remastered can be simply breathtaking even on 4GB VRAM GPUs. On a GTX 1060 or RTX 3050, these tweaks can breathe new life into your experience. So go ahead and fire up your game, install these patches, and enjoy Ellie’s journey the way it was intended smooth, immersive, and stutter-free.