Since the late March PC launch of The Last of Us Part 1, Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy have rolled out multiple patches to remedy the unoptimized and buggy mess players were met with. Review scores for The Last of Us Part 1 PlayStation 5 release were impressive, but the PC port, primarily handled by Iron Galaxy, was nowhere near the same level of quality.

Some players have demanded refunds for The Last of Us Part 1 on PC because of how poorly it ran. In an effort to get the PC port on the same playing field as consoles, a new patch – version 1.0.3.0 – has rolled out to clean up more of the woes still troubling the PC version. And while it certainly doesn’t cover everything that needs to be remedied, it’s still progress.

The 1.0.3.0 patch isn’t one that intends to solve all the port’s lingering issues, but it does hope to smooth out quite a few visual, audio, and UI problems that continue to plague players. Naughty Dog also implemented other in-game fixes throughout The Last of Us Part 1‘s story. Certain glitches that occur at the Lakeside Resort, Bus Depot, Bill’s Town, Tommy’s Dam, and The University have been patched. And fixes for problems that arose while playing the game’s Left Behind DLC have been rolled out too.

There are close to 50 bug fixes specifically listed within the v.1.0.3.0 PC patch notes. Lingering problems with Photo Mode and New Game+ have been addressed, as have issues with audio cues, latency, and glitches that occur as the game’s characters progress through various locations. The Last of Us Part 1 was downgraded on Steam Deck and reclassified as unsupported a few weeks ago, but compatibility continues to improve there as well.

Accessibility and localization fixes were included in the newest patch, along with fixes for bugs that would occur while running the game with high settings on Nvidia GPUs. Overall, it’s another step in the right direction for the PC version of this Naughty Dog remake. Hopefully, the project elevates itself from the poor The Last of Us Part 1 PC review scores it was greeted with at launch.

This certainly isn’t the end of Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy’s efforts to get The Last of Us Part 1 up to par. The teams note that they will continue to investigate issues and monitor player reports in an effort to eliminate lingering issues. And thus, the studios will work to keep optimizing, stabilizing, and rolling out fixes through future patches for the PC port of Naughty Dog’s classic title.

• Added new Audio Compatibility options (Options > Audio > Compatibility)
  • Output Mode: Adjust which sounds are played through the OS spatial sound driver. Select different settings if you experience muffled, missing, or unusually quiet audio. If you are experiencing abnormally quiet music or dialogue during cutscenes, for example, try the Spatial mode instead of the Hybrid default.
  • Latency: Adjust the short period of delay between when a sound effect is requested and when it plays. Higher latency improves reliability of audio playback, especially on lower spec CPUs. Increase this value if you are experiencing pops, clicks, or distorted sound. Higher latencies also resolve issues with audio interfaces configured with large buffer sizes and some wireless headphones. Note: You must restart the game for this change to take effect.
• Updated keyboard and mouse (KBM) controls to allow players to reassign arrow keys
• Updated the ‘Building Shaders %’ user interface (UI) so progress is tracked more evenly
• Restored audio in the End Credits that are accessed via the main game, Left Behind, or Extras Menu
• Fixed a crash that may occur when opening a collectible in the backpack UI then attempting to restart or quit the game
• Fixed a crash that may occur while sitting (for extended times) or entering into combat areas
• Fixed an issue where texture quality in-game appears lower then the targeted quality setting
• Fixed an issue where the player’s backpack UI could fail to render after altering Render Scale (Options > Display > Resolution Scaling > Scaling Mode > Render Scale)
• Fixed an issue where an enemy NPC may T-pose if Joel performs a single input quickturn while holding said enemy
• Fixed an issue where toggling player character’s flashlight may cause the environment to visibly shift momentarily
• Fixed an issue where using the flashlight in darker areas may make the lighting appear corrupted
• Fixed an issue where lighting and fog may appear lower resolution on Ultra settings
• Fixed an issue where VRAM usage UI did not properly update when lowering the display resolution
• Fixed an issue where water reflections may appear corrupted or pixelated
• Fixed an issue where the Quicktime Events UI prompts were not rendering on Minimum spec setups
• Fixed an issue where rapidly moving left and right while aiming may cause unintended camera shifts
• Fixed an issue where the Steam and Epic clients’ collectible tracking did not match the in-game collectible tracking, preventing achievements from unlocking
• Fixed an issue where, if playing at a higher FPS, player animations may not play correctly

• [Photo Mode] Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader would not register KBM ‘Move’ and ‘Rotate’ inputs
• [Photo Mode] Fixed an issue where the Performance stats’ heads-up display (HUD) would still be visible after hiding the menu
• [Lakeside Resort, Bus Depot] Increased active loading to reduce load times during gameplay
• [Bill’s Town] Fixed an issue where players may lose the ability to cancel their reload while hanging in Bill’s trap
• [Tommy’s Dam] Fixed an issue where interacting with the Training Manual forces the player to pick up the El Diablo gun and locks camera movement
• [The University] Fixed an issue where, after Joel kicks the door open, the melee prompt disappears while he struggles with an enemy NPC
• [Lakeside Resort] Fixed an issue where a loading screen may display during combat
• [Lakeside Resort] Fixed an issue where player is unable to melee with fists after the David boss fight
• [Bus Depot] Fixed an issue where pieces of geometry would appear corrupted or explode
• [New Game+] Fixed an issue where New Game+ mode would be ignored during chapter selection despite being the last loaded game

• Restored audio in the final flashback cutscene with Ellie and Riley
• Fixed a crash that occurs when turning on the generator while both Ellie and Joel have custom skins enabled
• Fixed an issue in the mall where the banners above the collapsed Pixitek store visibly flicker after leaving the pet store
• Fixed an issue where, after resizing the game to Windowed Mode, the Riley pendant would not maintain its aspect ratio while rotating

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to use Screen Magnifier with KBM controls

• [German] Updated the translation on the shaders UI
• [Simplified/Traditional Chinese] Fixed an issue where glyphs would not render properly

• Fixed an issue where the “Getting to Know You” achievement would not unlock during natural gameplay progression

• Fixed an issue where spores in the world may appear corrupted or blocky

• Fixed an issue where the native UI overlapped the ‘Look’ prompt
• Fixed an issue where the DualSense™ motion sensor function may not register the player shaking the camera to fix the flashlight when prompted
• [Left Behind] Increased the size of the Arcade’s mini-game button user interface

• Fixed an issue where toggling the player character’s flashlight may cause the environment to appear corrupted momentarily if AMD FSR 2 was enabled

• Fixed an issue where running the game on Ultra settings on Nvidia GPUs may cause graphical corruption or a crash during gameplay
• Fixed a crash that may occur when loading into a save on an Nvidia GPU
• Fixed an issue where changing NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution Sharpening settings had no effect
• [Nvidia 3070 GPU] Increased level of detail of characters’ hair to appear less choppy

The Last of Us Part 1 is currently available for PC and PlayStation 5.

Source: Naughty Dog