Best graphics settings to run TLoU Part 1 on Low, High PC

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The Last of Us Part 1 is an incredible gaming experience that pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling. However, to fully immerse yourself in the beauty of this game, you need to balance performance and visuals—especially if you’re running a low or high-end PC. In this short guide, we’ll break down the best graphics settings for TLoU Part 1, ensuring you enjoy smooth gameplay without compromising on visuals, no matter what kind of PC you have.

Optimizing Graphics for Performance & Visuals

When adjusting graphics settings, the goal is to find that sweet spot between performance (smooth framerates) and visual fidelity. Let’s go over the optimal settings for both low and high-end systems.

Display Settings

  • Display Mode: Borderless Windowed
    Opting for borderless windowed mode ensures a seamless experience when alt-tabbing while maintaining a stable frame rate.

  • Display Resolution: Native
    Always select your monitor's native resolution for the best image clarity and sharpness.

  • V-Sync: Off
    While V-Sync can reduce screen tearing, it can also introduce input lag and lower frame rates. Turn it off to keep your game smooth.

  • Framerate Cap: Unlocked
    Allow the game to run as fast as your hardware can manage. However, ensure that your monitor’s refresh rate matches the frame output to avoid tearing (e.g., 60Hz for 60 FPS, or 144Hz for higher frame rates).

Resolution Scaling

  • Scaling Mode: Nvidia DLSS Super Resolution
    For a balance of performance and quality, Nvidia's DLSS upscaling technology is a game-changer, especially on lower-end PCs. Set it to Quality for crisp visuals with a significant boost to performance.

Graphics and Visual Effects Settings

Effects

  • Field of View: 0
    Keeping the FOV at its default will provide the most cinematic experience, with less strain on your GPU.

  • Motion Blur: 0
    Motion blur can create a more cinematic feel, but it also eats up resources. Turn it off for a clearer image during fast-paced action.

  • Film Grain Intensity: 0
    Film grain is a stylistic choice, but it can muddy the visuals, especially on lower-end hardware. Keep it off for cleaner graphics.

Graphics Preset

  • Custom
    Instead of using the default presets, manually adjust settings for optimal performance tailored to your system's capabilities.

Animation Settings

  • Animation Quality: Medium
    Set animation quality to medium for smooth character and object animations, without causing heavy GPU strain.

Geometry Settings

  • Draw Distance: Medium
    This adjusts how far out in the environment objects and textures are drawn. Medium keeps it balanced for a cleaner, more detailed world without draining your GPU.

  • Dynamic Object Level of Detail: Low
    Lowering the dynamic object detail reduces the amount of detail required for objects in the distance.

  • Characters Level of Detail: Medium
    Keep character models detailed enough without overwhelming your system.

  • Environments Level of Detail: Medium
    Similar to characters, a medium setting ensures that environmental details remain rich but not too taxing.

Texture Settings

  • Dynamic Objects Texture Quality: Ultra
    For high-end systems, keep this at Ultra for the sharpest textures. If you’re on a low-end system, you might want to reduce this to High for better performance.

  • Characters Texture Quality: Ultra
    Keep it at Ultra to make character models look as detailed and lifelike as possible.

  • Environment Texture Quality: Ultra
    Ultra texture settings will make the environment come to life, giving it incredible depth and detail.

  • Visual Effects Texture Quality: Ultra
    This setting affects special effects like explosions and weather effects. Set to Ultra for the most immersive experience.

  • Texture Filtering: Anisotropic 16x
    Anisotropic filtering improves texture clarity, particularly at oblique angles. This provides excellent image quality without a massive performance hit.

  • Texture Sampling Quality: Ultra
    Ensures textures look crisp even up close.

Lighting Settings

  • Ambient Shadows Quality: Quarter Resolution
    Reducing shadow quality helps keep your system from being overburdened. Quarter resolution provides enough realism while improving frame rates.

  • Directional Shadow Resolution: Low
    Shadows are important for atmosphere, but lowering their resolution can drastically improve performance without much noticeable loss in quality.

  • Directional Shadow Distance: Low
    Keep the shadow distance low to prevent excessive rendering of distant shadows.

  • Image-Based Lighting: Off
    Turn off image-based lighting for better performance, especially on lower-end systems.

  • Spotlights and Point Lights Shadow Resolution: Low
    These can cause a significant performance hit. Setting them to low is a good compromise.

  • Screen Space Shadows Quality: Medium
    Medium strikes a good balance between quality and performance for screen space shadows.

  • Dynamic Screen Space Shadows: On
    Enable this for dynamic shadows that adjust as the environment changes.

  • Contact Shadow Quality: Medium
    Medium quality gives good shadow depth without overtaxing your system.

  • Ambient Occlusion: On
    Turn on screen space ambient occlusion for richer lighting effects.

  • Ambient Occlusion Denoise Quality: Low
    Keeping this setting low ensures your system doesn’t struggle with ambient occlusion noise while still providing enhanced lighting.

Reflections Settings

  • Screen Space Reflection: Off
    While reflections are visually stunning, turning them off can free up GPU resources. If you want reflections, opt for other settings that don't affect performance as much.

  • Real-Time Clouds Shadow Reflections: Off
    Disable this to further boost performance without sacrificing too much visual appeal.

Shading Settings

  • Screen Space Subsurface Scattering: Off
    Turning off subsurface scattering reduces unnecessary graphical detail, boosting performance.

  • Reflection Quality: Half Resolution
    Set reflections to half resolution for acceptable quality without taxing the GPU.

Post-Effects Settings

  • Depth of Field: Off
    Depth of field can look beautiful, but it’s best to turn it off for smoother gameplay.

  • Motion Blur Quality: Off
    Similar to motion blur, it’s best turned off to reduce strain on your system.

  • Bloom Resolution: Half Resolution
    Lowering bloom resolution will reduce its impact while maintaining a pleasant visual effect.

Visual Effects Settings

  • Volumetric Effects Quality: Medium
    Volumetric effects like smoke and fog can add immersion but can also cause performance drops. Set it to medium for a good balance.

  • Lens Flare: Half Resolution
    Lowering lens flare resolution reduces its impact on performance while keeping the effect noticeable.

Conclusion: Tailored Settings for Your PC

By following this guide, you can maximize the performance of The Last of Us Part 1 on your PC, whether you’re running a low-end rig or a high-end powerhouse. Lower-end PCs will benefit from reduced settings in shadow quality, texture resolution, and disabling some of the more demanding features like reflections. On the other hand, high-end PCs can indulge in ultra settings, including textures, lighting, and effects, to enjoy the game in all its visual glory.

Happy gaming!

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