How To Fix The Last Of Us Crashing on Startup or Won’t Launch on PC

This year The Last of Us remained the most awaited survival horror zombie game for PC users. With its stunning story, graphics, and action The Last of Us Part I has already broke selling records on PS4/ PS5.

Now that the game is released on Windows PC player, the reports are coming in that when launching The last of Us crashes on startup. This can be frustrating, especially for players who have been eagerly awaiting the release of this game.

Most of the time The Last of Us startup crashing issues on PCs occurs randomly with or without showing an error message. If you are also dealing with this situation then don’t worry.

Why Do The Last Of Us Keep Crashing on Startup on PC?

If the Last of Us Part I on Windows 10/11 keeps crashing on startup then the probable causes are:

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• Outdated Graphics Card Driver: An outdated graphics card driver could be the reason why The Last Of Us crashes during startup. The graphics card driver plays a crucial role in rendering graphics and images on the screen, and if it’s not up-to-date, it can cause compatibility problems with the game.
• Corrupted Game Files: Corrupted or damaged game files of The Last of Us can result in a startup crash. Factors such as interrupted downloads, malfunctioning storage devices, or malware infections can cause such file damage.
• System Requirements: If your PC does not meet the minimum system requirements for The Last Of Us, the game may not run properly and could crash on startup.

How to Fix The Last Of Us Crashing on Startup on PC?

Here are some solutions that you can try to fix The Last Of Us crashing on startup on a PC.

1. Check System Requirements

As the game is new with improved graphics so it requires the latest hardware to run smoothly on PC. In case your PC lacks the system requirements you are bound to face startup crashing issues.

Before applying more advanced tips it’s best to first check the Last of Us system requirements.

2. Update Graphics Card Driver

To avoid startup crashes while playing The Last Of Us, it is advisable to check whether your graphics card driver is up to date and upgrade it if needed. You can go to the website of your graphics card manufacturer and download the latest driver for your specific graphics card model.

Best Alternate To Update Graphics Driver

Although NVIDIA and AMD release game-specific updates that you can download and install on your PC it takes time.

Also updating the graphics card drivers is a time-consuming task, and if you are a newbie you can end up installing the wrong 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.

The Driver Easy is an N0.1 software updater tool in its field and for 12 years users are using it to fix their PC errors.

So download Driver Easy and let it deal with all the system drivers.

3. Turn off Overclocking

If you have overclocked your CPU or GPU, you should turn it off and revert to the default clock speed settings. Overclocking can cause instability in your system and lead to crashes when launching The Last Of Us on a PC.

4. Close Unnecessary App

Third-party apps like antivirus software, streaming or screen recorder, or performance monitoring tools end to interfere with the game process. If you have recently installed any of such tools then uninstall it and then play the game.

5. Verify Game Files

You can verify the game files of The Last Of Us to check if they are corrupted or damaged.

• Open Steam and click the Library tab. Then right-click Resident Evil 4 Remake and select Properties.
• Click LOCAL FILES in the left tab, and select Verify integrity of game files…
• Click on the “Begin Scan” button to start the scan.
• Now wait for the process to complete

6. Disable Windows Security Temporarily

In most cases, Windows security or firewall thinks the game is a threat hence preventing it from launching. So you need to disable Windows security temporarily.

1. Open Windows Security by typing “Windows Security” in the search bar and clicking on the app.
2. Click on “Virus & threat protection” in the left menu.
3. Under “Virus & threat protection settings,” click on “Manage settings.”
4. Scroll down to the “Exclusions” section and click on “Add or remove exclusions.”
5. Click on “Add an exclusion” and select the type of exclusion you want to add, such as a folder or a file.
6. Browse to the location of the game that you want to unblock and select it.
7. Click “Open” and then “Add an exclusion” to save the changes.

7. Use a Dedicated GPU

If you encounter startup crashes while playing The Last Of Us, the cause might be your computer has both an integrated GPU and a dedicated GPU. Occasionally, games or applications may become uncertain about which GPU to utilize. To tackle this problem, you can disable the integrated GPU through your computer’s Device Manager.

To do this,

• Press the Windows + X key on your keyboard to open the Quick Link menu, then select “Device Manager.”
• In the Device Manager window, expand the “Display Adapters” category and you’ll see both the integrated GPU and the dedicated GPU listed.
• Right-click on the integrated GPU and choose “Disable device,” then confirm any prompts that appear.
• Once disabled, the dedicated GPU will become the primary graphics processor used by your computer.

8. Update Windows OS

You should make sure that your Windows operating system and all other drivers on your PC are up to date. You can do this by going to the Settings app in Windows and clicking on Update & Security.

9. Run as an Administrator

Running The Last Of Us as an administrator can sometimes solve the issue of the game crashing on startup, especially if the game is having trouble accessing certain files or system resources. When you run a program as an administrator, you’re granting it elevated permissions that can help it bypass certain security restrictions and access the necessary resources.

You can do so by right-clicking on The Last Of Us executable file, selecting Properties, clicking on the Compatibility tab, and checking the box next to “Run this program as an administrator.”

10. Clear Steam Cache

1. Open the Steam or the game launcher you are using for The Last of Us Part 1.
2. Go to Steam Settings, as shown in the screenshot.
3. Go to the Downloads tab, and click on Clear download cache
4. now relaunch Steam

11. Reinstall DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributable

In case The Last of Us Part I keeps crashing on startup without any error then first try to launch it via game .exe. This way you might be able to see an error message. If the error is related to DLL then you need to reinstall DirectX and Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable.

12. Increase virtual memory

The Last of Us is memory-hungry, so it may require virtual memory. Boosting its size will decrease the probability of crashes. Follow these steps to increase the virtual memory size.

1. Press Windows on the keyboard and type SystemPropertiesPerformance and then click on OK.
2. Navigate to the Advanced tab.
3. Then select “Settings” under the “Performance” section.
4. In the new window, click on the “Advanced” tab and then select “Change” under the “Virtual memory” section.
5. Uncheck the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” option.
6. Select the drive you want to change the virtual memory for.
7. Select “Custom size” and enter a higher value than the current one.
8. Click “Set” and then “OK” to save the changes.

12. Reinstall The Last Of Us

Reinstalling The Last Of Us can sometimes help to fix issues with the game crashing on startup. Reinstalling the game can help to ensure that all game files are correctly installed and not corrupted and can also help to reset any changes made to the game’s settings or configuration that may be causing the issue.