Building Shaders in The Last of Us; Everything You Should Know

The Last of Us Part I was finally released on PC. However, fans are not happy. The game is full of bigger or smaller technical issues. One of the things which is especially controversial is building shaders. This process can be problematic and long. In this article we explain it.

• What are shaders?
• Why shaders are building in The Last of Us
• Building shaders in The Last of Us– important information

What are shaders?

Shaders are programs which assist your PC at operating various graphical effects. For example, they are responsible for calculating proper levels of color, light and darkness. So, they are quite useful, and they help a lot.

Why shaders are building in The Last of Us

Shaders are very important in the process of rendering proper looking graphics. In the case of console players, the task is much easier, as they operate in the same environment. In this case most of the building can be done by the developer before distribution.

On the other hand, PC players have to be patient. There are more different “parts” in your gaming machines, so building shaders have to be done on clients’ side of the screen to do it properly. In some titles this process is done during the game, while in other developers decide to build shaders upfront. The benefit of the later is that this situation causes less stuttering during gameplay (at least theoretically)

Building shaders in The Last of Us– important information

1. Update your drivers beforehand – to play any game comfortably, The Last of Us is not excluded, you have to have updated drivers. What is important in this case: when you update drivers, shaders will build again. So, update drivers before building shaders.
2. Wait – don’t start the game before the process ends. Patience will improve your experience.
3. It can take a long time – some players report that building shaders takes hours, and in some cases it is around 30 minutes. The speed of the process depends on your CPU (processor). Nevertheless, you have to wait a little bit.
4. Expect some big temperatures – while building shaders, temperature of your CPU can grow a lot. Some players called it a benchmark of the cooling system and it is not far from the truth.
5. You can quit the game – it is possible to leave The Last of Us, your progress in building shaders will be saved, the process will not start from 0 (at least it should not, unless there is a glitch).
6. You must do it once, not every time – building shaders is one-time process. Of course, in the case of some changes in your PC (for example installing new drivers) it will happen again. However, you should not have to do it every time you start the game (unless there is some kind of bug).

The Last of Us

June 14, 2013

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