[Bug Report] Intel Iris Xe Vulkan Drivers Still Crash in The Last of Us Part II — Only 101.3222 Work

[rafay19]

Hey Intel team and fellow users,

I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get The Last of Us Part II running properly on my laptop with Intel Iris Xe graphics, and after testing multiple driver versions and tweaking settings endlessly, I wanted to share everything I’ve found — and hopefully get Intel’s attention to fix this properly.

My Setup:
• GPU: Intel Iris Xe (integrated)
• CPU: 17 1335u
• RAM: 8–16 GB
• OS: Windows 11 (fully updated)
• Game: The Last of Us Part II (2024 PC port)
• Driver tested:
• 30.0.101.3222 – Works best so far
• 101.4032, 4091, 5333 – All worse, either crash faster or break visuals

⸻

What Actually Works:

Surprisingly, with driver 101.3222, the game looks and runs great. There’s no red screen, no broken lighting, and I can play on medium-high settings with decent FPS (~30–40). The game feels smooth, and even cutscenes run fine.

So this isn’t a performance issue. Iris Xe can handle the game. That’s the frustrating part — it works well when it’s not crashing.

⸻

But Here’s the Problem:

Even with 101.3222, the game crashes randomly — usually after 10–30 minutes of gameplay. It’s always during something like:
• Entering a new zone
• Shader building
• Cutscene transitions

No error messages, just a straight crash to desktop.

And when I update to any newer driver (4032 and above), it actually gets worse:
• The red rendering bug comes back
• Crashes happen even faster
• Some versions don’t even let the game load properly

⸻

What I’ve Already Tried:
• Clean driver installs using DDU
• Tweaking all game settings (low, capped FPS, no async compute, borderless windowed)
• Disabling shader cache
• Setting launch commands like -force-vulkan -noasynccompute
• Even reinstalling the OS and testing across multiple driver versions

Same result every time: 101.3222 is the only one that renders correctly, but even then it crashes eventually.

⸻

What This Tells Me:

This clearly isn’t a “your laptop isn’t good enough” situation. The GPU is handling the game fine, but the driver is not stable with Vulkan, at least on Iris Xe.

It feels like something is breaking in the Vulkan shader pipeline or memory handling. It’s probably something that’s already been fixed for Intel Arc, but not carried over to Iris Xe.

⸻

What I’m Asking:

I’m not expecting miracles, but it would mean a lot if the Intel GPU team could:
1. Look into the Vulkan shader/pipeline stability on Iris Xe (not just Arc)
2. Fix the red rendering bug that reappears in newer drivers
3. Test big Vulkan games like this — The Last of Us Part II, RE4 Remake, Hogwarts Legacy, etc. — on your integrated GPUs, not just dedicated ones
4. If possible, backport the Arc Vulkan improvements to Iris Xe where relevant

⸻

Why It Matters:

There are thousands of us using laptops with Iris Xe who want to play modern games. The Last of Us Part II proves it’s possible — it looks and runs great when the driver doesn’t crash. But we’re stuck with an old driver (3222) just to get it working at all, and even that’s not stable.

Please don’t overlook Iris Xe just because Arc exists now. This chip is still in a ton of new laptops on the market.

⸻

I’d be happy to provide crash logs, screen recordings, or anything else if the team needs it. I really hope someone at Intel takes this seriously. This game is fully playable on Iris Xe — all we need is a stable driver.

Thanks for reading.

[rafay19]

ALSO HERE IT IS THE PROOF THAT IT WORKS PERFECTLY FINE LIKE HERES A RECORDING OF SEATTLE AREA THE MOST RESOURCE CONSUMING ONE BUT SINCE THE DRIVERS ARE LIKE SET TO 2,5 MIN AFTER THIS GAME CRASH EVEN THO YOU ARENT EVEN MOVING IT DOES BECUZ OF HOW VULKAN SPIKE UP THE DRIVER SO ITS FIXABLE INTEL JUST REVERT BACK THE THINGSS OF VULKAN RENDERING INTO THIS DRIVER AND JUST FIX THE VULKAN PIPELINE LIKE EVEN THO ANY AREA WHERE EVEN LITTLE RESOURCE IS RENDERED IT CRASHSES HERE THE PROOF THAT GAME WORKS PERFECTLY FINE ON ANY CHAPTER AND HERES THE ERROR 

@VonM_Intel IT IS A COMPRESSED VIDEO TO UPLOAD BUT HERE IT IS  SO PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS AND STOP SAYING DESCREATE GRAPHIC CARD BS AND COROPRATE REPLIES THE LAST TIME IM SAYING ALL THIS

[anthonyoliveira7]

In driver version 31.0.101.3222 the game works without the red and black screen bug, but in the most updated driver version 32.0.101.6913 the bug occurs. How is this possible?

[PepoIRISXEl29]

Awesome work man. Hope they take this seriously, you are even telling them how to fix it. So @VonM_Intel please help us. Prove that you treat your consumers seriously and that you can work along with them.

[PepoIRISXEl29]

Going to repost this too.

[Krystian_Intel]

Hey @rafay19 !

Thank you for leaving this expansive testing report.
Our internal GPU Driver validation team started working on this case and I will update on the status of this ticket after we gather some meaningful information.

Please be patient and thank you for raising this issue.

Regards,
Krystian Dąbrowski
Manual Validation Lead

[PepoIRISXEl29]

Hi Krystian! Hope you can help us fix this. We are all waiting for a solution! Don't discard this as a "minimum requirements problem".

[rafay19]

Pepo can u try that driver and let me know

[graphics_jan]

Please try gfx driver 32.0.101.6732 or newer.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/785597/851357/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-windows.html

[rafay19]

Is it fixed yet?

[rafay19]

Hi @graphics_jan and @Krystian_Intel We tried the driver the cause that red rendering issue the only version which doesn't cause it it's 322 one since it has vulkan support but it crashes as I stated cuz of memory leak but in the one yall recommends us it does fix crashing but doesn't fix. The textures like 322 driver does textures like everything red like magneta bug

[PepoIRISXEl29]

Hi! Jan as you can see in many of the inquiries i opened we have tried the new drivers. Only 3222 works, but it is unstable.

[PepoIRISXEl29]

Hey Rafay, im testing the new 6913 driver available. no fix yet

[rafay19]

Hey pepo can you record the seattle area to show them how game works on this driver then compress and send it here

Btw on the driver 32.0.101.6732 this is how game works on that which is alot bad not even playable the only choice we have is 3222 driver but it crashes and i hope Jan you can look into this

[Krystian_Intel]

Hey all!

First of all, thank you for checking all of these drives and for providing us with so much data. 🙂 
We really appreciate that.

We have managed to reproduce the issue and it has been raised with our driver development team in the internal bug tracking tool.

I will update you further when I have more information about this problem.

Regards,
Krystian Dąbrowski
Manual Validation Lead

[PepoIRISXEl29]

Thanks for the quick answer Krystian, we patiently wait for a fix.

[JBKRobin]

If it's fixed, now we need to push them for Miles Morales and Spider Man 2.

[JBKRobin]

Please, let us know. Crashing and red grain scene can't be a Minimum Requirement issue. It's clearly a driver issue.

[anthonyoliveira7]

I hope you can resolve it.

[anthonyoliveira7]

In driver version 31.0.101.3222 the game works without the red and black screen bug, but in the most updated driver version 32.0.101.6913 the bug occurs. How is this possible?

[rafay19]

ITS FIXED THANKS TO KRYSTIAN AND ITS TEAM WE REALLY APPERICIATE THAT U LOOKED INTO THIS AND FIXED FOR ALL OF US IT MEANT ALOT WE WOULDNT HAVE PLAYED THIS GAME IF THEY KEPT SAYING ABOUT THE GAME ISNT COMPITABLE WITH HARDWARE LIKE MODS AND ALL I PLAYED THIS GAME ON MY LAPTOP FOR 2 HOURS NO CRASH NO BUG AND I HOPE WE CAN FIX OTHER GAMES TOO