bill and frank is one of those The Last of Us questions where the accepted answer is nearly right and the gap matters.

Short answer

The direct answer is above the fold; the reasoning underneath is there for when the direct answer does not fit your situation.

  • Check which version any conflicting advice was written for.
  • Try the straightforward approach before the elaborate one.
  • Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.

There are two Last of Us canons running in parallel now — the games and the HBO series — and they diverge. Most of the disagreement online comes from people describing different versions of The Last of Us. Testing this yourself takes a few minutes and settles it definitively.

Worth knowing alongside this

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. The mechanic behind it is simpler than the discussion around it suggests. It is worth separating what the game does from what players have concluded it does. Everything below is framed around the current state of The Last of Us rather than a launch-week impression.

Nothing here depends on a setting you are unlikely to have. The accepted community answer is broadly right and wrong in a specific way that matters here. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about.

The practical answer

Edge cases are genuinely rare, which is why the simple answer is usually the correct one. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of.

  • Test it yourself where testing is cheap.
  • Note the exception cases — they are specific rather than vague.
  • Write down what you changed, so you can undo exactly one thing if it goes sideways.
  • Revisit after a major patch if the behaviour changes.
  • Do not build a routine around an edge case.
  • Keep a save or backup from before you start — it costs nothing and occasionally saves an evening.

Why it works this way

The Last of Us is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

What to do instead

Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see.

When the usual advice fails

A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.

Where people go wrong

  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.
  • Treating a rare edge case as the normal behaviour and planning around it.

The Last of Us FAQ

Does this change between platforms?

The behaviour does not. Where menu paths or prompts differ, that is noted above.

Is this still accurate after the latest The Last of Us update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Why do people disagree about this?

Mostly because they are describing different versions. Version drift explains the majority of contradictory advice about The Last of Us.

What if none of this works for me?

Then something in your setup differs from the assumption — version, region or platform. Check those three before anything else.

Work through it in the order above and bill and frank stops being a question you have to look up again.