My L4D2 framerates are alot slower than they should be.

Using FRAPS, I benchmarked me playing a normal game, and this is the minmaxavg.


Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
16806, 305509, 20, 64, 55.010

I had frame dip all the way to 20. That's noticeable, for me. Later I was playing MW2 completely maxed out, and got better framerates.


Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
13027, 183086, 47, 156, 71.152

How is this possible? Am I running on integrated? Is there some setting that lags L4D really bad? Or is Source just really slow? I've gotten framedips to like 17 on single player, because it is more laggy. I just didn't post that one because I never really play SP anyway and theres still a big difference.

 

Check your task manager and see if there is anything suspicious that takes lots of CPU resources while you are running the game, could be viruses/spywares/malwares, do a full scan with your anti-virus/malware program.

And you can always perform a full uninstall and reinstall of drivers if you are sure that it's not a virus/spyware issue, also make sure that your CPU or GPU is not overheating.

 

I'll test to see if I have background programs running tomorrow, but as for overheating, do you know any free programs I can use to monitor temps?

 

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting Free and easy to use.

 

Left 4 Dead 2 is more demanding than MW2, especially on your CPU. Not surprising that you get less frames and lower dips.

HWMonitor is a good general temp monitoring utility.

 

This is most likely the 285.62 drivers because I get an overheating issue with those. Previous drivers never gave me such problems but supposedly it gets so bad my GPU retardedly clocks down to uber slow speeds where my frame rate is split in half. If I keep playing a few minutes more they sit in the lower single digits.

 

How is left 4 dead more demanding than MW2... Do you think it's my processor or GPU?

 

And as for HWMonitor, it only shows my battery.

 

Both your CPU and GPU are powerful enough to run L4D2 fluidly with max settings even at 1080p, you should get much better fps than you described.

As for hwmonitor, it's weird that it only shows battery, try "hwinfo" and it should show all all of your major components' temp(cpu/gpu/hdd, etc).

 

That's what I thought, the recommended CPU reqs are a Dual Core 2.0GHz. I have a quad. The recommended GPU is a Radeon X1600. A GTX 560M is a hella lot better than that. I don't know what im doing wrong..

 

what settings are you using? Is it 1080p with everything on max and 4x AA/16x AF?

Do you have any driver settings altered that affect how AA is handled? Which type of AA are you using? How about driver level HBAO?

Although the posted system requirements are similar, L4D2 is certainly the more demanding game, as noted above.

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Your avg framerate was 55. How many frames dipped below 40? below 30? Was it a few frames were the game hitched for a split second, or was like 25% of the time under 30 frames? Do you have any other programs running?

 

For starters, the Source engine has always been relatively CPU-heavy to allow weaker graphics cards to run games like Half-Life 2, TF2 and CS:S smoothly. Left 4 Dead/L4D2 is even more CPU-demanding than usual, as the game has AI for hundreds of infected at a time to process.

 

It was about 5-10% of the time I'd have framedips in the low 20s and high teens.

I'm playing everything on max, AA/AF, at 900p.

Ohh, i get it now.

 

AA/AF set to what amount, and using what method?

 

AA at 8x
Filtering mode Trilinear
Wait for vertical sync enabled
Shader/effect/model detail all at max.
Multicolor rendering on
1600x900

That's everything it says on the options page.

 

try turning off v sync. I think everything is working as intended, gotta check some stuff.

 

It's very CPU hungry. Use all four cores for me nearly 90% on each core.

 

I have read about the multi-core rendering option causing problems before. Turn it off if its on or turn it on if its off. Also turn down the sound option if the multicore rendering option change does not help. I played over 150 hours online with the M11x in my signature and very rarely had it drop that low so you should not have it dropping that low.

 

Try disabling Vsync and turning AA down to 2x or off altogether.

 

I second this-

Despite the fact that I have a faster GPU than you, I play on high settings (instead of very high or ultra) and with lower AA than you.

 

No the OP is posting accurate info most likely. I have found some VERY bad coding in L4D 2. Please note that most of the problems are for very strange parts of certain maps. For example, in No Mercy, in the tunnel, there are horrible lag spots that drop me down to 60 FPS from a 140-200fps. Cold Stream Beta has improved the coding for the majority of the map but some other maps do indeed have some very random drops depending on where you look. I extensively have played this game.

My reference system is strong enough to not dip below 60fps and have narrowed where it does indeed drop at very random sections of maps that are not even GPU or CPU intensive. Nothing can be done if your drivers are up to date.

 

That might be it. If you have crossfire 6970s you shouldn't even be dipping below the hundreds. I'll just tone down some settings like AA and texture detail so I don't get any more dips in the 20s.