Why does my L4D2 play slowly in multiplayer, while OK in single player?

[IronMaiden]

Lately, I almost can't play L4D2 in multiplayer, because it's working painfully slowly. That means I can't dodge attacks, can't aim, I'm slower than zombies etc. etc. Also, loading Steam is slow and it slows my computer. But in single player, everything works OK.
I havent' made any changes to my computer settings, hardware, net provider etc. I'm on Windows XP, 3 GB RAM, dual-core 2 GB processor. So I'm assuming it's a computer-related thing, not game's fault.
So what can it be? Anybody else got this problem lately?

[_I_]

whats yuor ping when playing?
are you using custom maps/mods?

[IronMaiden]

I don't know about ping... I'm just a guy who plays games...
No, I don't use custom maps/mods. I had installed some, but then deleted them all.

[IronMaiden]

My ping is 109, red bar

[frammie]

2Gb processor? Go home, you're drunk xD

[IronMaiden]

i wish I were!

[IronMaiden]

No, seriously, it worked just fine until now... so i'd say it's not that.

[frammie]

Well, about your bad graphic performance, it would be great if you can add the name of your graphic card ;-)

[rotNdude]

You probably picked up some malware or started running some program that is running in the background.

[IronMaiden]

Graphic card is Gforce 8400 GS

[IronMaiden]

And how can I find out that program that is running in the background?

[🌸淫神 𝓝𝓪𝓯𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓲 🌸]

either the ISP changed your extIP and the router is dealing with false returns from the previous user of that extIP, but the impact of performance from your router blocking those packets is negligable, maybe an extra 2ms ping, the major possibility of this would be, you over heated playing L4D2 and now your computer is injured limping along trying to do what it once did,

1) i'm going out on a limb here and assuming... Laptop? 3gig ram and dual core, and XP just screams laptop, how often did you clean it out? if it is a laptop dust can clog and choke the ONLY heat sink that cools both the CPU and the NB, and depending on model even the GPU is cooled by ONE heatsink,

Regardless if the heatsink is shared by 2 heatpipes like an ASUS ROG g50 laptop i worked on where a discrete GPU shared the CPU and NB via 2 separate heatpipes, even though they had two separate fin assemblies, the GPU fins were behind the CPU/NB fins, sharing the same airflow forming one heatsink. if that were to have clogged, both the CPU/NB and GPU would cook. The 8700GS he had in that laptop died out from over heating, i had to swap it with an 8600GT.

my point here, clean your laptop out, and take extra caution using nVidia cards, there was a multi million dollar lawsuit against nVidia over their drivers forcefully over clocking the cards and burning them out, nVidia in my opinion has never been a wise choice for novice builders, because of their extreme heat levels.

2) if you are not on a laptop:
i'm going to assume
a) you either have owned this desktop for over 7 years and never cleaned it since you got it (insert acquisition method here) and proceeded to play games on it... if so, what detail level of gaming have you played from the start?
b) your HDD has been filling up full of pirated MP3's of Justin Beiber from either your GF or daughter, and whoever it was who ripped them thought it would be genius to infect their computers enough to rid facebook of the Beibettes.
c) you are using CCleaner
d) you are using avast
e) you refuse to use AV/Firewalls because they ruin the gaming experience and are bad and slow down your computer and do nothing beneficial (words of a friend of mine who has all kinds of problems with his computer)

[IronMaiden]

Kamikazi2142: thanks for that helluva reply!
1) Not a laptop :))))
2) a) Haven't cleaned it in the last year, that's true. Have ever played it on the lowest level, though, and had no problems before.
b) Well...
c), d) Avast
e) I do use AV and firewall, always
So I'll clean it and perhaps change the video card.

[🌸淫神 𝓝𝓪𝓯𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓲 🌸]

one more thing, does it sit on your desk or the floor...

[IronMaiden]

On the lower part of the desk, 5 cm from the floor, 10 cm from the wall...

[[☥] - CJ -]

Could just be a connection related problem, Single player doesnt use your internet.

Then again, with Multiplayer your hardware along with your Internet is being used more then in Single player, your GPU is a bit on the lacking side..

Lower all the graphics if you havent done so already and see how it goes.