http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=3069

The last interview is with Dario Casali, you know, the old q mapper. :) 

yeah that solved the problem! So L4D2 is fun, but the demo seemed a little short to me. 

Thanks for all going and playing this while I'm stuck on a mate's fucking dongle @ 50kpbs because Virgin media are fucking useless cunts despite it being 2009 and well into the era of super-fast IT etc etc it still takes them 2 cunting weeks to get a phoneline installed and a further cunting week to get my fucking broadband set-up. CUNTS. 

You're taking it pretty well, if I were you I'd be raging up! 

There's a patch that removes the awesome in about 24 hours. 

At least you can play it. Haven't tried the demo yet (only just got around to buying Machinarium), but I have a feeling it'll make my PC cough, stutter and finally collapse in a cloud of burning plastic :( 

HL2 tech - if you can play 1 you can play 2 I reckon. 

Zwiffle you can add a line with
mat_queue_mode 0
to your autoexec.cfg (create if not exists) in
steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2 demo\left4dead2\cfg and you won't have to toggle multi-core rendering every game launch. 

"I'm stuck on a mate's fucking dongle" 

It's good. Looks good, runs smooth, more varied gameplay, is basically L4D+. That's enough for me 

I tried that mat_queue_mode "1" in the autoexec.cfg but it didn't work. I did find out that my graphics corrupting problem seemed to be related to turning multicore rendering off though. Whether that's just because turning it off midgame fucks it up or just because the game can't run without mcr I can't say. MCR stills freezes my game constantly for 5-6 seconds at a time.

Still bitter about it. 

Try playing around with these. I don't know what -1 does for mat_queue_mode, can't remember. I commented these all out when they added the multicore rendering option in the menu. I can't figure out if you want this shit on or off, but setting it to 0 will disable each feature obviously. Not sure if these commands even still exist, but worth a shot.

mat_queue_mode -1
r_threaded_renderables 1
r_threaded_particles 1
r_threaded_client_shadow_manager 1
cl_threaded_bone_setup 1
cl_threaded_client_leaf_system 1 

Well L4D2 came out. I still had the problem. So my dad found a thread where they say the new NVidia beta drivers solve the problem (which they do, and the conveniently came out on November 17th!) So problem solved.

Thanks for the help anyway Fribz! 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/550/

Did it arse!! 

Came out in America.

USA!
USA!
USA! 

Except the UK, hah! That's you get for being so... british.

BTW, the game fucking rocks. :D 

In South America.

Bile Bomb a tank, A ride denied and Kill a spitter before she spits, so far.

Completed the first campaign (in bits) so far. 

Is it just me or are maps pretty long. Just as I was about to complain about the length of the L4D custom campaigns... They are noticably harder too. Or the bot AI is just worse. The melee weapons work surprisingly well, though - pretty fun slashing through a horde in close combat.
There are still a few glitches here and there, monster clipping for example, but this will surely get sorted out sooner or later.
We should definitely have some func_versus games soon. 

I think the bots are better overall. When they screw up it's magnified though - like watching you struggle at their feet trapped by a smoker.

The old school Specials are tougher it seems - doing more damage and being more resilient, although the tank is pretty much a pushover in terms of health.

The levels are much longer, yeah. 

i don't understand how a game that's being sold over the internet can be released at different times around the world. it just seems in opposition to the whole point of the internet. 

Because big retailers are imposing dates.

Yeah L4D2 rocks! Love it! The versus is great as always, have yet to try scavenger. 

It was a global release date as well. 

I wonder if I want to play the game more or map for it more. I can't choose! I want to do both at the same time! 

just a question from someone who doesn't play this game, if you're mapping for l4d/2, do you ever actually place monsters in the map? or are you just specifying spawn points? as i understand it, the game dynamically spawns in monsters depending on player stats are previous performance? 

You don't place monsters but you can specify areas where they can exist, where they do certain things, etc