I have a AMD 64 3000+, 1GB of DDRAM and a 6600GT 128MB, XP Media Center Edition with SP2 update. I've played both HL2 and Episode 1. They both ran pretty much on high settings. Texture detail was set to high, I had even HDR on and also 2xAA. The game ran usually around 40-60fps I think. And now I got to try out Episode 2, Portal and TF2 and they all run pretty bad. I put basically everything on low in TF 2 and the game only gives me 40-60fps. Episode 2 is basically the same, texture setting is set to medium, shader quality on low other things on low as well and it gives me about the same result, 40-50fps, sometimes lower than 30. And Portal seemed to lag all the time, only giving me 30+ fps sometimes. I can't see any difference really between Episode 2 and Episode 1 and yet the game runs pretty bad. I wondered if it was the problem because of my hardware so I tried out Day of Defeat: Source as I remember it ran silky smooth back in the days and the results were the same. It ran really well. Is it because of some poor optimization, are other people also having this problem?
im just guessing here but im pretty sure the requirments for the new games in the pack have gone up, as hl2 ep2 alone has many new graphical things, but im just guessing
Episode 2 looks a lot better then episode 1. Also tf 2 looks great and would take a lot of graphical power I'm sure. I think you should be able to run portal okay though I don't know what the deal is with that. The source engine has been updated since episode one and the textures they use in the games are much higher res then the ones they use in HL 2 and episode 1. It's kind of hard to believe an engine made in 2004 looks this great today.
Well, I found advice from tweakguides.com. A really good place and I found a command called mat_softwarelighting that should be entered into the console when in the game. I didn't find much graphical difference but hell, I got a framerate boost about 20-30fps. When near the locker, which had health and ammo, I had around 40fps and with that change I got 60. You should try it out. The command uses software-supported lighting and the framerate depends if your CPU is more powerful than your video card.
EDIT: Well, the change was made only in my own server with no players. I still get 30-40 fps usually in servers with people but at least I don't get those weird framerate drops when I'm looking at the ammo and first aid kit cabinet.
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