Incredibly slow client

Don't think my FPS is low and I need a config and shit like that. That's not my problem and I wouldn't make a thread if that was my problem.

My problems are the following:
-When connecting to a server, Sending client info takes ~4-5 minutes, no exaggerating. When I connect to (for example) 2fort, I'm staring at the loading screen for said time, just to see a message saying I got kicked for being AFK. which means the following: I am on the server, but stuck on the loading screen on my screen.
-When I'm on jailbreak trying to speak, I press V and then my screen freezes for a solid 0.5-1 minute before being able to play again with my ping jumping up to 150-200.
-I get random 1-2 second lagspikes on every server at random times for no absolute reason.
-Quitting the game takes 3 minutes, and 10-15 minutes for steam to realize that I'm not in-game anymore.
-Some other minor stuff like opening options freezes the screen for 10 seconds, applying graphic changes while in the main menu takes 8-10 fucking minutes..

This stuff does not apply to any other games. Only TF2.

Things I did:
-Thinking that I downloaded something poisonous, deleting download folder.
-Using pc cleaner and scanning for virus/malware/similar.
-Setting graphics to low.
Neither of them helped.


-Far Cry 3 was running on 30 FPS locked, so I doubt it's my pc.
-Lower-than-usual ping, so I doubt it's my connection.
And this stuff didn't happen at all like, 3 months ago.

What else can cause this?

 

Have you configured your launch options?
Did you use CCleaner when you cleaned your pc?
What antivirus/antimalware client did you use?
Are you currently using an FPS config?

 

Check your gcf files?

 

Use a maxframes autoexec by Chris that tf2 guy

 

Not until now, actually. I just found out I had dxlevel set to 90, removing it slightly decreased the time in connecting/disconnecting, but didn't fix it completely.
Yes.
Avast! and MalwareBytes.
No.

Not really experienced with that, how do I know if something's wrong?

It didn't do any noticeable changes.

 

Malwarebytes | Free Anti-Malware & Internet Security Software

If you used anything but this to clean your PC, you did it wrong. Other things to try:

• Exclude the Steam folder from your AV real-time scanner (Source games have a certain file that gets updated every second, so in theory it also gets scanned every second, severely slowing down your computer) (This is not completely safe, there are servers that can allow you to get PUPs on your PC)
• Skip the following steps if TF2 is installed on a SSD
  • Wipe temporary files / clean unneeded files from your PC, then defrag (It's possible that the files for the game are scattered over your entire PC, especially if TF2 isn't among the first things you've put on your PC. By defragmenting your drive, you tell your PC to move all scattered files as close as possible to each other, which effectively should reduce the time it takes for your PC to read subsequent files. This is not recommended on an SSD, for two reasons. First off, the SSD does not suffer from reading delays. Everything on it has the same access time. Second, an SSD has gradually more chance of failing if it gets written to more, so defragmenting takes up valuable writing.
  • Move TF2 to a SSD. I've realized that random freezes and long connection times have been an issue on my side, because I had TF2 stored on some old blue 5400RPM drive. Installing it on my SSD improved the loading times, and later moving it to a RAID 0 of blacks further decreased loading times for me. I guess initializing all the game data is what it does when it's stuck on the "Collecting server info" message.
• Completely refresh your PC. Especially a good option if Windows is running slow itself too.
• Get a better PC. The obvious, but costly solution.

 

No no, I've had this too.

Methinksbug.

 

Okay so the time on everything has decreased a bit more noticeably after Nick's help, which is already good for me, thanks.

However, this thing with the voices stayed the same and it's really frustrating. Beginning the story, it all happened when I first set voice_loopback to 1 because I feel better if I can hear myself. Since then, whenever I press V, the game stutters (screen freeze + audio repeating the last 0.5 second over and over) for a solid 20-40 seconds before either timing out or coming back to life with high ping. (I'm not a caveman, this happens everytime, either voice_loopback is on 0 or 1)
This stuff also happened after the latest tf2 update

I have no idea if it's related, but it's quite worrisome for me.

 

Super anti spyware is also a very good one to use, trust me on that one.
SUPERAntiSpyware | Remove Malware | Remove Spyware - AntiMalware, AntiSpyware, AntiAdware!
Download the free professional one it runs in around 1 hour and is very good,
thats all I can think of, I used both malware and avast too, neither of them found 214 things wrong with my computer that spyware did.



EDIT: Btw I got recommended Super by my dad who is head of security in a company and fixes pc's as another living, so trust me its good at finding some bad content.

 

Any idea if above suggestions would work for speeding up "Retrieving Server Info" as well? Takes me about 5 minutes each server, gathering me up a bunch of RQ's from impatient competitive lobbies.

 

How to check your GCF files:

1. Right click TF2 in Steam, go to Properties.
2. Go to tab "Local Files"
3. Verify integrity of game cache

It takes some time to verify the integrity, but if anything's missing, it gets updated immediately.

 

Yes. That's what it's intended for mostly; decreasing load times. Getting a better Internet connection might also greatly improve loading times, considering the game is downloading server information.

[HR][/HR]

Possible commands to try:

• Change your microphone recording settings to have the same bitrate as your headphone's output. Tutorial here
• Disable ambient noise reduction in TF2 settings
• If you don't care about voices not being recorded in your demos, or if you don't record demos: replay_record_voice 0
• Check if voice_recordtofile is set to 0
• voice_forcemicrecord 0

Do all these steps in order, to prevent breaking the game and not knowing what you did wrong.

 

Question

How do I disable noise reduction in tf2?..
And do I have to type all this everytime I launch the game or will they stay like that until changed?

Also, I'm gonna be a bit more precise:
I can use the voicechat at first after I joined the server, without stuttering, but if I wait >1 minute after using it and press V again, then it stutters.

 

Turns out you cant do the reduction in TF2 itself, instead you'll have to do that in Windows itself.

Spoiler

Try using this command: cvarlist voice_

Post the results here in a [noparse]

Spoiler

[/noparse] tag.

 

Spoiler

cvar list
--------------
voice_avggain : 0 : :
voice_clientdebug : 0 : , "cl" :
voice_debugfeedback : 0 : :
voice_debugfeedbackfrom : 0 : :
voice_enable : 1 : , "a" :
voice_fadeouttime : 0 : :
voice_forcemicrecord : 0 : , "a" :
voice_inputfromfile : 0 : : Get voice input from 'voice_input.wav' rather than from the microphone.
voice_loopback : 0 : , "user" :
voice_maxgain : 10 : :
voice_menu_1 : cmd : : Opens voice menu 1
voice_menu_2 : cmd : : Opens voice menu 2
voice_menu_3 : cmd : : Opens voice menu 3
voice_modenable : 1 : , "a", "clientcmd_can_execute", "cl" : Enable/disable voice in this mod.
voice_overdrive : 2 : :
voice_overdrivefadetime : 0 : :
voice_printtalkers : cmd : : voice debug.
voice_profile : 0 : :
voice_recordtofile : 0 : : Record mic data and decompressed voice data into 'voice_micdata.wav' and 'voice_decompressed.wav'
voice_scale : 1 : , "a" :
voice_serverdebug : 0 : , "sv" :
voice_showchannels : 0 : :
voice_showincoming : 0 : :
voice_steal : 2 : :
voice_writevoices : 0 : : Saves each speaker's voice data into separate .wav files
--------------
25 convars/concommands for [voice_]

 

You could try screwing around with different commands here I guess. Not sure which ones do what exactly. voice_steal , voice_overdrive and voice_forcemicrecord might be worth screwing with.

 

Attemped to precache unknown particle system "grenade_smoke_cycle"!

This is what the console says everytime @ start and end of the stutter (that's caused by me trying to talk).

Also sometimes this somewhere between:
'pyro.cfg' not present; not executing.

I saw some other guys on the TF2 forums having the same problem, they mostly got no replies however.

 

'Attemped to precache unknown particle system "grenade_smoke_cycle"!' should be fixed by verifying the integrity of your game cache. If it doesn't fix it, try googling the error for an answer.

As for 'pyro.cfg' not present; not executing., it is nothing, it's just what happens if you have no custom class configs in your tf/cfg folder. I myself have a similar output when I load my autoexec:



As you can see, 'binds' not present; not executing. If you still don't understand, every time you change class (or die in some cases), the game will automatically run said 'class configs'. Mine do things for me, such as change the current crosshair. Yours are either non-existant or empty. This is not a problem. Also before you ask, all my binds are stored in tf/cfg/cfg.cfg.

 

I verified it 3 times now without any changes in the result.

I'm giving up, I blame Valve and his shitty updates.

Much appreciated for all the help.

 

@Skies

To pick up on the launch options thing I mentioned earlier on in the thread, I'd recommend using the following:

-heapsize <ram> -sw -noborder -high -w <width> -h <height> -novid -high -fullscreen -dxlevel 81

Replace <ram> with:

Spoiler

1GB RAM: 524288
2GB RAM: 1048576
3GB RAM: 1572864
4GB RAM: 2097152
6GB RAM: 3145728
8GB RAM: 4194304

Replace <width> with the width of your monitor (in my case, 1920).
Replace <height> with the height of your monitor (in my case, 1080).

-dxlevel 81 is optional, but I highly recommend it. (Note: It disables killstreak sheens, but not killstreakers. It also changes the texture of ubercharges.)

The last thing you could do is re-install TF2. It should install all your missing files, but it comes with the fact you have to re-download everything. If you'd like me to send you a copy of my TF2 files just ask.