Who says the steam forums are not useful?

Apr 19, 2009
4,460
1,722
This has worked for plenty of people in this thread so I suggest you read it completely.

Everybody has experienced how FPS are going down the drain recently with TF2, however I believe I've found one of the sources (I'm pretty sure there many others) and found a way to fix it, so enough with the rambling I'm going straight to the point:


The folder:

Code:
C:\Program Files\Steam\appcache\stats

Contains a file called:
Code:
UserGameStats_####_####  (# = some numbers)

This file keeps records of god knows what about TF2, and it gets updated EXTREMELY frequently while playing.

The problem is that, most of us run high quality Anti-virus programs and they tend to scan all files that get updated in the system, and a lot of them tend to do so the instant it happens, clogging up the processor and making our FPSs die.

Apparently, having a multicore processor and fast hard drives (or a RAID 0 config) makes this even worse.


HOW TO FIX
  • Open up your Anti-virus program
  • Go to the settings menu
  • Select Exceptions/Exclusions
  • Add the following folder to the scan exceptions
Code:
C:\Program Files\Steam\appcache\stats

Reboot if your Anti-virus needs to and enjoy a smooth game of TF2

How to fix, Visually (pictures are easy):

NOTE: User who have performed this action have been reporting frame-rate gains or stability in other STEAM games, while it seems very plausible I have not tested it myself.

Go now! do it! (rep welcome :p)
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1093560
 

Acumen

Annoyer
aa
Jun 11, 2009
704
628
too cool for this world (the steam forums), you are :D
 

martijntje

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Aug 2, 2009
539
334
thank you sir,

I did a little unscientific benchmarking on a random map, wich happened to be compiled with fast vvis. I seemed to get 120 fps at maximum, but could drop down to just above 20 fps when loaded up with bots. So I guess it would do fine on a normal map.

Quite a difference, I used to get about 60 fps at max. But another tip is to not join server with more than 24 players.

EDIT: I got 180 fps by staring into the void
 
Last edited:

Sgt.Sausage

L420: High Member
Dec 5, 2008
420
103
I never thought they were useless, theres a few people on there that have useful stuff to say.

Il try this, i actually use Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows 7, and i like it. Generally i am smart enough to not get virus's, but this doesnt take up many recourses, and allows me to be more careless online. Before it i never had any anti virsus.

Il let you guys know if i notice an increase.
 

drp

aa
Oct 25, 2007
2,273
2,628
i was having that issue, but it was like HORRIBLE fps issues. it turned out to be security essentials having realtime scanning. disabled that and solved my problems. i was SOOO close on ordering a new video card as i thought mine was crapping out.
 

Nutomic

L11: Posh Member
Feb 7, 2009
888
177
i was having that issue, but it was like HORRIBLE fps issues. it turned out to be security essentials having realtime scanning. disabled that and solved my problems. i was SOOO close on ordering a new video card as i thought mine was crapping out.

When i disable that, windows bitches around about Microsoft Security Essentials not being activated. Do you have any solution to stop those warnings?
 

drp

aa
Oct 25, 2007
2,273
2,628
When i disable that, windows bitches around about Microsoft Security Essentials not being activated. Do you have any solution to stop those warnings?
i think you can disable notifications. dont remember how tho, sorry.
 

Tinker

aa
Oct 30, 2008
672
334
Someone else put it better than I did;

well viruses are the symptom of the user's incompetence 99% of the time. the other 1% of the time it's a symptom of the incompetence of someone else on the network.

secondly all virus scanners blow huge herds of reindeer and they effectively clean a small fraction of viruses that it's possible to get. this is largely because of Windows' stupid shit than just the fact that everyone everywhere sucks. suffice it to say, most of the big viruses you hear about - the ones that keylog, provide backdoors, hijack your computer, completely change your desktop and the operation of your computer, et al - those all require nothing less than a reinstall of windows to effectively clean - a reformat would be much better. any security specialist will tell you the same thing. after a computer has had a keylogger, rootkit, or major hijack installed, you CANNOT trust it until it has been reformatted and all the major login data changed. there's just too many places for viruses to hide after they're on your system and too many common keys and bits of data.

thirdly, many, many, many viruses can detect installed scanners and disable them anyway - the only way to even run a scanner on these is to obtain and run one after the infection (and even that assumes they don't embed themselves to allow them to kill scanner processes).

acting like a virus scanner is gonna keep you retroactively safe is like thinking that you can fuck an STD-ridden whore and be perfectly fine if you pop some penicillin afterward. in reality, if you get a small case of the clap (a minor/annoying virus) you can get some meds (a scanner) after finding out and be fine. if you get herpes or aids (a serious virus embedding) you're fucking stuck with that shit unless you die and come back to life (which computers can do but you can't).