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 

that sounds pretty cool, i wonder if it would be possible to adapt it for quake in some way. have an 'ai' spawn monsters in and such. 

Spawn randomisation courtesy of Lardarse. We set up spawn groups and a series of positions - if you play the previous RMQ demo more than once you'll notice that the monsters change position, albiet subtley. 

"that sounds pretty cool, i wonder if it would be possible to adapt it for quake in some way. have an 'ai' spawn monsters in and such."

I've been tossing it around in my head too. It might be an extension of Qonquer, really. Place spawn points in the level, denote which monsters can spawn there (due to size restrictions or whatever) and let some sort of control program spawn the monsters keeping an eye on difficulty increases and time passing and such. 

So Steam cloud disconnects whilst I'm playing and resets all my achievements to 0. 

And that's the second time it's happened. Just this time I'd actually completed around ten of them. 

Yeah other people seem to get the same problem. I've checked on the steam forums for my own problems and ran across that achievement error thing.

Also, I thought my graphical corruption problem was solved with the nvidia beta drivers but they just solve the multicore rendering problem, the graphical corruption just takes longer to happen (like 20-40 minutes and then WHAM everything goes to shit.)

So I am still unable to play L4D2. I am upset.