Despite its generally favorable reception, the hotly anticipated update for Left 4 Dead released by Valve last Wednesday appears to be negatively (and sometimes severely) impacting performance for some nVidia series 8 graphics card users. Gamers have reported performance decreases of up to 40 FPS on high and low-end systems, and everything in between. What’s worse, many of those affected are also experiencing a higher frequency of stuttering, audio looping, and, in some cases, even full crashes. These problems tack on a bittersweet aftertaste to an update that many hardcore and casual L4D players alike have spent weeks waiting for in order to solve the litany of exploits tainting the game’s versus mode.

As of this entry, Valve has not yet commented on the current performance bugs introduced by the patch.

Frankly, as an avid fan of Left 4 Dead, I find this oversight a major letdown. Many of us have been checking the Steam forums daily and clamouring for simple fixes to some of the more severe multiplayer exploits in the game. While it is understandable that the developers might be delayed in putting out a fix due to the holidays, a total lack of communication demonstrates a poor (nonexistent?) relationship with the community. This is in contrast to Valve’s PR with respect to its other products; while their timeframes rarely amount to more than rough estimates (see: Valve Time), at least they leave the impression that issues are being addressed.

Could this be an issue of Microsoft’s involvement with L4D as a multi-platform enterprise? An email response from Chet Faliszek, a writer employed by Valve, claims that the recent delayed response was due to unanticipated complications rather than Microsoft meddling, but one can’t help but question the veracity of this statement in light of previous rumors about Valve being required to hold off on releasing DLC to PC users until it’s ready for simultaneous release on Xbox Live.

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