Solved: Counter-strike (1.6) "keyboard lag".

System specs can be seen on the tip ^ What isn't in there:

Windows XP Pro SP3

I formatted a while ago when I got my new computer, installed all the drivers, everything ran fine, then I had to switch HD's (my stepdad was getting rid of his better ones) so I backed up, reinstalled again on the new drives (with the exact same drivers; I keep all my installation files I've ever used) and counterstrike (herein cs/1.6) ran fine.

Then one day several months down the road I went to play cs and everything I did had a horrid delay to it. Imagine a wireless mouses' delay (about 0.1~ second) and times that by about 5~8. I move my mouse, and then my crosshairs move, I press W to run forward, and then he runs. It is literally unplayable, there's about a 0.5~1 second delay on everything I do. Even in the in-game menus, if I type out "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and HIGHLIGHT it with the mouse, I can SEE the trail of text I highlighted lagging behind the mouses position (although the mouse pointer in the options doesn't have the lag problem, it responds accordingly).

So I troubleshoot, try newer/older video card drivers (the only ones I can find are the stock drivers from nVidia's website....I used to have this problem on my old ATI card using the "Omega" drivers, but switched to the Catalyst and the problem ceased...my search for alternate nVidia drivers still continues to this day), newer/older motherboard drivers, defrag, CPU core affinity, the whole 9 yards. Eventually I bite the bullet and format, reinstall everything (I really love this game ); and it's STILL giving me the problem. I try again to format and reinstall everything and it's still doing it.

What boggles me, is that next-gen HL2-engine powered games run fine. Counterstrike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, TF2, HL2: DM all run fine; but all HL1 powered games do it: cs1.6, dod1.3, HL1.

I have absolutely no idea what's causing it, have posted at several forums to no avail, so I bring my search here. I'll be checking in with this topic several times a day so feel free to ask questions about things that may have slipped my mind to already say; I'll try to respond asap. (if you reeeaaaaally want to go the distance, my msn is [email protected], you'll be guaranteed an instant answer)

(sorry for the novel post, I hate asking questions at questions so I try to explain everything, I know it helps )

 

It's most likely not a GoldSrc engine problem, since this is the first I've heard of this. It kinda sounds like your video card/cpu is the problem, but I looked at what you got and it's more then enough for GoldSrc games. But it is strange that it's only happening in GoldSrc. Maybe it's a compatibility issue, although a compatibility issue with a game engine and a keyboard is strange.

You might actually want to open a support ticket with Steam about this, since they know best about the GoldSrc engine.

 

I found a KB article on the Steam Support site, about nVidia Network Access Manager, here's a snippet of it:

There was no "Modify" button, there was a Change button (that led me to the uninstall screen) and a Remove (same); I figured wth and uninstalled it, and cs1.6 is still doing the lag thing.

I've made a ticket (copy/paste and a small edit of my OP from here) with their support and if I find a solution I'll be sure to hop on here and spread the word. If anyone has ideas/suggestions, I'm still checking in here

 

Re-opened at request of thread starter. Sorry for the delay. We're behind in reported threads today.

 

The problem was vsync was set to use the game's app in the control panel.

Disabled vsync and the game runs fine.

Took me 4~ months to figure out what was causing it and I'm completely aware I'm an idiot.

Resolved.

 

Thanks for the follow up, hopefully this will save others the same frustration.