Tips 'n Tricks: Left 4 Dead

If you've noticed that your Left 4 Dead has an annoying static-ity sound whenever the playback sound for fire is rolling, here's what to type into the console: "snd_rebuildaudiocache". You will be brought to a loading screen where the game takes approximately 5 mins to rebuild the audio cache. After the loading screen disappears, the problem will likely be fixed.

This pervasive annoyance has been present ever since I updated to version 1.0.1.3. It forces me to turn down the volume since the crackling static sound envelopes all other sounds. As such, I have to rely on my two eyes to aid me in slaying the waves of infected people. Believe me, this is particularly disadvantageous in the presence of a Witch. In fact I've been waiting for a fix for weeks now, and finally, I now have it.

Also, here's a bunch of other console commands to play as the infected (without humans controlling any of the survivors). This is predominately practical if you want to brush up some of your infected skills (as did I) or if you simply want to hunt down the survivors alone.

"sv_cheats 1
sb_all_bot_team 1
sb_unstick 0
vs_max_team_switches 99
mp_gamemode versus"

After entering the above lines of code, press the change team key to switch to the infected team. A word of caution: I've tried it and do note that the AI controlled survivors can fly through the levels pretty swiftly. So it's probably best if you increase the game's difficulty. However, they can get stuck pretty often. For instance, they don't seem to be able to activate switches. Also, they can foolishly get stuck scaling a ladder when an infected is already on the ladder above them. If this happens, you can rejoin the survivors team, get the obstacle out of their path, then quickly swap back to the infected team.

For a complete list of console commands, visit http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Complete_list_of_console_commands.

After months of playing, Left 4 Dead is still fun :D
T'ang