Dust and smoke slow me down now.

[hadrian29]

Up until about a month ago, I had NO issues playing Half Life 2. But since Steam's big update (the one that let's it play on Mac) the game lags tremendously whenever dust is kicked up by a passing ship, or there is an explosion close by with lots of smoke, or if the lots of bullets are splasing the water nearby. I can fix it with "r_drawparticles 0", but then I can't see fires and other stuff. This blows. Why is it doing this now? And is there a better way to fix it?

 

[tschumann]

The update increased the minimum system requirements too.
The best way to fix it would probably be to upgrade your hardware.

 

[Colonel Kernel]

Is there a good way of going back to a previous software state i.e. before the update?

 

[kineaesth]

As far as I know, it's impossible.

 

[hadrian29]

What are the minimum system requirements now?

 

[tschumann]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/220/