Lately I have not been playing TF2 much, this is mainly due to the fact the I am always getting seeming unexplained lag. It’s not FPS lag (Stable @ 60fps+, I’ve even tried dropping reso and other graphics settings too).
However, ping is fine (~50-80), choke and loss are minimal (<5) and the cl_interp_* values are at default.
Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what it could be?
Do you have anti-virus software running in the background?
It doesn’t sound like the same type of problem, but just to be safe.
That I do. I’ll try disabling it next time I play.
Although TF2seems to be the only game having problems. Everything else runs fine.
mainly firewalls cause lags
I’ve been having the same problem as well. I ALWAYS have my antivirus software on, and I have never experienced this kind of lag before unless it was ping related. I asked over team chat, and some of the guys on both teams said they were having momentary lag spikes as well. I’m stumped.:[
If you were having this when killing someone or dying, and your game would like stutter for a split second, it was a problem caused by an update a few days ago, and it was fixed yesterday (I think).
If it’s constant, you might want to limit your fps rate so you don’t get many fluctuations, they can be kinda annoying when it’s constantly going from 150 to 60 fps. Also if you run an AntiVirus try adding the TF2 folder as an exception for continuous scans, because the game usually writes log files to your folder, and every time they get rewritten your AntiVirus scans them for Viruses again, hurting performance.
Other than that I have no idea what it could be… maybe try disabling Steam Cloud sync in the multiplayer tab if it’s on. It has been added recently and has been known for causing issues to a few people.
I recently re-installed TF2 after a very, very long period of absence.
When I look at the server list, there is nothing. When i hit “refresh server list”
it says “server list updating” and no servers ever appear.
WTF???
I was able to connect to a server by hitting ‘join’ on a game someone on my friendslist was playing. But even that server doesn’t show up on the master list.
I figure this is as good a thread as any to ask about this.
Mmmkay, thanks guys.
I’ll see how it turns out 
This happened to me for a while as well, But it fixed itself when I got my new puter.
If you can join servers normally but they don’t show up in the list, you’re probably not able to connect to the Steam master server.
It could be your router (if you have any) blocking a port or maybe just a problem in the Steam servers… it’s rare but they do go down sometimes, and you can’t browse through any servers when they are down.
Might want to keep a few servers on your Favorites list to avoid that to an extent 
. If you are still having this issue, try opening the port used to connect to the Master Server (probably the default one for the game, 27015 I guess?) and see if it helps.
Try toggling EVERY server filter options.
I member after a CS:S update they messed the default filter settings and the VAC setting was set to a non existent 3rd option.
how do I “open ports” in Windows 7? There’s already a “steam” exception in my firewall software. Dunno what else to do.
i c wat u did thar
Fixed, nothing to do with port forwarding.
EDIT:nvmd