maybe

No.
You want to change which component does which part of the work without changing anything in the engine? Not possible.

And then there's another problem, even if they could, would they do it? No.

They could lessen the load simply by adding LODs. It's been almost 9 years and there's still no lvl2/3 dispenser LOD.

How do LOD's reduce CPU load? Wouldn't that be more GPU related?

No and that's one of the reason why TF2 runs like dogshit.
It's also the reason why turning down model details gets you higher fps even though your GPU definitely isn't maxed out.

I have no idea what this means, but for some reason I feel like the tf2 dev team has no idea about it and someone should just tell them

I guess I probably said a stupid thing

the farther you are away from something, the detail goes down

LOD = level of detail

LODs don't actually contribute to CPU performance improvements. If anything, adding more LODs would just increase memory usage and loading times.

For me at least, model detail has zero effect on fps with my 4670k and 970, just like antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, and texture detail.

Also I highly doubt the amount of people complaining about performance issues in this game are related to the amount of dispensers or dead ringers being drawn.

I'd say tf2 is one of the better optimized fps's that receive frequent updates

I think Setsuls post was more to highlight an example of how valve ignored simple things like dispenser LOD for the better part of a decade.

Yes, to elaborate:
Most older models already have LODs, the lvl 2 & 3 dispenser, which coincidentally also have the absolute highest polygon count (14/15k) aka most details, being the obvious exception. Have you ever noticed how your fps drop when you approach a huge sentry nest (3 or 4 engies)? It's not even the sentries firing, the dispenser are worse.
Now the problem with source engine is that these LODs have to be manually created. Now Valve has the choice: Add the missing LODs and release new weapons/miscs/hats/skins with LODs or instead spend all of that time on making new weapons/miscs/hats/skins without LODs, which means way more new w/m/h/s and therefore way more money. I think you know what Valve chose.
This is exaggerating a bit, Valve does add some LODs every now and then, but some stuff never gets any (dispenser, dead ringer, lots of hats), and some is still way worse than the stock options even with LODs, for example festive weapons. Highest/lowest polygon count for the stock minigun are 8,405 and 770. The festive one is at 13,719 and 1,707. While 1,707 is still far better than having to render all 13,719 the ratio (1,707/707 vs 13,719/8,405) is actually worse on lower detail. So all the new stuff even with LODs (without it's even more pronounced) has a bigger impact on lower settings. Exaggerated example: On high you might get 100 fps and lose 10% -> 90fps, on low you'd get 200 but lose 20% -> 160 fps.

What I'm trying to say is: We are fucked and it will only get worse.
Considering that so far after every "optimization update" I got lower fps in every benchmark a port to Source 2 seems like the only way we'll ever get more fps. I am 99% sure though that this will only happen after the "final" version has been completed, which will include Vulkan, which hasn't even been released yet. I always expected at least one game with the "full" engine to be release and ports coming after that. If I had to guess maybe 2017 for L4D3 if we're lucky, then depending on how much they expect to break either CS:GO or TF2 being ported, then the other one. The problem is that Valve doesn't really do "release dates". Vulkan pushes the engine back, add Valve time and it could be easily another year or two on top of that. The other Source 2 game which shall not be named is pretty much on backburner at this point according to rumours. And even if they made 2017 at that point there's really no point in calling it a port anymore, you might as well release it as TF3, if you bother at all. CS:GO being ported is far more likely.
But never give up. TF2 on Source 2 in 2020? Get Hype!

EDIT: I'm not sure why I wrote this, but there's no point in deleting it.

EDIT2: #8
Low model detail:
2639 frames 12.926 seconds 204.16 fps ( 4.90 ms/f) 17.867 fps variability
High model detail:
2639 frames 13.714 seconds 192.43 fps ( 5.20 ms/f) 14.727 fps variability

Are you serious? It's almost 9 years old and gets lower FPS than brand new games on most rigs. You used to be able to run TF2 on a Pentium 4, good luck trying that now. The game really is horribly optimized

I can confirm this.
I have upgraded my CPU 5 times since 2008 in a attempt to keep my FPS in TF2 stable.
Game ran fine on my Athlon XP when i got it. I doubt the game would even start on that system anymore.

http://puu.sh/mIrnM/8649563d68.png

LMAO

They should make the "recommended" specs the minimal ones tbh. Especially with the upcoming MM update requiring you to use DX9.

they need a "playable" build

they probably still run on those settings but you get about 30fps but i'm willing to bet that a lot of people are happy with 30fps even though that seems fucking awful to all of us

On that rig, you might get 30fps on Mr Valve before crashing, if you're lucky

I had a 1.65 GHz computer in 2011 and I was getting 8 fps in pubs playing 800x600 with Chris's max frames.