Issues with Left 4 Dead

[spacet]

Left 4 Dead constantly overwrites my config.cfg (even the exec autoexec.cfg/userconfig.cfg) so I have to set it to read-only.
If I do that L4D just "crashes" to desktop (no message just *poof* gone in the loading screen after the intro vid).

If I set the config.cfg to read write and put the exec *.cfg command in the HLDJ custom config it also crashes to desktop.

If I put the individual config commands into the HLDJ custom file it actually loads up the game (config is r/w). Buuuut when I use "la" and type in a number it sais "unknown command:" (for example unkown command 3 etc).

I don't know what to do

edit:
hldjp works, I can now at least cycle through the files, but not select them via a number

[Renegade]

Very odd, no game should overwrite autoexec or userconfig (though Source games only use autoexec.cfg), since these are user-customizable files. You might want to try a re-install or put in a query at the L4D/Valve forums.

However, If you just want a workaround in the meantime, then "exec hldj_init.cfg" should get HLDJ in the ready state.

[spacet]

no sorry for the misunderstanding.
l4d overwrites the config.cfg, so exec userconfig.cfg (or autoexec.cfg) is removed.

[Renegade]

If you mean the actual line in the config.cfg, then it doesn't necessarily have to be there. From my understanding, the (source) engine exec's autoexec.cfg automatically if it's present (regardless of any command in config.cfg). Since it's Valve, I doubt they would have changed that for L4D (not since I last tried it anyways), so there's likely another underlying problem there with your game/Steam install.