There are two characters in Portal 2 co-op: Atlas and P-Body, but there appears to not be a character selection screen before you start playing.
Are the characters randomly assigned to each player or is it based on something else?
At the moment it is not really possible choose the robot. The player that hosts the game is automatically assigned Atlas, the friend that joins the game has P-Body instead.
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I've dropped back into Portal 2 as the Map Creator DLC has recently been released. This allows you to create maps (from basic through to advanced) with a number of limitations. However, I cannot, for the life of me, work out how to rotate things.
I have this ramp:
How can I get it to face the exit, rather than looking at the wall? I've tried all manner of keyboard keys and shift-click, ctrl-click.
If you select the ramp, so that it is highlighted in yellow, then you can rotate it by clicking and holding at the bottom of it and moving the mouse. The area you need to click will be shown by a white semi-circle as in this image:
This white semi-circle is also used on the other rotate-able elements in the map editor.
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I'm a big fan of the larger, multi-part puzzles. Now that I can marvel in my own mind-bending magnificence with the Perpetual Testing Initiative, is it possible to install autosave points into a level I have created?
No, its not. You have to use the Portal 2 SDK, as the Auto Save is an object.
The Perpetual Testing Initiative is for maps you release for the community, and are meant to be small enough that you dont need auto-saves (As auto saves are mainly used with big maps that have 5 or 6 rooms / chambers)
EDIT:
You can however upload maps made / edited in the Source SDK's Hammer Map Editor to the work, as part of the PTI
(Thanks to Richard Benson for informing me of that)
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I'm from Czech Republic and I love playing Portal 2. I'm quite good an English speaker, but I just don't understand some parts of what they're saying. I was looking around the internet. But I can't find anything. Save me, please. Any ideas?
Portal 2 does not have Czech dubbing.
If you want to change all of he game's menus and interfaces into Czech, change your Steam language to Czech. This can be done in Steam interface by going to Steam/Settings/Interface/Select the language you wish Steam to use (requires Steam to restart)/Czech and restart Steam.
If you just want to change the closed captions, go to the developer console and type cc_lang "czech". Note that closed captions must be enabled from within the game under Options/Audio/Closed Captions for closed captioning to be visible. By default, if your Steam language is set to Czech, you should not need to get to the developer console, but closed captions would still need to be turned on.
All this information can be found on the Steam forums.
And in case you were not aware the wiki describes how to access the developer console,
The console can be enabled by going into Options->Keyboard->Advanced... and checking "Enable Developer Console (‘)". Now, by pressing the ‘ key, just under Esc on most keyboards, the developer console comes up.
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Multiplayer progress in Portal 2 is saved to Steam Cloud:
Is progress in the coop campaign in Portal 2 saved?
How do you reset your progress to zero and experience the game from scratch with someone who has not played it yet?
Contrary to all the answers on here, it is in fact possible to reset your progress in co-op. Make sure you are the host (you invited your friend, rather than you were invited by your friend). Start a co-op game. Make sure you are in the hub when doing this.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work with ss_map. You have to be in a session with another player, and this will set both players' progress.
Enable the developer console in the options, then press ~ to open it. If you are having trouble, see this question. Then, enter the following command in the console:
mp_mark_all_maps_incomplete
You might see a weird message about DLC, but the command will have no other visible effect. Now, enter this command:
changelevel mp_coop_lobby_2
This will reload the lobby, and your progress will be reset at zero.
You can use this command to change your progress manually:
mp_mark_course_complete <course>
Whereas the number is the number of the course you want to unlock (have finished), minus 1. So to unlock course 1, use mp_mark_course_complete 0, to unlock 2, mp_mark_course_complete 1, and so on. This means that mp_mark_course_complete 0 unlocks course 1 fully, and will then open 2.
There is also mp_mark_all_maps_complete if you want to get Professor Portal.
Thanks to fail badp♦ for allowing me to waste his time.
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I got one of the preorder DLC packs for Portal 2 on Xbox 360 that gave the Robots skins that could be applied to them. I was wondering if their was a way to turn off this skin without deleting the actual DLC content?
There is - equip anything such as a hat or flag or skin. The devs have not shown the love for the unfortunates plagued with the ill-designed roll-cage DLC. They said they would fix it, but I don't see it in my inventory so I'm not leaving my co-op bots bare.
If you're too cheap to buy robot enrichment bobbles and doodads (I know I am), the free ones (which happen to be easy to get) are:
Bionic Beanie: Earn the “Lunacy” Achievement. You’ll get this achievement, and the unlockable, when you complete Portal 2′s single player campaign.
WCC Flag: Earn the “High Five” Achievement, which you get for completing the first co-op course in Portal 2.
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If you look carefully at the Portal 2 end credits (found here, spoiler warning), you'll see the following numbers at the top of the screen:
2.67 1002 45.6
Is there meaning behind these numbers, or are they just random?
On map sp_a4_finale4, with setpos 2.67 1002 45.6 under sv_cheats 1 (and noclip?) you are placed at an interesting position. You are placed between GLaDOS and the stalemate resolution button, properly between the beginning of the lines. So the coordinates could be taken from where the dragging animation starts if I'm not mistaken...
I haven't checked all levels as I don't have time for that at the moment.
Go ahead and check the location; but perhaps, there might be more meaning to these coordinates.
Thinking about the connection between the song and that location, it does refer to the location where that she gets back in control of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center...
In the external thread that I linked as a comment to your answer, they seem to have discovered that he scrolling text might resemble to BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTINE:
Perhaps a way of GLaDOS to say we have to get to sleep and wait for a sequel in the future?
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Do source engine based games (in my case Portal 2) have a console command to display the public IP steam will use e.g. when inviting someone for coop?
Please do not suggest me windows commands like ipconfig or one of the "get my ip" websites; I know very well how to find out my current public IP. What I'm looking for is an easy way to debug why steam suddenly started to use my private (192.162.*) IP instead of the public one. And displaying the IP steam uses would be much easier than asking someone to try to join my game and then check his console for the ip.
When in-game, and with a level loaded, the 'status' command in the game's developer console will show the exact detected public IP address that would be used to invite others.
The developer console can be enabled under Options -> Keyboard/Mouse.
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In Portal 2, Chell awakens and hears that 9999... years have passed. The surface is just a wide field. Is she the last person on earth?
Is she the last person alive...
No. There are plenty of additional test-subjects that are uncovered at the end of the co-op campaign
on [the surface of the] earth?
Nobody really knows. Killing everyone on the planet is quite difficult, and the ending of the Half-Life series (as the two exist in the same universe, but vastly separated in time when Portal 2 occurs) would probably provide the best answer. I would assume that the Good Guys win, so people will still be around, but who knows how many or where they're at?
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What was Aperture science really going for, with those "test chambers"? Was it an experiment in human cognition, like a rat maze? Were they testing the portal device? GlaDOS's AI? Cubes and buttons? And what does it all have to do with shower curtains or Pentagon defense contracts?
As far as I can tell from the dialogue in the games and the lore surrounding the games, is that the testing was fulfilling a multitude of purposes, most notably testing:
The shower curtains come into play early in Cave Johnson's career as CEO of Aperture. Before Aperture Science, it was named Aperture Fixtures and had contracts with military organizations to make shower curtains.
The portal technology was originally used as a shower curtain (presumably because the water would enter one portal and exit another, inside the same shower, preventing the water from leaving the shower area.)
What the portal technology was later being repurposed for, in the form of a gun as their dispenser, is still unknown - presumably the purpose will be revealed in the next installation of Half Life, whether that be episode 3 or a full sequel as Half Life 3, in the form of the Aperture Science research vessel, the Borealis, which became a major plot point towards the end of Half Life 2 episode 2.
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A bird shows up a couple times in Portal 2. First, it turns out that Wheatley escaped using a bird's egg (not sure how...). Then, a bird (presumably the mother of the eggs) comes and attacks Wheatley, causing him to cry out "AHH! Bird! Bird!"
A while later, a bird starts eating potato-GLaDOS. You eventually find its nest and get it off of GLaDOS, but then you see it later on: "Bird! Bird! Kill it! It's Evil!"
Did Valve mean anything by including the bird? It's the only other animal apart from yourself. Is this the same bird that attacked Wheatley? How did it even get that deep into Aperture Laboratories? Do all robots have Ornithophobia?
Half-Life Wiki has an explanation for the bird in Portal 2:
The bird, a crow based on the caw she makes, is a minor antagonist in Portal 2 to the AIs Wheatley and GLaDOS. The bird attacks Wheatley after he used her eggs to break a door, and kidnapped GLaDOS while she was a potato. After this GLaDOS becomes incredibly afraid of birds, telling Chell to kill it. At the end of the DLC Peer Review co-op stage, the bird is chased out and locked out of Aperture by P-Body and ATLAS, though GLaDOS told them to abort the mission and run, because she had no plan. The bird's eggs are hatched by GLaDOS after this, with GLaDOS planning to raise them into little killing machines.
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Early in the game, when you're walking with Wheatley (holding him, I think), you pass by a turret on a stopped conveyor belt. Wheatley reacts unusually, urging "don't make eye contact" and the like. The turret itself mumbles something, says "thanks anyway," and then says (in a really sad voice) "I'm different."
Later on, after you escape from GLaDOS with Wheatley, you come by the "redemption" line, where broken turrets are sent into an incinerator (a sort of heaven I suppose). However, there's one intact turret on the belt, and it says (in a really sad voice, this time almost making me tear up) "I'm different."
Is this the same turret as the first one? Is there some backstory to this turret?
According to the unofficial Half-Life: Portal wiki, yes, it's the same Oracle Turret! The article's overview reads thus:
This Turret made its first appearance during The Courtesy Call chapter, in which it has been seen by Chell and a newly-disengaged Wheatley, laying in a powerless Aperture Science Pipe Network for many years since the Enrichment Center's destruction. The aforementioned tube is layered beside a catwalk leading to a hallway nearing the ruined Central AI Chamber. The Turret, desperate to be saved from the tube, tries to alert Chell for help by asking "Hello?", however Wheatley directs Chell to divert her attention away from the Turret and generally neglecting it. This neglect finally causes the Turret to mention "I'm different..." as the two abandon it. It remains only in silence after this. There is no way to get the turret out of the pipes, even if Chell continues to focus on it.
The Turret, now referred to as the Oracle Turret for its wisdom, is seen for the last time in the chapter The Escape, where it is seen heading towards incineration (referred to as "redemption" by the Announcer) on a conveyor belt consisting of broken Turrets, as seen in the Turret Manufacturing department. When Chell chooses to save it from "redemption", the Turret spouts a variety of cryptic phrases, in a similar vein to the All-Knowing Vortigaunt from Half-Life 2. Some of these phrases reference Cave Johnson's 'Don't Make Lemonade' speech and mentions Johnson's secretary and assistant, Caroline. Once saved, the Oracle Turret cannot accompany the player since the player must pass through an Emancipation Grill before continuing.
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Near the beginning of the game, right before you find the single-portal gun, you fall down a shaft and into some water. Wheatley asks "Do you see it?" referring to the portal gun. Then he asks "Also, are you alive? That's important. I should've asked that first." (Transcript not exact).
Then he says "I'm going to work on the assumption that you're alive, and wait for you at the end. I'll wait for an hour, and then I'll come looking for your dead body, and if I find it, I'll bury it."
I didn't really have the time, but if you actually stand there for an hour, will he come? I realize this is pushing the bounds of game development, but it is Valve we're talking about here.
No, unfortunately, he never comes back to look for you. It's not like you die after waiting for an hour anyway (I tried it), and there doesn't appear to be anything in the script to the effect of him traveling back and calling for you, after that line. Still, rather unfortunate.
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What are the lyrics to the song "PotatOS Lament" on Volume 2 of the Portal 2 soundtrack? It doesn't sound like English (though some parts do sound like the word "potatoes"). Is it another language? Or just gibberish?
All signs point to the actual lyrics being a mixture of gibberish and bad Italian/Latin. In reponse to a question about the Turret Song on Reddit, Ellen McLain answered as follows:
The composer, Mike Morasky was the driving force behind the Turret Opera. He wrote all the music. He requested that I use my legit voice (operatic sound) on some of the takes. He chose the takes to use. He asked me to make up some words. So I did so in my bad Italian.
This most likely carried over to the PotatOS Lament song, as further strengthened by a thread on the Steam forums, pointing to an appearance of Ellen McLain at Anime Midwest 2011 of which a Youtube video is included in the post. During the panel the PotatOS Lament song is specifically mentioned, however Ellen names it "GLaDOS Lament", of which the following is said:
She then goes on to say she made up words to it using her "bad High School Latin" (lol) which means the song is both Latin AND gibberish.
So there we have it! Bad Latin/Italian and gibberish.
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When trying to start Portal 2 Steam starts completing the installation, aborts after a few percents and then gives the error message
Incomplete installation of Portal 2 (10)
I've verified the game cache, but that did not help. Any ideas?
Apparently that message only means the Steam servers are busy, it worked now.
Incomplete Installation (10)
Steam servers are busy. Please try again later.
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In the Advanced Aerial Faith Plate room, the commentary node shows you trajectory lines for the Aerial Faith plates and talks about some of the implementation details of them. I was wondering if all of the trajectory visualization data was still present for the rest of the game and if there was a way to turn them on (presumably via the console)?
In Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\maps, you can find the commentary information called sp_a2_trust_fling_commentary.txt which contains these two relevant lines:
"precommands" "developer 1;ent_bbox trigger_catapult"
"postcommands" "ent_bbox trigger_catapult;developer 0"
So, you can run developer 1 to enable developer commands and ent_bbox trigger_catapult to trigger the debugging information for the trigger_catapult entity.
Here is what happens when I do developer 1;ent_bbox trigger_catapult without triggering:
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I'm stuck again, this time in Testchamber 19 in Chapter 4.
I've used the cubicle on the ground to change the angle of the laser on the right. I also know there's are cubicles to the left and right of where you enter Testchamber 19.
But I couldn't find a way to make use of Portals to get to get to those cubicles. So any hints as to what I should do next?
You have already obtained the first cube, which was on the floor.
Obtain the cube to your left, at the ceiling you can place a Portal and then walk into a wall.
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What is the real name of the column-like beams in Portal 2 called? They are only (as far as I know) referred to as "beams" (By Wheatley: "I'll turn the beam off."). Here is a screenshot for reference:
It's a Tractor beam made of liquid asbestos called an Excursion Funnel
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So I was playing and was at about chapter 7, I think. All the time I had been relying on autosaves; when I loaded the game after exiting, I just selected "Continue Game" and I just kept on playing.
However, now my brother decided to start a new game of his own. When I went to "Load Save", all I saw were autosaves from chapters 1 and 2. I assume that since I never explicitly saved the game, my autosaves were deleted. Am I screwed?
It does auto-delete autosaves, but it also appears to keep track of which chapters you've completed on this Steam/PSN/XBLA account and when you start a New game it allows you to choose any chapters you've already completed (plus the one you were on).
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Neither this question nor this question covered this. I have not yet played any Portal 2 co-op (online or offline), and neither has someone else.
Will the achievement unlock for:
I can confirm (as others have stated) that the answer is "neither of you." I played the entire campaign on the Xbox 360 with a partner, including the Calibration Course. We did not get the achievement during this playthrough. It requires that one player be finished with co-op and the other have never played it.
If you're on the Xbox 360, you can "cheat" the system. If you and your friend both finish the co-op campaign, you can each create a new profile on the console, and then each of you can use your new profile to play with your partner's old profile. Note that I tried this in split screen mode on the Xbox 360 and it did not work - I had to do it via Live with another Xbox 360.
Since this requires XBL Gold on the Xbox, if you only have one Gold-enabled account on your Xbox, you can use a 24-hour code (that comes with many online-enabled games, I have a stack of 4 or 5 personally) to get your second account online. Also, if you create a new Xbox Live Silver account on your new profile, you'll be offered a 1-month Gold trial. You can use this trial to create your "dummy" account, but note that this trial feature is limited to 3 trials total per console.
On the PS3, this might be easier, as there's no additional cost for playing online. This won't work on the PC, where the game is attached to your Steam account.
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