Portal 2

Portal 2
Developers

	Valve Corporation
Engines
	Source
Release dates
Windows	April 19, 2011
macOS (OS X)	April 19, 2011
Linux	June 17, 2014
Reception
Metacritic	95
IGDB	92
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Platform, Puzzle
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Comedy, Sci-fi
Series	Portal

Portal
Subseries of Half-Life
Portal	2007
Portal 2	2011
Portal 2 Sixense Perceptual Pack	2013
Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative	2014
Portal Stories (series)
The Lab	2016
Bridge Constructor Portal	2017
Moondust	2018
Aperture Hand Lab	2019

Key points

Built-in level editor with Steam Workshop support.^[1]

General information

Unofficial Portal Wiki

Portal Section of Combine Overwiki

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Workshop for Portal 2

1 Availability
- 1.1 DLC and expansion packs
2 Essential improvements
- 2.1 Skip intro videos
3 Game data
4 Video
5 Input
6 Audio
- 6.1 Localizations
- 6.2 Changing subtitle language
7 Network
8 VR support
9 Issues fixed
10 Other information
11 System requirements
12 Notes
13 References

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		All copies of Portal 2 on PlayStation 3 come with a Steam key (can only be activated on accounts that have logged into Portal 2 on PS3 before).
Steam		Portal Bundle also available.

All versions require Steam DRM.

Soundtrack is available for free as DLC and on the official website.

PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 version includes a single-use product key for Steam.

Can be linked to a Steam account, which allows cross-platform multiplayer with Steam players, access to your Steam friend list (chat, invites, etc.), Steam Achievements, and Steam Cloud save-games (PlayStation 3 saves are not compatible with other versions).

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Peer Review	Free, included in latest update. Requires you to finish the original coop missions to play.^[2]
Soundtrack	Available for free.
Roll cage skin	Pre-order only
Paint job skin	Pre-order only
Antenna trooper skin	Pre-order only

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Use `-novid` command line argument^{[citation needed]}

Use -novid command line argument^{[citation needed]}

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>/portal2/cfg/^{[Note 1]} <path-to-game>/portal2_dlc2/cfg/ <path-to-game>/update/cfg/

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Steam	<path-to-game>/portal2/SAVE/

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Approx. 1 GB available.

Video[edit]

In-game general video settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA. Nvidia users can acheive OGSSAA hybrid modes combined with TrSSAA using flag `0x000000C0`.^[3]
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Double and triple buffered.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.^[4]

HBAO also available with flag 0x00000014.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Enter console commands^[5] Go to Options, Keyboard/Mouse, and set Allow Developer Console to Enabled. Press `~` to toggle the console. Type in `bind w "+forward; cl_fov xx"`, replacing `xx` with the desired FOV, and press `↵ Enter`. OPTIONAL: Type in `viewmodel_offset_y 6` and press `↵ Enter`. This moves the portal gun's position further away. Every time you load a map, press `w` to change the FOV to the desired value.

Enter console commands^[5]

Go to Options, Keyboard/Mouse, and set Allow Developer Console to Enabled.
Press ~ to toggle the console.
Type in bind w "+forward; cl_fov xx", replacing xx with the desired FOV, and press ↵ Enter.
OPTIONAL: Type in viewmodel_offset_y 6 and press ↵ Enter. This moves the portal gun's position further away.
Every time you load a map, press w to change the FOV to the desired value.

Split-screen without bezels[edit]

Portal 2 split-screen mode was meant to be played on a single 16:9 screen only. If you have a different setup then, the image could not entirely fit the monitor(s).

Edit split-screen aspect-ratio^[6] Go to `<path-to-game>/portal 2` Open `splitscreen_config.txt` with a text editor Look for `"aspect" "8 by 9"` string Change it accordingly to your actual aspect ratio divided by 2 Notes If you are interested to horizontal split-screen aspect ratio, you should look instead for `"aspect" "32 by 9"` string (remember that you need to multiply by 2 the aspect ratio now)

Edit split-screen aspect-ratio^[6]

Go to <path-to-game>/portal 2
Open splitscreen_config.txt with a text editor
Look for "aspect" "8 by 9" string
Change it accordingly to your actual aspect ratio divided by 2

Notes

If you are interested to horizontal split-screen aspect ratio, you should look instead for "aspect" "32 by 9" string (remember that you need to multiply by 2 the aspect ratio now)

Disable motion blur[edit]

Use the `+mat_motion_blur_percent_of_screen_max 0` command line argument^{[citation needed]}

Use the +mat_motion_blur_percent_of_screen_max 0 command line argument^{[citation needed]}

Run at monitor's refresh rate[edit]

Use the `-refresh` command line argument, followed by the desired refresh rate.^{[citation needed]}

Use the -refresh command line argument, followed by the desired refresh rate.^{[citation needed]}

Cap frame rate[edit]

Use the `+fps_max` command line argument, followed by the desired frame rate.^{[citation needed]}

Use the +fps_max command line argument, followed by the desired frame rate.^{[citation needed]}

Input[edit]

In-game general controls settings.

In-game gamepad settings.

In-game key map settings.

In-game button map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Perpetual Testing Initiative level select menu is buggy but workable.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		Has separate sliders for horizontal and vertical sensitivity.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration		Use X1nput^[7]

DualShock 4 controllers		Officially supported via Steam Input.
DualShock button prompts		DS4 prompts are displayed as text during gameplay (e.g., Circle Button). Xbox icons are still used in menus.
Light bar support
Connection modes	USB

Tracked motion controllers		Sixense controllers with the Portal 2 Sixense Perceptual Pack
Button/gesture prompts

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Steam Input
Steam Input API support
Official controller preset(s)
Steam Controller button prompts

Audio[edit]

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Over-all game volume and separate music slider.
Surround sound		7.1, 5.1 surround sound, 4 speaker surround^[8]
Subtitles		For non-English subtitles, see Changing subtitle language.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish

Changing subtitle language[edit]

Enter cc_lang LanguageName into the console^{[citation needed]} Open the console (`~`) and enter `cc_lang LanguageName` Substitute `LanguageName` with available language.

Enter cc_lang LanguageName into the console^{[citation needed]}

Open the console (~) and enter cc_lang LanguageName
Substitute LanguageName with available language.

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	2	Co-op Two player split-screen
LAN play	Use sv_lan command
Online play	2	Co-op Supports crossplay with PS3

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP		Open the console (`~`) and enter `connect` followed by the IP and port.

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	27014-27050
UDP	3478, 4379-4380, 27000-27030

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support[edit]

3D modes	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		Use Helix Mod: Portal 2 for better support.
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX	G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues fixed[edit]

Game does not start on Linux[edit]

This happens because of Portal 2 bundling an old libstdc++ file. Most common in open source Radeon drivers such as RadeonSI.

Game does not start on Linux^{[citation needed]} Use any of these fixes Remove "<path-to-game>/Portal 2/bin/libstdc++.so.6" file OR Add `LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6'` to the Launch Options.

Game does not start on Linux^{[citation needed]}

Use any of these fixes

Remove "<path-to-game>/Portal 2/bin/libstdc++.so.6" file

Add LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6' to the Launch Options.

Reflective lighting in certain levels broken[edit]

Lower Shader Detail to "Medium" under Advanced Video options.

For a temporary fix without lowering Shader Detail, read the alternative solution in this guide on Steam Community boards.

Purple and black broken textures[edit]

A generic fix for this issue can be found on our Source engine page.

Split-screen co-op[edit]

As of November 20, 2012, splitscreen mode has been officially added for Standard Co-Op.^[9]

If you'd like to use a keyboard/mouse for Player 1 and a controller for Player 2 in Windows, follow these instructions:

Input joy_remap_player_for_controller1 2^{[citation needed]} Open the console in Portal 2 Input `joy_remap_player_for_controller1 2` Play

Input joy_remap_player_for_controller1 2^{[citation needed]}

Open the console in Portal 2
Input joy_remap_player_for_controller1 2
Play

If you'd like to use a keyboard/mouse for Player 2 and a controller for Player 1 in OS X or Linux, follow these instructions:

Use in_forceuser to switch keyboard and mouse to player 2^{[citation needed]} Make sure your controller is connected beforehand Open Portal 2 Open the console Start a coop game `ss_map mp_coop_start` Run the following commands `sv_cheats 1` then `in_forceuser 1` Keyboard/mouse is now controlling player 2 and the gamepad is controlling player 1. Play

Use in_forceuser to switch keyboard and mouse to player 2^{[citation needed]}

Make sure your controller is connected beforehand
Open Portal 2
Open the console
Start a coop game ss_map mp_coop_start
Run the following commands sv_cheats 1 then in_forceuser 1
Keyboard/mouse is now controlling player 2 and the gamepad is controlling player 1.
Play

Black screen at launch[edit]

Set your resolution to your native desktop resolution^{[citation needed]}

Set your resolution to your native desktop resolution^{[citation needed]}

"Visual 2005 Runtime" error[edit]

Install Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries^{[citation needed]} Visit Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries Download and install the files provided Run the game

Install Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries^{[citation needed]}

Visit Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries
Download and install the files provided
Run the game

"Portal 2 Failed to create D3D device" error[edit]

Install DirectX^{[citation needed]} Install/update DirectX Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select `Properties` Select `Set Launch Options...` Input `-w # -h #`, where each `#` is your monitor's width and height respectively.

Install DirectX^{[citation needed]}

Install/update DirectX
Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library
Right-click the game name
Select Properties
Select Set Launch Options...
Input -w # -h #, where each # is your monitor's width and height respectively.

Freezes after logo intro video[edit]

Skip intro videos^{[citation needed]}

Skip intro videos^{[citation needed]}

Verify Your Game Cache^{[citation needed]} Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select `Properties` Go to the `Local Files` tab Select `Verify Integrity of Game Cache...` This may take a while, just wait for it to finish Once it's done press `OK` Launch the game

Verify Your Game Cache^{[citation needed]}

Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library
Right-click the game name
Select Properties
Go to the Local Files tab
Select Verify Integrity of Game Cache...
This may take a while, just wait for it to finish
Once it's done press OK
Launch the game

If you have an FX Bulldozer CPU, such as the AMD FX 4100, you may need to:

Update the BIOS^{[citation needed]} Updating the BIOS may fix this issue

Update the BIOS^{[citation needed]}

Updating the BIOS may fix this issue

Orocho-CEG^{[citation needed]} Visit this thread Download and open the Orocho-CEG application Notes Orocho-CEG must be restarted after each reboot

Orocho-CEG^{[citation needed]}

Visit this thread
Download and open the Orocho-CEG application

Notes

Orocho-CEG must be restarted after each reboot

Freezes and stuttering on Mac[edit]

Disable joystick support^{[citation needed]} Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select `Properties` Select `Set Launch Options...` Input `-nojoy` Press `OK` and launch the game

Disable joystick support^{[citation needed]}

Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library
Right-click the game name
Select Properties
Select Set Launch Options...
Input -nojoy
Press OK and launch the game

"Could not Load Library Client" error[edit]

Add Steam.exe and portal2.exe to your firewall's exception lists^{[citation needed]} Open your firewall's software Find your exception list Add `Steam.exe` and `portal2.exe` to your exceptions list Open the game

Add Steam.exe and portal2.exe to your firewall's exception lists^{[citation needed]}

Open your firewall's software
Find your exception list
Add Steam.exe and portal2.exe to your exceptions list
Open the game

No sound[edit]

Run the game with Stereo Sound^{[citation needed]}

Run the game with Stereo Sound^{[citation needed]}

Sound causing stuttering[edit]

Update your sound card drivers^{[citation needed]}

Update your sound card drivers^{[citation needed]}

Generic crash fixes[edit]

Run as Administrator^{[citation needed]} Go to the installation folder. Right-click on `Portal2.exe` and select `Run as Administrator`

Run as Administrator^{[citation needed]}

Go to the installation folder.
Right-click on Portal2.exe and select Run as Administrator

Run in compatibility mode^{[citation needed]} Go to the installation folder. Right-click on `Portal2.exe` and select `Run in Compatibility Mode` Make it run in compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3

Run in compatibility mode^{[citation needed]}

Go to the installation folder.
Right-click on Portal2.exe and select Run in Compatibility Mode
Make it run in compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3

Cinematic audio stutter[edit]

Update your audio device drivers^{[citation needed]} Update audio device drivers Uninstall extra codecs you have installed

Update your audio device drivers^{[citation needed]}

Update audio device drivers
Uninstall extra codecs you have installed

Lag physics blob fix[edit]

Input r_threaded_blobulator 0 in the console^{[citation needed]} Open the console (`~`) Input `r_threaded_blobulator 0`

Input r_threaded_blobulator 0 in the console^{[citation needed]}

Open the console (~)
Input r_threaded_blobulator 0

Portal 2 with Integrated Intel Graphics[edit]

Portal 2 may have problems running on integrated Intel graphics cards, including crashing and black screens. Windowed mode may fix this.

Play in windowed mode^{[citation needed]} Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library Right-click the game name Select `Properties` Select `Set Launch Options...` Input `-windowed` Launch Portal 2

Play in windowed mode^{[citation needed]}

Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library
Right-click the game name
Select Properties
Select Set Launch Options...
Input -windowed
Launch Portal 2

Resolution is too low in Linux[edit]

Resolution is too low in Linux^{[citation needed]} Run the game with `-windowed` in `Launch Options`.

Resolution is too low in Linux^{[citation needed]}

Run the game with -windowed in Launch Options.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
OpenGL	2.1	OS X and Linux only.
Shader Model support	2, 3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			^{[citation needed]}
Linux			^{[citation needed]}

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok	Heavily modified variant.
Audio	Miles Sound System
Cutscenes	Bink Video	Used for startup videos, in-game movies, and movies applied to surfaces.
Multiplayer	Steamworks

Console commands[edit]

Games running on the Source engine can utilize Source Engine Console Commands for various tasks.

Enabling the console in Source games^{[citation needed]}

Launch the game
From the main menu select Options
Select the Keyboard tab
Click the Advanced button
Check the box next to Enable developer console (~)
Click Apply

Notes

Some commands may first require you enabling sv_cheats. You can do so with sv_cheats 1.

Users without a US keyboard could experience some problems.

Launch options[edit]

View this Steam Support Article regarding launch options as well as the relevant Valve Developer wiki page for further information and a list of useful Source engine launch options.

Enabling a launch parameter^{[citation needed]}

Find the game in your Steam Library
Right-click the game name
Select Properties
Select Set Launch Options...
Input your selected launch options and separate each command with a space
Press OK
Launch the game

Mods[edit]

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	7, 8.1, 10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X800 Nvidia GeForce 7600 Intel HD Graphics 2000 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 2.0b support
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible

Windows XP and Vista were previously supported, but as future updates for this game and Steam occurred; the support was dropped, even with retail copies.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.6.7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2400 Nvidia GeForce 8600M Intel HD Graphics 3000

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu 12.04
Processor (CPU)	Intel Dual Core 2.8 GHz AMD Dual Core 2.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600/3600 Nvidia GeForce 8600/9600 GT OpenGL 2.1 compatible
Sound (audio device)	OpenAL compatible
Other	(Graphic Drivers: Nvidia 310, AMD 12.11)

Notes

↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

Contents

Availability[edit]

DLC and expansion packs

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

Save game data location[edit]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

Video[edit]

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Split-screen without bezels[edit]

Disable motion blur[edit]

Run at monitor's refresh rate[edit]

Cap frame rate[edit]

Input[edit]

Audio[edit]

Localizations

Changing subtitle language[edit]

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Connection types

Ports

VR support[edit]

Issues fixed[edit]

Game does not start on Linux[edit]

Reflective lighting in certain levels broken[edit]

Purple and black broken textures[edit]

Split-screen co-op[edit]

Black screen at launch[edit]

"Visual 2005 Runtime" error[edit]

"Portal 2 Failed to create D3D device" error[edit]

Freezes after logo intro video[edit]

Freezes and stuttering on Mac[edit]

"Could not Load Library Client" error[edit]

No sound[edit]

Sound causing stuttering[edit]

Generic crash fixes[edit]

Cinematic audio stutter[edit]

Lag physics blob fix[edit]

Portal 2 with Integrated Intel Graphics[edit]

Resolution is too low in Linux[edit]

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Middleware[edit]

Console commands[edit]

Launch options[edit]

Mods[edit]

System requirements[edit]

Notes

References