Portal 2

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Portal 2
Portal 2 cover
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
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Portal 2 on HowLongToBeat
Portal 2 on IGDB
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Portal 2 guide on StrategyWiki
Portal 2 on MobyGames
Portal 2 on Wikipedia
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Portal
Subseries of Half-Life
Portal 2007
Portal 2 2011
Portal 2 Sixense Perceptual Pack 2013
Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative (unofficial mod) 2014
Portal Stories (series)
The Lab 2016
Bridge Constructor Portal 2017
Moondust 2018
Aperture Hand Lab 2019

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Key points

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

General information

Steam Community Discussions
Steam Workshop for Portal 2

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
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 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).
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam
Icon overlay.png
 Portal Bundle also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
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]
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Soundtrack Available for free.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Roll cage skin Pre-order only
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Paint job skin Pre-order only
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Antenna trooper skin Pre-order only
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

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 general video settings.
In-game advanced video settings.
In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
Multi-monitor
 
Ultra-widescreen
 
4K Ultra HD
 
 Crosshair interface scales poorly.
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
Capped at 300 FPS. Frame rate cap can be changed by changing fps_max in the developer console. To uncap FPS or cap FPS higher than 300 you must first set sv_cheats = 1 before using fps_max. sv_cheats = 1 will also disable achievements.
HBAO also available with flag 0x00000014.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Enter console commands[4]
  1. Go to Options, Keyboard/Mouse, and set Allow Developer Console to Enabled.
  2. Press ~ to toggle the console.
  3. Type in bind w "+forward; cl_fov xx", replacing xx with the desired FOV, and press ↵ Enter.
  4. OPTIONAL: Type in viewmodel_offset_y 6 and press ↵ Enter. This moves the portal gun's position further away.
  5. 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[5]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>/portal 2
  2. Open splitscreen_config.txt with a text editor
  3. Look for "aspect" "8 by 9" string
  4. 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[6]

Disable bloom[edit]

Use the +mat_disable_bloom 1 command line argument[6]

Run at monitor's refresh rate[edit]

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]

Input[edit]

In-game general controls settings.
In-game general controls settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game button 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
To make controller vibration work, download an updated version of the SDL2 file and replace it with the one in the Portal2\Bin folder. SDL This works for any Source engine based game.
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
Both DualShock 4 and DualSense prompts.
Light bar support
Connection modes Wired, wireless
Tracked motion controllers
Sixense controllers with the Portal 2 Sixense Perceptual Pack
Button/gesture prompts
Generic/other controllers
Both Switch Pro Controller and Generic Gamepads are supported through Steam Input.
Button prompts
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.
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] The option for the 7.1 surround sound might be missing, type snd_surround_speakers 7 to fix this issues.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Open console and type snd_mute_losefocus 0 to Disable, snd_mute_losefocus 1 to Enable

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
For unknown reasons, the localization has the effect of breaking phrases or overlapping one phrase with another. To fix this, follow the instructions
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish

Disable in-game voice chat[edit]

Disables in-game voice chat to allow using other voice chat services instead.
Disable voice chat[citation needed]
  1. Go into game options.
  2. Enable the developer console.
  3. Press ~.
  4. Type in voice_enable 0.

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
2 Co-op
Two player split-screen
LAN play
2 Co-op
Use sv_lan command.
Online play
33 Co-op
Supports crossplay with PS3. You can play with up to 33 players with the Portal 2: Multiplayer Mod.

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 Native 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

OR

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

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]
  1. Open the console in Portal 2
  2. Input joy_remap_player_for_controller1 2
  3. 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]
  1. Make sure your controller is connected beforehand
  2. Open Portal 2
  3. Open the console
  4. Start a coop game ss_map mp_coop_start
  5. Run the following commands sv_cheats 1 then in_forceuser 1
  6. Keyboard/mouse is now controlling player 2 and the gamepad is controlling player 1.
  7. Play

Black screen at launch[edit]

Set your resolution to your native desktop resolution[citation needed]

"Visual 2005 Runtime" error[edit]

Install Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries[citation needed]
  1. Visit Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries
  2. Download and install the files provided
  3. Run the game

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

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

Freezes after logo intro video[edit]

Skip intro videos[citation needed]
Verify Your Game Cache[citation needed]
  1. Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library
  2. Right-click the game name
  3. Select Properties
  4. Go to the Local Files tab
  5. Select Verify Integrity of Game Cache...
  6. This may take a while, just wait for it to finish
  7. Once it's done press OK
  8. 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
Orocho-CEG[citation needed]
  1. Visit this thread
  2. 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]
  1. Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library
  2. Right-click the game name
  3. Select Properties
  4. Select Set Launch Options...
  5. Input -nojoy
  6. 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]
  1. Open your firewall's software
  2. Find your exception list
  3. Add Steam.exe and portal2.exe to your exceptions list
  4. Open the game

No sound[edit]

Run the game with Stereo Sound[citation needed]

Sound causing stuttering[edit]

Update your sound card drivers[citation needed]

Generic crash fixes[edit]

Run as Administrator[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Right-click on Portal2.exe and select Run as Administrator
Run in compatibility mode[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Right-click on Portal2.exe and select Run in Compatibility Mode
  3. Make it run in compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3

Cinematic audio stutter[edit]

Update your audio device drivers[citation needed]
  1. Update audio device drivers
  2. Uninstall extra codecs you have installed

Lag physics blob fix[edit]

Input r_threaded_blobulator 0 in the console[citation needed]
  1. Open the console (~)
  2. 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]
  1. Find Portal 2 in your Steam Library
  2. Right-click the game name
  3. Select Properties
  4. Select Set Launch Options...
  5. Input -windowed
  6. 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.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9
OpenGL 2.1 OS X and Linux only.
Vulkan
Use -vulkan Command line argument.[11] Works via DXVK translation layer.[12]
Shader Model support 2, 3
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
""
macOS (OS X)
[10]
Linux
[10]

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]
  1. Launch the game
  2. From the main menu select Options
  3. Select the Keyboard tab
  4. Click the Advanced button
  5. Check the box next to Enable developer console (~)
  6. 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]
  1. Find the game in your Steam Library
  2. Right-click the game name
  3. Select Properties
  4. Select Set Launch Options...
  5. Input your selected launch options and separate each command with a space
  6. Press OK
  7. 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

  1. ↑ 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).

References

  1. ↑ News - Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative Begins May 8
  2. ↑ https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/32061/how-do-i-actually-start-the-peer-review-dlc-on-portal-2
  3. ↑ https://www.forum-3dcenter.org/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=9559666&postcount=3606
  4. ↑ Permanent FOV in Portal 2 and Change Portal Gun Position - YouTube
  5. ↑ Widescreen gaming blog post on Eyefinity in Left 4 Dead 1
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://steamcommunity.com/app/620/discussions/0/133258593395350927/
  7. ↑ X1nput 2.0 - Xbox One Controller Impulse Triggers on (almost) any PC game
  8. ↑ Portal 2 EAX sound fix for sublime sound - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
  9. ↑ Portal 2 Update Released - Steam News for Portal 2
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Verified by User:Mastan on 2021-02-19
  11. ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/oldnews/81067
  12. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/ln426q/a_big_portal_2_update_has_been_released_which/gnynoe1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3