Loud Pipes is an Old Aperture-style single-player map that features two major chambers that heavily revolve around the use of repulsion and propulsion gel and their interaction with cubes, light bridges, laser fields, and moving platforms. The map's difficulty ranges from easy to medium/hard.

Screenshots:
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54177 ... 6F9F4A356/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54177 ... B90291E32/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54177 ... A63C18803/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54177 ... DE459D8D7/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/54177 ... 324CDF62A/

Updated to v.1.2.
-Fixed an exploit with the light bridge
-Repaired a cubemap error that was giving the observation room an odd effect
-Shifted some of the white walls around in chamber two to prevent exploits
-Made it easier to jump back from the moving platform

Also, if any of you designers out there are interested in the design process of this map or the aesthetic technique of any Old Aperture map, I've written a small tutorial about it over in Rubrica's aesthetic thread. Check it out if it interests you!
mapping-help/on-the-aesthetic-themes-in-portal-2-v0-9-1-t4257.html

Leave feedback or feel free to reach me (contacts in the readme) once you finish the map. Thank you!

File Name: sp_loud_pipes v.1.2.rar
File Size: 6.79 MiB
Click here to download Loud Pipes

I haven't played it yet, but it looks beautiful.

This map made me sad...
I always look forward to "Old Aperture" maps because they're usually riddled with loopholes that allow to speedrun the map extremely fast.

But, you sir, have made a very near-bugless map.

There is one bug I found at the beginning of the map you can skip the first room by shooting a portal through the grate onto a wall in the next area. This lets you skip a little bit, but not much.

Satchmo - Thank you, sir. Means a lot coming from someone who I know actually pays attention to the aesthetic details in their maps. Let me know what you think after you play it.

Tyronis3 - Hehe. Old Aperture is very difficult to design in for that reason. I'll correct that bug when the map gets a bit more downloads and more things pop up. Thank you for extensively testing it in that way.

Great map.Lotta thinking and timing.Especially the bridge part.I stared at that for a good 10 minutes thinking WTF now what.

Old aperture is my favorite style. I like the new way to gain momentum by painting the floor and the ceiling with blue gel and bouncing up and down.
It is not an easy map. I haven't worked out how to get the box behind the death grid yet.

Andyb - Thank you. Light bridges are one of my favorite elements to work with, so I was absolutely thrilled to think up ideas to change its perspective to the player. I'm glad you enjoyed playing it.

smwlover - Old Aperture is my favorite, too.

For the part you are having trouble with, take notice of the signage I've given below the death field. If that doesn't flare some light bulbs, another way to think about it is to remember how you gained the momentum to get the box in the first place. Also, remember that the player weighs more than the box.

If you still are stuck, I can PM you more hints or the solution. Totally up to you.

Nice map, but i'm not sure i've used the correct solution for all..

For the cube behind the laser part, i painted the bridge with the blue gel, by changing the portal from the gel to the bridge, then take the cube when it was jumping

For the second part, also the cube after the laser i take little run-up with the cube in hand and throwed that.

Infernet89 -

Thank you for playing. For the first part (the cube and the light bridge), the intended solution is much simpler than what you described. What you are supposed to do is to paint the middle island (with the box switch and the flipping panel), place one portal at the light bridge source, the other one below the box, hit the box switch, and hop, using the gel, to the light bridge source to pass through the portals and grab the box. I'll fiddle with the vclips, but blue gel causes an unpredictable "chaos theory-esque" component in boxes.

I'm not quite sure what you meant about the second part. I'm assuming you used the propulsion gel to throw the cube over, which is the intended solution. Most people, I would assume, will figure out that they have to use the runway a third time (first for the box switch, second to collect the box) to hoist them and the box to the laser's edge. Due to the weight of the player against the box, they should hit just below the laser field while the box goes through. If this is not what you meant, I apologize.

Again, thanks for trying it out!

I love old aperature maps and this one was great looking and ran fairly smooth, however I was disappointed that there were no faithplates which would have been fun. Also, it was difficult getting the cube off the moving platform thru that small area in the fence. You had to angle it just right unless I was doing it wrong - don't know. Loved the Cave Johnson humor - that's always a nice touch. I wish it had been longer. All-in-all very good. Keep them coming!

Wow. I really liked this. The optics were great and the puzzle in the second chamber mad me think it was impossible to solve it for some time. Well done.

P.S. Homer rules!

An awesome map, to say the least. Truly perfects the Old Aperture theme in a way that I failed to in my map. I did think the puzzles lacked something, but I have no idea what and it's probably just because gel based puzzles usually don't excite me as opposed to being your fault. The visuals and premise are top notch. Well done.

Wow, I said I'd check this out, and I did; I'm impressed, However, there's a minor visual glitch; in the observation room for the final chamber, the ceiling displays the purple and black checkerboard as it's reflectivity thingy, probably because of a jsplaced cube map. Aside from that, this was great, though it was a litle laggy, but that might just be me.

hmmm, a very easy map with a couple of bugs that could easily make the user skip the 2 rooms you have easily, for the first room the user can skip it doing what "Tyronis3" said, for the second room, I'm not sure what is the purpose of placing the cube in the first part of the room (the one that makes the emancipation grid disappear) since the level can be completed even with the emancipation grid being on.

Yay 179 votes of 5/5

Sumptuous medium map in the recently neglected Old Aperture style, particularly maniacal about detail: the little touches make it more believable, but maybe the special care to isolate breaking points with the puzzles might have made it a bit fortress-like.

One might object to the newer testing elements in that setting, but that's it. Puzzles all involve classic gel applications, which don't reinvent the wheel but feel solid. Check the room with the water dispenser: you can skip a part of the puzzle by gel-jumping on the lightbridge (set in front of the exit) to the door.

Oh boy. Lots of replies!

Rubrica - I'll check that out. It's probably just an unlinked cubemap. Thanks for pointing it out. Also, would you mind letting me know where it was particularly laggy for you? I'm playing on quite a high end machine, so I don't notice any (plus, I've optimized the map quite a lot), but I'm always willing to listen and see if I can help.

Ilikeapples - Can you go into more detail how you are shooting past the grid? The bug that tyronis3 found should no longer be possible and there's no way to shoot up through the other fizzler for me. I've placed invisible portal_cleansers lining the grates to prevent it. How are you getting the propulsion gel into the first room?

xdiesp - Thank you. Heh. It's part of the reason that Old Aperture maps require so much work to prevent exploits that I had to give it a bit of a "fortress" feeling.

That other bug, I was aware of. I assume you are talking quick-switching the bridge from the gel and using it to hop the outer fence into the enclosed area. Considering it required gel-ing a bridge using the gel's weird behavior of remaining for a while after the portal has been removed , I wasn't sure if too many players would recognize this strategy. I'll probably end up having to raise the fence.

EDIT: Alright, I'm flattered, but my map did not need 170+ 5/5 votes whoever did that.

Like the old style maps... However, I had some problems. In Ch 2, I kept getting stuck in the upper gated area below the exit - couldn't make the gel fling up to the exit. Once in there - no way back. Tried blue gel painting a bridge but never got enough on. No clipped up to exit.
In next blue/orange gel chamber, got stuck several times trying to jump off the moving platform - the cube went over but I ended up trapped behind the steel with no way in. Eventually got through by jumping at the angled part - IMO waaay too ninja if the solution.
After elevator at end - just took me out - maybe a better ending. Unlike the 170+ 5/5 I think this needs some work so 3/5 for now - will look for updates.
Thanks for mapping

Quote:
Once in there - no way back. Tried blue gel painting a bridge but never got enough on. No clipped up to exit.

Are you sure you did it correctly? You're supposed to gel the wall below the door using the above tilted panel (taking the gel from the pipe at the start of the chamber, not the pipe that gels the bridge), place the bridge directly above (so it's parallel to the wall), gel the bridge by standing on the button and bounce upwards like in the cooperative maps. I just tested it myself again and it works for me without any difficulties.

Quote:
In next blue/orange gel chamber, got stuck several times trying to jump off the moving platform - the cube went over but I ended up trapped behind the steel with no way in. Eventually got through by jumping at the angled part - IMO waaay too ninja if the solution.

I'm not quite sure why this was considered "ninja." I made it with barely a hop. You're supposed to jump just over the tilted frame, not through its angled compartment. You can also throw the cube over if that is what is hassling you. Of course, if it gave you a problem, I will take a look into it and see if I can make it easier.

Quote:
After elevator at end - just took me out - maybe a better ending.

That's how all the Old Aperture levels in Valve's campaign finish. I'm not sure I understand this complaint.

Thanks for playing.

Great Map. I've never played coop mode, so if there is some way to bounce on a button, I've never done it. I'll have to try bouncing on the button, because every time I ended up in the fenced-in area below the exit of the second room, I got stuck. I would get to that area by bouncing up and down in the boxed-in area at the beginning of the second room, then shooting through the portal, bouncing on the flipped panel, and landing in the fenced-in area below the exit. Each time I was stuck there, although I suppose I wouldn't have been had I known you could bounce on the button. Instead, what I did was create a little more velocity for myself when bouncing off the flipped panel. To do so, rather than bounce up and down in the boxed-in area, I created a blue portal at the top and a orange portal at the bottom of the boxed-in area and fell through the bottom portal. If you do this, you reach terminal velocity pretty quickly as you fall through the portals again and again. Then, if you shoot a blue portal at the slanted panel, you will rocket out of that portal, over-shoot the middle island and die. However, If you fall though the bottom portal in the boxed-in area, and continue to fall through 3 or 4 times (before reaching terminal velocity), you can then shoot a blue portal at the slanted panel, which will cause you to hit flipped-panel at a very high speed, and bounce all the way to the entrance of the third room. Anyway, if someone puts up the a youtube of thebridgesolution, that would be great, because it had me flummoxed.

Kujo76 - First, I want to admire your tenacity to solve a puzzle. Few people try so many different methods when the obvious solution isn't clear. I should have noted that completing the cooperative courses makes that part a lot more clearer because the same method is used in it as my map. The solution is that once you reach that "caged" area, you need to cover the wall below the door with the repulsion gel using the paint pipe at the start of the chamber, place the light bridge so its parallel to that wall, stand on the button so the second paint pipe (above the exit) covers the bridge, and finally, bounce up to the exit between the gel'd up bridge and the wall.
Thank you for playing and I appreciate you explaining your thought process.

In response to your question: the entire map was laggy, so I really get the feeling it's not your fault and that it's just me, but it was especially the second chamber.

Odd. The two buildings in the map (the training building and the propulsion building) are separated from the main map via an area portal. Almost everything else is a func_detail and I'm utilizing hint/skip brushes to help format the visleafs.

Hmm. What kind of computer are you on? Maybe it's all the lights. I'll see what I can do for the next update.

I have no idea what model my computer is at the moment, sorry, nor any of it's specs. All I know is that it's one of those VAIO all-in-one desktops; snazzy, buqt pretty useless.

I'm playing custom maps and record my first time of playing them. So the run is not perfect and may not use only intended ways, but maybe it can let you see how other people may understand the map or you could just enjoy someone playing this map for entertainment.
Anyways, here is the recording:

BzlwWUWEbS4
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzlwWUWEbS4)

Also note the video description for more feedback and my signature for additional project information.

Thanks for the feedback. No I did not gel it correctly - now it seems so easy I got fixed on bouncing up...
Moving platform - will try shortly - looked like one should jump over the bent part rather than around it - maybe angle the bend so it is clearer where to go?
Ending - you're right, guess I expected a 'text' and fade after the elevator.
I look forward to more maps....

Didn't think it was all that difficult, but very well made and rather enjoyable. 5/5

FD, I actually had the ah-ha moment as I was writing my post explaining the alternate method. Should have seen the bouncing between lightbridge and back wall solution, especially since I had painted the back wall. Anyway, great map and thanks for responding.

Djinndrache - Good play through. You're getting quite fast at solving puzzles.

Quatrus - The platform part should be much more obvious now. I bent back the frame so the player can literally walk off the platform and be safe.

As for the ending, I thought you meant something like a turret choir. I'll consider adding a "thanks for playing" or something along those lines.

Hawkeye - Thanks for playing!

kujo79 - Haha. Wonderful. It's no problem, thanks again for playing.

I have big problems getting to move the cube in the third part from the one side to the other.
This guy just throws it, but for me it is impossible. Any hints:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzlwWUWEbS4&t=8m12s[/youtube]

Michiel - I assume you are referencing Djinndrache's video. Throwing the box up in the air like that is technically a bug in the physics engine and isn't the intended solution (although an interesting one that I plan to leave in for the more experienced portal players). As for hints:
1. The solution involves using the runway you set up for getting the box in the first place.
2. Remember that a box doesn't obtain sufficient velocity going through a portal by itself, but
will maintain it if being carried.
3. Remember that the player weighs less than the box and that the box can be thrown above your character.

If you still can't get it, I'll continue to give you hints or the solution.

Good luck!

thanks for the hint.
I eventually found this way without the runway:

Use the gel so you spray the (or at least a part) of the runway blue
Then use the panel next to the "box-button" to spray blue over the two buttons.
Then you use the smal spot of blue next to the button (that makes the red gel flow) and jump with the box in your hand on the blue on the runway. You jump high enough to just put the box throug the red stripes.


thanks!

really enjoyed this, love the idea of painting the ceiling and floor and bouncing between them! however, like many others, i also got stuck getting the cube through the death grill, i admit to having to read this thread to find out how to do so lol. really good map!

I'm glad you enjoyed the map, Spam Nugget. Also, you're the first person to comment on the repulsion gel "infini-bounce."

Just out of curiosity, what attempts did you try out to get the box over before you found out the solution? I'm going to try to make it more obvious for future players.

By the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but have you considered replacing the death field in the light bridge puzzle with a metal grille? The testing element looks out of place in Old Aperture, and it's just one more way for the player to die; it could be replaced with a grille wthout any loss of function at all. I don't think you could replace it in the final puzzle, though... Your other option is to create a new, custom 1960s death field texture. If you could, that would look amazing, and would finish this map off for me.

That's odd. It is a 1960's death field. I'm using the underground fizzler parts for its emitters instead of the usual red Aperture pieces. The only problem is that the red lines don't sync up as well as they do with the modern fizzler parts.

I also like using the death ray because A) it makes the box dropper more visible and B) it's my attempt to trap people into thinking they want to get the box out through the front until the obvious solution becomes clear.

EDIT: Ah, you mean the textures. I was intending to, but I recently switched computer operating systems and I haven't brought over my Photoshop, yet. However, the emitters for the field should be from the underground set.

ForbiddenDonut wrote:
Just out of curiosity, what attempts did you try out to get the box over before you found out the solution? I'm going to try to make it more obvious for future players.

well, i tried several things: painting the floor panel by the button blue, then placing a portal on the angled panel, bouncing on the blue panel with the cube then letting go of the cube, putting a portal underneath it and moving; I tried painting the cube blue and having it bouncethrough the field, but of course when it didnt fly of the edge of the map, it still was painted and as such didnt work on the floor button; i tried simply using the speed gel to fling through the death field; I tried painting the cube orange and sliding it along the floor to try and fling it; I tried painting the floor on the other side of the death grill blue via the overhead panel then bouncing to see if I could shoot a portal through the death grill; I tried using the speed gel runway to launch me up out of the floor panel under the pipes to see if i could put a portal through the death grill; thats about it off the top of my head lol. hope it helps! I think my biggest problem is that at first i kept trying to find a way to use the bounce gel to get the cube through, having just received the means to access it.

Yes - I've noticed that players often associate getting the box to using it on the repulsion gel, either forgetting that there's a box-button on the other side or thinking that the repulsion gel is used more than just the tip of the final puzzle. I am unsure on how to direct players in a better fashion at the moment, but I will think it over and try to come up with a solution that promotes better player direction while not making the puzzle too obvious.

Thank you, Spam Nugget. I appreciate you revealing your thought process on that part and will take it into consideration for future updates and maps.

personally, I am amzed at how well textured the map was. All of the testures matched the theme, and fit well into the gameplay. I also had the same problem that spam nugget had with getting the cube through.

Blendmaster345 -

Thank you! I spent much of my time observing Old Aperture levels in Valve's campaign (I have over 500 hours logged for Portal 2 ) as well as taking reference screenshots. Style and aesthetic design is very important to me.

As for the problem: as stated in my note to Spam Nugget, I am currently working on a way to make that part more obvious to the player. Thanks for playing!

Did you use radius culling when compiling the map?

blendmaster345 wrote:
Did you use radius culling when compiling the map?

No. The enrichment sphere instance includes a nodraw box that surrounds its outer edges, so I didn't feel it was necessary. In all the experiences I've used radius culling, it's been very buggy and caused me problems. Why?

ForbiddenDonut wrote:
blendmaster345 wrote:

Did you use radius culling when compiling the map?

No. The enrichment sphere instance includes a nodraw box that surrounds its outer edges, so I didn't feel it was necessary. In all the experiences I've used radius culling, it's been very buggy and caused me problems. Why?

Hm, just curios. I once used Radius Culling myself, and it was quite annoying. If the instance has a nodraw box outside the sphere, I dont think that Valve used it either.

Quote:
Hm, just curios. I once used Radius Culling myself, and it was quite annoying. If the instance has a nodraw box outside the sphere, I dont think that Valve used it either.

I have the complete set of Valve's maps decompiled. As far as I know, every enrichment sphere level has a surrounding nodraw box around it. I don't know if they used it themselves - but usually if I'm going to be directing the compiler on what to compile, it's for quick testing purposes and the cordon tool is very effective for that.

Then, I wonder why there even is a Radius Culling tool in Valve's own software.

I wonder how things like Carve has managed to stay in the editor all these years.

I can't even find a page on radius culling on the VDC wiki.

ForbiddenDonut wrote:
I wonder how things like Carve has managed to stay in the editor all these years.

I can't even find a page on radius culling on the VDC wiki.

There is even an entire article on the VDC wiki telling you speciffically not to carve. It is called do not carve.

Hah. Figures.

The clip tool is better in just about every way. Most of the time, I can get a third of the leftover shapes to what the carve tool produces and usually in a much more organized and neater fashion. No point in using carve unless someone is being lazy.

Hammer is an extremely powerful world editor, and it seems like features such as carve and radius culling drag it down, as new users who are experimenting might try to use them, and screw up their map.

The carve tool and you.

Idolon wrote:
The carve tool and you.

I read this article, and what I essentially got from it was The carve tool = Companion Cube. The carve tool can do many things, but it is not as simple and powerful as the clip tool.

Still, the carve tool is much faster/easier to make rectangular holes with, and should be kept in Hammer for that reason. Carving anything other than rectangular holes, however, is suicide.

Thanks Idolon for that interesting article - perhaps that is the reason the tool has been left in (although I prefer my clipping tool just because I'm much more efficient with it and enjoy its control over brushes).

Also, thanks to whoever fixed the rating for my map. It's much easier to see where my map actually stands without a surplus 150 votes from one person

Really enjoyed playing this map. It looked great and played really well. The first room had me stumped for ages, really devious puzzle(well for me anyway). Keep up the good work.

A fun little Old-Apeture Map.
Puzzle wise, it was fairly easy, though I did get stuck trying to figure out that I needed to use the repulsion gel to bounce to the light bridge in room 2. Otherwise, there is another alternate route in room two, which is to do a double fling when coming out of the top portal surface near the end, which causes you to barely hit the edge of the angled panel on the second time through and pops you up right to the exit. The distance and arc was so perfect I assumed it was the solution. Otherwise, I managed to get through the third room with no troubles (including carrying the cube and throwing it through the laser grill), though I did notice an fps drop in the room with the paint tubes.
Aesthetically, it looks great with well executed visuals. The "New" Aperture props did stick out a bit, but without a better alternative, the issues they cause aren't worth fixing. I did like the old-style laser grills, even if the texture doesn't fit perfectly. The only thing I wasn't a fan of (and it's really more personal taste than a real issue) was the long paint tubes in the second room.
Overall, very enjoyable!

Oh, just remembered, not really an issue, but some clip brushes to the supports, etc. that hold the structures up would keep players from getting "stuck" down there and having to jump into the water of their own accord.

Haggis - Thank you for the comment. I'm glad you enjoyed playing it!

Azure - Thank you for this thorough review - it really does help. I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by the exploit - was it that when you did the normal solution (flinging out of the portable surface on top of the laser field tower to the tilted midsection and then to the caged area) it took you all the way to the end? If it was, it's a very delicate issue. What the problem is that the tilted surface has a bit of a "chaos theory" physics mechanic depending on exactly where you hit it. For some players, they hit it too high and it flung them into the water just before the cage. For others, although much more rarely, it took them to the end. I'm going to lay a stronger info_placement_portal there to help prevent that exploit and hopefully give the players that are having a rougher time there a chance.

If this isn't what you're talking about, let's chat about it so I can get it fixed.

Yeah. I really wish they designed a box-button for the Old Aperture theme. If I had more time (I'm a college student), I would hop into Maya and design my own one. Maybe for a future map.

I assume you mean the paint tubes that deliver the water and blue gel. Bah. I like them - all twisty and such. I'll take a look at them and see if there's anything I can do.

And I do have a ton of clip brushes there, but I remembered that I recently redid some of the supports to stop an exploit with the blue gel and box. I'll make sure those are covered. Was there any place in particular that you wanted me to check out for you?

Thanks again for playing!

Hrmm...
It would seem that after 30+ attempts I am unable to replicate it, despite being able to do it twice in a row with no problems earlier today. The just of it was:
1. set the puzzle up as usual, box on the button, gel on the platform, portal on the surface above the laser grills 2. Infinite bounce off the gel and place a portal on the floor 3. as you go through the portal, place a portal (the one that you had on the floor) on the platform 4. while flinging, go back through the portal. you will come out slightly faster 5. hit the very top edge of the panel and get flung perfectly to the exit.

Answer is simple then: make the platform unportable. When I originally designed the puzzle, I had different plans for that platform - that's why it is portable now. An easy fix. Thank you, azure. A very interesting exploit!

Also, sorry you had to try 30 attempts at it. Like I said, that blue gel and its chaos theory physics effects! Regardless, I thank you for your help.

I loved the Cave Johnson era in the game; it's nice that you have done a map that does that style justice.

As some other posters have commented, having the blue gel button in the second room had me trying all sorts of ways to bounce the cube out of the room. I even found one that worked, but I seriously doubted it was the intended solution.

What frustrated me was that I tried the intended solution first speed gel through the angled panel and throw the cube but I kept stopping in mid-air, making me think there was a player_clip there. After coming back to that method after many experiments with the repel gel, I finally figured out it was because I was holding the cube too low and it was banging the edge of the portal. I just needed to hold the cube above my line of sight, and it worked like a charm.

On the final long jump to the exit, I kept falling short, even if I crouched. What was strange was that I didn't fall in the water. I landed on a fallen walkway, then had to jump into the water (or load the last save, of course.) I know why I was missing the jump, I just think it would make more sense that you just fall into the water and die.

Because some of the puzzles are a little hit or miss (i.e. you attempt the intended solution, but it doesn't always work) I give it just a 4/5.

P.S. Lightbridges aren't Old Aperture style, are they? Even if they aren't, I don't particularly care, but if this were a contest requiring some aesthetic conformance to particular OEM styles, I don't think this would pass muster.

EDIT: while working my way from the oldest maps to the newest, I found this one unrated, even though I was sure, from the unforgettable title, that I had played it before. Enough time had passed that I had to relearn some of the solution, and I really enjoyed playing it. I still give it 4/5.

KennKong,

As I have noted, the intended solution for the second room is to gel the middle platform and bounce over to the light bridge source while having it run through the portals to catch the box. I would not intentionally design a puzzle with such a painful random element with the gel.

I'm planning to redesign that third room. Too many people can't seem to get that part done correctly, so I'm going to gut elements and try to make it more obvious.

The last part... you are sure you used the blue gel at the end of the orange gel ramp? You're supposed to use the orange gel and tip the end with the blue gel (found next to the orange gel). I've never had a problem making it with that combination - in fact, most of the time, I get shot right into the actual elevator.
And I didn't intentionally align the walkway and the exit... it's funny how those things happen to come out.

I'll let you know when I make improvements.

Best,
-FD

P.S. Oh, and I don't care for the whole "elements don't fit in this style" debate. We found light bridges in the underground co-op, which is where most of the map's inspirations come from. There is going to be a point where portal puzzles are going to be done to death if we don't try and utilize testing elements in new environments.

There's a small shot across the level that can skip getting the cube. I have a video here:
sp_loud_pipes unintended solution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?1&v=_m3Z05U5PtA