Reached over 1,000 downloads. Thank you! ###

This is a medium difficulty map, with a few little surprises.

If you would like to know how to install the map, visit the link

below...

mapping-help/playing-portal-2-

custom-maps-t4076.html

This is [v1.4] of the map.

Thanks to msleeper for the elevator transition instance


### Previous Bugs ###

v1.0
- Could get stuck in third room

v1.1
- Weird reflections in toxic water
- Cube would sometimes not fall on the button when thrown
- Cube would sometimes not fall on ariel faith plate
- Laser could be shot from wall straight into the laser catcher

v1.2
- Fizzler was at eye level, making it hard to see
- Lighting in elevators was to a poor standard
- Not enough indicators to show what things do
- The third chamber solution was a little too easy
- Exit door didn't close

v1.3
- Intended solution to the third chamber could be bypassed


I hope you enjoy it. =]

My username for Thinking With Portals is Lostprophetpunk if you want

to get in touch.

File Name: sp_Vertical_Reach[1.4].rar
File Size: 2.88 MiB
Click here to download Vertical Reach

Three honest microchambers, unspecial but working: wall detail is there (some lights?), floor could have used a bit more love to break with all that flat gray. You might try and have them all in the same place, or at least parallel with 3 cube-keys for a hub.

A couple of glitches: in CH2, I placed portals far away to shoot the laser through but the inside was all black with items floating; in CH3, the cube dropper wasn't dropping on the catapult - which made the puzzle a matter of seconds.

xdiesp wrote:
Three honest microchambers, unspecial but working: wall detail is there (some lights?), floor could have used a bit more love to break with all that flat gray. You might try and have them all in the same place, or at least parallel with 3 cube-keys for a hub.

A couple of glitches: in CH2, I placed portals far away to shoot the laser through but the inside was all black with items floating; in CH3, the cube dropper wasn't dropping on the catapult - which made the puzzle a matter of seconds.

Thanks for you feedback. I will work on the details later.

For the glitch in CH2, I have no idea on how to fix that. In CH3, whilst testing, the cube for me only missed once every 20 goes, but I will look to fix it.

You can still get stuck in chamber 3. The portal surface next to the button wouldn't accept a portal for me. Also, yes, the cube simply dropped next to the faith plate, and in chamber 2 - was I supposed to have the laser hit the receptor at a 90 degree angle? Seems like an exploit of the fact lasers in the game bend to line up with receptors when they go through portals.

There were some glitches with the sound design; namely, when I stood outside a portal (in chamber 2), the game seemed to think I was in two places at once, and started playing the noise made by an excursion funnel really loudly when I was in fact nowhere near it.

Three simplistic chambers that revolve around single puzzle solutions.

Chamber one was a little bland, but nicely refined and clean. The puzzle is extremely easy and shouldn't require anyone that has played through at least the campaign to think twice. As a side note, it might be nice to increase the length of time the gel is activated for - it took me a few presses to get the optimal amount of floorspace covered.

Chamber two is a little lackluster and, if you were to bring any of these puzzles back to the drawing board, I would say this would probably be the best contender. Also, I found a exploit when I first solved it - it should be easily fixable by moving the white space away from the corner a bit.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656 ... 9452721726 (sorry it's hard to see there, I thought I took a better picture. As you can see from the corner of the catcher, it's lit up without using the reflection box).

Chamber three needs a bit more touching up, but is otherwise fine. For some reason, you cannot portal the wall next to the button, in which, if you were like me, and went to go investigate the button area yourself, had to noclip out. Catching the box and setting up the reflective box angles were an interesting touch, however.

All in all, you could spice up your puzzle elements and complicate a bit more of your game architecture, but overall, you're improving as a mapper Lostprophetpunk. Good work.

xdiesp wrote:
Three honest microchambers, unspecial but working: wall detail is there (some lights?), floor could have used a bit more love to break with all that flat gray. You might try and have them all in the same place, or at least parallel with 3 cube-keys for a hub.

A couple of glitches: in CH2, I placed portals far away to shoot the laser through but the inside was all black with items floating; in CH3, the cube dropper wasn't dropping on the catapult - which made the puzzle a matter of seconds.

Everything via the 3 cube-key idea, and also the black portal with items floating, is fixed.

ForbiddenDonut wrote:
Chamber two is a little lackluster and, if you were to bring any of these puzzles back to the drawing board, I would say this would probably be the best contender. Also, I found a exploit when I first solved it - it should be easily fixable by moving the white space away from the corner a bit.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656 ... 9452721726 (sorry it's hard to see there, I thought I took a better picture. As you can see from the corner of the catcher, it's lit up without using the reflection box).

Chamber three needs a bit more touching up, but is otherwise fine. For some reason, you cannot portal the wall next to the button, in which, if you were like me, and went to go investigate the button area yourself, had to noclip out.

Both of those bugs/exploits are fixed.

NuclearDuckie wrote:
There were some glitches with the sound design; namely, when I stood outside a portal (in chamber 2), the game seemed to think I was in two places at once, and started playing the noise made by an excursion funnel really loudly when I was in fact nowhere near it.

That I still have no idea on how to fix. As I use an entity for the excursion funnel which emits the sound automatically.

Hope you all enjoy the update. =]

Lostprophetpunk, I checked the version which is up now: the pit in the first room has a nodraw surface, there are no cubemaps and the ring floor around the exit elevator is pitch black.

xdiesp wrote:
Lostprophetpunk, I checked the version which is up now: the pit in the first room has a nodraw surface, there are no cubemaps and the ring floor around the exit elevator is pitch black.

Fixed the nodraw surface. I have no idea about the pitch black floor in the exit elevator, as the lighting is the same for the entrance. I played around with the lighting but couldn't get it any different.

There are cubemaps in the level, but I thought they were built automatically when the level is compiled?

Nope; you have to type buildcubemaps in the console. You just domit in both HDR and LDR if you've compiled in both modes.

Rubrica wrote:
Nope; you have to type buildcubemaps in the console. You just domit in both HDR and LDR if you've compiled in both modes.

So how would I would build the cubemaps? As if you say in the console...what would I use to do the command in the console?

I'm so confused...

Um, you know how to bring up the console, right? You did write a guide on how to play custom maps... Just type 'buildcubemaps' as you would 'map MAPNAME'.

Rubrica wrote:
Um, you know how to bring up the console, right? You did write a guide on how to play custom maps... Just type 'buildcubemaps' as you would 'map MAPNAME'.

Would that build the cubemaps, so that when players download the map...it has built them?

Yes; after you build the cube maps, they are embedded into the bsp file. By the way, if you need to know how to switch between HDR and LDR, look up cube maps on the VDC.

Rubrica wrote:
Yes; after you build the cube maps, they are embedded into the bsp file. By the way, if you need to know how to switch between HDR and LDR, look up cube maps on the VDC.

It should be all fixed now. As I loaded the map, built the cubemaps via the console and then re-uploaded the file.

All worked fine, no issues. Fun map thanks for creating.

quatrus wrote:
All worked fine, no issues. Fun map thanks for creating.

Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated. =] I am looking to add music in the next update.

I've recorded an initial playthrough. Check its description for my thoughts on the map. Thanks for mapping.

Edit: link is correct now ;P
Nk2pAjF-SP0

Blaizer, I must thank you for your playthrough. I never realised the non-intended part of the solution in the first room.

I must congratulate you for finding an alternative method for redirecting the laser in the third room. I shall leave it like that as I love that as an alternative solution.

I intended for the boxes to be hidden and to be placed to make the player explore the level more, rather than just placing obvious box droppers around the rooms.

Nice straightforward level, maybe not quite as easy as we thought from reading the comments. My daughter liked it; she figured out how to get the cube in the last room, and found the reflectocube in the second part and the cube in the first part. She doesn't like timer puzzles though, so I needed to finish the first part for her (which took a good number of tries ). Thanks!

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:

NXdtKi8atCI
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXdtKi8atCI)

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

Thank you for the recording Djinndrache. It helps me see how the map is played from another players perspective. Much appreciated.

Few things:
Please place fizzler above faith plate slightly lower or higher to make it more visible-It is exactly at eye level
faith plate/redirection cube/exit elevator looks weird-I think it might be a problem with cubemaps?
Needs more indicator lights to show what does what
loved the puzzles though.

Soundlogic wrote:
Few things:
Please place fizzler above faith plate slightly lower or higher to make it more visible-It is exactly at eye level
faith plate/redirection cube/exit elevator looks weird-I think it might be a problem with cubemaps?
Needs more indicator lights to show what does what
loved the puzzles though.

Ah the fizzler I have always never thought of moving, thanks. =]

The cubemaps I am not sure about, as testing maps on even the medium difficulty makes the game heavily lag for me, as I am running on a three year old laptop.

I will update the map and fix those bugs, apart from the cubemaps...that I still have no idea about.

Lostprophetpunk wrote:
I will update the map and fix those bugs, apart from the cubemaps

There's an item more for your guide.

xdiesp wrote:
There's an item more for your guide.

But if I myself have no idea about cubemaps, considering I cannot test in high quality etc, and do not really fully understand cubemaps...then how can I add it to the guide?

I think Skotty got it covered already when you asked:

Skotty wrote:
So it just means: Cubemaps are important for reflections on nearly all textures. If there are no cubemaps in the map you will have bad looking white reflections.
Just create env_cubemaps at some places in the map, about 64 units above the floor. One per room should be enough.
If you got env_cubemaps you need to "build" their reflections still ingame. So if you compiled your map and started it, type into your console "buildcubemaps".

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Cubemaps

If your rig is slow, set the shaders to high just for a sec at the elevator (or ask a friend to).

Major update to the map.

Lighting should now be fixed, as well as a few other things.

Excellent map, but I found a couple of problems:

First, you can place a portal behind the excursion funnel in the first room!
I also suffered lighting problems with the reflections, so I don't think it's fixed.
In the third room, I created this alternative solution:

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198027298850/screenshot/577805776697392559?tab=public

It involves taking the cube from the second room and putting it behind the fizzler.

Still, an excellent map!

@RubbishyUsername, Thats exactly the solution I used, couldnt work out an alterantive so I assumed it was meant to be the intended, al be it a bit cryptic

PsyMan wrote:
@RubbishyUsername, Thats exactly the solution I used, couldnt work out an alterantive so I assumed it was meant to be the intended, al be it a bit cryptic

The intended solution for the third chamber is in a video of a walkthrough of an earlier version. =P

In the next update the solution that you used will be no more, and there will be a few other things. I am busy at the moment packing my stuff ready for my second year of uni.

EDIT:

Just noticed...OVER 1000 DOWNLOADS!!!!!!

Thanks to all those that played this map. You have been a huge support.

Just a quick update.

I have fixed the workaround solution for the third chamber. Sorry it took so long to fix, was busy moving for my second year of uni.

I played v1.4. You forgot to buildcubemaps again. In chamber 1, you can portal-bump past the glass to skip the fling to the button. Other than that, it's a clean and simple map. I liked it, but I don't give 4s to maps with broken puzzles, so just 3/5.