A collection of maps I've been working on since the SDK release

It can be found at:
http://forums.thinking.withportals.com/dload.php?action=file&file_id=180

Difficulty: Mixed
Size: Mixed

It contains:
3 Regular maps with challenges,
3 Advanced maps and
6 small extra maps

BMZ format for easy installation using Portal's bonus map menu

Enjoy

YES! I'm glad you came on over... This map pack rocks! (still working on my golds. got all 3 golds on pk1, and portal gold on pk2, still working on the others)

and welcome to ThinkingWithPortals btw

I beat the 3 regular maps and the 6 extra maps, but the 3 advanced maps are still locked to me.

Ralen wrote:
I beat the 3 regular maps and the 6 extra maps, but the 3 advanced maps are still locked to me.

Are you sure?

When you beat a basic map, you unlock the corrispective advanced one.

Mmmmh... probably you have sv_cheats at 1?

Howewer, i made a video on the three advanced maps
Don't open it if you haven't finished those by yourself

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=6opGwSmEMsc

I've already commented on this awesome pack on myaperturelabs, but let me add how damn clever the time attack challenge on map n?2 is. To get gold you have to use a COMPLETELY different strategy from the normal, and the result makes you feel incredibly smart when you figure it out.

those small steps on the wall near the fizzler were a touch of genius

This map pack absolutely has to enter the community spotlight.

Edit: to make your maps even more perfect you may want to add mist and reflections (I dont know how they're called... cubemaps maybe?) to this goo here in map 2 and 2 advanced:

this was a great map pack

infernet89 wrote:
Are you sure?

When you beat a basic map, you unlock the corrispective advanced one.

I downloaded the regular chambers and advanced chambers separately from myaperturelabs.com, but I didn't download the advanced chambers until after I had already beaten the regular chambers.

Ralen wrote:
I downloaded the regular chambers and advanced chambers separately from myaperturelabs.com, but I didn't download the advanced chambers until after I had already beaten the regular chambers.

well then just replay them and rebeat them, or better yet, delete everything and reinstall the release he has here, and replay it all. it should be really easy now that you know what to do. and he fixed one part of one of the maps. furthermore (much like the orriginal levels) these are actually fun to replay...

i've got all 3 golds on PK1, gold portal and steps on PK2 and PK3, just have to get gold times for pk2/pk3

Firstly, thank you all for your great support. I'm truly flattered that you enjoyed my maps.

And as for the unlocking problem I was unsure about the add-on working 100% when I uploaded it so here are two ways to solve it if your having the same problem:

1. Do what rellikpd said above
or
2. Change the locked status manually by going to the directory:
C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\<USERNAME>\portal\portal\maps\PMK\2_advanced

Once there, open advanced.bns with notepad and change "1" to "0" where it says "lock". Do this each map entry and save.

That should hopefully unlock them. Sorry about the dodgy split file. I'll add a note to the map download details stating the problem.

Thanks again.

Maz

Kiavik wrote:
to make your maps even more perfect you may want to add mist and reflections (I dont know how they're called... cubemaps maybe?) to this goo here in map 2 and 2 advanced:

Seems I overlooked that goo pit quite a bit. First the box not respawning and now the effects. I had a quick look at the map in hammer and there is indeed no particle emitter in sight. There is a cube map present but I guess the room is too dark to reflect clearly. I'll resist updating the maps unless any more problems are found.

Maz

mazk1985 wrote:
Once there, open advanced.bns with notepad and change "1" to "0" where it says "lock". Do this each map entry.

Thanks, that worked.

mazk1985 wrote:
Firstly, thank you all for your great support. I'm truly flattered that you enjoyed my maps.

[img]http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7001/damnitfinallyir2.th.jpg[/img]

Damn. Finally got ALL 9 golds for PK1, 2 and 3. and this has made me come to 2 relizations:

1) you sir are a good, and considerate mapper (what with making advanced chambers, AND challenges, and mini-challenges (aka: the extras)

and

2) You sir are a real bastard! Damn those challenges were hard!

great work.
look forward to more!

nice one rellikpd

I didn't know how hard to make the challenges for them to be difficult enough for satisfaction and easy enough so people wouldn't give up in frustration.

I would very much like to know if you (or anyone) thought the challenge targets were fair or if any of them were low or high. That would really help me out for the next map pack which due to the support I believed I had to start

[fanboy] I absolutely love mapping for this game. Maps I made for other games rarely got finished and I don't know if its the easier to map clean focused look or the possibility to create very unique puzzles that has me hooked. To be fair I think its just because Portal is awesome and is pretty much the closest to perfect game I've ever played [/fanboy]

Maz

mazk1985 wrote:
nice one rellikpd

I didn't know how hard to make the challenges for them to be difficult enough for satisfaction and easy enough so people wouldn't give up in frustration.

I would very much like to know if you (or anyone) thought the challenge targets were fair or if any of them were low or high. That would really help me out for the next map pack which due to the support I believed I had to start

[fanboy] I absolutely love mapping for this game. Maps I made for other games rarely got finished and I don't know if its the easier to map clean focused look or the possibility to create very unique puzzles that has me hooked. To be fair I think its just because Portal is awesome and is pretty much the closest to perfect game I've ever played [/fanboy]

Maz

well for me, i think the puzzles had the exact right ammount of challenge-to-ease ratio, i think had they been any easier i woulda beat them the first or second try and been like "well this was fun", BUT: as they are, i would finish a challenge and have (especially in the time and portal challenges) Like. ah crap, 5 seconds? i lost by 5 seconds???? FUG IT! I can shave 5 seconds off! and play like 50 more times... it was great. and when i DID finally beat the challenges i felt like i really accomplished something. some of the challenges "SEEMED" impossible (read: pk2-advanced) but... i could tell. that with enough retries it would be possible, so don't think anything should be changed. spot on man.

good work fanboi :p

Awesome. Cheers mate

Great puzzles! One of the best maps I've played so far.

Found a small glitch in your maps, in the third level in the first chamber, with the portal-hopping to get up the edge, the concrete sticks out a tiny bit allowing you to walk over it. On the screenshot the player is pointing at the metal above it. Just below is the concrete where one can walk over. This is the case at both sides.

http://bce100156.bcecht.org/portal/screenshots/pmk_bug.jpg

Loaded up hammer to check it out and the wall is completely flush, the only thing thats sticking out is a portal bumper which I thought didn't clip the player. I tried it on a different map and I can't stand on it. Very odd.

If I solve it I'll think about updating the pack to fix all the current bugs.

On a different note. I would like it if the person who rated my maps a 6/10 could step forward to let me know what they didn't like so I can avoid it in the future. It would be a great help as is every comment I've recieved so far.

Thanks,
Maz

EDIT: on closer inspection they weren't bumpers. they're both func_detail which explains why you can walk across and still fire portals right up to the edge of the concrete. I shall begin squashing all the bugs and I will release an update

mazk1985 wrote:
On a different note. I would like it if the person who rated my maps a 6/10 could step forward to let me know what they didn't like so I can avoid it in the future. It would be a great help as is every comment I've recieved so far.

It's probably just jealousy on someone's part. Your maps are so good I cant think on anyone rating them below 9.

Thank you muchly for the great compliment

I hope thats not true about someone doing it out of jealousy. Pretty crappy if it is but its no big deal anyway.

Just to let you know, I took damatman's advice (from mAL) and I've made good headway into a new map which expands the red and blue door idea on extra 5. Extra 5 was originally pmk 2 and it had another room where the exit is now on extra 5. The room had a basic ball puzzle with red & blue doors. As it turned out it was pretty boring cos you hardly had to use the portal gun so I canned that room and just left the first puzzle in which became extra 5.
In between the new map I'm going to go through all the maps for pack 1 to optimise the lightmaps as much as possible so I can release v1.2 as a single pack on mAL. Hopefully the lighting will still look alrite afterwards.

The current bugs I'm aware of atm are:
- PMK 3 & Advanced has walkable walls in the first room
- PMK 2 & Advanced has a goo pit with no reflections or mist
- Extra 2 & 6 have exit doors which can be opened by touching them

If there are any other bugs please could you let me know so I can hopefully release a final version

Maz

Advanced chamber 3 crashes me to desktop. No matter what I do, I will get a "hl2.exe has stopped working" before I leave the first room. It usually happens in mid fling. Please make your maps... work, for lack of a better term. I am using Vista, so this may be the source of the problem. Normal chamber 3 works fine (and is my favorite of the three main maps), but whenever I get airborne in the advanced version, my portal session is abruptly closed.

Otherwise, excellent work. I'm very impressed, and would like to see this in the community spotlight once you get the crashes solved. The idea of "mini-maps" as I call them is great. Just long enough to be fun, and they hint at great new things to come. The red and blue doors were cool - they, if nothing else, deserve a full test chamber or two.

Crashes aside, these maps do have some minor problems, but for your first contribution to TWP, I'm really, really impressed. I look foreword to more!

Double post by accident, delete please.

I'll look into it but I can't promise anything cos it works fine with my system but then again I've got XP. Could you pin point exactly what you last did before the crash and I'll try and found out why its doing so.

Thanks,
Maz

mazk1985 wrote:
I'll look into it but I can't promise anything cos it works fine with my system but then again I've got XP. Could you pin point exactly what you last did before the crash and I'll try and found out why its doing so.

Thanks,
Maz

I get through the opening hallway okay. I move up to the first "step", place my two portals to do the step fling, and begin the maneuver. I cannot complete this fling - I always crash in mid air. This means I cannot get out of the first room, because the step-fling is the only way to get momentum, and using a step-fling causes a crash and error.

Also, can someone spoil how to do advanced chamber 2 for me? I just can't do it fast enough.

EDIT: Reinstalled the map pack, advanced 3 now works. Holy crap, was that tough. Still can't get number two advanced.

cool i'm glad its working now. Funny how reinstalling the same thing works a second time. Gotta love windows

As for pmk 2 advanced:
[img]http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/4342/2adsolutionnp3.th.jpg[/img]
Referring to the picture once you get to the platform opposite the ball catcher place an orange portal at 1 and a blue at 2. Step through just enough to shoot a blue portal at 3. You have to walk backwards as you shoot so you end up by the orange portal at 1. Go through the orange one and place a blue at 4. Step through and finally place an orange at 5

As far as im aware thats the quickest way. Infernet89 has made a video thats shows you how to complete all the advanced maps but be prepared to to watch it through several times cos this guy is fast.

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=6opGwSmEMsc

Maz

GAAAAAH! I beat it, but it didn't recognize! No check mark! You, sir, are evil. This map is insane, and even if you beat it, you don't get the reward for doing so. Well, I'm off to edit my bonus_maps_data.bmd to make it work. Thanks for the diagram though- that was what enabled me to beat it (even though the stupid game doesn't give me credit).

Thanks for the great and challenging maps - I can't remember the last time I've screamed so much at an inanimate object!

Cyclone wrote:
GAAAAAH! I beat it, but it didn't recognize! No check mark! You, sir, are evil. This map is insane, and even if you beat it, you don't get the reward for doing so. Well, I'm off to edit my bonus_maps_data.bmd to make it work. Thanks for the diagram though- that was what enabled me to beat it (even though the stupid game doesn't give me credit).

Thanks for the great and challenging maps - I can't remember the last time I've screamed so much at an inanimate object!

I didnt have any of your problems... why dont you try reinstalling portal?

I nearly chose to slow down the ball for v1.1 but I thought it would be unfair on the people who already completed it with the fast ball. I'll be sure not to over do it next time cos yeh its a tad fast. Took me many goes to complete it when I was testing.

v1.2 will be released soon anyway. It will hopefully be the last version so I can concentrate on the next pack

Maz

mazk1985 wrote:
I nearly chose to slow down the ball for v1.1 but I thought it would be unfair on the people who already completed it with the fast ball. I'll be sure not to over do it next time cos yeh its a tad fast. Took me many goes to complete it when I was testing.

v1.2 will be released soon anyway. It will hopefully be the last version so I can concentrate on the next pack

Maz

do not slow it down. i busted my ass playing it like a million times, and i do NOT consider myself a Portal-Ninja... i say it is WAY to fast. but beatable... , i'm glad you decided to leave it.

Just to let you know v1.2 has been released and it has the following changes:

- Fixed a glitch where the player could walk along the wall in the first room on PMK 3 and PMK 3 Advanced
- Added mist to the goo pit near the exit on PMK 2 and PMK 2 Advanced. Also the lights in the same room have been adjusted to provide more light.
- Fixed the exit door on extra 2 & 6 so the player can't open it by touching it
- Removed one GlaDOS speech from PMK 3 and PMK 3 Advanced to provide some peace and quiet
- Lowered the lightmap resolution in all the maps on walls which didn't require good light detail. Managed to decrease overall zipped filesize from 26.1 MB to 23.1 MB
- Few minor texture alignments (Mostly overlays)

Hopefully thats all the annoying bugs/glitches out the way. Full efforts into next map pack

I just uploaded a video for the least portals challenge in PMK 2:
4 portals
Apparently it took only two months to find all those tricks

Great maps, I have a lot of fun playing them.

Awesomeness, pure awesomeness.

Oh my fucking god!! I thought 9 portals was good. I didn't see any glitch tactics. That is a legit score and shit is it impressive.

Was that all in one run with no mistakes or were they cut out of the video?

EDIT: Hooray for swearing

you can say fucking and shit noone here cares

but if its got the creator saying that.. i'm gunna have to go watch that video!

mazk1985 wrote:
Was that all in one run with no mistakes or were they cut out of the video?

There was a lot of failing I cut out. Those jumps are pretty hard

Jaso wrote:
I just uploaded a video for the least portals challenge in PMK 2:
4 portals
Apparently it took only two months to find all those tricks

Great maps, I have a lot of fun playing them.

sweet fucking shit, that is sick.

^^^> rellikpd wrote:

you can say fucking and shit noone here cares

but if its got the creator saying that.. i'm gunna have to go watch that video!

SEE!