It's been a looooong time since i've made a map, but finally, I am happy to present:

CONVERSION DIVERSION

This map is a very balanced map, with 2 laser puzzles, a fling puzzle and a funnel/conversion gel puzzle. That does not mean it is simple - this is a rather challenging map.

INSTALL: The normal deal with installing, put the maps and materials folder in Portal 2's folder.

SCREENSHOTS:

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/50576 ... 9CE1BFE3A/

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/50576 ... 8F01FB4BE/

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/50576 ... 008342912/

Feedback is welcome, report bugs, the usual stuff

File Name: conversion_diversion_v1.1.zip
File Size: 7.68 MiB
Click here to download Conversion Diversion

Nice map, I enjoyed it very much, but it wasn't really that challenging, took me about twenty minutes.
And there's a problem in the gel chamber: I shot a portal under the funnel, climbed onto the cube and from that position I could reach the portalable wall to make the funnel come out under the ball. I jumped the funnel, grabbed the ball, threw it above the glass pane and entered the way below me to leave.
But the balance of puzzle elements was great! I only didn't like to have to catch the ball a second time. Mostly because it was really easy to put it up on the catcher in the last room. Idea to make that part more interesting: Remove the portalable surfaces on the ground near the platform where the laser hits, so that one can't just shoot two portals and jump with the ball in ones hands. Instead put up two portalable surfaces of different altitudes in another area of that room, giving the player the possibility to fling up to the catchers height while having to pick up the ball once the altitude is gained. The ball on the floor in the meantime will roll once you drop it, it will mostly either enter your floor portal hitting you, or it will roll out of reach. This forces the player to somehow get the ball to rest before one can grab it. Fortunately you have a solid cube that can push and fix the ball to the wall in the slightly lowerd area right under the ball catcher. Let me know what you think about that!
Anyways, great map. Thinking you'll remove the exploit in the gel chamber, I'll rate it 5/5.

Wow, that's a valve quality map you have there.

Awesome map!!!! I really enjoyed it alot, design was very nice, puzzles were creative, well thought out, and very nice too, but I think that it wasn't challenging, it was more long than challenging, and figuring out every piece of puzzle was quite easy. I didn't have problem with anything, and I found only one bug; you can shoot a portal behind platform which is at the wall where laser goes (in first room where is exit door).
You proved that you're great and tallented mapper again. 5/5!

I really enjoyed this map. Challenging, thoughtful, looked great and puzzles were interesting. The only thing I did not like wasthe music. It really started getting a little annoying. Perhaps you could change it from chamber to chamber.
I also loved the ratman den. Nice little diversion. 5/5 from me - thanks for making!

Fantastic! Agreed that a changeup of music would be good, but all around 5/5 Thank you for mapping.

@co0op:
on the gel chamber: I noticed one person did this on my playtests but considering he was the only one I didn't think it a big deal, and the space is needed for intended solutions, so many i'll put a grate to prevent that?


It is actually already possible to fling up that ball button (by ball catcher you mean ball button right? I'm was a portal 1 mapper so when I hear "ball catcher" I think "Energy Ball Catcher", which was not in this map.) by using momentum from the lift, but your right, it is a bit easy, but your solution to this won't work because if you can fling you don't need to leave the ball behind; just fling with it.

Anyway, thanks for playing

@muwhahaha: Thanks

@dom44: That's not a bug, if it's what i'm thinking about: You mean the grated platform where the laser hits the wall, correct? That's on purpose, look carefully at the grate near the wall and you'll see a hole. This was to make placing the laser easier. also thanks for playing

@OnePortalizedGal & Szieve: The music is a bit bland. Next update i'll spice it up a bit. Thanks to both of you

@Everyone involving difficulty: The map's difficulty is once again up to the player it seems. Most of my playtesters found it harder than usual but you guys didn't. (one even ragequit lol) ANyway happy you all enjoyed it and again thanks for playing my map.

Loved it.. However...

I didi not need the gel at all. I got the ball by bringing the funnel close to the glass wall and going into the funnel myself. I then just grabbed the ball and jumped to the room over the glass. Didn't see any need for the gel.

I don't know if it is a bug or an unintened solution, but the chamber actived by the ball is not necessary to solver, to get a laser cube is pretty enough, and the gel is useless too.

@NeoDinian & hjlld: Can you please post a video of how you are not using the conversion gel or skipping the fling puzzle, because I can't see how you'd get a second laser cube without doing that part of the puzzle and that required conversion gel to get to.

EDIT: Scratch that, I found how you beat it without conversion gel, but i'm still stumped on how you skipped the fling puzzle.

Very good looking map as always but this time with serious flaws and some shortcuts. I was able to skip a lot of the puzzles.

rsYivIJQfqM

Good Map, I found some mapping bugs, like the squarebeams intersecting and the button the conversion gel room
I also didn't need the cube from the laser room with 4 laser relays.

@a2912871: This is odd, because i've had alot of playtesting on this map yet such easy exploits show up I never thought of. I'm going to fix alot of this. Thanks for the video, it helps me understand what went wrong.

@spongylover: The squarebeams interesting at corners is kind of impossible to avoid (VALVe maps have it to), what's wrong with the conversion gel button?, and I found that out just an hour ago and I'm going to fix it.

Expect a bugfix update soon!

I can't believe I never even saw the conversion gel room, but I still managed to solve the puzzle! I guess I found it too easy to get the sphere without it. I also never found a use for the second standard cube. Seemed like a lot of work for very disappointing results; I was expecting another laser cube. I also didn't like having to get the sphere twice. Maybe you should replace the useless cube with a second sphere. Then every thing would work nicely. The rest of the map was excellent, though.

I solved it, but I'm sorry to say I did it without the second laser room as well. I couldn't begin to imagine what the purpose of that extra cube was. The player can trap themselves in the hallway if they don't leave a cube on the button for the first door. If you put in another way out I couldn't find it, so I had to noclip and put the cube back.

The legs of the super-colliding-super-button intersected with the floor and looked odd. The map itself looked pretty nice, though.

Overall a fun map and a bit longer than most which I appreciated.
Not very challenging although a lot of us are just getting too good at these things !!!
I did not realize that a Green Fizzler allows spheres to pass and spent a while trying to figure out how to get the sphere into the high room.

Ditto on the un-necessary portions (the Gel and the extra Laser-activated room) - I needed the 2nd reflector cube in the sphere-opened door but that was all. No need for other room that required the laser. For fun I did go in there but oddly, the red button was not pushable and was already activated.

So I took the final weighted storage cube but could not find a use for it.
What was the use of that final laser-activated room and the extra weighted storage cube ?

I'd be interested as I tried to get the other cube out but wasnt possible once you had the laser cube since the only portable surface is on the ceiling.

Anyway its a fantastic map that I will replay again and try to break into pieces but thats for the weekend lol. 5 points for Grifindor

Herrmmm don't think it's as fun when you use unintended solutions.. Think the fun is to find the intended one.

great map! however, i was able to beat it by just taking the two encouragement redirection cubes and i just grabbed a second ball from the white gel chamber thing. Im pretty sure thats not how you are supposed to solve the puzzle.

Excellent map! This took me a while to figure out.

A note about the extra cube: You had to put it on the button that activates the tractor beam in order to get the sphere again.

At least, that's what I did. Maybe make it more clear on what to do with that cube, or just trash it entirely, and put in another sphere, like RogerL said.

Also, in the final cube room, some of the panels were floating for me. Not sure if this happened to anyone else.

Besides these minor inconveniences, this map was still great! 5/5!

Well, Grox, your aesthetic mapping skills are undeniable. The Ratman's Den was beautifull! (the turret was a fun touch, too)

The puzzles were fun though like everyone else I can't really understand the serplus of cubes. I was also thinking too complicated in some parts. And however fun, conversion gel should be use carefully. Add paint cleansers more or the puzzle could break.

Astounding aesthetics, nice style. Nice but broken puzzles, could use some fixing or editing.

Still, I'd need some other reason than that to give this map anything less than a fat 5/5.

Good work on the map! Fun, and one of the only maps I've seen where the mere inclusion of the conversion gel doesn't trivialize the map (another was called something like "Heavy Reuse").

Still quite fun, and not too easy, so it made my favorites list.

1.1 update!

- fixed alot of exploit problems:
reconfigured main room portalable surfaces to make use of the last cube clearer
reconfigured funnel room portalable surfaces to prevent funnel-gliding the ball
* removed some portalable surfaces in the fling room to make use of conversion gel
- optimized a bit
- fixed a few texture misallignment problems and other minor bugs

Grox, it looks you didn't rename the zip file, so the database didn't replace the old one. It still says it is the same files for me.

Random wrote:
Grox, it looks you didn't rename the zip file, so the database didn't replace the old one. It still says it is the same files for me.

Good call, fixing...

EDIT: fixed.

Okay, just replayed it. I see the intended final solution, it is actually quite clever! However, there is still another way around it. (See below) A few notes:

The player can get trapped in either the hallway if they take both cubes to the funnel room, or the second laser room by destroying the sphere then portaling back inside. The former I did by accident the first time around, the latter would pretty much have to be done on purpose. Not sure if you want to change that.

You can get the sphere without the gel by being a ninja, but 1) it's hard, and 2) you need the gel anyway for the next room, so I'd say it is alright.

You still don't need the normal cubes for the final solution if you do it like this:
alternate solution
Link because it is too big to be an image
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/47086 ... 94BE84F9D/ I think you can see what you need to get rid of to fix this.

Random wrote:
Okay, just replayed it. I see the intended final solution, it is actually quite clever! However, there is still another way around it. (See below) A few notes:

The player can get trapped in either the hallway if they take both cubes to the funnel room, or the second laser room by destroying the sphere then portaling back inside. The former I did by accident the first time around, the latter would pretty much have to be done on purpose. Not sure if you want to change that.

You can get the sphere without the gel by being a ninja, but 1) it's hard, and 2) you need the gel anyway for the next room, so I'd say it is alright.

You still don't need the normal cubes for the final solution if you do it like this:
alternate solution
Link because it is too big to be an image
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/47086 ... 94BE84F9D/ I think you can see what you need to get rid of to fix this.

Ok, can you get screens of the hallway stuck issues (I think I know but I'd like screens to be absolutely sure), and as for your solution, I think i'll fix it as that still allows you to get around using the last cube.

Well, I needed the gel this time. Still didn't need to do the last puzzle though.

Same ending as Random. Problem is, if you're going to give the redirect cube in the last room, then you don't need to do that puzzle. You still have NO need for the regular cube behind that door...

http://steamcommunity.com/id/neodinian/screenshot/450596538978971575

I enjoyed solving this map (pretty much) as intended. Like at least one other person, the green fizzler had me scratching my head until I figured out how it worked -- I screwed up and dropped the sphere, it rolled through the green fizzler, and that's when the light bulb went on.

Although I ended up with the same aiming solution as those who posted the screen shots about not needing the second weighted storage cube, I used it anyway.

In the funnel room, I did not need the area under the grate next to the funnel source, or the hallway that connects it to the other under-grate room, at all. I'm not sure if that was there as a "red herring" or not.

Good look, complex but not-too-hard puzzle to solve, and great fun doing it. Extra slice of cake for not requiring "super-ninja" skills to complete.

5/5 from me.

Great map, quite enjoyable.
one thing I found odd is the projected texture you added to the laser receivers, it was a red light and it shined at the end of the receivers, and I felt like it didn't fit visually, a blue color to match the receiver would be more suitable, but that's just an opinion
Also... and this is just needless nitpicking, when you are walking through the fizzler to board the exit elevator, I noticed the tiles look weird, and its looks like you used a ceiling texture instead of the floor texture to match the instance elevator, also I'd rotate the floor texture -90 deg, if you wanted it to look perfect
again needless nitpicking
great map

This map was great! Massively long! I missed a nice challange!

I hope I can get to see you at the beta soon!

Fun map, nicely balanced - thanks

As most people have said, it's a really nice, balanced map with a challenging but never frustrating level of difficulty. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm not sure it's a bug, but sometimes laser cubes would get stuck in the first dispenser. I could look up and see them in the tube, but pressing the button didn't destroy them to send out another. I had to reload several times until I got past that part of the map. Also, I had no need for the second companion cube either. I enjoyed the solution required to get it, but it was a bit of a letdown that it wasn't required. All in all though, a very fine map, and Valve worthy!

Yet another great map by grox. As always it's definately worth playing

Here is my blindrun:

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(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekVMx_OA7hk)

Like other posters before me, I saw no use for the second companion cube. I have a suggestion for eliminating the odd green portal cleanser. Put a laser grille to funnel the sphere through into that room.

I like the length and intricacy of this map, even if the puzzle difficulty isn't so hard. I'm going to hold off on rating this until you've had a chance to patch a few more exploits, and make the second companion cube necessary.

KennKong wrote:
Like other posters before me, I saw no use for the second companion cube. I have a suggestion for eliminating the odd green portal cleanser. Put a laser grille to funnel the sphere through into that room.

I like the length and intricacy of this map, even if the puzzle difficulty isn't so hard. I'm going to hold off on rating this until you've had a chance to patch a few more exploits, and make the second companion cube necessary.

The cleanser is nessesary because you need a portal fizzler but not a ball fizzler to prevent you from using the funnel in the fling room.

Great map Groxkiller, fortunately I got around to playing through after you had fixed a bit of the exploits - enjoyed it. Thanks for creating this challenging map...

Wow, great map! I did have to look up one of the parts (how to get into the fling room) but actually none of the videos on YouTube had the correct solution, but I was able to figure it out based on the posts here (you just have to use the conversion gel to make the wall portalable).
Once I figured it out, I realized it was a very clever map. I did accidently die after I had figured it out because I accidently stepped under the falling platform and it squished me (so I did use cheats to spawn a ball because I didn't want to go through all that again).

One bug I found was that at one point, one of the reflector cubes started to not really work. I was trying to use it for the excursion funnel button and it would only activate the button for a second then deactivate. To fix it, I just had to spawn another cube. I'm not sure if that's a bug with your map or just a random Source bug but it wasn't too big of a deal.

lhamil64 wrote:
snip

the box button thing isn't my fault; I think it's a steam bug as I nor any of my testers encountered it. Was it reproduce-able? Maybe Source just derped for a second.

It's been a month without an update, so I presume you're satisfied with version 1.1. Even without the skippable portions of this map, there is enough variety and reuse of elements to earn 4/5 from me.

Conversion Diversion skipping stuff
wd-Zqy97HpQIf you skip those rooms, you miss the easter egg:
Conversion Diversion Easter Egg
FCVphg-t9Es

P.S. I have a crude suggestion for making the second weighted cube necessary. Put a button in the room with it, labeled with a square sign. Add a checkbox above the exit, also labeled with a square sign. Considering how elegant this map is, I'm sure you can think of something more elegant than that.

Hi, I'm playing this map right now, but i think there might be an issue with a portal update?!

The Beam doesn't start

Dee wrote:
Hi, I'm playing this map right now, but i think there might be an issue with a portal update?!

The Beam doesn't start

Getting the same problem.