[WIP] Thinking Outside the Cube
yeah. the 2nd part with the really tall glass window you have to jump over. i too jumped down on the window and was "going" to jump around the glass. but after i didn't get it on the first or 2nd try, and while looking around i figured it was most likely not the "intended" solution. so i did it the "right" way. but. if you want to preven anyone from skipping your glass-jump solution you might need to put some sort of prop or obstruction there to make it less likely/obvious that its possible.
cuz. keep in mind, i HATE strafe jumping around crap. but even i was going to try that first :-p
Good lord; you guys are scary! Its like looking at a whole other map. . . You did the entire frictionless room without doing hardly anything frictionless; I just cant have that. 
Obviously I'll have to review everything there in light of what you and Adair did. . .at the minimum:
Chapter 1
That wall section with the grate flooring below it in room #2 has to go, or be moved/lowered; its way too easy to abuse where it is
...remove the portable floor underneath the puzzle#2 entrance as well; it was mostly there for looks, but it never occured to me how easy that is to abuse. It obviously occured to you. . .(and I'll move the camera near there, before you jump on it and abuse THAT too)
. . . and I believe I have a solution for the high glass switch to limit it to access only via the intended path...
...Going to glass off the open side of the final switch for puzzle#4 in that room; glass doors will raise for 5-10 seconds whenever you hit the switch to let you have a nice exit. No more sneaking in the wrong way.
Chapter 2
- More glass to make sure the 1st two puzzles arent skipped. Skipping puzzles is a no-no.
- Stacking turrets and cubes? Geez! I'll think about that. . .its not the intended solution, but it definitely does "break the rules" just as much. I dont think I mind, but I may alter things slightly to make it more interesting after I try it myself.
Great job you guys!
Hey infernet89,
In your video, I noticed that your rollermines in the first room were a light purplish color; was there anything wrong with those? Did they behave like they had AI (ie try and kill you?) or did they just sit there? Do you have Portal only and not HL2? I am wondering if I need to extract those HL2 models and bundle them into my map as well. . .
In your video, I noticed that your rollermines in the first room were a light purplish color; was there anything wrong with those? Did they behave like they had AI (ie try and kill you?) or did they just sit there? Do you have Portal only and not HL2? I am wondering if I need to extract those HL2 models and bundle them into my map as well. . .
oh, it's just a missed texture, thei try to kill me as well.
Howewer, the only ninja solution i've founded it's the first on chapter 2, the other is THE ONLY WAY i can see.. I'm interested to see a video that show the right solution..
[Sorry 4 my bad english, i'm italian ^^]
(I'll stop recording if i die.)
Yeah, I was holding back on a demo for Chapters 2 and 3 to allow people time to figure it out; but since you came up with a second way to reach the button in Chapter 2, I am now wondering if everyone is doing it your way
I will post a full solution in a few days.
That an overview of my intended method, and its pretty obscure (although I saw some topics that show someone else is coming out with a map that will use this technique soon too). And since it really doesnt seem possible, its the reason I called the Chapter "Breaking the Rules". But your solution breaks the rules just as much, IMO. I was working trying your technique out last night, and I think I'll keep that just as it is. . .
Umm, okay now I'm interested to see xitooner's intended solution to the cube+turret stacking part in infernet89's video.
Here's how I do it:
Obviously I'm the only one having this problem, but I'm pretty sure that the "frictionless surface" isn't working properly for me. I extracted the zip into my portal/portal directory, it put the map into my /maps directory and created a new /scripts directory for several of the text files, but when I run the map I can walk around on the "frictionless surface" as if it were a normal floor.
Edit: I've also just noticed that the rollermines in the first area have the pink and black checkerboard problem.
yeah i did it the same way Adair did it. i tried flinging/portal in portal stuff. but the (upside down) angled wall was pissing me off. i noticed that if you stand on the cube you can hit the ceiling panel across and jump through a wall portal. .
Edit: I've also just noticed that the rollermines in the first area have the pink and black checkerboard problem.
If the game cant find the right surfaceproperty entry for the frictionless surface, it will default to a generic property; and what you describe would happen. Somewhere along the line, I expect something is messed up. But everything SOUNDS good from what you describe.
Can you describe the full path you now have to:
- your xi_totc_betav001.bsp file
- your surfaceproperties_manifest.txt file
That manifest file is the one that the game reads first; if you look into it (using notepad, or something) you can see it tells the names of all other files to look for. . .(and one of them needs to be surfaceproperties_xi_custom.txt)
Do you have Half-Life or did you just buy Portal? Thats one worry I have; somebody who doesnt have the all the Half-Life stuff might not be able to do the same things or reference the HL-specific models like the Rollermine. It might also affect the surfaceproperties part, I guess, but its hard to say since my own computer has Half-Life. I myself cant even test this aspect easily.
Alright, I'll level with you. I own half-life 2, but up until now I've been using a pirated copy of portal. I downloaded it back when I was still pissed over Valve cancelling the black box and didn't feel like paying $50 for several games I already owned.
Anyway, my conscience got the better of me, and I realized I've had *way* more than $20 worth of fun with Portal, so I purchased the game properly through steam, and am no longer having the aforementioned issues with the frictionless surface and roller mines.
But as I said, I have HL2 installed (and it wasn't installed in my pirated directory) so your concerns may be justified.