It seems that it has nothing to do with the DLC itself, it's just circumstantial. Yesterday when I arrived home both portal2 and authoring tools were updating automatically (because I've got this automatic update option checked).

Portal2 was acquiring the DLC, and the SDK seemed to be updating. That damn update is causing the issue. I saw that this update was around 600MB (the DLC was around 1GB)... but I've been searching out there in order to know about its content without success.

Anyone knows?

Robdon wrote:
Hmmm, I dont get that... did you try starting it like I said? Or is that from starting it through steam?

That happened when using Windows 7's run feature. Trying to run it through Steam gave me an empty box. Well, that was before reinstalling it. Now it gives me nothing.

Valve had better correct their error quickly becuase from the looks of things, they might just be turning into EA...

EDIT: Okay, after verifying my Portal 2 files, it said 2 items had to be reacquired. Now it's gone from no authoring box coming up to the blank one again (the same one I got before reinstalling, which quickly crashes). Either way, it's still not working.

Still trying to fix the model browser.

Omnicoder wrote:
I made a shortcut to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\bin\hammer.exe" -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2" -nop4 on my desktop and it launches successfully. 32-bit users will need to remove the (x86) from the path.

Still trying to fix the model browser.

Nah, thats doesnt help... still the same error as if you use my fix

It only works if you upgraded, but haven't done the 'Verify Integrity of tool cache' thing.

You're screwed after you've done that

Robdon wrote:
It only works if you upgraded, but haven't done the 'Verify Integrity of tool cache' thing.

No, this really works, because I also used the validation of the tools first. You just have to do the following:

1. Validate Portal 2 Game Data (if you validated the authoring tools first)
2. Execute "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\bin\hammer.exe" -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2" -nop4

The only thing is the trouble using the -nop4 switch and also having no SDKLauncher menu, and of course the model viewer...

Robdon wrote:
Omnicoder wrote:

I made a shortcut to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\bin\hammer.exe" -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2" -nop4 on my desktop and it launches successfully. 32-bit users will need to remove the (x86) from the path.

Still trying to fix the model browser.

Nah, thats doesnt help... still the same error as if you use my fix

It only works if you upgraded, but haven't done the 'Verify Integrity of tool cache' thing.

You're screwed after you've done that

Oh, great, I could have done with knowing that earlier.

Guess I'm just going to have to wait for Valve. No-one make any fat jokes mind you, I don't want this fix getting delayed too.

Thanks Omnicoder and Robdon!

Endres wrote:
Robdon wrote:

It only works if you upgraded, but haven't done the 'Verify Integrity of tool cache' thing.

No, this really works, because I also used the validation of the tools first. You just have to do the following:

1. Validate Portal 2 Game Data (if you validated the authoring tools first)
2. Execute "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\bin\hammer.exe" -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2" -nop4

The only thing is the trouble using the -nop4 switch and also having no SDKLauncher menu, and of course the model viewer...

Ah ha!

That was it, I had to redo the Portal 2 validate... again..

Then my link works again... I'm guessing the Tools validate thing screws it up again

Thanks

Rob.

Thanks for letting us know about the bug. We've just rolled out an update that should fix the issue, so please restart your authoring tools and give it another go.

Joshua Weier
Valve

It works... great

/me looks at the option in the launcher 'Portal 2 (Tools Mode)".....

Sure that wasn't there before was it?

And 'Tools Mode' has always been there. It was always broken, probably still is now. I haven't tested it.