This guide explains one way to create trippy unreal impossible geometry effects in Portal 2 community puzzles, without using Hammer. This technique uses BEE2 and a BEE2 add-on. Even though this guide is not a step-by-step or troubleshooting guide, it lists enough information to get a designer started.

This guide is divided into mostly independent sections, so read what you need.

World Portals are stationary, square-shaped portals that are linked together in pairs. They do not have the graphic oval overlay, and designers place them into their maps just like other objects. They can be rotated or placed in other parts of the map to link distant sections together, and because they show the other room on the face, are super-thin, and invisible on the back, they can create unreal impossible geometry effects.

If you have BEE2 up and running, skip to the UCP Section.

• Learn how to use the built-in Portal 2 editor first.
  
• BEE2 adds more items to the built-in Portal 2 editor.
  (Install the BEE2 app and become familiar with how it works. The additional items and styles are impressive.)
  
• User Created Packages (UCPs) add more items to BEE2.
  (Place the UCP item into the BEE2\packages folder - easy. Open BEE2, and the new item should appear in the "All Items" center section, ready for you to use.)

Popular community search terms for other guides or maps: Non-Euclidean, Euclid, impossible geometry, unreal geometry, world portals, world portal doors, linked portal door, unreal maps, impossible maps

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The built-in Portal 2 editor is known as the Puzzle Maker, Puzzle Creator, or PeTI. It creates basic, yet attractive puzzles, uploads the maps into Portal 2's workshop, has only 1 style, and a fixed number of items to use. The easy-to-use 3D interface involves dragging the wall geometry, dragging and dropping items from the left hidden palette into the 3D puzzle, and right-clicking the items to add functionality.

Quick Create
To access the Portal 2 editor, run Portal 2 > choose "Community Test Chambers" > choose "Create Test Chambers" > click on "New Test Chamber" > click on the "NEW" button > the Portal 2 editor program will open > choose "File" then "Save" from the top menu > a popup will appear, "NAME" your map, give a "DESCRIPTION", and click the "Save" button.

Quick Design

• The additional hidden palettes appear when you mouse over any of the 4 sides.
  
• Want to see and test your map while building? Click on File in the top menu > Rebuild
  
• Want to publish your map to the Workshop? Click on File in the top menu > Publish
  
• When publishing, remember to keep it Private or for Friends Only until it's ready for the community to play.

Search Terms for more guides, YouTube videos, and information: Puzzle Maker, Puzzle Creator, PeTi, Portal 2 Editor, Puzzle Builder
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=136271694
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJgllufikSo&t=14s

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BEE2 is a popular utility that adds additional items, music, and styles into the Portal2 built-in editor. The additional items are impressive, and the skins look great. Some useful default items are logic gates, a cube colorizer, voice lines, cat walks, and more. There are no World Portals in BEE2 by default, so the UCP section below explains how to install the add-on.

BEE2 - Quick List

• Open BEE2
  
• Drag an item to use in the map from the center “All Items” Palette into the left “Items” tabbed Palette. The left "Items" palette contains the items that will be added to the Portal 2 editor. Because the Portal 2 editor has an item limit, so some items may need to be dragged back into the center “All Items” section to make more room.
  
• To open or close a palette, click on the “View” top menu link.
  
• In the "Export Options" palette, choose your style, music, and other settings.
  
• In the "Compile Options" palette, set the entry/exit options, thumbnail image and more.

When everything is set, click the “Export to “Portal2” . . .*” button in the top-right "Export Options" panel. Let BEE2 complete the export process and launch Portal 2. In Portal 2, navigate to the Portal 2 built-in editor, open your map, and you will see your chosen additional BEE2 items in the left menu.

This guide uses BEE2 version 4410 because it’s stable, and the World Portals, along with many of the other UCPs, work. The newer BEE2 versions look great, but I have not tested it with the World Portals. Some people report issues with UCPs and older BEE2 versions too. If you want to use a different version of BEE2, you will need to thoroughly test BEE2 along with the World Portals.

https://github.com/BEEmod/BEE2.4/releases/tag/2.4.41.0

BEE2 installation can be a pain, and I give no guarantees to the advice below, but it may help.

• On the BEE2 Github page, don't use the green download button at the top. Use the "Releases" text link on the left side, or the text link in the center instructions part of the page. The center "Download and Use" has basic instructions, and note the important gray highlighted folder structures.
  
  
• When running the exe for the 1st time, BEE2 may ask something like "select the folder where the game's executable is located." To find portal2.exe, open up Steam > your library > right-click Portal 2 > Manage > browse local files > your local drive will open, and it will show the path to portal2.exe.
  
  
• BEE2 is installed, but it won't open - it's probably a Windows permission issue that needs to be applied to the desktop shortcut or exe file.
  
  
• BEE2 is up and running, but there are no items or added music. BEE2 comes in 3 zipped files: The application folder, the packages folder, and the music folder. All 3 files need to be unzipped.
  
  The packages folder, which holds all the items, will have a version number in the name. For BEE2 to read the folder, it needs to be renamed "packages" without the quotes and without the version number.
  
  Where does the music folder go? Open the music folder, copy the songs, and place the songs in the "packages" folder. Example: BEE2-4410\packages (your music files go here)
  
  Where does the packages folder go? Inside the application folder. Example:
  BEE2-4410\packages
  
  Renaming the application folder (the root folder that contains portal2.exe) from the original name is not necessary, but it may make life easier. Example: " BEE2_v4.41.0_win64" to "BEE2-4410"

There are lots of YouTube videos and tutorials on how to use BEE2.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2739127492
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfBPpVXOnGA

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User Created Packages (UCPs) are additional useful items created by Portal 2 users and are easily placed into BEE2. The various items are packaged together in a uniquely named folder, usually with a zip or bee_pack extension. Bee_pack is the same as a zip, but with a different extension name.

Note: Because UCPs are created by other users, can be complicated to make, or are created for a different version of BEE2, errors are common. Be sure to test your UCPs.

To add the UCPs to BEE2, open the BEE2 folder, then open the “package” folder. Place the UCP inside BEE2’s “package” folder. That's it! The format does not matter because BEE2 reads the zip, bee_pack, or an uncompressed folder. When you open BEE2, you will see the additional UCP items in the center panel, ready for you to use.

Sharperone’s Items 4 Clean
This package contains several items, including the World Portals.
https://github.com/shaperones0/Items-4-Clean

The World Portal doors work, but you need to set them properly.

• The portal doors are disabled by default, and that makes them look invisible. Right-click and enable both of them.
  
• The player enters/exits according to the arrow. Because that may seem backwards, it's easy to have the wrong rotation. The portals may need to be rotated 180-degrees to be visible.

Without A Trigger:
To make the World Portals work, just right-click and check the start enabled checkbox for EACH World Portal, right-click and link them, and remember to turn the antlines off.

With a Trigger:

• Create your trigger item
  
• Place your World Portals
  
• Link one portal to it's partner by right-clicking
  
• Create a link from the trigger to one of the world portals by right-clicking
  
• Right-click and set the Start Enabled to on or off

On the Bee2 download page on GetHub https://github.com/BEEmod/BEE2.4 there is a link to the BEE2 Discord Page. You can join or log into Discord from there. Popular UPCs are listed on the BEE2 Discord page in the left menu > User Created Packages. You can also find UPCs by searching for BEE2 on GetHub because this is where many UPCs are stored. https://github.com

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The visual glitches may be severe and appear in other sections of the map.

Adding a temporary goo pit may give a clue if something is wrong because it can look bad, sometimes like a leak, if there is a world portal glitch or item in the void.(Goo Pits may also look like a leak if there are too many goo pits at different levels in one puzzle.)

Some UCP items can be accidentally left behind in the void. This happens because some UCP items are set to share space with other items (occupies voxel), and when you drag the wall/floor/ceiling geometry, the item stays behind in the void. This will mess up world portals, goo pits, water pits, and skyboxes. It will also give an error when publishing or take a long time to build the map.

• Try not to let players die, it’s possible that the World Portals may not reappear (known bug)
  
  
• Only the front of 2 World Portals can display at one time. Hiding them with an object like a door may not work, but something solid like a block wall will work (known engine limitation)
  
  
• A big issue: The face/image side of a World Portal cannot look into the face of another World Portal, even if a World Portal is behind a door. Good fix - have the World Portals face the wall or tuck them into right-angle hallways. They need to be separated by a block wall. It is OK to have the face of a World Portal look into the invisible back of another World Portal.
  
  
• Don’t crowd your World Portals right next to some objects or back-to-back (almost touching) with another World Portal. You may have to pull a dead-end wall behind a portal further back to give it more space.
  
  
• The World Portal will turn bright white if it is 4- blocks or more away, and the player has the low default shader detail set (known limitation). Possible Solution - keep the World Portals close, tuck them into a wall, or use an element to block the view.
  
  
• Just because a glitch does not show up on your operating system does not mean that it won’t show up on someone else’s computer. Get your friends to test.

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World Portals can be placed in many locations including hallways, around corners, and inside a floor, wall, or ceiling. They rotate at the base and can be attached to the wall or ceiling.

Tip: Gravity is always gravity regardless of room design, and World Portals do not alter gravity.

Adding the default lights right next to the portals or in the space behind the portal can even out the lighting seam. Placing World Portals around corners or inside walls can prevent glitches and hide the world portal.

Angled panels can add to the illusion and appear to change the room geometry or cover World Portals, without using additional World Portals. Just team the angled panel with a trigger once or trigger multiple item in BEE2, and keep the trigger far enough away that the player does not see the angled panel activation.

Tip: Be careful not to use too many World Portals because it may cause glitches, can frustrate the player, and can turn into a maintenance nightmare.

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The fun part is setting your immigration, logic, and creativity free. Picture a World Portal connected to the floor, then it's mate is connected inside the ceiling of a large room. Even a single World Portal in an empty room may be interesting...

A room can be designed to look like it has a different orientation. Example: A vertical pit can be made too look like a hallway with lights running down the wall, and one portal can be placed near the top. The other world portal is placed in a separate horizontal hallway with lights running along the floor. As the player walks down the hallway and enters the pit portal, the user is surprised when they fall instead of walk. The matching lights in the pit and hallway help complete the illusion and make the rooms look alike.

For a trippy effect, World Portals can be attached to the wall or ceiling to make the other room appear to be upside-down.

Just a few well-placed World Portals can create an impressive effect. Check out anna's awesome example: "UNREAL CHAMBER 02". It uses only two sets of World Portals with three similar rooms to complete the illusion - and it's one of the top, all-time popular maps. The "how to" guide is in the Help section below.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=225706472

If you create an unreal puzzle, please feel free to add a link in the comment section.

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If you need help or accurate answers to your questions, ask the experts. Most developers have a place where you can ask or search for the answer. Because BEE2 is popular and has a strong community, their website has a Q&A section, an area to report bugs, and a useful Discord page to help with BEE2 and UCP addon issues, questions, and discussions. Some UCP designers may be able to answer questions on their items as well. The BEE2 home page will have the Discord link and additional information.

BEE2 FAQ's - https://github.com/BEEmod/.github/blob/master/FAQ.md

I'm no expert, so some questions regarding the installation and use of the Portal 2 built-in editor, BEE2, UCPs, and troubleshooting may be beyond the scope of this guide. Almost all of the tips that I've learned are packed into this resource.

There may be errors or incorrect information in this guide. The information is for your entertainment only, and you are solely responsible for your own actions including any and all problems or misfortune. I have no control over the items or links recommended in this guide, so it's your responsibility to do your own research, make sure the items fit your needs, and are safe for you to use.


https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1263981224&searchtext=impossible+geometry
World Portals are known as a "linked_portal_door" in Hammer. Though the information is for Hammer, it still contains useful World Portal information. https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Linked_portal_door

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https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/219890/Antichamber/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqL_kt0OUj8