How-to: Play Co-op alone

Hi guys,
I decided to create separate thread for this, since it was the sole reason I found this forum for and may be useful to somebody else.

For those of you who would like to play co-op alone (i.e. switching between characters) there is the way to do it:

First of all enable console in Options > Keyboard > Advanced of Portal 2.

Then create “autoexec.cfg” in “portal2\cfg\” with the following:

sv_cheats 1
BindToggle "z" in_forceuser

(Thanks to Dewin)

If this does not work, try to remove quotation marks around "z" (thanks Vaijiro)

Alternatively you can just enter this commands in console without creating "autoexec.cfg".

To start the map open console and type:

ss_map mp_coop_start

And that’s it! Now you can switch between players by pressing “z” and you don’t need additional controller and/or buddy.

After completing chapters the game will not proceed as intended, so you will have to switch to the right map manually by typing "ss_map" and the name of the map in console.

Here is the list of maps in correct order:

mp_coop_start (chapter1)
mp_coop_lobby_2
mp_coop_doors
mp_coop_race_2
mp_coop_laser_2
mp_coop_rat_maze
mp_coop_laser_crusher
mp_coop_teambts
mp_coop_fling_3 (chapter2)
mp_coop_infinifling_train
mp_coop_come_along
mp_coop_fling_1
mp_coop_catapult_1
mp_coop_multifling_1
mp_coop_fling_crushers
mp_coop_fan
mp_coop_wall_intro (chapter3)
mp_coop_wall_2
mp_coop_catapult_wall_intro
mp_coop_wall_block
mp_coop_catapult_2
mp_coop_turret_walls
mp_coop_turret_ball
mp_coop_wall_5
mp_coop_tbeam_redirect (chapter4)
mp_coop_tbeam_drill
mp_coop_tbeam_catch_grind_1
mp_coop_tbeam_laser_1
mp_coop_tbeam_polarity
mp_coop_tbeam_polarity2
mp_coop_tbeam_polarity3
mp_coop_tbeam_maze
mp_coop_tbeam_end
mp_coop_paint_come_along (chapter5)
mp_coop_paint_redirect
mp_coop_paint_bridge
mp_coop_paint_walljumps
mp_coop_paint_speed_fling
mp_coop_paint_red_racer
mp_coop_paint_speed_catch
mp_coop_paint_longjump_intro
mp_coop_credits

To save your progress go to cooperative menu before typing "ss_map", or you can always jump to the desired map directly. (Thanks to Elite110)

To switch between horizontal and vertical split-screen use "ss_splitmode 1" or "ss_splitmode 2".

For details on split screen option please follow the corresponding thread.

And yes, all of the tests are doable alone. (thanks to Zechio)

Have fun
Alex

[Archenbaldt]

Nice, but I suppose you'll miss the fun playing this mode alone...

[dantegao]

Do you need the "sv_cheats 1" in the autoexec.cfg? Dosn't using the "sv_cheats 1" command disable achievements or something?

Originally Posted by dantegao

Do you need the "sv_cheats 1" in the autoexec.cfg? Dosn't using the "sv_cheats 1" command disable achievements or something?

Yes "sv_cheats 1" is needed for user switching to work.

And I don't know about achievements. I did not get any myself.

[dantegao]

Originally Posted by alexbogun

Yes "sv_cheats 1" is needed for user switching to work.

And I don't know about achievements. I did not get any myself.

Because I read somewhere that using the command will disable achievements, and I like achievements. I wouldn't know because I don't use that command.

I posted this in a place I saw this thread posted, so I figured I'd post it here as well:

BindToggle "z" in_forceuser

Will let you toggle between both players without needing separate .cfg files (sv_cheats still needs to be enabled)

[Nobuga]

Thanks for posting.

[Elite110]

To save progress, go into the play cooperative menu then type ss_map

[zhunt]

this doesnt seem to work for me and im not sure why, well, partically works.

game loads, all good. i get a vertically split screen with atlas on the left and pbody on the right, both have cross hairs.

using the wsad keys as normal atlas starts moving foward back, jump, shoot portals etc, all normal, but pressing "z" doesnt switch the control to pdoby.

not quite sure what ive done wrong as it seems to run the cfg im guessing since i get both players up and on the split screen.

even tried changing "z" to "m" as a test, same result, pbody aint moving.

when u say "create" autoexec.cfg, i just copied config.cfg and renamed the copy to autoexec.cfg, removed all the info in it and typed in the svcheats bindtoggle commands and saved it.

any thoughts on why this isnt working?

i have trouble playing normal online coop as when the game loads and picks pbody, it crashes. it was suggested thats cause atlas is the host and pbody is the guest when u connect to people.

i havent found the thread about conventional hosting that was suggested to me to help solve that issue either.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=1877779

any help on either problem would be appreciated

sv_cheats 1 disables achievements and stats. Like in every source game.

[Whiplashr]

hmm, doesn't work for me either. I can't switch guys, despite trying several different keys for that bind command. I'm sure the autoexec.cfg is working, I can see that sv_cheats is enabled in the console when I load the game.

[Whiplashr]

Bumping for any help, I'd like to mess with this more.. but whatever I do, I cannot switch between characters. Is there something missing from this equation? Like a need to have some other config file that was forgotten?

So first, what happens if you enter 'in_forceuser 0' and 'in_forceuser 1' in the console directly? Does that switch?

Second, are you sure you entered 'bindtoggle "c" in_forceuser' instead of just 'bind'?


Also, has anyone figured out how to control both at once with just one keyboard and mouse? I can't do the second-to-last chamber without it I think. (I have all the others, including the end.) Well, you may be able to do something awesome with cube throwing, but I can't do that.

[geitliefje]

I had this problem earlier. Setting BindToggle "z" in_forceuser in the console rather than the autoexec cured it for me

Hi alexbogun & Co.

I was *very* pleased to find this post (thanks for posting it), but having found it, I can't find here or elsewhere on the web how you do what you document above for the Mac version of Portal 2.

Anyone know where I can find these instructions written for Mac Postal 2, pretty please?

Cheers, -Alan