How do you get more puzzle making options?

[CE480]

I want to know how you guys create such wonderful looking puzzles like this:
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=3259072581

And this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3244454870

[iSmile02]

Hammer Level Editor, the official editor Valve uses for their levels. Best way to access it is by downloading the Portal 2 Authoring Tools which comes free with Portal 2; you'll be able to find it in your games list under "Tools".

[CE480]

Thanks iSmile02! I'll come back here if I have any more questions.

[CE480]

I need some good guide or tutorial to help me use hammer, I can't seem to find it on Youtube. They're either creating hole puzzles or just not descriptive enough. Or an accent I can't catch.

Also is creating hole new puzzles without puzzle creator the best way? Puzzle editor is easier but limited in some ways and I was hoping to get new items inside it so I can place it on the fly.

[Clantis]

you can add new items to the puzzlemaker with beemod https://github.com/BEEmod/BEE2.4
it can also change let you change stuff like map styles music and voicelines.

its not nearly as powerful as hammer, but its a massive upgrade to the puzzlemaker.

[CE480]

thanks @Clantis, I'll take a look

[iSmile02]

Originally posted by CE480:

I need some good guide or tutorial to help me use hammer, I can't seem to find it on Youtube. They're either creating hole puzzles or just not descriptive enough. Or an accent I can't catch.

TopHATTwaffle has some pretty good beginner tutorials, from what I've seen:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-454Fe3dQH1L38FnKkz_O1CqYx6sKaXk

Once you're more familiar with the controls and stuff, I've found this tutorial by Arachnaphob to be pretty good for learning how to make chambers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIEvNiBBYBQ
Some of his other videos focus on other styles of chambers used throughout Portal 2. His Overgrown-style tutorial's pretty great too.

The best tutorials you'll find come from the Valve Developer Community wiki, specifically the Portal 2 Level Design page, found here:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Category:Portal_2_Level_Design

Originally posted by CE480:

Also is creating hole new puzzles without puzzle creator the best way? Puzzle editor is easier but limited in some ways and I was hoping to get new items inside it so I can place it on the fly.

My personal method is to create a puzzle with the in-game editor first, and then export it using the puzzlemaker_export command in the console. From there, you can open it in Hammer. It's generally considered bad practice to directly edit the exported map though, due to how unoptimized puzzlemaker maps are, so it's best to just use it as a guide.

[CE480]

Thanks, I think I have enough information to move on, if I have any more questions I'll come back here if it's related. But thanks everybody!

[dish (whytoexist / lazyexcuse)]

bee2 + UCP packages from the bee2 UCP packages server on discord