FIX for Achievements that did not unlock

What to do when "completed" Portal achievements don't show as unlocked on Steam.
Plus general help with achievement problems.

The Problem

Achievements show as unlocked or completed on the in-game menu, but not on Steam.

Possible causes:

• There is something unreliable about the way Portal communicates with Steam.
  
• Temporary loss of connection with the internet or Steam server.
  
• Two players are using Portal on the same computer (either they both own the game, or are using Family Sharing). Achievements may only unlock for the first player who completes them.

If an achievement does NOT show as unlocked on the in-game menu, then not all of the requirements for the achievement have been met.
Achievements will NOT unlock in these cases:

• Steam Client in Offline Mode, or loss of connection at game launch.
  
• Cheats active (sv_cheats 1) at any time during your play session.
  
• Commentary mode (it activates cheats)

If you play in commentary mode and then play an advanced chamber or challenge map, commentary (and cheats) will remain active. Commentary nodes will be visible in challenge maps, but not in advanced chambers.
To ensure commentary mode is off, start a New Game in story mode and then re-start the advanced chamber or challenge via Bonus Maps.

THE FIX

Quit Portal, if it is running.

Rename *(or delete) the file ...\steam\steamapps\common\portal\portal\gamestate.txt

( or this file if playing the "Portal with RTX" DLC:
...\steam\steamapps\common\PortalRTX\portal_rtx\gamestate.txt )

Make sure you are online AND connected to Steam.

Then start Portal,
(do NOT view the Achievements menu yet)
and replay the part relevant to the achievement:

• Story mode achievements - replay that part.
  
• "Cake" achievements - complete ONE advanced chamber.
  
• "Science" achievements - complete ONE challenge (at least bronze medal).

* If you are part-way through the Transmission Received achievement, "rename" the file to keep as a backup copy (for example: "gamestate.txt.bak" or "gamestate - Copy.txt"), and read below.

More Information

To easily find where your game files are stored:
In your Steam Library, select Portal, select Manage (gear icon), then Manage > Browse local files

If you have the "Hide extensions for known file types" option enabled in your file browser, the file name should appear as "gamestate", with the "Text Document" type.

Portal uses a local file named gamestate.txt (shared by all players using the same computer) to record progress with achievements - if they are already unlocked, they won't be triggered a second time.

The gamestate.txt file is not part of the original install of the game. It is only created AFTER you have made achievement progress.

When you start Portal, the game checks both the local gamestate.txt file and the online list of achievements associated with your Steam account, and combines them in to the list of achievements displayed in-game. Each time you quit Portal, the gamestate.txt file gets re-created based on the combined progress. After using the fix, you can delete the new file and replace it with the file you renamed earlier. (Previous progress on Transmission Received will be lost if you don't keep the original file.)

In each case, you only need to replay the exact moment where the achievement is triggered. So use a saved game, if you have one (unless cheats or commentary were active). If that doesn't work, try starting a New Game from the nearest chapter.

Since the problem is about Portal communicating with Steam, even the fix may not work the first time - so TRY AGAIN!

Transmission Received

Before you can start on this one, you first need to have unlocked the Heartbreaker achievement for completing Portal. Only then will the extra/modified radios appear.
If you still don't see all the radios, make sure they have not been disabled:

How to Disable the Transmission Received Radios 

A Guide for Portal

By: Calmly Frenetic

Sick of the extra radios (and loud music) while playing Portal? Option 1 : Modify the volume/music played by the radios. Option 2 : (Redundant). Option 3 : Disable post-game radios.

Progress with Transmission Received is tracked in a similar way to the Lambda Locator achievement for Half-Life 2. (There are HL2 guides that explain how.) For Portal:

Open the file ...\steam\steamapps\common\portal\portal\gamestate.txt
At the end of the file will be a section starting with "id" "149".
The value next to "data" is used to record progress toward the achievement:
0x0000000000000000 (no transmissions received)
0x0000000003FFFFFF (ALL transmissions received)

To determine which radio transmissions have already been received, take the last seven (7) digits of the "data" value and convert each digit from hexadecimal to 4-bit binary.

Hex:     0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    A    B    C    D    E    F
Bin:  0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111

Examples (Hex -->> Bin):
0000000 -->> 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
29EF7FF -->> 0010 1001 1110 1111 0111 1111 1111  (missed #12, #17, #22, #23 & #25)
3FFFFFF -->> 0011 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111

Then, reading from RIGHT-TO-LEFT, the binary digits indicate whether a radio transmission has been received (1) or not (0). (The two left digits will always be zeros.)

The order the radios can be found in the game is slightly different to the order they are recorded in the "data" value. For a full list of locations, refer to this guide by rarestMeow

Transmission Received: finding missed radios 

A Guide for Portal

By: rarestMeow

tried to get "Transmission Received" achievement and missed one or two radios? use that guide to find which exactly you have missed and where to find them

Other things to try

Verify Integrity of Game Files:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335

Clear Download Cache:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3134-TIAL-4638

Similar fix for Half-Life 2

FIX for Achievements that did not unlock 

A Guide for Half-Life 2

By: Calmly Frenetic

What to do when "completed" Half-Life 2 achievements don't show as unlocked on Steam. Plus general help with achievement problems.

[Mudfart©]

After trying everything under the sun, this is the only solution that actually worked. Cheers mate

[Calmman]

Thank you, mate!

[Dadal]

thanks

[pikpiki]

thanks bro

[Bogdan Khorolsky]

thanks

[jnnshoo]

PS: Don't play any of the bonus maps with commentary enabled.

If you happen to play with commentary enabled, disable it and follow this tutorial.

[nero]

I have also tried that. Sadly it did not work either.

[Calmly Frenetic]

Try the fix WITHOUT opening Bonus Maps?
To do so, first play a challenge and create a save just before the exit.
Quit the game, then try the fix again, but load your save instead of starting the challenge from Bonus Maps.

[nero]

Yeah I tried all that and it did not work sadly...

[Calmly Frenetic]

Deleting the correct file each time before game launch?
Not loading any save files?
I usually recommend doing Ch14 least portals.