Welcome

Welcome

• Speedrun.com Resources
• CM Boards About
• Source Auto Record SAR Wiki Page

Overview

A guide to link together all the downloads and resources you need to get Portal 2 speedruns up and running.

Setup

Setup Guide For Portal 2

Setting up Portal 2 for speedruns isn't too difficult, but there are a few things you should get quickly familiar with.

• Portal 2 speedruns are done on the current Steam version of the game, no downgrading is needed.
• Using SAR is highly recommended (See below for information).
• LiveSplit can also be used for runs, and can be linked with SAR for accurate timing and pausing during loads.

Source Auto Record (SAR)

Portal 2 speedrunners use SAR to time runs and to add quality of life commands to the game to make speedrunning less of a hassle. This includes adding commands to accurately time your runs, lowering loading times and making demo recording easier.

You can download the latest version of SAR at SAR's GitHub Page. It is also recommended you download the sar.pdb file, as it expands crash logs to give more information, if Portal 2 were to ever crash.

Installing SAR and the PDB is as easy as placing it in your Portal 2 install, (steam installation)\steamapps\common\Portal 2. Make sure it's sar.dll (with file extensions visible), not sar (1).dll or sar.dll.dll!

The wiki page for SAR gives more information on many of SAR's features and commands, as well as customizing the plugin to your liking.

srconfigs

srconfigs is a set of configuration files designed to take advantage of many of SAR's features, and automatically set up Portal 2 for speedrunning.

To install srconfigs:

1. Head to the srconfigs Releases page, and download the newest ZIP.
2. Open up the configs folder in your Portal 2 install ((steam installation)\steamapps\common\Portal 2\portal2\cfg).
3. Open up the srconfigs ZIP, open the srconfigs folder inside of that, and then place all of the folders and CFG files inside of the cfg folder, so that file paths look like Portal 2\portal2\cfg\autoexec.cfg, Portal 2\portal2\cfg\extra.cfg, Portal 2\portal2\cfg\mtriggers\mtriggers.cfg, etc.
4. Inside Portal 2, bind your scrollwheel to +scrollup and +scrolldown, you can do this by typing bind mwheelup +scrollup and bind mwheeldown +scrolldown into console.

The README file on the srconfigs GitHub page goes in depth with binds, customizations, and more to customize Portal 2 to how you like, and is highly recommended to read over.

Vault Save

Vault Save is a save file that many speedrunners use to skip the 5 minute long cutscene at the start of Portal 2's Singleplayer campaign. It is fully allowed, and recommended for runner's sanities.

To install Vault Save:

1. Head to the resources page of Speedrun.com, and download the Vault Save.
2. Open the ZIP file you downloaded, and place the .sav file into Portal 2\portal2\SAVE\(numbers), where (numbers) is a string of numbers that represents your Steam ID.
3. The associated .dem file does not need to go into the aforementioned folder. It can be used for timing the demos of your speedrun, if need be, but it is not needed for gameplay.

Configuring SAR with LiveSplit

LiveSplit can be used to show the sections in a speedrun, for Portal 2 these are the 62 maps, and can display information like personal bests, segment bests, time save, and more.

To use SAR with LiveSplit:

1. Download LiveSplit from the site's downloads page, and extract the ZIP file into the directory where you wish to install LiveSplit.
2. Head to the resources page of Speedrun.com, and download the splits file for the category you plan to run. Portal 2 Blank Splits (w/ Subsplits) for Singleplayer, and the Coop AMC, AC, or Any% Splits for one of the Coop categories. Ensure to extract the ZIP file you download.
3. Open up the Splits file with LiveSplit. You can do this by opening LiveSplit and going to Right click > Open Splits > From File and select the .lss file you downloaded and extracted.
4. To get SAR connected to LiveSplit, head to Right click > Edit Splits, and select the ACTIVATE button where it says "Game Time and Auto Splitting are available. (By NeKz and mlugg)".

Starting a Speedrun

With srconfigs installed, the only thing you need to do to start a speedrun is to run the command do_reset into the Developer Console. Demos will automatically start recording, the timer will be automatically reset, and the Vault Save will automatically load.

It should be noted that srconfigs can also load this save's predecessor, Container Ride Save (CRS) if you run svar_set sp_use_save 1 in the in-game console.

Gameplay

Here's a short guide to start you with learning basic movement and routes for Portal 2. For any questions about gameplay, head to the #gameplay-help channel on our Discord server.

Bunnyhopping

Bunnyhopping Tutorial

The core movement method of Portal 2 is Bunnyhopping. Useful resources and help for bunnyhopping can be found here on our wiki. Bunnyhopping help provides videos and information on not only bunnyhopping, but also how to go about getting help improving your hops from other runners.

Reportals

One of the most useful glitches/exploits in Portal 2 is the Reportal.

A newer, and more powerful variant, the Super Reportal is becoming more widely used and popular now in the game. It operates in a similar way, but involves a method of getting the player stuck, and chaining multiple reportals.

Learning Routes

YouTube Playlists:

• Full Game Singleplayer Tutorial
• Airhead's Full Game Co-op Tutorial
• Unity's Singleplayer Challenge Mode Tutorials
• Unity's Co-op Challenge Mode Tutorials
• Rattle's Portal Stories: Mel Tutorial

For much more detailed information on maps, check out the wiki's List of Singleplayer maps and List of Co-op maps check to see if the chamber you need help on has information on it. Many of the pages are still a work-in-progress, but it is by-far the most in-depth information available on these chambers.