Getting Started

This guide will help you get started with speedrunning Portal (2007).

It will explain how to set up the game, the various versions of the game that are commonly used in speedrunning, and various tools that are used to help speedrunners. It will also explain the techniques used in Portal speedrunning, and how to perform them.

Play Portal casually first

Before you start, you should have a basic understanding of how to play Portal. If you have never played Portal before, you should play through the game casually before attempting to speedrun it. This isn't strictly required, but it is highly recommended.

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Getting the Game

First, you should be familiar with the various versions of Portal. Each version explained below has its own page with more information, and its own reasons for being used. There are more versions of Portal, but these are the most supported for use in speedrunning.

Source Unpack

Use Source Unpack

It comes preconfigured with useful tools, saves, and is the most commonly run version of the game.

Source Unpack is an archive of the game's files at particular points in time. It is used for speedrunning, because it allows you to use older versions of the game that have more glitches and exploits. It also comes with unpacked game files, and includes a few other useful tools like SPT and the Speedrun Demo Record Plugin. Source Unpack is community driven, very reputable, and very safe. If you are concerned about it's safety, you can technically use the Steam version of the game, but it requires further setup for submitting runs.

Versions

Steampipe

This is the version of the game that comes with Steam. Typically, this version is not used for speedrunning. It is recommended that you use Source Unpack instead, because Steampipe can greatly increase difficulty of some glitches, or outright patch them in some cases.

5135

This is the most commonly used version of Source Unpack, which contains the 5135 build of the game. It is recommended that you use this version for speedrunning, unless you are doing high level OOB or NoSLA runs. If you are just getting started, this is typically the way to go.

3420

This is an older version of Portal which contains free out of bounds movement. It is recommended that you use this version for high level OOB and No SLA runs. If you are just getting started, this is typically not necessary to use.

Running Source Unpack

To run Source Unpack, just unzip the archive and run Portal.bat. This will require that you have Steam running, and own Portal on Steam to work.

Timing

Timing begins when the crosshair appears and ends when GLaDOS dies. Timing is done using game time, otherwise known as "engine ticks", while also including time spent paused. Loading time is not counted.

You are allowed to skip the intro vault waiting sequence by using the vault save.

Timing your runs can be done either through recording demos, or through recording a video with LiveSplit running. It is highly recommended to use LiveSplit, it comes with an auto splitter that times everything accurately, including pauses.

Update LiveSplit

If you already have LiveSplit, make sure you are up-to-date with the latest version, which comes with SourceSplit 3.3+.

Enable the Console

We take advantage of the Source Engine console to run commands that help us speedrun. To enable the console, go to Options > Keyboard > Advanced... and check the box that says Enable developer console. You can now open the developer console by pressing the tilde key (~) located typically under the Esc key.

Some keyboards may not have a tilde key. To get around this, you should add a bind for the command toggleconsole in your autoexec.cfg file. It is a good idea to use one of the F1 through F12 keys for this to avoid complications that occur when using other keys. An example you might put in your autoexec.cfg is bind f1 toggleconsole.

To learn more about the console and allowed commands, check out the commands page.