Portal 2 How to Play Solo in Coop Mode

Purpose of this guide

You can easily find how to play the game on splitscreen mode, this guide is not about that. This is about how to play as both characters in fullscreen mode.

Step 1 – Autoexec

Open notepad and paste the following:

sv_cheats 1 alias charswitch switch2 alias switch1"in_forceuser 0; ss_force_primary_fullscreen 1;alias charswitch switch2" alias switch2 "ss_force_primary_fullscreen 0; in_forceuser 1; ss_pipsplit 3; ss_pipscale 1; ss_pip_bottom_offset 0; ss_pip_right_offset 0; alias charswitch switch1" bind [KEY] charswitch

replace [KEY] with a key of your preference, for example with c it should look as

 bind c charswitch

This is your “switch character” key.

Save the file as autoexec.cfg, and place it in steamapps\common\Portal 2\portal2\cfg\

Step 2 – Launch Options

right click on Portal 2 on your Library, select Properties and in the “launch options” field add

+exec autoexec.cfg

Step 3 – Console

Launch Portal 2 and go to Options – Keyboard/Mouse and set “Allow developer console” to enabled.

To open the console hit the key above TAB.
If you’re using a non-english keyboard it may be bound to a different key, check Options – Keyboard/Mouse – Edit Keys/Buttons and search for “Toggle Developer Console”

Time to play

Open the console and enter the following command:

ss_map mp_coop_start

After the cutscene the game will be in splitscreen mode, just press the switch character key to fix that.

Time to play. Have fun!
…Just don’t expect to get achievements, the only way this is possible is thanks to sv_cheats 1.

After you reach the hub, before starting a test course make sure to set the level (test chamber) to start on the 1st (the panel that pops out the wall when you approach the tubes where you have to position both characters)

How to save progress

Unfortunately you can’t. So you will have to write down somewhere the course and chamber you where in and then start that chamber from the panel before entering a course, all courses are unlocked by default anyways. (i just create a .txt on my desktop for example)

In order to skip the tutorial use this to start on the hub.

ss_map mp_coop_lobby3

Probably because of the method used to bypass requiring 2 players, course 5 is unlocked from the beginning (it should only unlock after you beat 1-4) so i’ll recommend doing those before 5, just for story purposes.

Know issues

-When a new map loads you may not be able to move, press the switch character key to fix it.

-When you switch character while holding a directional key (wasd) the key may get “stuck”, ie. you will keep moving forward even if you stop pressing w. Simply press the same directional key to stop.

-When the robot you where controlling “dies” the view will change to the other character but the controls will not, just press the switch character key to fix it.

-Finally, because autoexec has sv_cheats 1 and the game is loading that file everytime you launch it, achievements are impossible to get (not only coop ones, all of them). Just close the game, delete/ move the autoexec.cfg, and launch it again.

Here we come to an end for Portal 2 How to Play Solo in Coop Mode hope you enjoy it. If you think we forget something to include or we should make an update to the post let us know via comment, and we will fix it asap! Thanks and have a great day!