Portal 2 impossible spaces

[Etra488]

In the developer's commentary, they say with pride that the entire Aperture Science Laboratory is, while fictional, physically accurate.

What they mean is, they never create impossible spaces, have a room bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, or have one door open to a room on the other side of the building.

Given that the plot device that justifies the game is a portal machine, this is a surprise: you'd expect that if you "looked under the hood," you'd see they liberally take shortcuts and had pieced the whole game together with improvised programming techniques.

But no, the entire building, every room, could be reconstructed in a model with nothing clipping into anything else... except for one instance. They challenge you to find it.

I believe the "impossible space" room is 15/19, after Wheatley gives you the short liquid-asbestos funnel ride, the testing chamber immediately thereafter. You drop down into a little box with a doorway, and on the other side is a room so large that yea, you'd have seen the walls from the other side. So there you go, that's my guess of the one time Valve had to fudge the spaces in the game to make it all work.

 

[Fenreil]

I literally just came here after listening to that commentary node. It was really cool to hear about how they had impossible spaces everywhere in the beginning, and phased them out as development went on.

No idea where the impossible space is, and I'm too lazy to go check out your suggestion. Someone else do it!

I will say that, while the player-explored spaces are all physically accurate, the facility itself is absurdly impossible. That places is just simply too big.

 

[CleverNickname]

Someone on SPUF said the Incinerator chute would clip through parts of the level if built where it should be.

Someone else said it was the hidden drydock, but he didn't say why.

 

[ToAzT]

It's things like this that make me respect Valve. They may take forever on games, but they don't seem to half-ass anything, which I love.

 

[z3rostr1fe]

Space... Space? SPAAAAAAACCCEEEEE!!!!

OT:
What part of Portal 2 was that dev commentary node that says such? I wanna hear it.

 

[qwertyzxy27]

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!! (idk how to do the spoiler thing)
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!! (idk how to do the spoiler thing)
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!! (idk how to do the spoiler thing)


i think the impossible space is the final boss battle think about it, your miles underground still as evidenced by the loooong elevator ride to the surface but the ceiling falling reveals the sky and the moon? it is noticeable but you dont want to question it cause its epic!!!

 

[Flaregun]

Sorry, just found this thread, I'm pretty sure the impossible space is the Gama pumping station where you throw the switch to first get the white gel flowing. In this area there are two long corridors with giant pistons that come down from the ceiling. Both of these corridors are open on one side to view the larger machinery room, and from that room, specifically from the hanging platform/catwalk piece that you portal up to, you can see both these corridors and that one is directly above the other. More interestingly, you can see *into* these corridors and see that the pistons in the lower corridor should have no place to go when they retreat up into the ceiling, as the floor to the upper corridor is right above it. I'm pretty sure this is the impossible space the developer was talking about, as you can see with your own eyes the pistons moving up & down, and how the bodies of the lower corridor pistons should be completely filling the upper corridor at all times.

 

[coolguy5678]

Someone on SPUF said the Incinerator chute would clip through parts of the level if built where it should be.

I checked that myself with noclip on. The incinerator chute wouldn't clip through the lower part (you can see the exterior of the incinerator chute when you are in the lower part, and they are lined up properly). However, when GLaDOS drops you into the incinerator chute, there is a world portal and the actual interior of the chute is somewhere else on the map for some reason.

Spoiler

Supposedly the impossible space is "Chamber 75/19" in Chapter 9, when Wheatley ambushes you with turrets, but they turn out to be defective. There are definitely world portals there, and supposedly the exterior of that chamber which you see is too small to fit the interior, but I'm not certain on this.

 

[ColdFire75]

Someone on SPUF said the Incinerator chute would clip through parts of the level if built where it should be.

I checked that myself with noclip on. The incinerator chute wouldn't clip through the lower part (you can see the exterior of the incinerator chute when you are in the lower part, and they are lined up properly). However, when GLaDOS drops you into the incinerator chute, there is a world portal and the actual interior of the chute is somewhere else on the map for some reason.

Spoiler

Supposedly the impossible space is "Chamber 75/19" in Chapter 9, when Wheatley ambushes you with turrets, but they turn out to be defective. There are definitely world portals there, and supposedly the exterior of that chamber which you see is too small to fit the interior, but I'm not certain on this.

The thing in spoilers is correct, can see it clearly on youtube.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

Spoiler

Supposedly the impossible space is "Chamber 75/19" in Chapter 9, when Wheatley ambushes you with turrets, but they turn out to be defective. There are definitely world portals there, and supposedly the exterior of that chamber which you see is too small to fit the interior, but I'm not certain on this.

I think this is it, because the outside is much to large for the interior, but it could also be on Co-Op, just cause we're thinking about Single Player.