Hub

Course 0 - CinTech

mp_coop_lobby_2.bsp Hub

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The Hub is a section of Aperture Science that is featured exclusively during the Cooperative Testing Initiative. Through the Computer Intelligence Training and Enrichment Center Human Test Subject Research Center, or CinTech (pronounced Sin-Tech), Atlas and P-Body can access the various test chambers that are featured throughout the coop campaign.

It features a large screen that displays the total steps players have taken since starting co-op, as well as total portals fired and other statistics. Additionally, it has Aerial Faith Plates, Hard Light Bridges, and Panels that allow for easy traversal of the chamber.

After you complete the final course, Mobility Gels, the Announcer then speaks to the players in the Hub. This will happen even if one of the players has not completed co-op mode. As such, one player will miss out on GLaDOS' story-related lines and the unique "new area unlocked" animations that this map plays when neither player has completed a part. Additionally, the Steam version of Portal 2 automatically unlocks all courses while playing in local split-screen, so this will also prevent the unique sequences from being used. The console versions of Portal 2 track co-op progress in splitscreen correctly.

Courses

Main article: Portal 2 courses during Cooperative Testing Initiative

Course One: Team Building

See also: Cooperative Testing Initiative/Course 1: Team Building

This is one of the first courses available to the player upon entering the Hub, the others remaining locked until the other courses are completed. In this course, the players are given basic tests that emphasize the use of teamwork through portals and pinging, which is a function that allows players to communicate even without text or even through voice. Pings come in a variety of forms, from a simple "Look" ping, to a "Timer" ping that can be used to coordinate timed events effectively.

Course Two: Mass and Velocity

See also: Cooperative Testing Initiative/Course 2: Mass and Velocity

After completing Course One, this course will unlock for players to continue testing. This chamber utilizes the effects portals have when an object has both mass and velocity as it enters the portal, meaning the players must utilize both in order to pass this course.

Course Three: Hard-Light Surfaces

See also: Cooperative Testing Initiative/Course 3: Hard-Light Surfaces

This course opens up upon completion of Course Two. In this course, the players must make use of the Light Bridges to both navigate chambers and act as a wall for other chambers as a defense mechanism or a creative way of stopping something from hurtling into acid. This course takes place in the Decayed/ruined look/style from the first 4 chapters in the singleplayer.

Course Four: Excursion Funnels

See also: Cooperative Testing Initiative/Course 4: Excursion Funnels

This course unlocks upon completion of Course Three. During this course, the player will have to make use of both Light Bridges and Excursion Funnels in order to complete these chambers. It will employ elements from the previous courses as well, making it much more difficult as the players progress. Apparentely this courses were made by GLaDOS for the bots themselves since she thought they weren't going to make it that far and just used tests for humans.

Course Five: Mobility Gels

See also: Cooperative Testing Initiative/Course 5: Mobility Gels

This is the final course that unlocks after the completion of Course Four. Upon entering, GLaDOS will chime in and explain the significance of Atlas and P-Body's testing and what their true purpose is. The players are then dropped into the defunct Aperture testing spheres encountered during single player, and must make use of all elements from the previous chambers along with the Gels that are found in the course. The final course is very difficult, requiring both players to act as a true team. The last chamber is halted by a large vault door, which holds the frozen humans inside. Both players must perform any gesture to ultimately unlock the door. This course takes place in The 50-80's era Aperture from the sixth and seventh chapters of the singleplayer

Course Six: Art Therapy

Set after the conclusion of the Mobility Gels course, GLaDOS has reassembled the bots for testing again and claims that it has been 100,000 years since they were last reassembled. As the testing progresses, the bots are able to observe the defunct surroundings of the Enrichment Center, which GLaDOS assures them as part of an "art exhibit". Further on in the course, players will be sent to a Robot Assembly Annex station to repair their own reassembly machines as GLaDOS finally makes it clear that it has only been a week since the Mobility Gels course and that she needs their help in restoring her control over the facility as something is overriding her controls. At the end of the course, both players are sent out of the testing area to resolve the problem in a control room housing a prototype chassis of the central core. While the first 8 test chambers take place in the "Remaster" clinical look, the last chamber takes place in the 50-80's era Aperture

Interestingly, the sixth course was initially going to consist of advanced test chambers during Portal 2's development, months before the game was released. However, this was scrapped and was removed from the final game. The Peer Review DLC to Portal 2 instead adds only challenge modes to single-player and co-op, with no sign of advanced test chambers. The Art Therapy course is referred to as an additional course instead of the "sixth course".

Additional courses

Non-Emotional Manipulation

All owners of the Portal 2 Sixense MotionPack DLC receive this course for free. It makes use of the new Portal Surfing and One-to-One mechanics.

Trivia

• There are 2 different map files for the hub. mp_coop_lobby_2 is the original version of the hub present in the game at release, while mp_coop_lobby_3 added the Art Therapy DLC course.
  • mp_coop_lobby_2 is only used when playing with a partner who doesn't have the Peer Review DLC installed. Since the PC and Switch versions of Portal 2 bundle Peer Review with the base game rather than being a separate download, this is only possible in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game. On PC, the map can also be loaded through the developer console, and still functions as expected.
  • There is no mp_coop_lobby; unused files indicate that this was an early version of the hub which was replaced later in the game's development.
• As the host (Atlas/player 1), to reset your progress so that your testing partner can experience the story in the Hub from the beginning, use the console to enter in mp_mark_all_maps_incomplete. You won't lose your achievements or your accumulated stats (portals placed, footsteps taken, etc.), but after resetting the level with changelevel mp_coop_lobby_3, all of the test chambers will be closed off and you'll hear GLaDOS's lines again. If your friend was further along with some of the sections done, you can use mp_mark_course_complete and then 0, 1, 2, or 3, depending on what their last completed section was, to make your completion progress roughly equal. Finally, use changelevel again to load the map with the changes applied.
• There are small speakers with the label 409 in the chamber changer for every course (including art therapy), which can play 3 Turret voice lines at random. ("Noooooo!", "Hooray!" and "Goodbye!")

Gallery

Courses 1, 4 and 5   Disassembly chamber with closed panel.

Announcer's voice lines

• "Welcome to the Computer Intelligence Training and Enrichment Center Human Test Subject Research Center. You have unlocked all available courses." | Download | Play (only played upon first-time-unlocking of the Art Therapy course)
• "Warning! All testing courses are currently available." | Download | Play
• "Congratulations on successfully returning to the central hub room. From here you can select all previously completed courses." | Download | Play
• "For your testing convenience, all tests are available and all safety precautions within testing chambers have been deactivated." | Download | Play
• "Welcome back to the central hub. All test courses are available. You may redundantly solve the courses at your leisure." | Download | Play
• "Thank you for completing the testing courses. If you enjoyed your experience, you may now re-enter the testing course of your choice." | Download | Play
• "By completing all test courses, you have achieved Level C security clearance. You may now access all testing courses and three of Aperture Science's 176 restrooms." | Download | Play