This is a list of answers to questions that have been frequently asked by users. If you are having problems with BEE2.4 or have a general question, check here first.

If you can't find the answer to your question, ask in the discussions section or on Discord. Do not open an issue to ask a question.

Also see Frequently Rejected Suggestions for features we're commonly asked to add but can't or won't.

The executable is located in the root of the extracted folder. If it's not there, you might have downloaded the wrong file. Make sure you download the mod from the releases page, and not using the "download code" button on the main page, as this will download the mod's source code rather than a compiled release. If the executable is still not there, it may have been silently deleted/quarantined by antivirus software (see below).

This is a known issue, and happens for a number of reasons that are mostly out of our control. Antivirus software will often flag all programs that they don't recognize, which can result in new BEEmod releases getting flagged until they've been proven safe by more people downloading them. Real viruses are also sometimes written in Python, meaning they would share many of the same libraries and files. Additionally, BEE2.4 does several things which could potentially be seen as virus-like - copying files into another program's install folder (Portal 2), and replacing executables with its own versions (the compilers). However, we can assure you that BEE2.4 does not contain any malicious code. If you don't want to take our word for it, you can check the code yourself and build it from source.

To fully uninstall BEE2.4, choose File > Uninstall from Selected Game within the BEE2 app. This will completely remove BEE2.4 from the selected game, including editor textures and custom assets. Validating Portal 2's files will not fully remove BEEmod and is not recommended - although it will restore the editor items and style to default, editor textures will not be reverted and many custom assets added by BEE2.4 will be left in the game files.

To uninstall the BEE2 app itself, perform the above, then simply delete the application folder.

BEE2.4 includes an auto-packing system that will automatically bundle custom content into the map, so players do not need to install BEEmod to see custom content or play the map. (However, sometimes this breaks. If something doesn't get packed, it's a bug; please report it on the issue tracker.)

BEE2.4 currently supports Portal 2 and Aperture Tag. However, the latter has somewhat broken workshop functionality due to using very old Portal 2 binaries, so we are considering removing support in a future version and making an alternative paint gun available in the base game instead. Thinking With Time Machine support was once considered, but will likely no longer be implemented for the same reason. If other Puzzlemaker-enabled mods are released in the future, we may add support for them.

Valve does not give out the Puzzlemaker source code to licensed mod developers, so they do not include it and thus are incompatible with BEEmod. There is some work being done on standalone puzzlemaker projects that would solve this problem, but as of writing none have reached a stable version, and these projects would likely also not be compatible with BEEmod nor have a need for it as they could include its functionality by default.

We do not support cracked versions of Portal 2. While BEE2.4 may still work, we will not help you if you run into any problems. We highly recommend that you buy the game legally, which will also allow you to publish your maps to the Steam Workshop. Portal 2 only costs $10 USD by default, and is frequently on sale for even less than this.

The Puzzlemaker is only present in the PC version of the game, so BEEmod cannot support the console versions. (Yes, we do occasionally get asked this.)

"When it's done." We don't have a set schedule for updates and release them whenever we feel that there are substantial enough additions, changes, or fixes for a new release. If you want to help us test upcoming versions before they're out, you can download the latest CI artifact builds, which are automatically generated from our development branch.

These items effectively act as nodes, which need to be connected to each other in order to do anything. The exact way in which this works is different for each item, see their wiki pages for more details: Vactubes, Catwalks, and Unstationary Scaffolds

Breakable Glass hasn't been reimplemented yet, but it is planned, which is why it's mentioned in the Bomb Cube description.

This is a known issue which seems to be related to audio caching, as the audio files themselves sound correct. One fix that seems to work is running the commands snd_updateaudiocache and sv_soundemitter_flush in the console, in that order. There's no way currently to make the mod apply this automatically, so in the next release we are removing these sound overrides entirely, and P1 panels will just use the regular Clean editor sounds.

BEE2.4 is a complete rewrite of the app with a different internal item format, so all of the old items need to be manually ported. This is in progress, see issue #95 for more details.

puzzlemaker_export does not work with BEEmod, as the custom compiler isn't able to modify the map and make it actually functional. Before reading on however, keep in mind that exporting Puzzlemaker maps to Hammer is usually not the best idea. If you want to make extensive modifications to a map, or are just starting out learning Hammer, it's generally easier to build a map from scratch, as Puzzlemaker maps (and especially BEEmod maps) are generated in a complex way making them difficult to edit by hand. You should only consider exporting a map if you really know what you're doing.

If this hasn't deterred you, first go into the BEE2 app and set Spawn Point to Elevator and disable Restart When Reaching Exit. Compile your map in Puzzlemaker, then open maps/styled/preview.vmf in Hammer and resave it to a different location so it doesn't get overwritten. Additionally, check your Build Programs settings to make sure that you're using the BEE2 version of VRAD (simply called vrad.exe), as this is needed for some features such as music to work.

The bottomless pits originally featured in BEEmod had significant problems, so they've been removed for the time being. The plan is to implement a "chamber exterior" system which would allow generating areas surrounding the map, including improved bottomless pits. However, this feature is not yet being worked on.

For context, earlier versions of BEE2.4 included an unfinished Behind the Scenes style, which attempted to mimic the factory levels seen during the escape sections of Portal 2. It was never finished, filled with bugs, and eventually removed.

The style was made in the early days of the BEE2, before we had really figured out our scope. We made the decision to remove BTS because it's fundamentally incompatible with the way normal test chambers (and by extension Puzzlemaker maps) are built. Test chambers are made up of modular, reusable test elements; BTS on the other hand has much more specialized machines, such as the turret production line from the campaign. In many ways, BTS maps are more similar to Half-Life's environmental puzzles than Portal's test chambers.

Building a BTS map following the structure of a test chamber results in something which doesn't feel like a BTS map, just a test chamber with a skin on top of it - which is really all BEEmod styles are. That works fine when the skin is also a test chamber (or an equivalent), but if it's not, then the fact that it's just a skin becomes extremely obvious.