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The Orange Box: Portal Hints
Advanced Portaling Tip
1 of 11: As the General Portal Info mentions, you can't fire a new portal so that it goes through an existing portal. Anything else can go through an existing portal, but not the focused energy burst needed to form a new portal.
2 of 11: However, there is a way to get around that once you get the portal gun upgrade in Chamber 11.
3 of 11: Let's say that there's an orange portal on a nearby wall and a blue portal on a far-off wall, and you want to fire a new orange portal through the old orange portal so that it comes out of the blue portal and forms on the wall across from it.
4 of 11: Walk up to the orange portal, then crouch down and move forward into it in tiny, quick steps by just barely tapping the "Move forward" key.
5 of 11: Check your portal gun's colored aiming indicator (the two curved lines around the targeting crosshair) after each step to see if its orange part has gone from faded to colored, meaning you can now fire an orange portal.
6 of 11: This happens when you "cross over" from the orange portal to the blue one, and are counted as being in the spot the blue one is at rather than in the spot the orange one is at. (Yes, you're exploiting a game implementation detail, and are sort of violating the idea of blue and orange portals being two sides of the same infinitely thin opening.)
7 of 11: Stop moving as soon as the orange indicator colors in, then aim at your target and fire your new orange portal.
8 of 11: If you did your "tiny steps" routine just right, you'll be pushed a bit by the portal shift, but you won't be pushed out of the blue portal that you're standing in. (Which is good if there's a hazard like toxic water directly below the blue portal.)
9 of 11: Turn around and move forward to exit through your new orange portal.
10 of 11: Or if you want to repeat the process by firing a new blue portal through the new orange one, turn around and move forward in tiny, quick crouch-steps like you did before, watching for the portal gun's blue indicator to color in. When it does, you'll be standing in the orange portal, and can fire a new blue one somewhere.
11 of 11: Using this process, you can move around an area without ever touching any floors, platforms, etc. -- you'll just be standing inside portals the whole time. This is very rarely a preferred method for getting around, but it can sometimes be useful (or just a fun alternative).
