How to get 6 cubes or even more from a cube dropper ?

Overview

This guide explains a glitch I have discovered that let you obtain more than 6 cubes from a single cube dropper.

Introduction

I have been experiencing a lot on cube droppers for a long time and this is it !
In this guide I will explain you how to overcome the limits of the cube dropper mechanics in order to obtain multiple cubes from the same dropper (up to 6 in a little amount of time, but you can get more).

This is made possible by using a serie of glitches I have discovered. It may have been found by someone else previously, but this is only the result of my testing.
I have used reflector cubes during all my testing ; everything shown below is possible with the other types of cubes though slightly harder.

I advise you to try obtaining the maximum cubes you can with this guide !

Let’s begin with how a cube dropper works.

How do I get more than one cube ?

Cube droppers are working in a very specific way. If you have a dropper connected to a button and you press the button, the cube outside of the dropper, if there is one, will self-destruct and a new cube will fall down from the dropper. Because of that you can’t have more than one cube at a time outside of the dropper.

Now you can disturb this mechanic by preventing the cube from falling from the dropper : you catch it just after you pressed the button and put it back into the dropper. Then you can press the button again and you will see that the cubes cannot fall from the dropper anymore and are stuck there. Moreover, by pressing the button again, you can have up to four cubes into the dropper !

How do I take the cubes out ?

This is the main glitch that allows all this to work, let’s call it the repositionning bug.

How the glitch works : the game won’t allow two objects to be at the same place at the same time. For that reason, if you turn on a lightbridge and there is a cube on its way, the lightbridge won’t go through the cube, the cube will reposition itself (on top or under the lightbridge).

Now the idea is to use this repositionning to our advantage, by forcing our cubes to reposition themselves out of the dropper. In order to do that, we will use a lightbridge aiming at a 45° angled panel, that we will orientate towards the dropper using our portals.

And it works !

The lowest cube in the dropper has been repositionned out of the dropper ! We just have to do this three more times to get our four cubes out of the dropper !!

From 4 cubes to 6+

Then go on and press the same button again. What you should see is two cubes among four self-destruct and the dropper that opens up and stays opened, with no cube falling.

That is because you just emptied the dropper before, so the game doesn’t detect a cube falling and doesn’t close the dropper.

This part is going to get a little more complicated, look at the video after reading to understand everything 🙂

We want more cubes, so our only solution is to feign that cubes are falling from the dropper by grabbing one of the two remaining cubes and shaking it just under the dropper. If you are shaking fast enough, the game will believe that several cubes are falling and will send more than one cube into the dropper. Also the dropper should close. If shaking fast enough, you can get three cubes into the dropper, maybe even four (I have done five once, with a special setup).

Then you use the lightbridge just like before to get those new cubes out of the dropper. With the two cubes already outside you should reach a total of five (if you managed to have three cubes inside the dropper).

Finally you can press the button again (two cubes will despawn and you will have three remaining cubes outside of the dropper) and do the same as before (shaking a cube under the dropper then using the lightbridge to take those new cubes out) and with that method you should be able to get six cubes or even more !

That’s how you do it !

My fast method to get 6 cubes

The method exposed earlier helps understanding better the way cube droppers work but this method is faster (refer to the previous sections for the details of the different steps).

You need :

• A reflector cube dropper connected to a button ;
• A light bridge aiming at an 45° angled panel ;
• White surfaces to put your portals.

You have to :

1. Use the lightbridge to get the first cube out of the dropper ;
2. Press the button ;
3. Shake your remaining cube under the dropper ;
4. Use the lightbridge to get the new cubes out of the dropper ;
5. Press the button ;
6. Shake one of the cubes under the dropper ;
7. And use the lightbridge to get the last cubes out of the dropper ;

And there you go ! With this technique you can obtain up to eight cubes from a single dropper !!
I know it is possible to obtain more, but it is much more difficult and I won’t explain how to do it here.

Conclusion

If you want to try accomplishing this glitch by yourself, here is a map with everything necesary to do it.
I hope you enjoyed this guide, tell me if anything isn’t clear or if you are having issues with one of the steps while trying to accomplish it. Also tell me if you are interested by more guides on what special things we can do in Portal 2.

If you enjoyed this guide here is another on fake antlines : [link] If you want to discover more of my stuff, here is my workshop.

Feedback is appreciated 🙂