Version 1.0.1 - Last updated October 6th, 2026

The TL;DR

Our goal with the Portal 2: Community Edition workshop is to foster an environment of creativity and fun, and to give content creators and players as much flexibility as possible.

This document is intended to detail the sorts of content that is allowed on the workshop, such that it does not cause harm for their uploaders, players, or the P2:CE team. While the following is an easier-to-follow list of some of the points described in the full document, we still encourage you to read it all carefully. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to email us at [email protected] or contact us in our official Discord Server ( https://p2ce.org/discord ). For technical guidance on posting to the workshop, check out our wiki ( https://wiki.stratasource.org/ ).

1. Agreement to these terms. When you upload content to the workshop, you agree to the terms of this policy, as well as to the Steam Workshop Subscriber Agreement (which you already have to explicitly agree to when uploading content). Content that does not follow these terms may be removed or banned, and the author may be banned depending on the situation;
2. Don't do anything illegal. The content you upload cannot have illegal materials, or facilitate illegal activity. This includes things like redistributing copyrighted material, or illicit images, or exploiting and harming the end user. This also includes leaks and unauthorized redistribution of private projects and repositories, from Valve or otherwise;
3. Only port what you're allowed. Ports and reuploads of content, such as other games, mods, maps, asset packs, gameplay modifiers, etc., must be done with the explicit and express upfront permission from the original authors - unless, of course, you are the original author, or the content's licensing permits it (such as public domain or creative commons). In other words, you cannot port games, mods or assets to P2:CE without a permission statement from the authors - this has to be done before you upload the content;
4. Keep it safe-for-work. The Workshop is intended for a general audience (13+). As such, adult content is not permitted. This includes sexual content, gore, illicit drugs, and other subjects not suitable for a general audience;
5. No hate speech or harassment. The workshop is intended for all people, and is maintained and moderated by a diverse team. Things like hate speech, racism, homophobia, transphobia, doxxing, harassment, or any form of speech or action against individuals or groups, will result in a ban of the account;
6. Don't be deceitful. Your content should not mislead subscribers, falsely advertise its contents, or provide thumbnails and titles that misrepresent your content. This means no screenshots of unrelated content, AI-generated thumbnails, or image edits that embellish the item beyond reasonable expectation. Misdirection in the name of humor or surprise is acceptable if it is clear from context or if it does not present a different experience that is not delivered. Additionally, if your content includes AI generated resources, it must be disclosed clearly in the description.
7. Don't be malicious or exploitative. You should not permanently alter the end user's installation of the game or machine, or exploit security vulnerabilities. This means that you cannot request users to change game files, or force changes to player settings, or in any way alter the state of the player's machine without their knowledge. You may request certain settings, game mounts, or addon dependencies, so long as those require user confirmation.

General Recommendations

Additionally, we provide some general guidelines, references for publicly available assets. While these are not hard rules or actionable offenses, we want every project to have a chance of succeeding. Once again, we encourage you to read these carefully, especially since they provide some tips for things you might want to keep in mind for workshop uploads.

1. Avoid using generative AI. While we don't outright ban its use (except in the cases mentioned before), we would prefer if all work was made by humans. The game itself is entirely made by humans, and much of the active community may actively avoid items that have used generative AI in its production. When in doubt, or if you need an extra hand, ask for help in our community Discord server!
2. Be accommodating and upfront wherever possible. It is heavily encouraged and appreciated if any potentially upsetting or harmful content is expressed in the item's page or inside the playable content. This includes things like blood or violence warnings, flashing lights warnings, or any other information that may help users decide if they are comfortable playing your content. We also encourage users to provide accessibility options whenever possible, to ensure that people can play your content despite their limitations. This includes things like subtitles and closed captions for dialogues, color blindness settings, control toggles for custom mechanics, among others.
3. Prioritize existing systems for customization. In P2:CE, there are several different ways to achieve similar results, thanks to its many systems and features. Whenever possible, use systems and features already designed for the desired outcome, especially if those allow for user flexibility and control. For example, using the campaign system rather than commands, using storage scope rather than save/load overrides, or using addon dependencies and game mounting rather than overriding default assets.
4. Give credit where credit's due. Whenever you use someone else's resources - be they assets, scripts, instances or puzzles - give proper credit to their original creators in the description of your item, preferably with links to their sources. Not all assets and creators ask for credits, but it's the cordial thing to do.
5. Know your reuploadable assets. We cover our redistribution policies in great depth in the document below, but in general, assume an asset, map or resource you've gotten online is not permitted for reuploads and ports. Some of the more popular projects and sources already have a well-defined policy for reuse, so refer to these before making an upload.
   This list may change at any time and it is your responsibility to double-check permissions if you intend to use assets and resources from the following items. Items or aspects from each project which are not mentioned explicitly here are to be assumed to require written permission.
   1. Portal: Revolution - Most assets are allowed. Disallowed items include Portal Guns, Cores, or key story items (such as the Spire);
   2. Portal Stories: Mel - Porting the mod or any of its maps is not allowed. Disallowed items include Portal Gun, Cores, or key story items (such as AEGIS);
   3. BEEmod / BEE2 / Better Extended Editor 2 version 4 - Most assets shipped by default are allowed. Contact original authors for things contributed by non-maintainers, or specific assets and resources ported from other projects. Music and user-made packages are outside the scope of BEEmod and should be checked with their respective authors;
   4. HMW's content - Generally permitted under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. This includes things like Sendificator and Try Anything Twice assets and mechanics;
   5. Portal: Aero - Assets are permitted to be used within context - that is, no direct reupload. Credit “Sunburst Games” if used. Music is permitted to be used within context. Credit “conni2buns” and “Fiffle”. Disallowed items include campaign reuploads, individual map reuploads, map edits (including “PBR Enhancements” or similar updates), reuploading assets as an asset pack;
   6. Reliquiae - Music is permitted to be used within context. Credit “Hazel Rose Webs”. Disallowed items include campaign reuploads, individual map reuploads, map edits (including “PBR Enhancements” or similar updates), reuploading assets as an asset pack;
   7. Portal: Alive & Kicking - Soundtrack and sounds are permitted to be used within context. Disallowed items include campaign reuploads and individual map reuploads.

1. Preamble

Welcome to the Portal 2: Community Edition official Workshop content policy. This document is designed to inform you of what sort of content is allowed to be posted and shared in the Portal 2: Community Edition Steam Workshop. Please read it carefully.

§1. Portal 2: Community Edition is not affiliated with Valve Software, or endorsed by it. The moderation team for the Portal 2: Community Edition Workshop may act to enforce both the terms of this document and of Valve Software's policies.

§2. The policies described in this document are supplementary to the official Steam Workshop Subscriber Agreement. By sharing content to the workshop, you agree to the terms and conditions of the official Steam Workshop Subscriber Agreement ( https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ ), and to the terms and conditions of this document (hereafter referred to as “P2:CE Workshop Policy”). Failure to comply with the Steam Workshop Subscriber Agreement may result in actions enforced by Valve Software or preemptive actions by the Portal 2: Community Edition workshop moderation team. Failure to comply with the P2:CE Workshop Policy may result in your item being banned from the workshop, and in more severe cases, your account being banned from the Portal 2: Community Edition workshop.
§3. You may contest moderation action taken to your content or account by emailing us at [email protected] , or by contacting a member of the Portal 2: Community Edition Workshop moderation team via our public Discord server, available at https://p2ce.org/discord .

2. Workshop Purpose

§1. The Portal 2: Community Edition Steam Workshop (hereafter referred to as “P2:CE Workshop”) is intended to host user-generated content for a general audience (13 years or older, as per the Steam Workshop Subscriber Agreement), intended to be experienced and engaged with inside of the game “Portal 2: Community Edition”.

§2. Any content uploaded to the P2:CE Workshop should be made explicitly for the game “Portal 2: Community Edition” (hereafter referred to as “the game”), or be fully compatible with it - this includes supported games like “Portal 2” and “Portal 1”. Some formats and structures of items intended for the workshop include, but are not limited to: maps, campaigns, gameplay modifiers, asset modifiers, asset packs, cosmetic and visual modifiers, mapping and modding resources, localization resources, and collections.

§3. Incompatible items, items made for different games, or items not designed to interact with the game may be marked as “Incompatible” or removed from the P2:CE Workshop.

§4. Items made for the P2:CE Workshop may not contain illegal or illicit content, or facilitate the consumption of or engagement with illegal activity. This includes, but is not limited to, the distribution of copyrighted materials (which includes derivative AI-generated content based on or intended to mimic copyrighted materials), distribution of third party commercial games, distribution of malware, ransomware, and other forms of damaging software, or the distribution of illegal imagery. Failure to comply may result in the removal of the offending item, the banning of the offending account from the P2:CE Workshop, and in more severe cases, reports to relevant authorities and platforms.

§5. Items extracted from, copied from, or directly based on leaks, hacks or unauthorized access to private repositories, including those from Valve Software, will be banned from the workshop. The P2:CE Workshop should not be used to redistribute unauthorized content, nor facilitate access to them. This includes, but is not limited to, beta builds of games, unreleased games and prototypes, or non-public assets and resources.

3. On Reuploads and Ports

§1. For the context of the P2:CE Workshop and its contents, we define reuploads and ports as any content whose original design, distribution or intended purpose was to be used or applied to other games. Such origins include, but are not limited to: Valve titles such as “Portal 2”, “Portal”, “Half-Life 2” (and its episodes), and other Source Engine games; third party modifications of Portal 2, such as “Portal Stories: Mel”, “Aperture Tag”, “Portal: Reloaded”, among others; general purpose assets and resources designed for various games and engines.
§2. The extent to which we consider an item a reupload or a port includes, but is not limited to, entire playable campaigns, individual maps from said games, assets from those games, and third-party assets and resources made for those games, whether they were originally distributed via the Steam Workshop or via third party services.

§3. Content which launches or implements resources from other games are still considered reuploads and ports, even if the contents of the game aren't being directly redistributed. This includes, but is not limited to, campaign wrappers which require mounting the original game.

§4. The uploading of content deemed as a reupload or a port is permitted in the following conditions:

1. The uploader is the original creator of the content;
2. The original content is in the public domain, or is otherwise licensed in such a way that redistribution is permitted (such as some versions of the Creative Commons license); the terms and conditions of the individual licensed items may apply, and the terms of this document do not override the original terms and conditions of the licensed content;
3. The work can be broadly classified as “fair use” - that is to say, it is transformative and/or used as a vehicle for education or critical analysis. Superficial changes, parodies, or derivative work do not constitute “fair use”;
4. The upload utilizes third party content to the extent it is permitted, but without directly redistributing it. This includes, but is not limited to, using assets and elements from other authors, in the context of a new content (such as a map or campaign), while following the terms and conditions stated by the original author(s);
   1. The exception would be third party content where the authors explicitly prohibit the inclusion of the content, or specify ways in which it must be distributed but which are not followed;
   2. In the event that credit is requested upon usage of the content, it must be done so clearly within the description of the item;
   3. In the event that terms of usage or crediting information is not present, the uploader must assume that the item may only be distributed within context - that is, using it as part of another work, rather than redistributed on its own - and that proper crediting is required, as described above.
5. The uploader provides explicit, upfront proof of their permission to reupload the content from the original creator(s) of the content. Proof may take the form of a verifiable link to a statement from the original creator(s), or a verifiable image wherein the original creator(s) provides the necessary permission.
   1. The original creator(s) must have the necessary permissions to allow for reuploads and ports. Their permission does not override the respective terms and conditions attached to the original content's license, nor does it override the permissions and limitations provided by additional authors, or additional content redistributed through the original;
   2. The proof of permission must offer the full, unmodified context in which the permission is granted, and the original creator(s) must express their understanding of the context in which the content is being reuploaded or ported.
   3. The original creator(s) are still entitled to request the removal of the item at any time, even after giving permission to reupload.
6. Modifications of audiovisual or gameplay elements of the games “Portal”, “Portal 2”, “Half-Life 2” and its episodes, and other Source Engine games from Valve Software, granted that the original contents of those games are not redistributed, and granted that ownership of the original game is required to experience the content.
   1. Ownership of the original game can be enforced by the Portal 2: Community Edition “mounts” system, which also requires that the original game is installed in order to use its assets and resources;
   2. Ownership of “Portal 2” is exempt from the “mounts” system, as it is already required for installing and playing “Portal 2: Community Edition”, and the assets and resources from it are provided by the game;
   3. Third party games made using Source Engine, but otherwise not created by Valve Software, are not included in this exemption.

§5. The reuploaded or ported content must still abide by the terms and conditions described in this document as well as the Steam Workshop Subscriber Agreement. Content which is not permitted to be reuploaded or ported includes, but is not limited to: redistribution of commercial games, such as Portal or Half-Life 2, redistribution of commercially licensed products or assets which do not permit their further redistribution, and redistribution of content which includes copyrighted material.

4. On Suggestive or Mature content

§1. As previously stated, the P2:CE Workshop is intended for general audiences, 13 years or older. As such, content which can be considered mature, suggestive, sexual, extremely violent, gruesome, or otherwise inappropriate for young audiences is not permitted.

§2. The following is a non-comprehensive list of some types of content not permitted under these terms. We reserve the right to hide or remove items that we deem inappropriate but whose contents are not described in this list.

1. Nudity, full or partial, sexual or otherwise;
   1. This is only permitted in the context of artistic nudity, such as paintings, so long as the object of nudity is not the focus, or explicit, or sexual in nature;
2. Sexually suggestive images, models, sounds or texts;
   1. This refers to content design with sexual characteristics as the primary focus. Content which might indirectly suggest sexual connotations may be permitted if the object of connotation is not the end user;
3. Extreme violence, gore (real or otherwise), mutilation, cadavers, torture, animal cruelty, medical procedures, depictions of suicide, bodily fluids and excrements, body parts, or other forms of bodily harm;
   1. In-game depictions of blood, dead bodies, gun violence, or other established elements from the supported game franchises may be permitted, so long as they are clearly fictitious and limited in their fidelity. Realistic bodies, real life images of blood, images of real people or animals in violent scenarios, or similarly upsetting content may still be removed;
4. Drug usage, depictions of drugs, substance abuse, or other forms of narcotics;
   1. May be permitted for legalized drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco, so long as the content is not intended to persuade the user on their consumption.
5. Slurs, excessive swearing, suggestions of self-harm, threats, detailed descriptions of harm, or similar content designed to upset, harm or threaten the user;
   1. Light swearing may be permitted, but the terms described in the section “On Harassment and Hate Speech” still apply.

5. On Harassment and Hate Speech

§1. The P2:CE Workshop is intended for all groups of people, from any ethnic group, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, ages (13 or older), and backgrounds. Content which promotes hate, violence, or discrimination against a group, or which promotes division of peoples, or which suggests any form of superiority or supremacy of any group or individual, may be removed, and the offending account(s) may be suspended from the P2:CE Workshop.

§2. The game, as well as the P2:CE Workshop moderation team, is comprised of a diverse group of people, from various backgrounds and within various minority groups. Our tolerance for hate speech and harassment is none. The following is a non-comprehensive list of some of the types of behavior we consider actionable:

1. Doxxing, sharing private information of others, sharing private photos of others, or otherwise exposing aspects of another person without their consent;
2. Harassment, suggestions of self-harm, physical or emotional threats, emotional manipulation, or other forms of speech intended to upset or harm oneself or another;
3. Discrimination of individuals or of groups, slurs intended to demean or upset minorities, speech that invalidates people's lived experiences or identities. Some of the types of discrimination include, but are not limited to:
   1. Racism, or discrimination based on ethnicity;
   2. Xenophobia, or discrimination based on nationality;
   3. Homophobia, or other forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation;
   4. Sexism, misogyny, misanthropy, transphobia, or other forms of discrimination based on gender identity or sex;
   5. Discrimination based on religion, faith, or cultural practices and customs;
   6. Discrimination based on political or societal alignment or ideology - with the caveat that political or societal alignments or ideologies which themselves promote this level of discrimination still fall under these terms;
   7. Ableism, or other forms of discrimination based on physical or mental disabilities;
   8. Discrimination based on economical or social status, level of education, unemployment or professional career choices;
   9. Ageism, or other forms of discrimination based on age, physical or emotional maturity, or other levels of life development - with the caveat that the P2:CE Workshop is still limited to an audience of 13 years or older.
4. Hate speech, promotion of violence, promotion of political ideologies based on extremism or discrimination, promotion of criminal activities, promotion of supremacist or exclusionary ideologies, or other forms of speech intended to cause harm, target individuals or groups, or otherwise promote the suppression of others;
5. Content that solicits personal information, solicits intimacy, demands physical or emotional vulnerability, or otherwise tries to promote relationships, be they romantic, sexual or otherwise, between users or between the author(s).

6. On Deceitful and Misleading content

§1. The workshop page for an item distributed through the P2:CE Workshop should be consistent with and indicative of its contents. When browsing the workshop, users should be expected to find content of the type they are looking for, and to engage with said content within the expectations set forth by its presentation in the workshop page.

§2. While elements of surprise, suspense, or otherwise omission of information may be permitted, the complete fabrication or misrepresentation of the contents of an item is not permissible, be it through the content's thumbnail, title, screenshots, videos, tags, or description.

§3. The following is a non-comprehensive list of content which we deem as deceitful or misleading:

1. A page that presents or promises content which is not present in the item;
   1. This includes items which are in a development phase, such as in beta, chapter releases, episodes, or otherwise segmented and incomplete, but still presenting or promising content which is not yet released or available;
   2. It may be permitted in humorous or abstract circumstances where the proposed content is unambiguously understood to be satirical, hyperbolical, referential, or otherwise clear to most users that it does not represent the contents of the item.
2. A page that suggests features, enhancements, gameplay duration, quantities, or quality greater than what is provided;
   1. This includes, but is not limited to, pages whose pictures or videos are created, edited, or enhanced through filters, AI tools, or other similar procedures that misrepresent the in-game presentation of the content;
   2. This also includes statements about the duration of the experience, or number of elements, which are not indicative of an average experience. For example, an item that suggests hours of gameplay content, but which can be completed by an average player in minutes;
   3. Exceptions can be made when the presentation of the item is edited in such a way as to include text with the item's name or other relevant information, or when parts of the content is obstructed or obscured, deliberately or otherwise, by graphics or filters that blur certain features;
   4. Exceptions can also be made when filters and effects are applied to thumbnails for artistic purposes, granted that other images that represent the item are not filtered or edited in a way that misrepresents the in-game presentation of the item.
3. A page which, through deliberate wording, promises content in a way that leads people to interpret it as another form of content, especially when that other form of content is more popular or well-known. This includes, but isn't limited to:
   1. Promising full access to games and/or campaigns, but omitting that ownership of the original is required, or that the content is a recreation or port;
   2. Deliberately using titles and terms tied to popular media, but offering something unrelated;
   3. Content which implies a complete implementation of a known content, but which only offers a part of it;
   4. Content which references a known piece of media, but which offers a different interpretation or implementation of said media, without disclosing said differences.
4. A page or item that mislabels the format or type of content provided, be it through its description, its tags, or how it is presented in-game. For example, an “asset pack” item presented as a “Campaign”.
   1. This excludes cases where an item fits multiple distinct categories at once. For example, a single map item whose size and presentation also works as a “Campaign” item;
   2. This also excludes cases in which the game, the Steam Workshop, or other interface misplaces the content, or otherwise has no ideal fit for the content provided. For example, an item whose application is not yet covered by the provided tags, or which is displayed alongside items with different tags.

§4. While content generated with or assisted by machine learning algorithms, AI services, large language models, and other similar generative processes is permitted, it is heavily discouraged by the P2:CE development team and the P2:CE workshop moderation team. In cases where such content is present, be it fully or partially created or assisted by generative models, it must be done so exclusively within the terms provided in this document, and must be disclosed, clearly and unambiguously, in the description of the item's workshop page. This applies to, but is not limited to, items which include generative AI sounds, voice acting and music, AI-assisted writing, or AI-generated or AI-upscaled assets.

§5. In circumstances in which the item has been misrepresented or mislabeled by mistake, the author(s) will have an opportunity to make corrections. If the item has been banned or hidden before corrections were made, the author(s) may contact the P2:CE Moderation team to have it reinstated.

7. On Malicious and Unsafe content

§1. The game, as well as any content designed for it, is intended to be experienced and engaged entirely within its own scope - that is to say, the game's executable and its companion tools. Content created for the game must not launch or require external processes, modules, injections, files, etc. Likewise, the scope of the files read and written to, including user-created content, should be contained entirely within the game's provided folders and Steam workshop folders for the game and its SDK.

§2. As such, all items designed for the game's workshop are expected to be self-contained, requiring only the game as it is provided, with no requirement of external files, programs, system modifications, internet connection, auxiliary devices, file modifications, execution of programs, or any action outside of the game and its tools.

§3. There may be exceptions to what an item may recommend for user actions, granted those are opt-in features, within the following conditions:

1. An item which requires another Workshop Item as a dependency, granted that this other item also follows all the terms defined in this document;
2. An item which requires another game or mod to be mounted, granted that these are expressed in the item's description;
3. An item which asks for certain user settings and preferences, be it for customization or performance purposes, so long as the player is informed in advance about the required settings;
4. An item which asks for certain commands to be executed within the game's provided console, so long as said commands are specified in the item's description, and so long as the execution of said commands is easily reversible by the end user. In such cases, authors must provide a clear description of said commands and how to revert their effects in the description of the item:
   1. Such commands must not permanently alter the player's installation of the game, personalized custom content, or otherwise affect their baseline experience of the game, in any way that is not reversible with no negative consequences. As such, certain destructive commands are not permitted, such as bind/unbind, save/load overrides, alias overrides, among others;
   2. In cases where the suggested command is of a destructive nature, or otherwise permanently alters the player's installation, it is imperative that the item be functional without the application of those, and must express explicitly that said commands are not required. Failure to do so may result in your item being hidden from the workshop.
5. An item which was designed to engage with external tools and programs, or contains files which can be opened or edited by external tools and programs - for example, the Hammer level editor. In such cases, usage of said files and programs must be expressed explicitly in the item's description, and must be entirely optional for the end user. Such use cases include, but are not limited to, source files for game assets and resources, editable map files, assets and resources for the game's provided “custom” folder, or scripts intended to engage with the existing game and tools interfaces;

§4. Items which knowingly engage with or exploit security vulnerabilities, version mismatch, or which intentionally attempt to overcome or bypass security safeguards and sandboxes - which include, but are not limited to, command execution limitations, scope limitations, file size limitations, or game modification limitations - will be banned from the workshop, and depending on the severity, its author(s) may also be banned:

1. If an item is found to include a security vulnerability, deliberate or not, the user is encouraged to reach out to the team directly, via email, Discord, or other listed contact options in the Preamble section, to describe the vulnerability so that it may be fixed;
2. If an author finds a security vulnerability, it is their responsibility to disclose it exclusively to the team, via email, Discord, or other listed contact options in the Preamble section, so that it may be fixed. Uploading items with known vulnerabilities is only permitted with the express permission of a member of the team, and for the purposes of testing or debugging, and must be done at the discretion of the team.

§5. Items which unknowingly or unintentionally exploit security vulnerabilities may be hidden or banned from the workshop until said vulnerabilities are no longer present. In those cases, the author(s) may contact our workshop moderation team to have the item reinstated upon the appropriate changes have been made.