There are no set release dates for BEE2 updates. Sometimes they will be released every few weeks, and sometimes there will be months between updates.

While we are open to suggestions on what to add to BEEmod, new items and styles are rarely accepted. Items and styles take a lot of work to mantain.

For new items, they must have a clear purpose and a strong concept. They must be both versatile and give the players a reason to use them in puzzles. Some things just aren't possible, especially with Puzzlemaker. Another thing to keep in mind is each item must also work in each style, which is a lot of work especially if ideas aren't well thought out.

For a new style to even be considered, it should make sense overall, work with most/all of Portal 2's test elements, and be possible to reasonably implement in the Puzzlemaker. As an example, Portal 1 is a style that fits this criteria, as most of Portal 2's test elements can reasonably exist there and it has a block-based structure similar to Clean. On the other hand, BTS style typically doesn't use test elements like buttons and cubes, and it's very difficult to make it look good in the Puzzlemaker, hence why it was removed; had this been considered back in 2015, the style never would have been added to begin with.

Custom packages can also add their own items and styles, so feel free to implement your ideas yourself.

No. We can, but we won't. Puzzlemaker is not a tool for complex story or aesthetic work. You need the flexibility of Hammer to properly implement or explain the mixing of styles, and lots of combinations wouldn't make sense anyway.

No. Most of the Puzzlemaker and Portal 2 is hard-coded and outside our reach. While we can add new test elements and modify the compiler or in-game appearances, we cannot change how stuff like the editor or game itself behaves. For Puzzlemaker: this includes expanding the palette, adding custom labels to item settings (hence "Button Type", "Start Reversed", etc. on many items), creating new UIs, increasing connection limits, or merging non-compatible items.

Features like bottemless pits and BTS were cut due to problems with quality, mechanics, and/or not working well in Puzzlemaker but may be brough back with a new system.

If you're asking about BEE2 or earlier: since BEE2.4 is a complete rewrite of the app with a different internal item format, all of the old items need to be manually ported. This is in progress, see issue #95 for more details.

We won't implement many color or light based ideas due reasons like difficulty to implement, puzzle clairity, color blindness, hard limitations of source, darkness not being a testing element, and many such factors. Puzzlemaker is a tool for puzzles, if you want more complex lighting or colors you'll have to use hammer.

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 on Steam; Portal 2 only costs $10 USD by default, and is usually on sale for an even lower price.

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

Since they are making their own Puzzlemaker from scratch, it is not currently known if it will be compatible with BEEmod

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, which is why the issue hasn't properly been fixed.

It's not possible to properly pack voice lines into maps; while we can pack the actual sounds easily, we can't pack the choreo files that are used for localization, subtitles, and chaining lines. Additionally, the developers of most mods (including Portal Stories: Mel) have said that they do not want people using their custom voice lines in maps.

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 are generated in a complex way making them difficult to edit by hand. Only consider exporting if you just want to make small adjustments to a map, and already have experience using Hammer.

If this is still what you want to do, 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.