all in the title. new to speed running and would love some help setting up times

If you use LiveSplit : Right click Edit Splits Activate

That will activate the game time. Then switch your livesplit to compare against Game Time Right Click Compare Against Game Time

Finally, download in the resources the livesplit file (each level is a split).

For other timers, I don't personaly use them so maybe someone can answer better.

also i am running coop with a buddy so that may change things lol

For coop, I recommend not using LiveSplit (sorry Fatalis-senpai), just record demos and time them with the "Portal 2 Demo Timer" by drag&dropping demos into it. To record demos, type : record <demoname> then, when your run is done: stop

thanks for the help. i honestly didnt expect a response that fast. awesome community

There is a timer on the resources section of this speedrun.com page (It's the third item under "Tools") that uses demos to record, and works for all categories (as well as Portal 1 and Half Life). I recommend using that because it's accurate and you don't need to bother with rechecking the time after.

All you need to do in that case is Download the timer and run it Right click, select "Demo Directory" and go to Portal 2's Folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Portal 2\portal2) and select OK Again, right click, and select "Portal 2 Coop" Before you do stopvideos (the command to start the coop run), type record [Demoname]

Pack is also right about everything, just he hasn't used the new timer yet. It's a really good timer (the only major flaws are that it doesn't tell you the time until after a split and it someone disappears for some reason)

awesome. i hear you lose a demo if you die. is this right or do demos keep going

and i was looking for a time for streaming also but i found that livesplit works well for that. anyway to remove its always on top thing tho

EDIT: i found the always on top bit lol

That happens in Singleplayer but not on Coop. If you die in coop you don't need to rerecord, but if you die (or restart level) in singleplayer you need to re-record demos.

Also, it's kind of a taboo to use livesplit in this game (for singleplayer) because it's not accurate. I honestly recommend you use iVerb's timer.

Also tell me when you plan on streaming and I may watch :D

Also you don't need to worry about rerecording if you use NeKz's AutoRecord https://github.com/NeKzor/Portal2AutoRecordLauncher