Portals
Portals
Portals in VRChat are a method of traveling to different worlds and instances. Portals can be present statically in worlds, or be 'dropped' by other users.
Creating a Portal
You can create your own portal by selecting a world on the World menu, choosing New Instance, followed by the instance type, and region that you would like the instance to be hosted in. After this selection, a second screen will appear, with a button that says Drop Portal, and a Lock button next to it. If you choose to leave it unlocked, any user will be able to see the portal; if the portal is locked, then the portal will only appear to your friends and yourself.
Dropping a Portal
Once the Drop Portal button is chosen, there is then given a prompt to select the area where the portal will appear. The portal must be on a flat surface, and not be intersecting with other world objects, or players. To drop the portal, click the left mouse button, the trigger button, tap the screen, or pinch your thumb and index finger together, depending on which controller method is being used. A VR user can also switch hands while dropping a portal, by using the trigger opposite to the controller being prompted to drop the portal.
The portal will then appear to others, displaying the world name, the user who dropped the portal, region, instance number, instance type, the group hosting the instance (if applicable), instance capacity, platform compatibility, as well as a timer. The timer will count down from thirty seconds to zero seconds. When the portal reaches zero seconds, the portal will disappear. The timer can be extended back to thirty seconds when a user enters the portal.
If a portal leading to a world is not compatible with a certain platform, then users viewing the portal from that platform will not be able to enter the instance. Instead, the portal will have a red "X" icon surrounding it. It will be up to the author of the world to upload the world to other platforms, and make them cross-compatible. It is generally mindful to be aware of friends and acquaintances who may be on other platforms before going to another instance so that they don't get left behind.
Clicking on a Portal
When a portal is available, they can be clicked on, like other users. By opening up the Quick Menu, clicking on a portal's capsule will open up its world page, and instance information. Optionally, you can pre-load the world instance instead of walking into the portal, browse the world download size, or favorite that world to any of your lists to go to later.
Static Portals
Portals may appear pre-baked into worlds, leading to other places. These are called "static portals". When a user walks into a static portal, the portal will appear with a randomly generated instance number, and will default to a Public instance. Within the thirty-second timeframe, any user may follow the leader into the portal's instance.
Portal Settings
There are different settings to choose from in regards to portals. You can access these settings by going to the Settings Menu, and typing portal in the Search bar.
- Portal Prompt - Toggles the requirement for input confirmation from a controller before entering a portal.
- Portal Mode - Place Manually, Drop in Front. Place Manually will let a user control where their portal is dropped. Drop In Front will instantaneously spawn the portal in front of the player without selecting where it's getting placed.
- Show Portal Notifications - Notifications will appear on your HUD if a user drops a portal.
- Only Show Friend Join/Leave/Portal Notifications - This toggle will only show notifications on your HUD for friends, instead of everyone else.
Portals in the SDK
Any world author can add a static portal to their world by utilizing Unity, and adding the "VRC Portal Marker" script from the VRChat SDK, which will prompt the author to input the following:
- World
- Room Id
- Custom Portal
- Name
- Sort Heading
- Sort Order
- Offset
- Search Term
- Tag
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