InterServerPortal

Step through a portal on a dedicated server and land in your own local single-player world — and step back to return to the server. No logout → main menu → pick world → reload → reconnect. One portal, one loading screen. The same mod also adds same-world portal networks that mesh all of your portals so you can hop between any of them. Vanilla assets only.

What it does (in plain English)

• Turns a portal into a door to your own world. Flag a portal as inter-server; walk through it on the server and you're switched to your local world. The portal is shared — everyone who uses it goes to their own world.
• Remembers the way back. A portal in your local world offers Return to origin server and reconnects you to where you came from.
• Meshes all your portals into a network. Set a portal to Network mode and it links with every other network portal you built — walk through one and pick any of the others from a nearest-first menu (a normal in-world teleport, no world switch).
• Colours every portal by what it does. Vanilla tag portals glow their normal blue, network portals glow violet, inter-server portals glow cyan — and, like vanilla, they only light up when they're actually connected/usable.
• Locks portals with an entry code. Optionally require a code before a portal will travel (salted + hashed — the raw code is never stored).
• Keeps vanilla portals vanilla. Unflagged portals still pair 1:1 by tag exactly as before. Wood portals still block ore; stone portals still carry it.
• Optional Discord ping. Set a webhook and get a message whenever you cross from a server into your local world.

Quick setup

1. Install this mod on every player's machine — and on the dedicated server too if you run one (it no-ops on a headless server, keeping the portal config networked).
2. Make sure you have at least one local single-player world to travel to.
3. In-game, build a normal portal. Hold L.Shift + Use on it to open the config panel.
4. Tick inter-server, add a destination (label, local world name), and close the panel.
5. Walk through the portal — you're switched to your local world. In that world, a portal offers Return to origin server to come back.

For same-world networks instead: open the same panel, set Link mode → Network on two or more portals you built, then walk through one to pick another.

That's the minimum. Everything else is optional.

The one hard rule

Valheim binds you to one world per session — there is no way to be in two worlds at once or to switch without a loading screen. This mod does not fight that; it removes the menu navigation, not the load. Every transition costs exactly one loading screen.

Documentation

Full guides — portal modes & colours, inter-server travel, same-world networks, entry codes, item policy, Discord notifications, and configuration — are on the GitHub Wiki.

Try it out

This mod was built for the TaegukGaming community server running the Hearthbound modpack. If you want to see it in action, check out the modpack:

🏰 Hearthbound Valheim Modpack

Disclaimer

This mod is created using AI. No other mods were copied during the process. All feature ideas come from the uploader and are mainly to cater the needs of the TaegukGaming community server. If any features or ideas look similar to other mods, these are not intentional.

This mod is free to use as is. Voluntary support is appreciated.

Version: 0.9.0 Source / issues / wiki: https://github.com/yesu0725/InterServerPortal

Changelog

0.9.0 — Per-mode portal glow & Discord

• New: per-mode portal glow. Each portal now glows a colour for its mode — vanilla tag = blue, network = violet, inter-server = cyan — and, like a vanilla portal, only lights up when it's actually connected/usable (a lone network portal or a destination-less inter-server portal sits dark). The inner swirl vortex is coloured to match. (The outward flame burst stays orange — its shader can't be recoloured.)
• New: optional Discord notification. Set Discord/WebhookUrl in the config and a message is posted whenever you cross from a server into your local world.

0.8.0 — Same-world portal networks

• New: portal networks. Set a portal's link mode to Network and it meshes with every other network-mode portal you built in that world. Walk through one to pick any of the others from a menu and teleport there — an ordinary in-world teleport, no loading screen. Works alongside vanilla 1:1 tag pairing (your other portals are unaffected). Works in single-player and on dedicated servers.
• Removed the item-policy setting. portal_wood and portal_stone now keep their fixed vanilla item restrictions (wood blocks ore, stone carries it) with no override — simpler and predictable.
• Removed the travel hotkeys. Travel is portals-only now.

0.7.0 — Polish & packaging

• First Thunderstore package: manifest, icon, README, and this changelog.
• Reorganized config: the debug/fallback hotkeys moved to a Hotkeys section and are now off by default behind EnablePrototypeHotkeys. Portals are the intended way to travel; the hotkeys remain as a testing/keyboard fallback and still drive the empty-config fallback destination.

0.6.0 — Item policy & portal_stone

• portal_stone support (all behavior applies to both prefabs).
• Wood/stone item policy: portal_wood blocks teleport-restricted items (ores), portal_stone carries them. A per-portal ISP.policy override (Auto / Block / Allow) is set from a new dropdown in the config panel. Blocking reuses vanilla's own teleportability check and names the offending items.

0.5.0 — Lock codes

• Optional per-portal entry code (salted SHA-256; raw code never stored), set/clear in the config panel, masked entry prompt before travel, and an escalating wrong-attempt throttle with a short "recently unlocked" memory.

0.4.0 — Hub routing

• Per-portal destination list (label, world), a native config/editor panel (alt-use) and a travel selection menu with a single-destination fast path.
• Unavailable destinations are greyed with a reason. Local→local hops between your own seeds, and a "Return to origin server" entry inside a local world.

0.3.0 — Destination validation & failure handling

• Validates the target local world before leaving (missing / corrupt / wrong version) and shows a centered reason instead of stranding you. A mid-flight failure reconnects to the remembered origin server.

0.2.0 — Portal integration

• Flag a portal inter-server via a custom ZDO field; flagged portals drive the world switch by walk-through, unflagged portals stay vanilla. Arrival-bounce guard so you don't loop between worlds on spawn.

0.1.0 — Core world-switch

• The core disconnect → load-local-world → return sequence, with a persisted return registry (origin server IP:port) that survives a crash/restart.