Advancement Portals
Minecraft modpacks often struggle with one core design problem: how do you stop players from sprinting to the End before they have earned it? Honor rules fail, quest books get ignored, and disabled recipes feel clunky. Advancement Portals offers a focused, elegant solution. This mod keeps the original portal blocks and travel methods intact, but it gates the destination behind vanilla or custom advancements. If a player has not met the requirements, the portal simply refuses to work and tells them exactly what is missing. When the final milestone is complete, the destination unlocks naturally and the player receives a clear confirmation.
Version 3.1 introduces a major quality-of-life feature: optional FTB Teams integration. This allows cooperative groups to share advancement progress, so a party does not have to repeat the same boss kill or grind the same rare item just to open a portal for everyone. For modpack creators, this is a powerful tool for building expert packs, RPG worlds, and staged exploration experiences.
How Advancement Portals Works
The mod intercepts player dimension travel. When a player attempts to enter the Nether, the End, or any modded dimension, the mod checks the configured gate for that destination. If the gate is incomplete, the travel is blocked. Unconfigured dimensions are left completely untouched, meaning the mod is safe to add to an existing world without breaking anything.
Configuration is handled through a simple TOML file at config/advancement_portals-common.toml. The recommended format is straightforward:
dimensionRequirements = [
"minecraft:the_nether | ALL | minecraft:story/mine_diamond",
"minecraft:the_end | ANY | minecraft:end/kill_dragon, mypack:quests/end_access"
]Each line defines a dimension, a mode, and a list of advancements. The mode can be ALL or ANY. With ALL, the player must complete every listed advancement. With ANY, completing just one of the listed advancements is enough. This gives pack creators enormous flexibility for designing strict linear paths or offering alternate routes to the same destination.
Clear Feedback for Players
One of the standout features of Advancement Portals is the feedback system. When a player is blocked, they are not left guessing. The mod displays a message that includes the friendly name of the destination, whether ALL or ANY advancements are required, the readable title of each missing advancement, and even optional advancement descriptions. A configurable cooldown prevents message spam, and an action-bar reminder can be shown if the player keeps trying to enter a locked portal.
When the final requirement is met, the player gets a chat and action-bar notification that the destination is now open. This creates a satisfying "aha" moment that rewards progression without requiring a custom portal replacement mod.
FTB Teams Progression Sharing
Minecraft advancements are normally per-player. This is a problem in multiplayer when one teammate lands the killing blow on the Ender Dragon but the whole team worked together. With FTB Teams sharing enabled, eligible advancements are shared with all party members. Online teammates receive progress immediately, while offline teammates receive stored progress when they log back in. Gate progress is synchronized before any travel check is performed, ensuring the system is always up to date.
For packs that want to be strict about what is shared, the config offers shareOnlyPortalAdvancements = true. This limits sharing to only the advancements used by your portal gates. Recipe advancements are excluded by default to avoid invisible progress being shared. FTB Teams is entirely optional; if you do not have it installed, the mod works perfectly fine as a single-player or per-player gating system.
If you are looking for a convenient way to manage this add-on, the foxygame.net launcher features a dedicated add-on catalog where you can download Advancement Portals with a single click. The launcher also handles version compatibility automatically, so you can spend less time troubleshooting and more time building your progression tree.
Administrator and Pack Development Tools
Advancement Portals is built with server administrators in mind. The common/server config includes a master gating toggle, creative bypass, spectator bypass, and operator bypass with a configurable permission level. There is also a blocked portal retry delay and a warning cooldown to fine-tune the player experience.
For pack developers, the mod performs a validation check at server startup. It reports missing dimensions, unknown advancements, malformed IDs, invalid modes, and duplicate destinations. This means a typo in your config will not silently unlock a dimension. Instead, the mod will tell you exactly what is wrong, and the gate will remain locked until the config is corrected. This safety net is invaluable for large packs with many custom advancements.
Suggested Uses and Configuration Examples
Here are some creative ways to use Advancement Portals in your pack:
- Require diamonds before entering the Nether.
- Require Ancient Debris before entering the End.
- Unlock a dimension after completing a quest chapter.
- Offer two alternate bosses that can open the same destination using ANY mode.
- Keep an entire co-op party synchronized after a shared boss fight with FTB Teams.
- Stage modded dimensions across a long progression tree.
- Use datapack advancements as invisible access flags.
The mod also supports the older legacy format ("minecraft:the_end=[minecraft:end/kill_dragon]") for existing packs. Legacy entries behave as ALL gates, and the config migration is seamless. When you update to version 3.1, the mod continues to read your old syntax, so you can transition to the new format at your own pace.
Important Note on Shared Rewards
When FTB Teams sharing completes an advancement for a receiving player, the normal Minecraft advancement criteria are fulfilled. This means any rewards attached to that advancement may also be granted, including experience, recipes, loot, or custom functions. For the safest progression-focused setup, use dedicated hidden advancements for dimension access or enable shareOnlyPortalAdvancements = true to minimize unintended rewards.
For a smooth installation, remember to check the server startup log after updating for any validation warnings. The foxygame.net launcher provides auto-updates for your installed mods, ensuring that your Advancement Portals configuration stays compatible with the latest Minecraft versions and mod loaders. Whether you are playing on Forge or NeoForge, the mod supports a range of recent versions, and the launcher simplifies the entire process of managing your modpack.
Conclusion
Advancement Portals is a must-have for any modpack creator who wants meaningful, progression-based dimension access without relying on honor rules or clunky replacement portals. Its clear player feedback, robust validation, and optional FTB Teams sharing make it a polished and professional tool. Whether you are building an expert pack, an RPG adventure, or a cooperative multiplayer server, this mod delivers exactly what it promises: turn dimension access into meaningful progression. Download Advancement Portals today and give your players a reason to earn their next destination.