Talk:Nether portal/Archive 1

Preparations
Everyone is showing preparing for these portals with traps, waterfalls, and airlocks. I don't recall reading anything that said the Ghasts could come through the portals. If they can, is there a way to temporarily turn off a portal to prevent this, or does this break the link to the Slip? Even if it does, why not just recreate it later, it should connect to the same spot?

In addition, people have these airlock rooms, but on The Slip page it says Ghasts create an impact crater with their attack. Doesn't this suggest they can eventually chew their way through a wall? I just don't want to waste a lot of time and resources building a "portal room" just to find out it's useless. Thoughts? MrMatthew 12:27, 29 October 2010 (CDT)


 * Notch said (on Twitter) that Ghasts could spawn near portals if the room was big enough. Ghasts probably COULD destroy the walls, but they won't attack unless they see you. So an airlock would be the best since you could cut the room off and dig to the ceiling and drop lava or something. You can turn a portal off with an explosion or by destroying the Obsidian. PurpleKiwi! 20:08, 1 November 2010 (UTC)


 * ok ok, i can't stand this. im gonna say it once. GHASTS CAN ONLY SPAWN IN THE NETHER!!! nothing can go through the portal except for you!! Nothing will spawn out of it.


 * I'm going to say this once. you have no proof. end of. go ask notch for official information, like I did with herobrine.--Kizzycocoa 16:34, 1 November 2010 (CDT)

Video Links
That second video looks really sketchy, not to mention it's short and doesn't explain anything. I'd recommend taking it down. The other link is great! MrMatthew 19:15, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

I found a better video to replace the first one :) --PANDA EXPRESS 17:18, 27 October 2010 (CDT)

Block Icons
Is there any way someone can bring over the block icons used on the forums? The portal diagram used in the first post here is a much better way to describe it. --PANDA EXPRESS 07:50, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

-- I've added it, but I'm not sure if it's legal like this --Gemberkoekje 08:00, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

That looks awesome! I added an arrow between the two (replacing the "becomes" text) let me know if you like the text better and I'll replace it. --PANDA EXPRESS 17:18, 27 October 2010 (CDT)
 * Changed the diagram to fit in with other templates within the wiki. --Antome 09:30, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Should we change the name?
Should this article's name be changed to "Slipgate"/"Slip Gate"? --TelephoneKiosk 19:33, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Placeable purple portal blocks?
Is there a dec code for portal blocks? Being able to place portals wherever would be awesome (Griefing by filling someone's house with portals?!)
 * The decimal value is 90. (not hard to find considering the other Halloween blocks had similar values) Have fun! --Antome 12:39, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Portal icon
Changed the address of the portal comparison to fit with the icon. Either I or someone else will need to do a better render later :3 --Antome 13:11, 31 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Created a far better render :D --Antome 05:35, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Portal Size?
Does the obsidian have to be 4x5? The article implies that that's the case, but the portal on the left in the screenshot (http://www.minecraftwiki.net/images/f/fa/Portalcomparison.png) appears to be 3x5. Charles Stover 08:40, 31 October 2010 (CDT)
 * that's a squished image. it's still 4x5.--Kizzycocoa 13:42, 31 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks. That's what I was thinking may have been the case. Charles Stover 13:43, 31 October 2010 (UTC)
 * We reallllly need to update that image...Kenji 03 13:02, 5 November 2010 (UTC)
 * What's squished about it? Aside from the bottom line being underground, how could you be confused by it? 13:06, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Portals on the Ground
Is it possible to build a portal horizontally (on the ground) instead of vertically, so that you'd fall into it instead of walk into it? Charles Stover 13:42, 31 October 2010 (UTC)
 * nope. x/y axis only!--Kizzycocoa 13:45, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Momentum
I don't know why it's important to have "Contrary to public belief, portals do not conserve momentum" in the article (Valve's Portal reference). Isn't that as irrelevant as something about how contrary to public belief, portals do not spawn demons (Doom reference)? Unless it really is public belief that portals conserve momentum, I feel like it's just a reference to another game (I'm biased. I played Portal). Also, how do we know the portals don't conserve momentum? You have to hold still in it to "teleport", and even if you did move, how do we know you didn't move the slight distance during the 20-30 second wait while the Nether loads?

--DaMavster 15:31, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I was wondering that myself, really --Antome 05:02, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I laughed when reading that, and my physics student room mate agrees with Valve that "a portal should (in theory) conserve momentum". It is kind of irrelevant here, but again: I found it funny.Kenji 03 13:01, 5 November 2010 (UTC)
 * it doesn't. in fact, it makes you stand in the centre of the portal once you've teleported.
 * besides, people want ground portals, and may be misguided by the fact you have to stay inside it. also, we all thought portals would be just walking into it. IMO, it's a good line, slightly funny, and helps to show how the portals won't work like in Portal, which many expected.--Kizzycocoa 13:04, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Very Messy
This page needs to be cleaned up.
 * The wording sucks.
 * There are lots of spelling/grammar mistakes.
 * The Trivia section is almost as big as the article.
 * The article seems like it was written in chunks. It doesn't flow. (some places say "earth" and others say Earth)
 * Purplekiwi, if you have a problem with the flow of the article, why not change it yourself? Yes it is a big article, potentially unnecessarily big, However it is difficult to cut certain pieces of information as many have an edge of importance to them --Antome 00:00, 2 November 2010 (CDT)

Ghast-ly turn of events.
So I wish I would have possibly got a screen shot of the ghast spawning in my home but alas I was too worried about him burning down my house seeing as it is in it's entirety wood. Though the little bugger managed to burn down the majority of my home I had my revenge. Thought all the people that said that Ghasts only spawn in The Nether would want to hear about this. My word of advice, build your portal room out of stone.

And yes, I thought the title was clever.


 * I'm going to build a portal in the middle of the forest just for fun. :D --PurpleKiwi 05:52, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Obsidian Harvesting?
Portals seem to be a way of harvesting obsidian. Since you can use 10 blocks of obsidian to create a second portal next to you old one, use it and collect the 14 blocks of obsidian the new built portal provides. Afterwards you can enter you old portal and use the one you build for havesting again and it will create another 14 block portal. not sure if it works didn't try it out yet.
 * It appears that if you deactivate the portal which appears through the glitch where you get a duplicate portal, another portal is created within close proximity to it. So yes, currently that would be a way to harvest obsidian. --Antome 06:35, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Passage of Time
After finally setting up a functioning portal system between my two largest bases, I re-planted my tree farm on the smaller of the two. As I had forgotten some stone at the other base, I went though the portal and to the other base -- a trip that took less than thirty seconds. When I came back to the smaller base, nearly all of the trees were fully grown. By 'fully grown" I mean the huge trees that are well over 12 blocks high! I was astounded. Awestruck. Amazed.

What I'm getting at here is this: is it possible that time passes quickly on "Earth" when you're in the Nether? This could be a definite reason of why the watch goes crazy when in the Nether (not that it needs a reason -- you are in hell). el payaso 00:15, 3 November 2010 (EDT)


 * Forgot your sig there, pal. As to answer your question, possibly, though I'm not sure about it. The reason for the watch going crazy is actually not because of this quicker passage of time, if it exists, but rather because the Nether literally has no time. CyborgDragon 04:11, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Natural Portals?
On my world I found 3 naturally occurring portals in a triangle shape. I was traveling and found them a good distance from my already made portal. When I enter them, they all go to the same one in The Slip, but when I exit they all return me to the same of the 3 portals on the Overworld. THe portal made in The Slip is also ridiculously close to the one I made, which is odd considering the distance the Overworld portals are from each other. I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else and if it is supposed to happen or is a glitch.Please post on here if it has or is!

These are pictures of the portals, both in and out of The Slip.

On the Overworld

In The Slip

Original Exit Portal and 3 found portals

4th portal

5th portal (relative to 4th portal)

Key:

Red - Portals I found, lead to blue in The Slip.

Blue - Portal I found that others I found exit from The Slip at and enter The Slip at.

Yellow - Portal That I originally came out of when I first exited The Slip.

Green - Original Portal I entered The Slip from, exits to yellow.

Later found a 4th portal, about 100 blocks from my original exit portal (portal that appeared when i first exited The Slip). It also brings me out of the portal circled in blue from above pictures.

--Cheezy8 18:28, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

I have now found a 5th portal, leads to same one in The Slip and exits at same one as others on the Overworld.

--Cheezy8 18:51, 3 November 2010 (CDT)


 * Actually, it's a bug. Look at this tweet. It was acknowledged by Notch himself. I've added the reasoning for this in the article some time ago. --Scykei 02:11, 4 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I have read about the portal glitch/farm. This is not the case for me. I only created 1 portal, ever. I then had 1 portal created for me(Marked in yellow in above pictures)from which I exited The Slip. I later found 3 (now 5) other portals at much farther distances from my original. I didn not create any others that would lead to the game creating any.The natural portals don't function as normal portals do either. All 5 of the portals exit from the same portal in The Slip (you go through any of them and come out at same one). In theory each one, or perhaps two(if they are connected[1 is entrance 1 is exit]) should have created a single Portal in The Slip, resulting in multiple new portals, not one.--Cheezy8 23:16, 4 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I am also experiencing random, inexplicable spawning of portals. I made one portal sort of deep in the mining tunnels of my spawn point's home hearing that they can spawn ghasts. I entered, exited, and ended up a comfortable ways from my home. I was relieved and continued playing. That was days ago in real life. Just now I climbed a mountain near to a new home and what do I see in the distance frighteningly near my old one? Yup, a portal. It has spawned without me doing anything that should spawn it; I only EVER used my original portal and the one that resulted from Minecraft moving me out from a wall/floor in the Nether.


 * These kinds of bugs always freak me out. For me it's like seeing a mundane object in your room, turning to focus on something else for a few seconds, looking back and noticing that it has obviously moved. And you're the only one in the house. In other words: I am still too scared to go anywhere near it. I'll post more when I get the courage. --Notthross 01:25, 7 November 2010 (CST)


 * After talking myself into going through the portal this morning, I discovered that it does send me to my original portal in the Nether. When I decided to leave (which was rather soon), I found myself back at my 'exit' portal. If this is a bug, and not just some tactic by Notch to try to freak us out (which worked), it may be that the game keeps trying to move you in the Nether.


 * To not confuse MYSELF, I'll go in chronological order: You create a portal and enter for the first time. The game sees that you would end up in a wall/floor/ceiling, and consequently moves you, thus creating a new portal on Earth (as we'll refer to it here), and effectively tying your portal in the Nether to two on Earth. You leave, wander around for some time, and re-enter through your original portal. However, you'd still be teleported into that same wall/floor/ceiling so the game tries to move you again, this time in a different direction. The problem is that portal on Earth is still tied to that first one in the Nether, so it sends you there, but it still created the new one on Earth where you would have gone, had you not already had that first one up.


 * This is just my theory based on what limited experience I've had with them, and assumes that the 'exit' portal on Earth is created when you're enterING the Nether (i.e. loading screen) and not when you're already there. What I could probably try is to destroy the first portal in the Nether, make a new one and go back, then try to go through my original portal on Earth and see if it reactivates the one in the Nether, or creates a completely new one in a different area. --Notthross 14:13, 7 November 2010 (CST)


 * Your theory makes sense and I believe this bug was fixed with a very small patch recently. Thank you for explaining the bug to me. --Cheezy8 21:22, 7 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I believe this may be relevant here; after creating a portal, I dug a fairly long stretch straight through the Nether (using hundreds of blocks of cobble to create bridges as need be), then placed another portal back on the other end. This took me out into a winter zone, well away from my original base (a grassy area). I decided to use Cartograph to see how much distance I'd actually travelled. This, however, showed two other chunks that had been generated between my entrance/exit points - with portals slap bang in the middle of them!


 * So I put all my gear in a crate, headed back down into the Nether, and went for a swim in the Lava. Upon my death, I noted the "building chunk" messages on my way back to the respawn point, and sure enough Cartograph showed another generated chunk + portal on my Earth map, relative to my last position in the Nether. - Bomb Bloke 08:13, 8 November 2010 (CST)


 * 09 November: I have definitely found a naturally occurring portal. What I originally did for my adventures in the Nether, I made a portal in, then made a second portal exactly 125 blocks away (so should be approx 1000 blocks away in the real world). I then came out the other end, and ran back home to see how long it would take. Took quite a few minutes, but that wasn't good enough.


 * Portal 1 (on Earth)


 * This portal is directly under my house, my spawn point is literally 10 or so squares straight forward and up. I'm facing East in this picture. Notice the Mossy Cobblestone corners, not obsidian. I don't make my portals with Obsidian corners (though exit portals will have them).


 * Portal 1 (in the Nether)


 * This is me standing in Portal 1 in the Nether. I'm facing east, if you look forward you can see the start of my torch trail. 125 blocks forward is Portal 2.


 * Portal 2 (in the Nether)


 * This is Portal 2, I'm facing east. You can see the separation of my torches, and to the left you can see my trail continuing. Notice the lack of corners.


 * Portal 2 (on Earth)


 * This is Portal 2 on Earth, I'm still facing east, sun is rising in front of us, spawn is behind us. Another oddity I wanted to point out as well is shown in this picture. Although the Portal 2 I made in the Nether faces East/West, this one came out facing North/South. Strange, no?


 * Well the next time around, I ran the same original 125 blocks through the nether, then just continued on, weaving around all the lakes of lava and walls, but continuing in the same general direction. As I ran, I placed torches every 5 squares or so . I'd gotten to about 180 torches in (x 5 = 900, x 8 = 7200 real world blocks) when I made my 3rd portal (The problem with this is the trail weaves around to make it past lava lakes and mountains in the way, but nevertheless, it's a pretty great distance), and again started off to make it home.


 * Example of the Trail


 * This picture just shows an example of my trail, unfortunately photo bucket made the pictures smaller than they are, so you can't see torches off in the distance.


 * Portal 3 (in the Nether)


 * This is Portal 3, I'm facing east still. Not a lot to say. Notice that it lacks corners again.


 * Portal 3 (on Earth)


 * Here's Portal 3 on Earth, I came out in a cave =\. I eventually found my way out by digging up (into some water, so that was good). I'm facing east in this picture again, my spawn is behind me to the west.


 * I ran a full days distance, got to a lake and was looking around, when I saw a portal off in the distance. I ran to it, thinking maybe it was my 2nd portal, but then as I got closer I realized it wasn't anything at all what I remembered around my 2nd. So I went in, and it plunked me in a cave in the nether. I started exploring, found my way out, and it didn't take long for me to find my Torch trail, I was about 4/5ths the way towards Portal 3 in the Nether.


 * Portal-Natural (on Earh)


 * Here is Portal-Natural on Earth. When I first found it, it had just turned day, this is the time it was when I went back to take a picture. Notice the Moon rising in the east, my spawn behind me in the west. Also, it has full obsidian corners.


 * Portal-Natural (in the Nether)


 * Here's where I came out of in the Nether. It has it's corners. I'm actually facing North in this picture, possibly another type of incident like what happened with Portal 2. I had to run through the cave and then dig a little to make it down to my trail.


 * Split Path


 * This is where I came out of the cavern that Portal-Natural spawned in and where the Torch Trail meet. I'd say this is about 4/5ths the distance towards Portal 3 in the Nether, but just an estimate.


 * So anyways, that's it right there. I tried exploring around Portal-Natural on Earth to see if I could find some other random one's like the stuff explained above this, but didn't find any. But I definitely found this one, so they're out there, it's just probably going to be very difficult to stumble across them. --Jk_Caron 14:50, 9 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Very interesting. Maybe you should cartograph your save and check around for any other oddities/portals? Sounds like your world could be a good one to try it on. --Fishrock123 19:09, 9 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I have never been to the nether in 2 of my worlds, but there are definitely portals on the map. While clearing out space for a station using a map editor it cut 2 of them in half. It was surrounded by rock too... In the other world one generated right next to my door, but I've never been to the nether there either... Nickguletskii 02:56, 14 November 2010 (CST)

Same here, I created a new world, and near to the respawn point, behind various trees(seems like a forest) there was a portal. Someone can use a map editor in a never played map to confirm it. "Natural" portals really do exists.--Ddragoonss 12:46, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

One-way portal?
It seems whenever I make my very first portal, after going to the nether and back I end up at a different portal EVERY time! Making a second portal in the Nether will allow me to travel to and fro between that portal and it's partner, but I can never seem to get my first portal to take me back and forth. Anyone else have this problem? Kenji 03 13:00, 5 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah it's a bug that should be fixed now. 08:01, 5 November 2010 (CDT)

Proximity Testing
I did a bit of testing with portals and found some interesting things about the space between portals. First, so far, it appears that elevation changes in both worlds at the same time. Climbing down a mountain in the Nether will put you underground in the real world. This led to me setting up a portal to see if it would end up in a wall. It didn't. Conclusion: Portals need space in both worlds to be created, so you will never appear inside a wall or in a lake of lava.

Second, I set up a portal on the surface of the real world and went through it, walked one block, and set up another portal. When I went through the new portal, I ended up in the first portal I ever set up--about 30 blocks underground. When I went back to the surface to investigate, there was only one portal. Conclusion: Within a certain distance in either world, blocks traveled in one world will not correspond with blocks traveled in the other.

Hope this information helps. Pyroclasticman 20:41, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Problems with more than the 14 block frame
Because one of my portals opened up to a 50 block drop into the middle of a Nether Magmaflow, I decided to block up one side of the portal with more obsidian blocks. The portal continued to work fine until it was unactivated by a Ghast. Afterwards, I was unable to reignite the portal with my flint and steel. Removing the 6 blocks from the back of the portal frame allowed me to reignite the portal. Also -- my Nether is a place of explosion-pocked blocks and fire. I *hate* Ghasts. GazerOrion 23:08, 5 November 2010 (CDT)

New World
I built a portal, travelled to the Nether, built another portal about 50 blocks away and turned right angles. The second portal in the Nether sent me to a new, normal world. The old world was normal, the new world was snowy. I built towers to above the clouds in both worlds and I could not seen the other tower. In the new world, there was a mob spawner. The game was set on peaceful.Andrewn 03:39, 21 November 2010 (CST)
 * Odd... What does a map display tool like minutor show of your map/s? 04:45, 21 November 2010 (CST)
 * Peaceful mode doesnt hinder mob spawners from existing. They just wont spawn any hostile mobs (Actually they do but the mobs are removed immediately so you dont notice). As for the snowy: you landed in a tundra or taiga biome (Biomes DO work on savegames before the Halloween Update, you just have to travel to new chunks to see any). If your towers are 50 blocks away from each other in the nether, theyre 800 blocks away from each other in the overworld. Try making a structure at the spawn point (of your old world) if there isnt already, and find your way back to it from the "new" world with a compass. --BlueLegion 06:52, 21 November 2010 (CST)
 * "If your towers are 50 blocks away from each other in the nether, theyre 800 blocks away from each other in the overworld."

He will actually be 400 blocks away in the Overworld. Nether compression is 8x, not 16x as originally announced in the update.

Portal matching and coordinates
Some messing around with the F3 debug key has proven a simple mathematic relationship between portal locations -- and how to "fix" your portals so that they work two-way. Basically, a portal in the overworld at coordinates (Xo, Yo, Zo) will "prefer" to transport you to the Nether at (Xo/8, Yo, Zo/8) -- note that the Y coordinate (up/down) is not scaled. However, with the current implementation if these ideal coordinates are obstructed in some way then it will search around quite a distance and either link you to the closest existing portal or create a new one in the "wrong" place. (Note that since the coordinate system is compressed in the Nether, it is far more likely that it will locate a nearby existing portal when building portals to the Nether than for ones returning from the Nether.) Removing the obstruction and rebuilding the portal in the correct location will fix things. Also note that existing portals can be moved vertically (Y coordinate) any distance without affecting linking; you can quite happily use a portal at the very top of your Nether to link to bedrock in the overworld, or vice versa. Only the X/Z positions matter. Using these rules means that you can set up a very safe Nether transit system very easily -- unless you enjoy dodging the Ghasts all the time. --Miral 03:18, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
 * So, I've found out something kinda weird. I have 1 portal in the Nether, and if I'm standing on one side of it (or farther to one side) I port back to the expected portal in the real world. If I'm in the other direction (same portal in the nether) I get ported to a new portal in the real world. Anyone else experience this? --JonTheMon 04:54, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Your analysis of portal creation is slightly incorrect.

"However, with the current implementation if these ideal coordinates are obstructed in some way then it will search around quite a distance and  either link you to the closest existing portal or create a new one in  the "wrong" place"

It actually searches for an existing portal to link to before using the ideal coordinates. Then builds a different one if the ideal coordinates are blocked.

And Jon, that likely means that, on one side of the portal, it is finding the correct portal to link to within the search range and linking to it. But from the other side, that portal isn't in range, and needs to create a new one.