RustyHeathensTargetPortal
Public portal destinations, Rusty Heathens animated travel with reverse energy ring and random branching lightning, configurable colors and observer refresh.Rusty Heathens Target Portal
Choose your destination. Travel like a Heathen.
Walk into a portal, choose a destination on the map, and click its marker to travel. Rusty Heathens Target Portal brings electric-blue effects and Rusty Heathens artwork to your portal network.
Features
- Public portals only: every portal is treated as public. Players cannot switch portals to private.
- Map destination selection: travel to another listed portal without matching portal names.
- Favourites: right-click a destination marker to add or remove a favourite.
- Configurable portal colors: one setting controls runes, animated portal energy, particles, trails and attached lighting. Electric blue is the default.
- Custom map marker: a bright electric-blue swirl with no steel ring.
- Always-on animated travel screen: the blue center vortex and outer energy ring rotate in opposite directions, with sparks, a gentle pulse and randomized branching lightning around the sides of the image. Individual strikes and loose clusters vary in position, length, angle and brightness, with a fresh sequence for each trip. The Rusty Heathens logo, stone pillars and title stay fixed; the game controls normal teleport fade and timing.
- Server portal list: includes destinations in unloaded areas.
- Configurable portal settings: naming, maximum portal count, item restrictions and other retained options.
The travel animation is always enabled, with no off switch. Normal world-loading, sleep and respawn screens are not replaced. Portal models are unchanged.
Installation
Requires BepInExPack Valheim. Install this mod on the server/host and every participating client. Use matching versions for normal distribution. Each client must update to 2.1.6 to receive the new travel animation; a server-only update cannot change older clients' visuals.
Mod manager
Install through your Valheim mod manager. To test a downloaded ZIP before publication, use the manager's local-mod import function, then launch modded.
Manual installation
Copy the plugins/RustyHeathensTargetPortal folder from this ZIP into your BepInEx/plugins folder. The result should contain:
BepInEx/plugins/RustyHeathensTargetPortal/RustyHeathensTargetPortal.dll
The artwork is embedded in the DLL; no separate image installation is needed.
Updating
Close Valheim and stop the server before replacing the old DLL. Keep only one installed copy. Restart the server and clients after updating.
Keep your existing config. Its filename remains:
BepInEx/config/com.rustylasergaming.targetportal.cfg
Old AllowPrivatePortals, DefaultPortalMode and ModeToggleShortcut entries are ignored. They cannot re-enable private portals. Existing private portal data is treated as public while this version is installed; the stored data is not bulk-erased.
Portal ghost observer refresh (2.1.1)
Targets the reported case where a traveler arrives but other players still see their body at the departure portal. The server samples player network positions every 0.25 seconds. A jump of at least 64 metres queues the existing player record for connected observers through the game's normal networking.
The refresh does not move players or alter ownership, inventory, saves or teleport timing. It requires the server to have received the new position and does not cover all forms of desync. Multiplayer effectiveness still needs verification on this release.
The observer refresh is retained in 2.1.6. Install this version on the server to use it; the network protocol remains unchanged. Keep your config. Remove duplicate portal DLLs so only one copy is active. Do not stack this with another equivalent portal-ghost relay during the test.
Look for [RHPortalSync] Server observer relay active at startup and Queued player position refresh after large jump when someone travels. Have one player watch the entrance while another travels, arrives and moves. A queue message does not by itself prove the observer applied the update.
Portal color
Launch once to create the new setting in your existing BepInEx/config/com.rustylasergaming.targetportal.cfg:
[Visuals]
RuneColor = #044DFF
Use a six-digit hex color: electric blue #044DFF, purple #8000FF, red #FF3030, green #00FF80, or white #FFFFFF. Close Valheim before editing and restart afterward. Invalid colors fall back to electric blue. Keep the rest of your existing config.
This is a client-side visual setting: each player changes their own config. Changing only the dedicated server config will not change players' colors. The existing RuneColor key now controls rune markings/emission and the in-world portal animation: energy effects, particles, trails and attached lights. The map marker and always-on loading-screen animation retain their blue artwork. No new setting or config reset is needed.
Validation status
Compiled and checked offline against supplied Valheim 1.0.20 assemblies. The server observer refresh added in 2.1.1 still requires a multiplayer test before public release. The color correction from 2.1.2 is retained. Version 2.1.6 passed offline animation math, color and compiled-binding checks, and a separate rendered preview was inspected. The preview is not an in-game recording; Unity rendering and live portal travel still need testing. Motion textures are generated once and cached, with no per-frame texture generation. Animation uses ordinary Unity UI and can briefly pause when loading blocks rendering. Teleport duration is unchanged.
Controls
- Walk into a portal: open the destination map by default.
- Click a destination marker: travel.
- Right-click a destination marker: toggle favourite.
- Rename: use the portal's hover instructions.
Compatibility
Disable other portal destination-selection mods before installing this one to avoid conflicts.
Normal ward/access checks and configured item restrictions remain in place. Public visibility does not remove wards.
If using ModGuard, approve plugin ID com.rustylasergaming.targetportal. Update any version/hash rule for 2.1.6. This mod does not add server-enforced configuration synchronization.
License
Includes MIT-licensed code. Required copyright and license notices are included in LICENSE.