Battlefield Portal: Everything You Need To Know

Battlefield 2042 is EA’s current big game in the franchise with new modes and a bunch of new content, and one of those new modes is Portal. With Portal, Battlefield players will get to change the rules of war. Literally. Thanks to some interesting features of the new mode. Portal is also a sort of homage to past Battlefield games. As it mixes elements from Battlefield 2042 with some of the older games in the franchise.

Since Portal is an all-new offering (mostly) from EA, there’s a lot to know about what the mode is like and what it actually is. Thankfully, this guide will break down everything there is to know about the mode so you’re prepared for it when you hop into Battlefield 2042 next.

There is already lots of content to dive into with Battlefield 2042. But if you want something more unique and you enjoy player-created content, then the Portal mode is definitely something worth checking out. Think of it kinda like Halo’s Forge mode.

What is Battlefield Portal?

Battlefield Portal is an all-new mode that has come to the franchise with Battlefield 2042. Unlike the other modes in the game, Portal lets players create their experience for the match in just about every way. From maps to arsenal to victory conditions. Players have nearly complete control over every aspect.

With that much control in the player’s hands, it should lead to some very interesting gameplay experiences. And it’s all the better because players can share those experiences with other players. This is Battlefield Portal at its most broad. But there really is a lot more to it than this. So let’s break it down even further.

What are the types of things players control?

Battlefield Portal lets players control almost everything. As noted above, you can choose the maps, the arsenal that players have to use, and even the victory conditions for winning. In addition to that players can set up and tweak a ton of other match elements.

Players can choose the factions, the character mobility, visibility, and even the scale of the match by adjusting how many players are on each team. Most of these things are controlled in the settings for Portal. Except for the victory conditions, which is part of the Logic Editor feature.

These aren’t all of the things that players will be able to adjust either. There will be more things to change in the settings.

All settings that players can adjust

The Portal editor gives players a wide array of things to tweak before creating the experience. The cool thing is that the experiences you create with Portal can be done from the browser on your PC or phone. You don’t have to be in the game to access this stuff. This means if you’re away from home and all you have is your phone on you, you can login to the Battlefield 2042 website and create a Portal experience on the go. This is incredibly cool and extremely convenient.

Think of it like this. Maybe you want to play Battlefield 2042 with your friends but you’re currently at work. You all decide to check out Portal later in the evening, but no one other than you has time to set something up. You also don’t want to play someone else’s experience. So you hop into the editor from your phone’s browser and create something on your lunch break. If that’s not an excellent tool to have then I don’t know what is. Limiting the Portal editor to in-game would have been a massive mistake and EA made the right call here. Everything that can be edited or adjusted can be found below.

Factions:

Players can choose specialists from four different Battlefield eras. Including Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 2042.

Arsenal:

Players can choose the weapons and other gear that is usable for the experience. You can restrict specific weapon types, vehicles, gear, specialists, and more.

Mobility:

This setting lets you restrict things like whether or not players can go prone. You can also disable sprinting, health regen, and aiming down sights among other things.

Visibility:

You can disable the Heads Up Display on the mini-map. You can also disable the mini-map itself, as well as the crosshairs, ping behavior, soldier weapon modifications, and even ally identification.

Scale:

With the scale option, you can set the maximum number of players per team. How many players you can set the experience to depends on which mode you choose for your creation. If you select a game mode like Rush for example, you can set it all the way up to a total of 128 players. You can even adjust how many there are per team. If you want to make things challenging, you could give one team more players than the other. Or you can keep things equal and have 64 each. The choice is yours.

Other adjustments:

There are a lot of other tweaks that can be made that can really make each experience unique. Including friendly fire, global damage multipliers, aim assist, infinite weapon magazines, and even things like vehicle spawn delay multipliers. You can also set whether or not the AI players are PvE or PvP, which will determine how aggressive they are. There are a bunch of different restrictions too. Such as which vehicles can spawn in, which attachments can be added to weapons, and which characters are playable for your chosen factions.

There are so many settings that it might feel a little overwhelming at first. But it’s best to just think about the Portal editor as something to spend a little time with. If you take your time and go through each setting that the editor lets you adjust, it’s easy to understand. And taking your time will likely result in a better overall Portal experience for you and your friends.

What are the Battlefield Portal limitations?

EA has put some limitations on the Portal editor, so you don’t have free reign over every little aspect of a game experience. Initially, this included a battle royale type of experience being cut off from players. But it’s now possible to set the Portal mode to a game type like Rush which can have up to 128 players. So you aren’t limited to just smaller match types like Team Deathmatch. However, there are still some limitations worth knowing about.

You can’t edit the maps

It also isn’t possible to edit the maps. So while you can adjust the amount of players on the map up to a certain amount, the map itself cannot be edited in any way. You can however edit which maps you add to your experience and which rotation they pop up in.

You can’t edit assets like player and vehicle models

There’s no way to edit assets like the specialists or vehicle models. So that means no hyper-custom helicopters or super-unique uniforms for the specialists. Everything will have to stay as-is. That being said, you can edit which vehicles will spawn in (if any), and which characters you will allow players to select from.

What are the factions in Battlefield Portal?

Battlefield Portal will have four different factions included. And when creating a match type players can choose from any of the four to set for either team. So you can have one team playing as one faction and the other team playing as totally different faction.

The included factions will be specialists from Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 2042. EA showcases an example of this in its reveal for Portal. Where it has 32 operators from Battlefield 1942 face off against four advanced operators from Battlefield 2042.

More gameplay experiences like this one can be created by players.

There will be preset modes included

While the bulk of the new Portal mode is about player-created activities, there are also preset modes that are included. Players are able to engage with these modes or create their own unique experiences. Or they can choose to play them as they are with no changes.

Players can share their creations with other players in Battlefield Portal

Don’t keep all that fun and excitement for yourself. If you create something that you think other players might enjoy, share it with them.

EA has made it possible to share all of your player-created experiences with other players. After you’ve created a gameplay mode inside of Portal, you can grab a shareable link that you can give to others. With this link, players can either play the experience as it was intended by the creator, or they can edit it with their own take if the creator allows edits.

Will player-created community experiences always be available?

No. EA says that community experiences will remain online while the experience has players active. This means that once the experience no longer has active players in it, it will come offline. However, it is also possible for players to follow the creator of a community experience so they can stay up to date on when that creator is starting up another match. You’ll want to utilize this if you like a particular experience. On the same token, your created experiences will not be available to other players when you are not active.

EA will feature the most popular experiences

EA will be sitting back and taking notice of the most popular experiences that are created. It then features those experiences in curated playlists to make them easier to find for all players. So if you want your experience to shine, try to create something unique and exciting that continues to keep players engaged.

Experiences in Battlefield Portal can include AI

It’s possible to add AI players to be used as backfill, just in case there aren’t enough players engaging with a particular experience. You can also disable this feature if you want all live players.

But, having the AI in place can ensure that teams fill out with the proper number of players that was intended. So consider using it if there aren’t enough players joining the experience initially. Or, turn it on from the beginning.

Creators will have admin tools at their disposal

The internet is full of trolls and there are plenty of people you may sometimes want to avoid in your gaming experiences. Thankfully you have some controls in this regard too, because community experience creators have basic admin tools. As an example, you’ll be able to ban certain usernames across any of your experiences. That way if you have a particularly troublesome player that has joined in one or more of them, you can ensure they no longer get to play any of your experiences in the future.

What is Battlefield Portal’s Logic Editor?

In short, the Logic Editor is a tool within Battlefield Portal that gives you additional control over your experience creations. EA says that this was intended for people with prior knowledge of visual scripting logic. But anyone can use the Logic Editor.

In a more detailed description, the Logic Editor is your way of really finetuning your experiences. While the Portal mode settings will let you change things like maps and loadouts, the Logic Editor will let you define things on a much more granular level.

For instance, you can use the Logic Editor to set the conditions for victory. Like potentially getting a certain number of kills in a specific amount of time. You could also use this tool to set punishments for death or rewards for getting kills. You can even set whether a certain rule you’ve added is global, team-based, or player-based.

In the image above you can see what the Logic Editor looks like within the game. There are a lot of other variables you can change here too just like with the regular editor. Including setting the max health multiplier for vehicles, and events that trigger once a player goes down. There’s quite a lot to it so it might be something you’ll want to play around with.

Progression in Portal is synced with the rest of the game

The progression of your account will be synced across the game. So if you play a lot in Portal but not so much in the other modes, that progression will count towards the rest of the game too.

This should allow players to play their favorite modes without having to devote a significant chunk of time to a mode they don’t enjoy.

What classic maps, weapons, and vehicles are available?

Portal includes these classic maps:

– Battle of The Bulge – Battlefield 1942

– El Alamein – Battlefield 1942

– Arica Harbor – Battlefield Bad Company 2

– Valparaiso – Battlefield Bad Company 2

– Caspian Border – Battlefield 3

– Noshahr Canals – Battlefield 3

Outside of the classic maps, Portal also includes all of the new maps from Battlefield 2042, even the latest ones from current seasons. Players will also notice the return of era-specific weapons and vehicles. Like the M1 Garand, the M416, the Spitfire, and the B17 Bomber.

How many weapons, vehicles, and Gadgets will there be?

A lot. To say the least. There are over 40 weapons, over 40 vehicles, and over 30 gadgets. Some of the weapons that are available in Portal, as well as Battlefield 2042 in general include the ones mentioned above, as well as the Panzerschreck and the G3.

As for vehicles, you’ll get to fly around in vehicles like the Spitfire or B17 Bomber, or choose vehicles like the new Quad Bike or Little Bird. When it comes to the gadgets, a few examples include the MAV and Radio Beacon, as well as the Defibrillator and EOD Bot.

Battlefield Portal is part of Battlefield 2042’s live service updates

Battlefield Portal is part of Battlefield 2042 as a whole. It’s also part of the live service updates that are pushed out by EA. This means when the overall game gets new features, new maps, new vehicles, new weapons, specialists, and more, all of that will be available to include in community-created experiences within Battlefield Portal.

This will keep the mode fresh and provide what is likely to be an ever-growing collection of experiences to play. Especially given the amount of things you can adjust, and the fact that you can share those experiences with others who can also add their own edits.

EA doesn’t mention how frequent the live service updates will be made, but then again that’s to be expected. That being said, expect updates to Portal whenever a new season goes live.