How to Create Portal Matches in Battlefield 6: Game Mode Guide

One of the coolest features in Battlefield 6 that doesn’t get nearly enough attention? Portal mode. This thing is basically a full-blown game editor that lets you create completely custom experiences—everything from simple bot matches for practice to wild party modes like infection, survival, or tower defense scenarios.

I’ll be honest: Portal can feel intimidating at first glance. There are menus within menus, a rule editor that looks like coding homework, and enough options to make your head spin. But once you understand the basics, you’ll realize it’s one of the most powerful creative tools ever included in a Battlefield game.

Whether you want to host a quick private match with friends, modify existing game modes with your own twist, or build something entirely from scratch, this guide will walk you through everything step-by-step.

Table of Contents

What Makes Portal Mode So Special?

Before we jump into the how-to, let’s talk about why Portal matters. Unlike traditional multiplayer where you’re stuck with DICE’s preset modes and rules, Portal gives you control over nearly every variable in the game.

Want a mode where everyone has PW5A3 SMGs only and infinite ammo? You can do that. Want to set up bot matches to practice your aim or farm XP? Absolutely possible. Want to recreate classic Battlefield moments from previous games? Portal includes maps and weapons from older titles specifically for that purpose.

The possibilities are genuinely massive, and the Battlefield 6 community has already created some incredibly creative experiences. Let’s get you started on making your own.

How to Host Portal Games in Battlefield 6

Hosting an existing Portal experience is the easiest way to get started. You don’t need to create anything from scratch—just pick something that already exists and fire up your own server.

Step-by-Step Hosting Process:

1. Navigate to Portal from the Main Menu

From the main menu, look at the bottom-left corner of your screen
Select Community (it’s right above Training Grounds)
This switches your UI over to the Portal section

2. Choose Your Browser You’ll see two options here:

Experience Browser: Shows curated game modes published by players and Battlefield Studios
Server Browser: Displays all currently active online Portal games

3. Select an Experience Browse through the available options and pick one that looks interesting. You can see details like player count, rules, and descriptions before committing.

4. Hit the Host Button Once you’ve selected an experience, click Host. A new screen appears where you can customize server settings:

Server name
Optional password (perfect for private lobbies with friends)
Player limits
Bot settings

Pro tip: Private servers with bots are fantastic for practicing weapon mastery or completing specific challenges without the chaos of live players. This is especially useful when you’re trying to unlock weapon camos or complete class challenges.

5. Launch Your Server Once you’ve configured everything, launch the server and invite your friends. If you set a password, make sure to share it with anyone you want to join.

Why Host Instead of Join?

Hosting gives you control. You can kick toxic players, adjust settings mid-match (in some cases), and ensure the server stays up as long as you want. Plus, if you’re playing with a squad who wants to practice specific strategies or complete campaign-style challenges in multiplayer settings, hosting is essential.

How to Create Custom Portal Game Modes in Battlefield 6

Here’s where things get interesting—and slightly more complex. Creating your own Portal experiences opens up unlimited creative possibilities, but you can’t do it directly in-game. Instead, you’ll need to use the official Battlefield Portal website.

Accessing the Portal Builder:

Open your browser and go to the official Battlefield Portal website
Log in with your account credentials (same ones you use for the game)
Click the Create New button to start building

Now you’ll face your first major choice: Custom or Verified rulesets.

Understanding Custom vs Verified Rulesets

This is crucial to understand because it affects everything from XP rewards to how complex your creation process will be.

Verified Rulesets (Easier Path)

What they are: Modified versions of official Battlefield 6 game modes like Conquest, Breakthrough, Rush, etc.

What you can change:

Player and bot counts
Map rotation
Weapon restrictions (great for creating specific loadout challenges)
Health values
Damage modifiers
Objective settings
And dozens of other variables

XP rewards: Full XP, just like regular multiplayer

Challenge progress: Yes, you can complete weapon masteries and class challenges

Best for: Players who want to tweak existing modes without learning scripting. Perfect for creating themed experiences like “sniper-only” or “hardcore mode with increased damage.”

Custom Rulesets (Advanced Path)

What they are: Fully custom game modes built from scratch using the Rule Editor

What you can do: Literally anything the game engine allows. Create infection modes, tower defense, custom objective flows, unique scoring systems—you name it.

XP rewards: Limited XP only (to prevent farming exploits)

Challenge progress: No weapon mastery or challenge progress

Best for: Experienced creators who want complete creative freedom and don’t mind learning some basic scripting logic.

Testing: You can test Custom modes immediately before they’re verified, but there’s a 3-hour wait time after publishing before they go live.

Creating Modified Verified Modes (The Simple Route)

Let’s start with the easier option. Say you want to create a modified version of Conquest with some custom rules.

Step-by-Step Verified Mode Creation:

1. Select Verified Ruleset From the Portal Builder homepage, choose Verified and pick your base game mode (Conquest, Breakthrough, Rush, etc.).

2. Configure Mode Settings This section covers objective-specific options:

Reinforcement/ticket counts
Match time limits
Score requirements
Objective capture speeds

3. Set Up Map Rotation Choose which maps your server will cycle through. You can pick one map for a focused experience or multiple maps for variety. The rotation order matters, so arrange them strategically.

4. Configure Teams Decide on:

Maximum players per team
Minimum players to start a match
Bot counts (bots fill empty slots automatically)
Bot difficulty levels

5. Adjust Modifiers This is where the real customization happens. The Modifiers tab has categories for:

Soldier modifiers: Health values, movement speed, sprint duration, combat roll cooldowns
Weapon modifiers: Damage output, recoil patterns, reload speeds, ammo counts
Vehicle modifiers: Check out our best vehicle loadouts for ideas on how these affect gameplay
Gameplay modifiers: Friendly fire, fall damage, spotting mechanics
Bot behavior: Aggression levels, skill ratings, allowed actions

6. Set Restrictions Control what’s allowed in your mode:

Weapon types (assault rifles, SMGs, sniper rifles, shotguns)
Specific weapons (ban overpowered guns or create themed loadouts)
Gadgets (restrict Deploy Beacons, Laser Designators, etc.)
Classes (force everyone to play Engineer for vehicle-focused modes)
Vehicles

Example Modified Mode Ideas:

Hardcore Conquest: Increased damage, no minimap, no HUD, friendly fire enabled
Close Quarters Chaos: SMGs and shotguns only, small maps, fast respawns
Sniper Duel: Bolt-action rifles only, one-shot kills, Liberation Peak only
Vehicle Warfare: Infantry weapons disabled, unlimited vehicle spawns

Creating Fully Custom Modes (The Advanced Route)

Ready to dive deep? Custom modes use Portal’s Rule Editor, which is essentially visual scripting. If you’ve never touched any kind of programming or logic building, this will have a learning curve—but it’s also incredibly rewarding.

Understanding the Rule Editor

The Rule Editor works on a simple logical framework:

Event Context → Condition → Action

Let me break that down:

Event Context: Something that happens in the game

Player gets a kill
Player captures an objective
Player enters a specific area
Timer reaches zero
Vehicle is destroyed

Condition: The requirements that must be met

Is the player on Team 1?
Does the player have more than 50 health?
Is it the final round?
Has the player scored 10 kills?

Action: What happens when the event and conditions are met

Heal the player to full health
Give the player ammo
Award bonus points
Spawn a vehicle
Change the player’s loadout

Example Custom Rule

Let’s say you want to create a mode where players get healed and resupplied whenever they get a kill (encouraging aggressive play).

Your rule would look like:

EVENT: OnPlayerKill
CONDITION: None (happens every time)
ACTION: 
  - Heal player (100 HP)
  - Refill current magazine
  - Refill reserve ammo

You build this by dragging and dropping blocks from the Blocks tab onto the workspace. Right-click any block and select Help to see what it does—this is your best friend when learning the system.

The Harsh Reality About Custom Modes

Here’s the truth: EA and DICE haven’t released comprehensive documentation for the Rule Editor. There’s no official tutorial series or detailed manual explaining every block and function.

That means learning Custom mode creation involves:

Trial and error: Build something, test it, see what breaks, fix it
Community resources: The Battlefield 6 subreddit and Portal-focused communities share tips and examples
Reverse engineering: Find existing Custom modes you like and try to understand how they work
SDK tools: For advanced stuff like custom spawn points and objectives, you’ll need the SDK tool (which is even more complex)

My honest advice: Start with Verified modes first. Get comfortable with all the modifiers and settings. Once you understand how the game mechanics work under the hood, the Rule Editor will make a lot more sense.

Publishing Your Portal Experience

Once you’ve built your masterpiece (whether Verified or Custom), you need to publish it before anyone can play.

Publishing Steps:

1. Navigate to the Publish Tab On the left side of the Portal Builder screen, click Publish.

2. Fill Out Experience Details Provide:

Mode Name: Make it catchy and descriptive
Description: Explain what makes your mode unique, what the rules are, and what players should expect
Representative Image: Choose a screenshot or image that captures the essence of your mode

3. Review Your Settings The next screen shows a complete summary of your Experience. Double-check everything because you can’t always change things after publishing without creating a new version.

4. Save and Submit

Click Save to preserve your work
Click Submit to Publishing to make it available

5. Wait Time

Verified modes: Available immediately
Custom modes: 3-hour review period before they go live

Finding Your Published Mode

Once published, you can access your mode in two ways:

Method 1: Direct Access

Go to the Experiences/Projects page on the Portal website
Find your published mode
Click the triple-dot icon
Select Share to get your unique Experience Code
In-game, go to Search Experiences and enter the code

Method 2: My Experiences

In Battlefield 6, go to Portal
Select My Experiences
All your published modes appear here
Click Host to start a server

Understanding XP and Progression Differences

This is super important for anyone grinding to hit max level or complete weapon challenges.

Verified Modes:

Full XP rewards just like standard multiplayer
Weapon Mastery progress counts
Class challenges work (Assault, Engineer, Support, Recon)
Specialist challenges count
Achievements and trophies can be earned
Pro Tokens can be earned

Custom Modes:

Limited XP only (usually 50% or less)
No weapon Mastery progress
No challenge completion
No achievement/trophy progress
Designed to prevent farming exploits

Bottom line: If you care about progression, stick to Verified modes. If you just want to have fun and experiment, Custom modes are perfect.

Troubleshooting: Game Quota Exceeded Error

You’ve built your perfect mode, hit publish, try to host, and boom: “Global Game Quota Exceeded” error. Frustrating, right?

What This Means

Simply put, there are too many active Portal servers running simultaneously. Battlefield 6’s infrastructure has limits on how many custom servers can be live at once to manage server load and resources.

Possible Solutions:

1. Play During Off-Peak Hours Try hosting early morning or late night when fewer players are online. Weekday mornings (in your region) typically have the lowest server counts.

2. Spam the Host Button Not elegant, but sometimes repeatedly clicking Host eventually catches a slot as other servers shut down. Be patient but persistent.

3. Use Local Hosting (Custom Modes Only) If you created a Custom ruleset mode, you can host it locally on your machine. This doesn’t count against the global quota but:

Only works for Custom modes, not Verified
Performance depends on your hardware
Players connecting to you use your bandwidth

4. Wait and Try Again Peak hours (evenings and weekends) will always have quota issues. Circle back later when server populations drop.

Unfortunately, there’s no guaranteed workaround. This is a server-side limitation DICE implemented to manage resources. The community has been vocal about wanting increased server limits, so hopefully this improves over time.

Creative Portal Ideas to Get You Started

Stuck on what to create? Here are some popular Portal concepts:

PvE Training Modes

Bot-only matches for practicing weapon loadouts
Aim training with stationary or predictable bots
Vehicle practice without getting destroyed by real players

Challenge-Specific Modes

Headshot challenges with increased damage on headshots only
No-gun challenge practice with melee and gadgets only
Explosive-focused modes for Danger Close challenges

Party Modes

Infection: One “infected” player must tag others to convert them
Gun Game: Cycle through all weapons in the weapons list
Prop Hunt: Attackers hunt defenders disguised as objects
Race Modes: Using vehicles only, create checkpoint races

Themed Historical Battles

Recreate famous battles using specific map settings
Era-specific weapons only (Portal includes weapons from BF3, BC2, 1942)
Faction vs faction with appropriate loadouts

Skill-Based Modes

No HUD hardcore mode
Deadeye challenges with one-shot kills
Knife and throwables only

Advanced Tips for Portal Creators

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, here are some pro tips:

Playtest Obsessively

Create your mode, host it privately, and actually play it. What sounds good on paper often plays terribly in practice. Iterate based on real gameplay, not theory.

Study Popular Experiences

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Play highly-rated Portal experiences and think about why they work. What balance choices did they make? How did they handle spawn points and pacing?

Balance Is Everything

The most common mistake new creators make is extreme settings. Everything doesn’t need to be “to the max.” Sometimes subtle tweaks create the best experiences.

Clear Communication

Your mode description should tell players exactly what to expect. Surprise mechanics are fun, but surprising players with rules they don’t understand leads to frustration and early quits.

Listen to Feedback

If multiple players mention the same issue, it’s probably real. Don’t get defensive—use community feedback to improve your modes.

Test Bot Behavior

Bot AI in Portal can be unpredictable with Custom modes. Test extensively to ensure they behave as intended. Sometimes you need to adjust difficulty or allowed actions to get the behavior you want.

Portal and Game Progression

A quick word about combining Portal play with your overall progression goals:

If you’re working on XP farming or weapon mastery, Verified Portal modes can actually be more efficient than standard multiplayer. You can create situations optimized for specific challenges without the randomness of public matches.

For example:

Create a Conquest mode with extended match times for maximum points
Set up bot-heavy matches where you can complete Bullet Storm challenges
Design vehicle-focused modes to practice vehicle loadouts
Use Field Specs in optimized scenarios

Just remember: Custom modes don’t count for progression, only Verified ones do.

Playing Across Platforms

Portal modes fully support crossplay between PC, PlayStation (grab it here), Xbox, and Steam. Make sure you know how to add friends across platforms so you can coordinate who joins your Portal servers.

Final Thoughts: Portal Is Worth Your Time

Portal mode is honestly one of the best additions to modern Battlefield. Yes, it has a learning curve. Yes, the Custom mode editor can be intimidating. But the creative freedom it offers is unmatched in the franchise’s history.

Start simple: Host some existing experiences to see what’s possible. Then try modifying a Verified mode—maybe create a sniper-only mode or hardcore Conquest with your ideal settings. Once you’re comfortable, maybe dip your toes into Custom mode creation.

The Portal community is constantly creating wild new experiences, and you can be part of that creative ecosystem. Whether you’re designing experiences for competitive play, casual fun, or practice scenarios for completing challenges, Portal gives you the tools to make it happen.

Jump into Battlefield 6 today, fire up Portal, and start creating. Who knows—your mode might become the next community favorite!

Want to optimize your Portal gameplay? Check out our best settings and optimization guide, learn about Open vs Closed weapon playlists, and explore all available game modes to understand what Portal can enhance.