Portalcraft plays Portal 2’s campaign as a Minecraft player. This guide follows 0.2.0 from Stink-O/portalcraft. The author calls it experimental and “still quite broken”, and Windows support is new. New to mods? Read Start here first.
1. What you need
- Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) or 64-bit Linux, with Steam. On Linux, use Steam’s normal package: Flatpak Steam can’t load the plugin yet.
- Portal 2 on Steam: the Windows version on Windows, the native Linux version on Linux (don’t force it through Proton).
- A Microsoft account that owns Minecraft: Java Edition. The launcher downloads Minecraft 26.3 and Java for you.
- About 3 GB of free disk space and a PC that can run two games at once.
2. Install
- Download
Portalcraft-0.2.0-Windows.ziporPortalcraft-0.2.0-Linux.zipfrom the latest release and unzip the whole folder somewhere you’ll keep it. Keep the launcher and thefilesfolder together. - Open the launcher. Windows: double-click
Portalcraft.exe. It isn’t code-signed, so SmartScreen may warn you: click More info, then Run anyway. Linux: runPortalcraft(chmod +x Portalcraftif it won’t start). - Press Set up Portalcraft. It finds Portal 2, installs the included Prism Launcher and sets up a profile with Fabric and the mod. Nothing is added to your Portal 2 install.
- Sign in to Minecraft in the Prism window that opens: account button > Manage Accounts > Add Microsoft, then type the code at microsoft.com/link.
- Wait while Prism downloads Minecraft and Java and the launcher unpacks Minecraft’s textures from your copy.
3. Play
Close Portal 2 first, then open the launcher.
- Continue picks up the last campaign level you played with Portalcraft.
- New game starts the campaign from the first level, optionally with a fresh Minecraft world.
- Start as picks who you are when a level loads: the Minecraft player or Chell.
The launcher starts a hidden Minecraft, then Portal 2 through Steam with the plugin, and says Ready when they’re linked. The first launch takes a few minutes while Minecraft makes your world.
4. Keys
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| J | Switch between the Minecraft player and Chell |
| G | Hold while Chell fires a portal: its partner opens onto the Minecraft world. As the Minecraft player, G also uses buttons and cubes |
| H | Hold half a second in Minecraft: back to the last chamber spot you stood on |
| E | Minecraft inventory |
| O | Minecraft’s pause menu |
| Mouse wheel, 1–9 | Hotbar |
| Left / right click | Mine and attack / place and use (right click also picks up cubes) |
| F5 | Third person |
| F8 | Mark a bug and save a replay |
| ` | Portal 2’s console |
Useful console commands: crosshair 1 brings back the portal reticle, pc_reset clears your portals, and pc_dig 0 turns wall digging off.
5. Known issues
- The Minecraft world shows smearing, swirling leaves and stretched edges on every build, mostly when you go through a portal into it.
- Windows has only been played on one PC.
- Not every campaign map has been played through as the Minecraft player.
- If Steam shows a pop-up that stops the game starting, click it away and press RETRY.
To report a bug, press F8 where it happened, then Send a bug report in the launcher and attach the zip to an issue.
6. Update and uninstall
Updates arrive through the launcher (“A Portalcraft update is ready”). Everything lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Portalcraft on Windows and ~/.local/share/portalcraft on Linux. Deleting that folder removes Portalcraft completely, including its world.