Getting a roblox custom portal system script to work properly is one of those things that looks way harder than it actually is once you break down the logic. Most people just slap a touch event on a part and call it a day, but if you want that polished, professional feel—where the player doesn't just "pop" into existence facing the wrong way—you need to dig a bit deeper into CFrame math and some basic player detection.
The cool thing about making your own portal system is that you aren't stuck with the generic, clunky teleporters you find in the toolbox. You can control exactly how the player transitions, what sounds play, and even add some fancy visual effects to make the whole experience feel seamless.
Setting up the portal parts in Studio
Before we even touch a script, we need a physical setup that makes sense. I usually go with a simple three-part setup for each portal. You've got your Frame (the decorative bit), the TeleportPart (the invisible brick the player actually touches), and the Destination (the spot where the player will end up).
It's a good idea to group these into a Model. Let's say you have "Portal_A" and "Portal_B." Inside Portal_A, you'll want a Part named "Entrance" and another invisible Part named "ExitNode." The ExitNode is crucial because it acts as the anchor for the player's new position. If you just teleport the player to the center of a part, they might get stuck inside it or fly off at a weird angle.
Pro tip: Make sure your ExitNode has its Front surface (the lookVector) pointing in the direction you want the player to face when they come out. There's nothing more annoying for a player than walking into a portal and immediately staring at a wall because the orientation was messed up.
Writing the core teleportation logic
Now for the fun part: the roblox custom portal system script. We're going to use a Touched event, but with a few safety checks. You don't want the portal firing a hundred times a second while a player is standing in it, and you definitely don't want it trying to teleport a random stray football or a physics prop that happens to roll into it.
Inside a Script (put this in ServerScriptService or inside the portal model itself), you'll want to define your variables. You need to reference the entrance part and the exit part of the destination portal. The logic basically goes: "Hey, did a human touch this? Cool, is their cooldown active? No? Okay, let's move their HumanoidRootPart to the destination's CFrame."
The HumanoidRootPart is the secret sauce here. It's the primary part of any Roblox character. If you move the RootPart, the rest of the body follows. If you try to move just the Head or the Torso, things get messy.
Handling the orientation headache
This is where a lot of beginner scripts fail. If you just set the position, the player keeps the rotation they had when they entered. If they walked in sideways, they'll come out sideways. To fix this, we use CFrame.
Instead of saying player.Position = destination.Position, we use HumanoidRootPart.CFrame = destination.CFrame. By using the CFrame of our ExitNode, the player instantly inherits the rotation of that node.
But wait, there's a catch. If your ExitNode is exactly at floor level, the player's HumanoidRootPart (which is in the middle of their body) will be teleported halfway into the ground. They'll get stuck, glitch out, and probably die. I usually add a small offset, like destination.CFrame * CFrame.new(0, 3, 0), just to drop them slightly above the floor. It feels much smoother.
Adding a debounce to prevent loops
If you have two portals linked to each other, you'll run into the "infinite loop" problem. A player enters Portal A, teleports to Portal B, and because they are now touching Portal B, they immediately get sent back to Portal A. It's a nightmare.
To solve this, we use a debounce—basically a fancy word for a cooldown. But we don't want a global cooldown, because that would stop other players from using the portal. Instead, you can add a temporary Tag to the player using the CollectionService or just a simple attribute on the character.
The script checks: "Does this player have the 'JustTeleported' tag?" If yes, ignore the touch. If no, teleport them and give them the tag for a second or two. This gives them enough time to walk away from the exit before the portal becomes active for them again.
Making it look and feel better
A raw teleport is jarring. It feels like a lag spike. To make your roblox custom portal system script feel high-end, you should consider some client-side visuals. When the Touched event fires on the server, you can use a RemoteEvent to tell that specific player's client to play a transition.
A simple UI fade-to-black is the easiest way to do this. When the player hits the portal, the screen fades out, the teleport happens, and the screen fades back in. It masks the "snap" of the camera and makes the whole world feel more stable.
You can also add some particle effects. A nice glow around the portal or a burst of energy when someone enters adds a lot of "juice" to the mechanic. Don't forget the sound effects! A low-frequency hum for the portal itself and a "whoosh" sound for the teleportation makes a massive difference in how players perceive the quality of your game.
Thinking about security and performance
I've seen some people handle portals entirely on the client side to make them feel "instant." While that's great for responsiveness, it's a security risk. If the client decides where they teleport, a script kiddie can just tell the portal to send them to the finish line of your obby or into the secret developer room.
Keep the actual teleportation logic on the Server. The server should be the final authority on where a player is. If you're worried about the slight delay, you can fire the visual effects on the client immediately when they touch the part, while the server handles the actual movement.
Performance-wise, make sure you aren't running complex loops inside your Touched functions. Keep it lean. Check for the Humanoid, check the debounce, and move the CFrame. That's it.
Advanced features: Smooth camera transitions
If you're feeling really ambitious, you can try to sync the player's camera angle so the transition is truly seamless. This involves calculating the relative angle the player entered the portal and applying that same relative angle to the exit.
It involves a bit more math—specifically looking at the object-space of the CFrame—but it allows for those cool effects where a player can look through a portal and see the other side perfectly. While that might be overkill for a simple "Teleport to Shop" script, it's a great way to make a puzzle game stand out.
Wrapping things up
Building a custom system like this is a great way to learn how Roblox handles spatial data. Once you've got the basic roblox custom portal system script working, you can expand it to do all sorts of things, like charging players in-game currency to use it, or only allowing certain teams through.
The most important thing is to test it thoroughly. Try jumping into it, sliding into it, and walking into it from the back. If you've handled your CFrames and debounces correctly, it should be rock solid. It might take a bit of tweaking to get the offsets just right so players don't trip when they exit, but once it's dialed in, it'll be a feature that really levels up the flow of your map.
Don't be afraid to experiment with the visuals, too. A portal doesn't have to be a glowing ring; it could be a magic door, a sci-fi elevator, or even a literal hole in the ground. The script stays the same; only the presentation changes!