Compatibility
Minecraft: Java Edition
Platforms
Supported environments
Links
Tags
Creators
Details
Gateway of Doom
Throw a Devil Eye, open a Gateway and survive whatever comes through it.
Gateway of Doom is a combat-focused mod built around wave encounters.
The basic idea is pretty simple: you throw a Devil Eye, it searches for a suitable place nearby and opens a floating Gateway. Once the Gateway is active, enemies start appearing in waves. Kill everything before the time runs out, deal with the boss if the profile has one, and collect the rewards at the end.
I originally wanted the mod to be something that works in normal survival without needing a lot of setup, but at the same time gives server owners and modpack creators enough options to build their own encounters around it. Because of that, most parts of the system can be changed directly in-game.
You can also let Gateways appear automatically while players explore or after a random amount of time, so you do not have to use Devil Eyes at all if that does not fit your modpack or server.
Main Features
- Wave-based combat encounters
- Animated floating Gateways
- Throwable Devil Eyes
- Automatic Gateway events
- Exploration-based encounters
- Random timer events
- Server-wide or per-player events
- Fixed or randomized waves
- Configurable bosses and guard mobs
- Custom mob health, damage and movement speed
- Custom weapons and armor for Gateway mobs
- Configurable rewards and experience
- Failure effects
- Chest loot integration
- Mob drop integration
- Custom Devil Eye profiles
- Different Portal and Eye designs
- RGB and HEX portal colors
- Different Gateway sound modes
- Five craftable Hell Wards
- Protected areas from 1 x 1 up to 5 x 5 chunks
- Player and server limits
- Command block support
- Server-side API
- Multiplayer support
- Persistent encounters
- In-game configuration menu
For normal configuration you do not have to edit config files manually.
Open the operator menu with:
/doom
How a Gateway Encounter Works
Throwing a Devil Eye
A Devil Eye works a little like an Eye of Ender.
After throwing it, the Eye flies forward and tries to find a suitable place for the Gateway. It checks the surrounding area before opening anything.
Among other things, the placement system checks for:
- Solid ground
- Enough open space
- Water
- Lava
- Dangerous floor blocks
- Walls and enclosed spaces
- Protected chunks
- Other active Gateways
If it cannot find a safe location, the Eye is returned to the player instead of simply being lost.
Opening the Gateway
Once a valid position has been found, the Devil Eye opens a floating Gateway a few blocks above the ground.
The appearance depends on the Eye profile being used. Profiles can have their own portal style, animation, particles, colors, Eye design and boss bar settings.
Fighting the Waves
Enemies spawn around the Gateway and fall down into the arena with a slow-falling effect.
During the encounter, the boss bar shows information such as:
- Current wave
- Remaining enemies
- Remaining time
- Boss health when a boss is active
All enemies in a wave have to be defeated before the timer runs out.
After a wave is finished, there is a configurable pause before the next one begins.
Gateway mobs are also kept around the arena. If they move too far away, the mod pulls them back instead of letting them wander across the world.
Boss Encounters
A Devil Eye profile can optionally have a final boss wave.
Bosses can be configured with:
- One or multiple bosses
- Custom size
- Additional health
- Additional damage
- Increased movement speed
- Separate time limits
- Guard mobs
- Additional supporting bosses
The boss does not have to be a normal hostile mob either. You can technically turn something like a pig or cow into a Gateway boss, and the mod will give it hostile behavior for the encounter.
Rewards
When the Gateway is completed successfully, the configured rewards drop from the portal.
Every reward can have its own:
- Minimum amount
- Maximum amount
- Drop chance
The profile can also give experience after completion.
Vanilla and modded items can both be used.
Failing an Encounter
If the timer reaches zero before the wave is completed, the Gateway fails.
Nearby players can then receive configurable status effects.
Each effect can have its own:
- Effect level
- Duration
- Combination with other effects
This can be used for things like Weakness, Slowness, Blindness, Hunger, Poison, Mining Fatigue or compatible effects from other mods.
Automatic Gateway Events
Gateways do not have to be opened by players manually.
The mod has an automation system that can create encounters while players are exploring or after a randomized timer.
Automatic events use the same normal Gateway systems, including:
- Eye profiles
- Placement checks
- Player limits
- Server limits
- Hell Ward protection
- Sounds
- Rewards
- Failure effects
- Cleanup
Automation rules are configured through the Automation section of:
/doom
Exploration Events
Exploration rules track chunks a player personally enters for the first time.
You can configure things like:
- Minimum exploration distance
- Maximum exploration distance
- Dimension
- Gateway spawn distance
- Eye profile
- Required number of online players
- Maximum active events
- Chat announcements
- Creative Mode participation
Pre-generated chunks still count as new exploration when the player enters them for the first time.
Exploration progress is saved and is not reset when the player logs out.
Teleporting and changing dimensions do not count as normal exploration movement.
Spectators are always ignored.
Random Timer Events
Timer rules choose a random amount of time between a configured minimum and maximum.
When the timer finishes, the mod attempts to create an encounter and then chooses a new random delay.
You can configure:
- Minimum time
- Maximum time
- Dimensions
- Eye profile
- Required player count
- Gateway spawn distance
- Maximum active events
- Chat announcements
- Creative Mode participation
Timers are stored with the world, so restarting the server does not reset them.
Server Events
A server event uses one shared trigger for everyone.
When the rule activates, the mod chooses a random eligible player and tries to open a Gateway somewhere nearby.
I mainly added this for things like survival servers where you want random global encounters without every player having their own separate timer.
Per-Player Events
Per-player rules work independently for each player.
Every player gets their own:
- Exploration progress
- Timer
- Cooldown
- Gateway limit
This is useful if Gateways are part of individual player progression.
Default Automatic Events
The default setup currently includes:
- Overworld: Easy Gateway after roughly 100-300 blocks of exploration
- Nether: Medium Gateway after a random 30-60 minute timer
- End: Hard Gateway after a random 30-60 minute timer
These are only defaults. Every rule can be changed, duplicated or disabled.
Devil Eyes
Gateway of Doom comes with three preconfigured Devil Eyes so you can use the mod immediately without building your own profiles first.
Each one has its own difficulty, dimension, Gateway appearance, waves, boss, rewards and failure settings.
| Devil Eye | Theme | Activation | Boss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy Devil Eye | Overworld Horde | Overworld | Oversized Pig |
| Medium Devil Eye | Nether Onslaught | Nether | Empowered Wither Skeleton |
| Hard Devil Eye | End Nightmare | End outer islands | Wither |
The default profiles are meant to be challenging while still being possible for solo players.
You can modify all of them or create your own profiles.
Finding Devil Eyes
Devil Eyes can be integrated into normal survival progression.
They can come from:
- Structure chests
- Mob drops
- Commands
- Quests
- Structures
- Scripts
- Other mods
- Custom integrations
Chest Loot
Individual Devil Eyes can be added to selected vanilla or modded loot tables.
The default profiles use examples such as:
Easy Devil Eye
- Dungeons
- Mineshafts
- Strongholds
Medium Devil Eye
- Bastions
- Nether Fortresses
Hard Devil Eye
- End City treasure
Each Eye profile can configure its own:
- Loot tables
- Chest drop chance
- Loot dimensions
- Selected chests
Chest loot is loaded together with the world. If you change chest loot settings, restart the server.
In singleplayer, leave and reload the world or restart the game.
Mob Drops
Specific mobs can also be configured to drop Devil Eyes.
Every mob gets its own drop chance.
Unlike chest loot changes, mob drop changes apply immediately.
This also works with compatible modded mobs.
Custom Eye Profiles
Most of the customization is done through:
/doom
The menu is split into the following main sections:
- General Settings
- Eye Profiles
- Automation
- Help & Integration
The menus include searchable lists for things like:
- Dimensions
- Mobs
- Items
- Status effects
- Loot tables
- Eye profiles
I tried to keep as much configuration as possible inside the game because editing large config files for every small change gets annoying pretty quickly.
Portal Appearance
Every Eye profile can have its own look.
You can configure:
- Portal animation
- Portal style
- Devil Eye design
- RGB color
- HEX color
- Particle color
- Boss bar color
The editor also has a preview for the Portal and Devil Eye, so you do not have to start an encounter every time you change a color.
Devil Eye Designs
Profiles can use different Eye designs independently.
Portal Eye
An animated Eye with a colored inner vortex. The inner color follows the color selected for the profile.
Classic Eye
The original Devil Eye design.
Wave Configuration
Profiles can use either Fixed Waves or Random Waves.
Fixed Waves
Fixed waves are for encounters where you want complete control over what happens.
For every wave you can configure:
- Exact mob types
- Amount of each mob
- Time limit
- Health bonus
- Damage bonus
- Movement speed bonus
I would use fixed waves for things like boss arenas, progression encounters, adventure maps or anything where the encounter should always behave the same way.
Random Waves
Random waves build the encounter from a weighted mob pool.
You can configure:
- Minimum number of waves
- Maximum number of waves
- Weighted mob pool
- Starting mob budget
- Budget increase per wave
- Minimum mob quantities
- Maximum mob quantities
- Wave time limits
- Attribute scaling
This makes repeated Gateways less predictable because the same Eye does not necessarily create the exact same encounter every time.
Mob Strength
Gateway mobs can receive additional:
- Health
- Attack damage
- Movement speed
These bonuses are applied after the mob has normally initialized.
This means mobs can still keep their usual:
- Base attributes
- Variants
- Equipment
- Enchantments
- AI
- Mod-specific behavior
This is especially important for modded mobs, because I did not want Gateway of Doom to replace all of their normal initialization just to change their health.
Boss Configuration
Every Eye profile can optionally have a final boss.
You can configure:
- Boss entity
- Number of bosses
- Boss size
- Health bonus
- Damage bonus
- Movement speed bonus
- Time limit
- Guard mobs
- Guard amount
- Guard size
- Guard attributes
- Additional bosses
During the boss fight, the normal wave bar is replaced by a dedicated boss health bar.
Mob Equipment
Gateway mobs normally keep the equipment Minecraft or the original mod gives them.
That includes:
- Weapons
- Armor
- Enchantments
- Variants
- Normal AI
- Modded equipment
Custom Gateway equipment is optional.
Custom Equipment Rules
Profiles can add extra equipment rules for individual mobs.
A rule contains:
- Mob
- Item
- Equipment slot
- Chance
Supported slots include:
- Main hand
- Off hand
- Helmet
- Chestplate
- Leggings
- Boots
Several items can be assigned to the same mob and slot.
For example, a Vindicator could have:
- 50% chance for an Iron Axe
- 25% chance for a Diamond Axe
- 25% chance to keep its normal equipment
The combined configured chance for one mob and equipment slot cannot go above 100%.
Compatible modded weapons and armor are supported as well.
Rewards
Every Eye profile has its own reward pool.
For every reward you can configure:
- Item
- Minimum amount
- Maximum amount
- Drop chance
Any compatible registered vanilla or modded item can be used.
Profiles can also give experience after the encounter.
This makes it possible to use Gateways for normal survival loot, rare crafting materials, quests, server currencies or modpack progression.
Dimensions
Loot dimensions and activation dimensions are configured separately.
For example, you can make an Eye appear in Overworld structures but only allow players to activate it in the Nether.
An Eye can also:
- Be found in several dimensions
- Only activate in one dimension
- Use custom modded dimensions
Hell Wards
Automatic Gateways are useful, but I also wanted players and server owners to have a way to keep important areas safe.
That is what Hell Wards are for.
A Hell Ward protects complete chunks from Gateway spawns.
They can be useful around:
- Player bases
- Villages
- Towns
- Server spawn
- Farms
- Shops
- Quest hubs
- Important structures
Hell Ward protection applies to Gateways created through:
- Thrown Devil Eyes
- Exploration events
- Timer events
- Commands
- Command blocks
- API requests
- Quests
- Structures
- Scripts
- Mod integrations
Hell Ward Sizes
There are five craftable versions.
| Hell Ward | Protected Area | Chunks |
|---|---|---|
| Hell Ward I | 1 x 1 | 1 |
| Hell Ward II | 2 x 2 | 4 |
| Hell Ward III | 3 x 3 | 9 |
| Hell Ward IV | 4 x 4 | 16 |
| Hell Ward V | 5 x 5 | 25 |
All Hell Wards can be crafted in survival.
Recipes are available through the normal Minecraft recipe book and compatible recipe viewers such as JEI, REI and EMI.
Using a Hell Ward
- Craft the size you need.
- Place it near the area you want to protect.
- Right-click the placed Hell Ward.
- Check the protected chunks on the built-in map.
- Move the Ward if necessary.
Several Hell Wards can also be combined if the area is larger or has an unusual shape.
Hell Wards protect chunks, not a circular block radius.
Protection Map
Right-clicking a Hell Ward opens a small terrain map.
It shows:
- Protected chunks
- Hell Ward position
- North, South, East and West
- Surrounding terrain
- Chunk coordinates under the cursor
The map only uses limited cached terrain information and does not start loading additional chunks just to display the map.
Ownership
The player who places a Hell Ward becomes its owner.
Only the owner or an operator can break it.
The item is returned when it is removed normally.
Other players cannot simply destroy somebody else's Ward, and explosions or pistons cannot be used to bypass it.
Overlapping Wards
Hell Wards can overlap.
If one Ward is removed, chunks that are still covered by another Ward remain protected.
Inactive Players
Hell Wards belonging to players who have been offline for 30 days are automatically cleaned up.
The cleanup does not force-load unloaded chunks.
Gateway Sounds
There are three sound modes.
Infernal Echoes
The custom Gateway sound set includes:
- Portal explosion
- Portal opening
- Random boss summoning voice lines
- Boss defeat sound
- Portal closing
Vanilla Minecraft Sounds
Uses Minecraft sounds instead of the custom Gateway sounds.
No Gateway Sounds
Turns Gateway-specific sounds off completely.
Gateway sounds are position-based, so only nearby players hear them.
Player and Server Limits
Server owners can limit how many player-owned Gateways one player may have active at the same time.
The default limit is 1.
The configurable range is 1-4.
The limit applies to:
- Thrown Devil Eyes
- Automatic events
- Commands assigned to a player
- Player-owned API requests
Players who already reached their limit are skipped when an automatic event looks for a target.
Ownerless Gateways created by quests, structures, scripts, command blocks or integrations do not use a player's personal Gateway slot.
There are also additional checks for global, dimensional and automation limits to prevent uncontrolled Gateway spawning.
General Settings
Some of the global options include:
- Portal opening speed
- Delay between waves
- Mob leash radius
- Player Gateway limits
- Gateway sound mode
- Automatic event behavior
- Spawn distance
- Night-only activation
- Normal mob loot
- Chat announcements
- Creative Mode participation
- Cleanup behavior
Night-Only Activation
Gateway activation can optionally be limited to nighttime in dimensions that use the normal Minecraft day and night cycle.
Normal Mob Loot
Normal drops from Gateway mobs are disabled by default.
This keeps the configured Gateway reward pool as the main reward for finishing an encounter.
Server owners can enable normal mob drops if they prefer.
Public Server-Side API
Gateway of Doom includes a server-side API for other mods and integrations.
It can be used to:
- Open a Gateway near a position
- Request an exact position
- Select an Eye profile
- Assign a player owner
- Create ownerless Gateways
- Assign a source ID
- List active Gateways
- Inspect Gateways
- Find Gateways by owner
- Find Gateways by source
- Close individual Gateways
- Close all Gateways from a source
- Listen for Gateway opened events
- Listen for completion events
- Listen for failure events
- Listen for close events
API requests still go through the normal protection and safety checks.
That includes Hell Wards, safe placement, dimensions, player limits and server limits.
The API is mainly there for things like:
- Quest mods
- Adventure maps
- Custom structures
- Boss rooms
- Scripts
- Command blocks
- Modpack progression
- Story events
- Other mods
- Custom dungeons
Commands
Open the main menu with:
/doom
or:
/doom menu
Some administrative commands include:
/doom eye give <name|id> [amount]
/doom reload
/doom reset
/doom cleanup
/doom cleanup mobs
There are also commands for opening, listing, inspecting and closing Gateways.
Command blocks can create encounters directly without requiring somebody to throw a Devil Eye.
More examples can be found inside the Help & Integration section of the operator menu.
Administrative commands and configuration screens require operator permissions.
Gateway Placement
Every method of opening a Gateway uses the same placement system.
This includes:
- Devil Eyes
- Automatic events
- Commands
- Command blocks
- API calls
- Mod integrations
The system checks for things such as:
- Solid ground
- Open space
- Liquids
- Dangerous blocks
- Protected chunks
- Existing Gateways
- Dimension restrictions
- Player limits
- Server limits
If a thrown Devil Eye cannot find a valid location, it is returned to the player.
Persistent Encounters
Active Gateway encounters are saved with the world.
They retain things like:
- Current wave
- Remaining mobs
- Owner
- Source ID
- Eye profile snapshot
- Runtime state
- Forced chunks
When an encounter starts, the mod stores a snapshot of the Eye profile used for it.
This means you can edit the original profile later without breaking a Gateway that is already running.
Automatic Cleanup
The mod also keeps track of Gateway entities and mobs so abandoned encounters do not stay around forever.
The cleanup system handles things such as:
- Abandoned Gateways
- Stray wave mobs
- Portal entities
- Runtime state
- Thrown Devil Eyes
- Failed opening attempts
Thrown Eyes are also refunded when an opening attempt fails.
Multiplayer
Gateway of Doom was built with multiplayer servers in mind.
Among other things:
- Nearby players share the encounter boss bar
- Players entering the arena are added automatically
- Players leaving the area are removed
- Gateway ownership is tracked
- Automatic events respect player limits
- Spectators are ignored
- Creative Mode behavior can be configured
- Active encounters survive server restarts
It also works normally in singleplayer.
Server Performance
The exploration and protection systems have limits and cleanup systems in place so they can also be used on larger servers.
The mod supports up to:
- 8,192 tracked exploration profiles
- 8,192 Hell Wards per dimension
Exploration data uses limited history and compact counters instead of keeping an unlimited list of every chunk a player has ever entered.
Inactive data is cleaned up automatically.
State data is also saved safely during normal operation and shutdown.
Configuration Safety
The configuration system includes validation and recovery for things such as:
- Invalid values
- Invalid identifiers
- Oversized lists
- Invalid percentage pools
- Profile limits
- Wave limits
- Mob limits
- Reward limits
- Automation limits
Configuration writes use backups and safe file replacement.
Existing custom profiles are kept during normal updates and configuration migrations.
Diagnostic Test Mode
There is also an optional diagnostic mode for operators and developers.
It can test different parts of the mod, including:
- Configuration loading and saving
- Migrations
- Resources
- Recipes
- Translations
- Sounds
- Eye profiles
- Portal styles
- Attributes
- Waves
- Bosses
- Equipment
- Loot
- Failure effects
- Automatic events
- Limits
- API behavior
- Cleanup
Diagnostic tests use temporary Gateways and do not give permanent rewards or progression.
A JSON report is written to the server diagnostics folder.
The commands require permission level 4 and are disabled by default.
/gateway test
/gateway test stop
Languages
Gateway of Doom currently includes translations for:
- English
- German
- Spanish
- French
- Polish
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Russian
- Simplified Chinese
Add-ons
The following add-ons are available for Gateway of Doom:
- Gateway of Doom X Xaero's World Map
- Gateway of Doom X Xaero's Minimap
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I open a Gateway?
Find a Devil Eye and throw it into a suitable open area.
Gateways can also be created through automatic events, commands, quests, structures, scripts or other integrations.
How do I configure the mod?
Use:
/doom
Most settings can be changed directly through the in-game menu.
How do I protect my base?
Craft a Hell Ward, place it near the area you want to protect and right-click it to see exactly which chunks are protected.
Where can I see the Hell Ward recipes?
Use the normal Minecraft recipe book or a compatible recipe viewer such as JEI, REI or EMI.
Can Hell Wards overlap?
Yes.
Can another player destroy my Hell Ward?
Only the owner or an operator can normally break and recover it.
Do Hell Wards also stop automatic Gateways?
Yes. The protection also applies to automatic events, commands, command blocks, API requests and integrations.
Can I use modded mobs?
Yes, as long as the mob works with the normal Minecraft entity systems used by Gateway of Doom.
Can I use modded items as rewards?
Yes. Compatible registered items can be added to reward pools.
Can I make my own Devil Eyes?
Yes.
You can create custom profiles with their own waves, mobs, bosses, rewards, failure effects, dimensions, colors, equipment and drop sources.
Does it support multiplayer?
Yes. The mod was designed to work on multiplayer servers as well as in singleplayer.
Do I have to restart after changing settings?
Most settings apply immediately.
Chest loot integration is loaded with the world, so changes to chest loot require a world or server reload.
Credits
Made by MrStilu2k6.
Gateway of Doom was inspired by Gateways to Eternity, but developed around its own Gateway, automation, protection and configuration systems.
If you find a bug or have an idea for the mod, feel free to leave a comment or open an issue. I do read suggestions, and quite a few features have already come from player and modpack feedback.
If you enjoy the mod and want to support further development:
Throw the Eye. Face the Doom. Take the spoils.