i am new to unearth and i am not sure how to get the portals to work. they are 3x3 (normal size) , they are not claimed, i have big enough rooms to get them to work and the creature limit isn't full. i haven't done anything else (that i know of) to stop them from working. please help. I also play dungeon keeper gold if that helps. Thank you.

Hmm,  you say "dungeon keeper gold" does that mean you don't have keeperfx? It's not clear from your post.

Either way, portals won't generate any creatures without a script. (Map settings -> 'Edit script', or use the script generator)

But I believe a common issue is how the CREATURE_AVAILABLE function's arguments are different in keeperfx. Read the documentation here: https://github.com/dkfans/keeperfx/wiki/Level-Script-commands#creature_available
Be careful copy pasting from old map scripts, since if they don't have LEVEL_VERSION(1) at the top then stuff functions differently.

For now, keep it simple and see if the script generator works with default settings.

 i dont have keeperfx but it does seem to work in dungeon keeper gold (no idea of the difference of gold or not) i am going to try that and if that doesn't work then i'll get keeperfx. Thank you so much for you help. 

Edit: it works, i thank you again you've been so helpful.