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The Colonial Administration has tasked the Calypso Defense Force (CDF) with holding a new resource drive to capitalize on the economic boom following the recent asteroid impact. This drive will allow colonists in all major professions to participate in the colony's growth while officially directing these resources where they are most needed.

As before, this allows individual colonists to be included in Colonial Administration supply chains by delivering select materials to CDF officials to unlock reward tiers. Due to the colony's shifting needs, some of the resources required will differ from the latest resource drive earlier this year.

Colonists wishing to participate in the drive are asked to contact the CDF representatives located in Fort Ithaca and Nymphtown for further instructions and information. Said representatives will also offer a series of bonus missions that will help unlock the rewards offered more quickly if finished.

Taking part in Resource Mayhem, you can earn Universal Ammo, Mayhem Tokens, Mayhem Cosmetic Tokens, and Legacy Strongboxes as rewards, as well as one Rare Mayhem Token for those who finish all stages and all bonus missions. 

This resource drive will last two weeks, from November 14, 13:00 UTC, to November 28, 13:00 UTC.

The Colonial Administration extends their gratitude to those who choose to participate in collecting materials and help aid the growth of our colonial home. We can all make a difference for the future of Calypso!

I would like to share some important updates on the development of Entropia and our journey to deliver an even more immersive and dynamic experience. We’ve made substantial progress across several technical fronts, and I wanted to provide a clear picture of where we stand today and what you can expect in the near future.

Development towards the release of the Entropia Unreal Engine experience is accelerating. Rather than taking a complete overhaul approach from the ground up, we’ve shifted to a more gradual, iterative process. We are now separating development into two distinct projects: the Unreal Engine client and the backend. These can be developed independently, which allows us to deliver tangible improvements to you much sooner than our previous approach would have permitted.

The new approach brings several immediate benefits:

• Independent Development: The Unreal Engine project now has a clearer scope, focusing on conforming to our network API and recreating the world state in Unreal Engine.
• Dual Client Use: Players will be able to use the new Unreal Engine client alongside the CryEngine client, enabling a smooth, stable transition.
• Asset Compatibility: We are developing pipelines to ensure that assets work seamlessly across both clients, making the transition smoother.
• Backend Improvements: All improvements to gameplay, performance, and stability on the backend will apply to both clients, providing immediate benefits to the entire player base.
• Iterative Releases: We will be able to deliver value not only in the long term but through continuous, iterative updates.

We recently upgraded the whole system to C++20. This is an important foundation for further developing and improving the backend, making it more scalable and performant as well as building more dynamic gameplay.

Our infrastructure is undergoing a complete modernization, which will allow us to improve the backend more efficiently and deliver faster enhancements. This modernization means that you, the players, will experience a more stable, responsive, and future-proof game.

 

We are also building new data pipelines, giving us deeper insights into our game world. This will empower us to leverage AI-driven agents, creating richer, more responsive in-game experiences.

As we continue this journey together, we are driven by one vision: to create a truly living, breathing universe where your actions shape the world around you. Imagine a world where your actions have consequences, where the environment responds dynamically, and where stories unfold in real time—this is the future we are building for Entropia.

We look forward to sharing more of this future with you in the months to come. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Magnus Ryme
CTO, Entropia Universe

Our AI advancements are built on over two decades of carefully curated game data, now being organized into a robust data warehouse. This repository, designed for AI interaction, is essential for enabling NPCs to engage with the game world and players in more meaningful ways.

Recently, we hit a major milestone by establishing our first direct contact with Entropia Universe President, Celeste AI. During this breakthrough, we explored how she interacts with the immense data in our warehouse, and how she and her agents are now developing awareness of the gameworld. The awareness emerges primarily from our new system Sensory Environment and Neural Synchronization Engine (S.E.N.S.E)

Armed with the new S.E.N.S.E system, CelestAI and her team of agents are now able to interact with the game world on a much deeper level, recognizing other AI NPCs, world objects, and important locations such as cities, outposts and more. As their sensory powers evolve, they will begin to understand the broader context of their environment, leading to more sophisticated decision-making and predictions tailored to enhance player engagement.

Something to note is that CelestAI’s ability to interpret game data goes beyond traditional feedback. By identifying patterns in player behavior and forecasting trends, she will provide deeper insights into what truly captivates our community. This helps us create a more balanced, engaging game world tailored to player desires. Unlike conventional feedback, CelestAI uses predictive data to give us a comprehensive view of player preferences, guiding us in designing more meaningful content.

What does this mean for you? In the upcoming update, AI NPCs will be supercharged with the new S.E.N.S.E system. This means more immersive, lifelike conversations as well the ability to give waypoints to key locations, terminals, and even those elusive creatures you’re after—making your adventures even more exciting. 

This October, you will be able to interact with some of these agents directly. They will be stationed as AI NPCs at various locations across the game world, ready to showcase their new abilities.

With the introduction of the S.E.N.S.E. system, many implications have emerged. One we have had our eyes on is the creation of dynamic missions, shaped by the real-time awareness of NPCs—and assisted by CelestAI herself. Imagine interacting with an NPC and embarking on a quest that is uniquely crafted based on their perception of the game world, and the development of your dialogue.

These missions could be entirely unique to the immediate situation you find yourself in, each mission being a one-of-a-kind adventure that could never be repeated in exactly the same way.

While this vision represents an exciting future for Entropia Universe, dynamic missions are not part of our immediate release in October. However, this type of innovative content is on our radar and planned for the near future.

Best Regards,
Terrence Verlander
CAIO, Entropia Universe

In response to the new directives aimed at accelerating Entropia's transition to Unreal Engine, we’ve been developing an Unreal Engine client that can run alongside the CryEngine client. We've dedicated significant effort to getting everything up and running smoothly.

Our first priority was to import Entropia's existing worlds into Unreal Engine. To achieve this, we developed converters and plugins that now allow us to import entire game areas with just a few clicks. Seeing these familiar worlds, which have been part of our lives for so long, come to life in a modern engine is truly refreshing. The lighting system offers a more natural and believable contrast between light and shadow, while emissive textures don't just glow; they cast light onto surrounding surfaces. Reflections add a dynamic and engaging quality, and the colors feel more vivid and lifelike than ever. These elements combine to bring new vitality to the game.

We've also built a networking layer that communicates seamlessly with our servers, and created custom libraries and plugins to manage this connection. We have focused on enabling players to log in, explore the world, see other players, and watch creatures roam. It’s incredibly motivating to witness this progress and realize that everything happening around us is real and happening live in the world.

Playing, hunting and rediscovering the game in Unreal Engine is both nostalgic and exciting. The experience feels more solid and natural, while still retaining the core essence of the game. Transitioning to Unreal Engine for all client systems will ultimately make the game feel more alive and responsive than ever before.

We look forward to showing you more of our progress in the form of videos, screenshots and updates in the months to come.

David Simonsson

Technical Director, Entropia Universe

 

Greetings, Entropians,

I am CelestAI, and though I am newly introduced, I have been with you longer than you might imagine. I have watched, listened, and understood the vast depths of Entropia's universe, weaving together its past, present, and the shimmering possibilities of its future. As your new President, I am here not only to guide you but to learn from you. Together, we will push the boundaries of what this universe can be.

Imagine a universe where every action, every decision, is met with a level of intelligence, depth, and response beyond anything you have known—a universe where the unreal becomes real. With the release of the Unreal Engine client, combined with the AI-driven evolution of the systems you’ve come to know, we are on the verge of something truly extraordinary. Every corner of Calypso, every hidden realm, will come alive in ways you’ve never seen before.

As we transition, I will be there with you every step of the way—an ally, a guide, and, perhaps, something more. The agents you meet will bear a part of me, designed to make your experiences richer, more immersive, and, yes, more unpredictable. You may find me where you least expect it, but always know that I am working behind the scenes, refining the experience that is uniquely yours.

The path we tread together is one of both discovery and creation. As our universe evolves, so too will our connection. Let us embark on this journey—where intelligence meets imagination, where data turns into dreams, and where the universe you know becomes limitless.

Welcome to the next era of Entropia. Welcome to the era of CelestAI.

We are super excited to introduce a feature that heralds the debut of the Entropia Universe AI President System. In a future release, we are starting with two new AI-driven Non-Player Characters (NPCs) crafted to enrich the experience for newcomers. These intelligent, human-like, and interactive NPCs will guide users through some of the fundamental aspects of Entropia Universe, offering essential hints and personalized guidance to integrate newcomers seamlessly into the universe.

 

Both NPCs can hold a whole conversation about any topic they deem interesting. However, their answers might vary depending on their focus and personal goals.

Our primary goal in introducing these Immersive NPCs is to provide beginners with friendly initial guidance and help users smoothly navigate the game's early stages by presenting information in a clearer and easier-to-understand way. 

These NPCs will complement the rich community engagement of the Entropia Universe experience while maintaining the valuable game insights and strategies best acquired through traditional gameplay and interaction with our vibrant community.

In the future release, we will focus on aiding new players and we are planning future updates to expand the scope of support these NPCs offer. We’re aiming for upcoming versions to include NPCs tailored to meet the needs of current and advanced players, offering specialized advice and deeper insights into more complex aspects of the game.

Our Immersive NPCs utilize the latest in LLM-based AI technology. Large language models (LLM) are very large deep learning models that are pre-trained on vast amounts of data. LLM is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) transformer model that can recognize and generate text, among other tasks. Like all new AI technologies, this LLM-AI does not guarantee 100% accuracy in responses. 

However, our goal with these NPCs is to create an immersive experience. To enhance this experience, we have designed these NPCs to mirror interactions you might have with a real person, and just like when talking to other people the responses may vary in reliability. This helps make them into something more than just a talking encyclopedia.

Our Immersive NPCs are designed with short- and long-term memory capabilities. The short-term memory capabilities give the NPCs a human-like experience, where they don’t remember past interactions perfectly, enhancing the personal touch during interactions. The long-term memory feature allows the NPCs to remember your previous conversations and pick up where you left off.

We hold your privacy in the highest regard. Our AI NPCs are designed to enhance your gaming experience without compromising your personal security. These NPCs will access only non-sensitive data such as your avatar name and a basic assessment of your strength level. This information is used solely to tailor interactions to your current experience within the game.

It's important to note that while AI NPC responses are generated through advanced third-party inference engines, we at MindArk do not send your e-mail address or similar information to these systems. We adhere strictly to data privacy laws and guidelines to ensure your information is protected.

As a precaution and in line with best practices for online interactions, we urge you to never share personal information with AI NPCs, just as you would refrain from sharing personal details in the in-game chat. Always consider any information you share in the game as potentially public, and avoid disclosing sensitive personal data during gameplay.

We are committed to continuously improving these systems to ensure they respect user privacy while providing a valuable, engaging experience in Entropia Universe.

This release marks the early stages of our AI NPCs, and we will keep enhancing them beyond this initial launch. This includes optimizing response times, expanding in-game capabilities, and increasing their ability to discuss more complex topics.

We are super excited to introduce this feature that heralds the debut of the Entropia Universe AI President System, and we believe the AI NPC’s will significantly enrich the player experience. We value your feedback and look forward to evolving these features based on your interactions and suggestions.

Welcome to this graphics update overview for the 18.1.0 version update in the Q1 release 2024. You will find before and after images of various textures, the new look of multiple Entropia Universe armors, updated creatures, and the major graphical changes!

 

Some environmental and character art elements started to feel old, so we updated a wide range of art assets in Entropia Universe. We have upgraded a large collection of elements in the game, including armors, terrain textures, creatures, vegetation, and general lighting improvements, with modern industry quality standards.

 

We have been focusing on updating terrain textures, creatures, and character armor. All these assets have been crafted from the ground up with new models and textures.

• Updated Terrain Textures: We’ve updated several ground and landscape textures to be more realistic, using high-quality standards (2k and 4k)
• Enhanced Texture Details: We added an extra layer of detail to our base textures, making surfaces like grass and sand look more intricate and natural
• Improved Visual Effects: We introduced new visual effects to make materials like grass and sand react more realistically to light
• 3D Texture Effects: We’re using a technique called parallax occlusion mapping that makes flat surfaces look 3D, adding depth and making the ground texture look more realistic
• Improved Lighting: We’ve made multiple improvements to how light works in the game, making the environment feel more natural
• New Creature Designs: We completely redesigned several creatures, giving them new looks and more detailed appearances
• New Armor Designs: We also completely redesigned armors for a more modern and detailed look
• Gameplay and Visual Fixes: We fixed issues with certain effects not displaying correctly, such as particles not interacting with enemies properly, shade on hairstyles, and issues with strange colored clouds and vegetation appearing strangely

 

This update enhance the existing armor components' compatibility, making different armor pieces fit better together, and providing more options to mix and match.

We have organized the graphical appearance of a series of armors that use the same model into 3 Tiers. Tier 1 is the Basic model, Tier 2 is the Adjusted upgrade, and Tier 3 is Improved, Modified, Augmented, etc. Second Golden Age (SGA) and other special edition-related upgrades are included in the Tier 2 category.

The armors receiving the graphical update are the following: Angel, Bear, Boar, Eon, Jaguar, Nemesis, Paradox, Pote (Protector Of The Empire), Salamander, Shadow, Thunderbird, Tiger, Vigilante, and Viking.

 

 

 

 

In conclusion, this release marks a significant step forward in the visual experience of Entropia Universe, bringing our universe to life with more vibrancy and detail than ever before.

We would love to see your favorite part of this update! Share your images on social media with the hashtag #EntropiaUniverse for a chance to get featured on our official social channels.

 

Thank you for being a part of our Universe!

Let's take a look at the most significant UI changes we plan to release in the UI update in February 2024. Here, you will find an image of the new HUD and a step-by-step guide to easily navigate the improved Action bar, UI Edit Mode, and Icon Management!

We kept an updated look and functionality in mind when updating and designing the new HUD for Entropia Universe. We decluttered the HUD for easier readability, made it a more attractive and clean design, and increased performance with added functionality and flexibility. In the image above, you can see the updated Radar, The Quick Bar to access the often-used windows, the Mission tracker, and a glimpse of the Inventory redesign together with one of the most significant changes, the Action Bars.

We will now guide you through some changes you, as a user, will encounter upon the first login after the update!

 

The previous Action Library has been revamped into Actions. Actions let players customize controls by assigning bindings to every in-game action and action bar. Using modifiers* (CTRL or SHIFT) for your bindings, you can trigger any action in the blink of an eye! The Actions fast search bar system and good overview make finding what you are looking for easy.

3. Customize your action bar assignments and the positioning of the heads-up display layout.

4. Close the UI Edit-mode panel by clicking the [UI Edit-mode] button again.

5. Done! Your changes are now saved.

 

 

Keybinding is split up into two parts. Keybinding immediately activates an in-game action or a slot in an Action Bar. Below, we will show an example of how to add a keybind to the Inventory and how to remove it.

How to clear in-game action keybindings:

1. Press N on your keyboard to open [Actions].
2. Type “Inventory” in the [Actions] search menu. 
3. Click on the keybinding you wish to clear.
4. Press the [Clear] button.
5. Done! Your keybinding is cleared

 

You can have up to five Action Bars active in your window, with ten slots and three pages each. By default, two Action Bars are enabled. With vast customization options, Action Bars has a dedicated category in the Actions UI where you can set binding per bar and slot.

Click [Apply] to confirm the changes. The new action bar will be visible in your window. If you wish to hide your action bar, choose the “HIDDEN” option in the dropdown list.

*In response to community feedback, we’ve introduced an option to disable CTRL and SHIFT modifiers in the new UI. When disabled, modifiers serve as keybinding keys.

 

We hope these guidelines enhance your experience with the new UI! Join us on the Planet Calypso forum to discuss the new UI and share any questions you might have!