Entropia Universe Version Updates

VU 6.1 Content List




PROJECT ENTROPIA VERSION UPDATE 6.1
2004-10-06

*** PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT IF YOU FIND SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY IN PROJECT ENTROPIA! IT MIGHT PROVIDE THE INFO YOU NEED BEFORE CONTACTING PROJECT ENTROPIA SUPPORT! ***

General Information
The Version Update 6.1 (“VU 6.1”) for Project Entropia is a major step in the development of Project Entropia. Information about the content of the VU is located in this document. --



VERSION UPDATE FEATURES

The Amethera continent is live!
The all new continent of Amethera is released! The planet Calypso’s second continent is available for exploration. The land contains never before seen creatures, threats, plants, and trees. The area of the continent is roughly three times size of the old Eudoria continent. This addition brings another great location to the Project Entropia experience, together with the Crystal Palace Space Station released earlier this year.

The first real virtual land grab!
The first real virtual land grab event will commence on the new Amethera continent! Those avatars meeting the skill requirements or who have an estate will be able to travel to Amethera and take part of the land grab. The land grab means that a society will battle for the control of a land area, on which they can set taxation on and later improve to make it better.

The preliminary rules and regulations of the land grab is available here.

Dynamic lights
A system for dynamic lighting implemented at indoor areas. Various light sources, like lamps or energy weapons, will now emit light. This creates a much more immersive experience.

Teaching system
A system for transferring skill levels between avatars is introduced. The system works with skill implants which functions as skill holders. The system dynamically handles how the advanced skill system in Project Entropia works, and shows the results when checking out an active skill implant.

Creature AI
The AI for the Project Entropia creatures is completely rewritten, allowing for more elaborate behaviors. In this VU we focus on the basic activities, while slowly evolving the creatures with group behavior and the like.

Speed change and synch enhancement
The general speed of movement is somewhat lowered, together with an improved synchronization. This is to allow for a more smooth experience and making the synch between client and server better. It reduces the bandwidth use, suggesting a better feel while partaking. Of course many of the creatures also have their movement rate reduced as well. Damage is lowered on some critters. Melee weapons will work better. The general experience in PvP fights is enhanced. This also creates a good foundation for the future vehicle system.

Bleaching
A new attachment for the color tool is available, allowing for the removal of colors from colored clothes. Note that it only works on clothes colored after the application of VU 6.1.

Mannequins and shopkeepers
Shopkeepers, and the new mannequins, can now be dressed and equipped. Just drag the items or clothes you wish to add to the mannequin or shopkeeper. To remove items or clothes, just drag it from them. All shopkeepers (old as well as new) and mannequins only have their undies from.

Increase of characters on lots
Depending on the size of a lot, you may now place more than one shopkeeper or mannequin to an outdoor lot.

Loot and creatures
The loot on creatures is rebalanced. The general loot balance is increased, meaning the loot will be somewhat higher after the VU. It is common that creature doesn’t carry any loot after this update. However, when loot is found the value is often a lot higher and will include items more often than before.

Creatures removed when looting
When a creature is looted, it disappears almost instantly.

New creatures
A dozen or so new creatures have been added to Project Entropia. These will be found mainly on the Amethera continent, and they pack a mean punch. Reports of a behemoth monster has been circulating as well…

Creature rebalanced
A lot of the creatures are somewhat changed, in regards to speed, damage done, behavior, etc. Some are fiercer, while some are whimpier.

Increased stack sizes
The max number of items per item stack is increased, most notable when concerning ammo packs and PED stacks – a single ammo stack now contains a maximum of 1,000,000 shots, while a PED stack contains 10,000 PEDs. Stacks containing more than 999 units will now show the abbreviation “k” and “M” for “kilo” (a thousand), and “Mega” (a million), in the stack icon.

Ammo in Trade Terminal
Updated the max ammo stack size in the Trade Terminal to 10,000 shots per unit.

Chat activated emotes
You can now activate a number of emote gestures and action from the main chat. You activate an emote by typing “/em emotename”, where emotename can be “giggle” or “movealong”. Dances and postures are not activated this way yet.

More furniture
New pieces of furniture added, among the lot is fireplaces and candles suitable for romantic encounters.

New market places
Added more market places to Hadesheim and the Crystal Palace Space Station.

Space flight and hangar updates
Numerous issues with the hangars, space flight and ownership transfers fixed.

Sweating modified
A single creature now has a definite number of vibrant sweat available.

New weapons
New weapons added.

New armor sets
Armor sets added.

New melee weapon
The whip is added to the range of melee weapons. Some claim it can be used for something else…?

Updates to the Society function
An applicant can now see a list of the current Socs s/he has applied to. You can see land areas owned by a society. Society members get shares in the society when the society takes ownership of a land area. A member that is dismissed from a Soc in which s/he has shares is listed as “suspended”, and will still receive income for as long as s/he doesn’t join a new Soc. No other activities are accessible to the suspended member though. A Soc with shareholders cannot be disbanded. The society log system is updated on several counts, mostly associated with land area management. Society members are now shown on the radar.

New minerals added
Some oldies and some new ones added to Amethera.

Blood spatters removed
The blood spatters when hitting creatures is removed. This should enhance client performance. Also, in some countries, the visualization of blood is forbidden. In the future more options will be available on this matter.

New payment options added
You can now transfer money into Project Entropia using pre-paid PED certificates or using direct bank transfers. Info is available in the client, under “Transfer”. The Project Entropia Transaction Center is updated with new functions.

Misc Fixes
At rare instances, the damage received when being in a yellow sulphur lake would stay on the avatar, regardless of action – even after revival. This should not happen anymore. An issue making a female avatar in sexy pose that chatted looking “bent” is now fixed. If you chose to lie down while jumping, things could get strange. This is fixed. Spelling errors
Several spelling errors fixed. If you find more, please file a support case about it.

VU 6.0 Content List




PROJECT ENTROPIA VERSION UPDATE 6.0
2004-08-10

*** PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT IF YOU FIND SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY IN PROJECT ENTROPIA! IT MIGHT PROVIDE THE INFO YOU NEED BEFORE CONTACTING PROJECT ENTROPIA SUPPORT! ***

General Information
The Version Update 6.0 (“VU 6.0”) for Project Entropia is a major step in the development of Project Entropia. Information about the content of the version update is located in this document. --



VERSION UPDATE FEATURES

New Graphics Engine implemented
After almost three years the old NetImmerse graphics engine is retired and the new GameBryo engine is in place. This new graphics engine will enable us to add a lot of really cool graphic effects to Project Entropia, like weather, shadows, dynamic lighting, etc. In the course of the next few months several such graphic upgrades will come.

Client software feedback system
If the client software happens to Crash-to-desktop (“CTD”), the client now have a feedback system in place. This system asks whether the participant is willing to help MindArk by sending in his or her current PC configuration. This information will help us track down any potential driver/hardware issues causing client stability problems.

New Avatar Trading interface
A brand new avatar to avatar trading interface added. The new interface is more secure and have a lot more feedback panels. Items can no longer be removed from the offer area without clearing the entire offer. A personal chat also appears when trade is initiated.

Note: You cannot trade items that have attachments added; you have to remove attachments prior to trading, to minimize confusion.

New Map interface
The addition of new locations spawned the new map interface. A map of the Eudoria continent and the Crystal Palace Space Station is supplied, as well as a sneak peak of the newly discovered continent “Amethera” (also known as “The land grab continent”). The new map interface has various filters, a quicker navigation system, and three distinct zoom levels.

New weapons
New weapons added.

New armor sets
Armor sets added.

Longus
An issue with the Longus hit probability fixed.

Robots and lying about
Robots finally realized their prey could lie down, so the aim is adjusted accordingly.

Scrollbar added to Manufacture interface
Scrollbar added to the input material list, to allow for designs with six inputs.

Container content usable in manufacturing
You may now drag input materials directly from a container to the manufacturing interface.

Scanning issues fixed
When scanning mutant, the correct skill is increased (‘Scan Mutant’, instead of ‘Scan Animal’, even if some scientists claim the old classification should stand ,-)

Scanning oneself no more
When scanning another avatar, you no longer see your attribute levels. Now you see the target levels instead, as intended.

Skill lists
Fixed an issue when a single new skill was added and that skill was the only one on a new page, it was impossible to change to the new page.

PED Card transfer interface
Corrected the interface so it doesn’t become locked when you tried to withdraw more money from your PED card than you had on it.

Avatar interaction interface update
Fixed a potential issue with the avatar interaction menu (the one you get when you right-click on an avatar) that could cause the interface to lock up and making the avatar becoming forever “busy” until logoff.

Refiner interface
An issue corrected in the refiner interface when you added multiple stacks to it and they were auto-moved back to the inventory.

Info about blueprint books in the auction
Now it doesn’t crash when you check the info of a blueprint book that is in the auction.

Long avatar names
Limited the maximum length of the full avatar names (first+nick+last name) to 40 characters. Also updated the Friends list, estate guest list, and space ship guest list.

PED Card transactions from containers
The inventory no longer locks up if you drag and drop money from a container directly onto your PED Card in the inventory.

Mourner
Mourner now is called Mourner again.

Pixie armor
The Pixie armor is now shown correctly in the auction.

Adjusted Guardian armor
Fixed non-decaying adjusted Guardian armor bug. Increased durability on the armor.

Armor attachments
Fixed an issue with armor attachments not showing in the PvP Trade.

Repair interface and mindforce implants
Fixed issue with "Repair All" and mindforce implants in the Repair interface. --



KNOWN ISSUES/MISSING FEATURES

All tailored clothes shown as “Uncolored” in the auction, even if they are colored.

Currently, the virtual companies on the Exchange do not offer any shares. You can’t repair a weapon with attachments attached to it. You have to detach them prior to repairing.


VU 6.0 Miniupdates 11 Aug 2004

Several minor updates has been applied to PE VU 6.0.

• Added sounds to PvP Trade, as well as minor tweaks to usability
• Added Map interface updates, including the removal of "screen-like" noise due to feedback from the vibrant PE community, as well as added a "memory" function, meaning the interface now remembers its previous selections and position on the screen until logout.
• Better crash analysis system for the client.

VU 5.7 Miniupdates 07 Jun 2004

Several minor updates has been applied to PE VU 5.7 the last few days. Some of the issues corrected are:

• NEW: The Firestorm chips can be put in the auction.
• NEW: Update to the Shopkeepers, enhancing performance and removed annoying glitches.
• NEW: The Pixie armor now have correct name and description.
• NEW: Visual update to the hangars, including the previously hard-to-walk-in stairs.
• NEW: The Standard Compressor blueprint updated.
• NEW: Massive amount of technical fixes, including CTD elimination, performance, upgrades and added verification in the PE Transaction Center and when you create an account.
• General stability upgrades
• Fixed an issue with targeting - including creatures. This will make it easier looting dead MOBs.
• Avatars and MOB's should no longer be invisible.
• Removed Storage boxes and Orange paint from the Trade Terminal. Boxes will be made craftable in a few weeks, and paints will be found as loot to a greater degree than before.
• Enhanced the probability of acquiring items instead of PED's while looting.
• You may no longer place general items in a space ship. Items already placed in such way will be located in each individual owner's storage facility.
• Fixed the decoys to no longer scare off the creatures.
• And many of other minor issues...

VU 5.6 Content List




PROJECT ENTROPIA VERSION UPDATE 5.6
2004-03-05

*** PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT IF YOU FIND SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY IN PROJECT ENTROPIA! IT MIGHT PROVIDE THE INFO YOU NEED BEFORE CONTACTING PROJECT ENTROPIA SUPPORT! ***

General Information
The Version Update 5.6 (“VU 5.6”) for Project Entropia is a major step in the development of Project Entropia. Information about the content of the version update is located in this document.

Project Entropia Gold Member Smartcard Security System
The Project Entropia Gold Member security system goes live with VU 5.6. Those who have acquired the Smartcard and Reader (through the Trade Terminal Real Life Items section) should receive the equipment during April, to the address supplied with the Project Entropia account. If you need to update the info, please do it as soon as possible through the Project Entropia Support Section. --



VERSION UPDATE FEATURES

Mentor & Disciple system
We are aware of the great effort our participants put into helping newcomers to Calypso and making them feel welcome. To show our appreciation for this we have decided implemented a Mentor & Disciple system.

Being a mentor is about helping newcomers get a foothold in the new universe. When you offer your help to a newcomer, and they accept, they become your disciple and you become their mentor. As a mentor you advice your disciples and support them in their advancement. When a disciple reaches certain skill levels, the disciple is deemed to be sufficiently trained to manage on her or his own. At this point the mentor receives special surprise gifts as a reward for helping out.

Some details about the Mentor system:

• A mentor “Adds disciples” by right-clicking on the potential disciple.
• To be able to act as a mentor you need to at least have reached the level "Unskilled" in any one professional standing (seen in the left section of the Avatar Info interface).
• To be eligible as a disciple you must be "Newcomer" in all of your professional standings (including Sweat Gatherer). This means as soon as a Newcomer achieves the rank of “Inept” (the rank above “Newcomer”) in any professional standing, they may not be selected as a disciple.
• When the disciple reaches certain skill levels, the Mentor reward kicks in. The Mentor has a progress rating on each disciple in his training. The actual skill levels are shown in the Disciples interface. The skill goal is quite high as the rewards are special items only acquired through this means.
• A mentor can have a maximum of 100 disciples at once. The mentor can at any time contact a disciple.
• A disciple may only have one mentor. A disciple may be a mentor for others.
• Once a link is formed between a mentor and a disciple, the disciple cannot leave it (a short "grace period" is given). A mentor may kick a disciple at any time (but why would s/he? If the avatar has stopped participating is one reason).
• When a disciple finishes his or her training the mentor gains skill in the new "Mentor" skill. The Mentor skill shows how many successful disciples s/he has guided.

First person view of items and actions
You now see the items your avatar is carrying in first person view. Weapons and tools are shown, as well as mindforce powers. The “Z” key toggles between FPV w/ items – FPV w/o items – 3rd PV behind – 3rd PV free.

Visual item update
Almost all weapons in Project Entropia have received a visual overhaul, and are now displayed with a much higher detail. This is a first in a series of grand visual upgrades being done to Project Entropia over the coming months.

Monster visuals update
Almost every creature in Project Entropia has been given a visual overhaul, meaning more detailed graphics with higher clarity.

New drop functions
When dropping an item from the inventory to the ground you may now determine the placement of the item in detail. This is especially useful for indoor decorations and furniture. You can rotate items by holding down the right mouse button and move the mouse right and left, and drop some specific items on walls or in the ceiling.

New creatures
A lot of new creatures have been spotted by explorers. Someone stated a warning about being unwary in rocky terrain…

Updated robots
Several changes has been applied to the robot population of Calypso, meaning changed behaviour, damage done, and hit points. Also, the robots seems to have found new ways to spread their terror.

Logoff delay update
An “Abort” button added to the Logoff delay interface, due to community demand.

More weapons
Over 50 new weapons added.

More armor
New armor sets added.

House decorations
Someone saw indistinguishable creatures stealing rare paintings, tables, and lamps from a cargo shuttle…

Society templates
Two new society templates added based on community input – the “Mystic” and the “Basic”.

Society ranks shown
You may now view the various ranks associated with a society template.

Society Leaderboard update
Pending societies are no longer eligible for Leaderboard positions.

Increased chance of success in crafting
The chance of success is increased on lower levels of crafting.

Octagons
Several new Octagon Boxing / Training areas added all over Eudoria.

Hadesheim Marketplace update
Added a storage terminal to the Hadesheim marketplace.

Skills renamed
The skill “Ranged Critical Hit” and “Melee Critical Hit” are renamed to the more appropriate “Inflict Ranged Damage” and “Inflict Melee Damage”, as that is what the skills actually influence. No rule mechanics have changed though – the name change is a cosmetic one to avoid confusion as the term “Critical hit” can suggest a range of effects.

Avatar animation updates
Many avatar animations have been polished, among others the infamous grip on some of the BLP rifles (no more holding the rifle in you’re stomach).

Item rebalance
The infamous Improved A-3 Justifier Mk.III is rebalanced, after community feedback. The new stats are acquired by repairing the weapon.

Server upgrades
A server crash issue has been eliminated. The entire Project Entropia universe server park is upgraded with new hardware to meet the ever-increasing number of Project Entropia participants. The new system will reduce “lag” and latency issues, as well as some disconnect issues.

Client upgrades
Several fixes have been applied to the client, to reduce the rate of disconnects and Crash-to-desktop (“CTD”) issues.

Item/houses streaming optimization
The way buildings and items are streamed to your Project Entropia client has been optimized to reduce the “lag” felt when entering/exiting buildings.

Fixed issue with floors in hangars
Fixed an issue that meant you could fall through the floors in a hangar.

Fixed issue when sitting down
Fixed an issue with sitting down and becoming difficult to hit.

Fixed issue with long range gathering of items
Fixed an issue that meant you could pick up items from far away.

Fixed issue with avatar position after server crash
Fixed an issue with the avatar position not being saved when a server crashed. --



KNOWN ISSUES/MISSING FEATURES

All tailored clothes shown as “Uncolored” in the auction, even if they are colored.

Currently, the virtual companies on the Exchange do not offer any shares. You can’t repair a weapon with attachments attached to it. You have to detach them prior to repairing.




VU 5.6 Miniupdates 05 Apr 2004Several minor updates has been applied to PE VU 5.6 the last few days. Some of the issues corrected are:

• New - General stability upgrades
• New - Double the item limit allowed in estates.
• New - Shopkeeper issues updated
• Laser sight alignment updated
• The Allophyl and Snablesnot is now much easier to loot
• The Allophyl has received its skin once again
• Ghosts may no longer pick up stuff
• Some graphics issues in the Society and Mentor interface fixed
• Fixed the use of ALT+TAB and other keyboard key usage
• Corrected a pesky server crash issue
• Updated the login server to accept participants with more eagerness
• Miscellaneous items got polished (like getting the correct description, etc.)
• And many of other minor issues...

A clairifaction about the disciples – a disciple is deemed finished once at least one of the skill levels is attained. The Cache system (in the Options interface) handles how graphics, models and textures are cached (stored for easy and fast access to the client). This affects the speed while manipulating the inventory, as well as when meeting creatures and other avatars. Once the graphics has streamed from the hard drive it is kept in RAM, allowing for smoother operations. The slider is set dynamically by Project Entropia at start up, depending on your system memory. Up to 1 Gb RAM is used for cache. If you want to allocate more, please move the slider more to the right, in the red area. Beware, that setting the slider too high will result in less performance, as a lack of RAM means the computer slows down as the hard drive is used as virtual RAM.

VU 5.4 Content


PROJECT ENTROPIA VERSION UPDATE 5.4
2003-12-17

*** PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT IF YOU FIND SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY IN PROJECT ENTROPIA! IT MIGHT PROVIDE THE INFO YOU NEED BEFORE CONTACTING PROJECT ENTROPIA SUPPORT! ***

General Information
The Version Update 5.4 (“VU 5.4”) for Project Entropia is a major step in the development of Project Entropia. Information about the content of the version update is located in this document. --



Update Personal Info
You must update your Project Entropia account info through the Project Entropia Support section. Logon using your standard Project Entropia Login and Password. Account with faulty information will be locked down and a dialogue will be initiated with the person handling the account.

Old Support Mail
In VU 5.3 a new Support Section was launched, which is available through the Project Entropia client and through the Project Entropia web page. Now when this new system is up and running all future communication/support inquiries will go through the Project Entropia Support Case Center (“PESCC”). This means that old unresolved matters that was supplied using email needs to be entered by the participant into the PESCC to be attended by the MA Support staff. --



VERSION UPDATE FEATURES

Christmas season
MindArk continues the tradition started last Christmas, with presents to the active and contributing participants.

Enhanced Manufacturing
Added the Apprentice Level of manufacturing weapons, armor, and clothes.

More weapons
Some 100 weapons added to Project Entropia, of various performances. Among these several new models are introduced, like a dedicated BLP Submachine-gun. Several of these weapons are manufactured, even various BLP rifles.

More armor
Almost a dozen new armor sets added, including the new “Undead”-series.

More clothes and accessories
With the enhanced level in tailoring several new kinds of clothes can be found and/or made. A tailor may now make coats, jackets, miniskirts, boots, hats, shades, etc.

Coloring re-vamped
The coloring functionality changed to be clearer. It now shows the Chance of Success (as in Manufacturing) of coloring an item to best possible output.

New paints added
Several new paints have been added, allowing for even greater variety of participant-colored clothes.

Chance of Success update
The various levels of feedback when the Chance of Success is displayed (currently in the Manufacturing Interface and the Coloring Interface) has been split up into more steps, meaning you will see a more rapid advancement to your chance of success.

Skill increase changes
Skills related to the Mining and Manufacturing areas have received enhanced increase rates.

Blueprint acquiring
The chance of getting a new blueprint while manufacturing is enhanced. The chance of getting a blueprint that can be bought from the Trade Terminal is removed.

Added Mindforce
Several Mindforce upgrades added, as well as a completely new Mindforce power.

Project Entropia Smart Card Verification system
Are you sure that your personal computer is clean from viruses and key-sniffing hacker tools that is gathering data, passwords and other personal information? In a world where malicious intrusions on home computers are more and more common, one cannot be too secure with sensitive information.
Add an even higher level of security to your Project Entropia account with this Project Entropia Gold Member Smart Card Verification system. With this combined Smart Card and Smart Card Reader your Project Entropia login procedure will have a level of security equal to the most secure real life banks. The Smart Card includes a personalized CPU Unit that creates a unique verification password each time you logon to Project Entropia. This means you never use the same password twice, rendering unwanted attempts to acquire your password obsolete.

Become Lord of the Manor - A castle is available!
Who will be the proud owner of the Calypso Castle?

More functions added to Hangars
Are you one of those with a pioneering soul and lust to reach the stars above? Space has never been closer.

Portable terminals
There are now portable terminals available, that can be placed where the participant feels is a good spot. Remember that placing an item out in the open means that anyone can pick it up though, so be advised to place it in a secure location, like a house. To access a portable terminal, you need to SHIFT+Right click on it.

House decorations
Several new ways of personalizing your house is introduced.

Increased some mineral availability
Some of the rare minerals and enmatters have become somewhat less rare.

Updated Drop functions
The Drop Item request is updated to inform about the fact that anyone may pick up dropped items. Also, when dropping items, the item is placed below the avatar position, positioned in the same facing as the avatar.

Merge of skills
The skills “Make Pants” and “Make Shirt” have been merged to “Make Clothes”, and the old skill levels have been added up.

Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame 24h section is updated.

Fixed a mismatch of Tailoring blueprint level in Items Info
Some tailoring blueprints showed as having level one when they indeed had a higher level.

Change of Plasma category
The Plasma rifle is now under the correct section “Rifle” in the Auction.

Mindforce animations
Fixed some animation-lockups when using Mindforce.

Stackable items invisible fix
Corrected a rare issue with merged stackable items becoming invisible on the client.

Manufactured items with negative value
Fixed an issue with manufactured items in rare instances having a negative value.

Auction time change
The added time to an offer in the auction if it is about to expire is changed from 15 minutes to six minutes.

PK and teleporting
Fixed an issue where the PK status was not updated correctly when teleporting while in the 30 second “grace period”.

Billy Revival Terminal
Updated an issue with reviving at the Billy Spaceship Afterworld making the avatar invisible for some monsters. --



KNOWN ISSUES/MISSING FEATURES

You can’t repair a weapon with attachments attached to it. You have to detach them prior to repairing.

You cannot drop item onto a hangar floor.

Currently, the virtual companies on the Exchange doesn’t offer any shares.

Sometimes attachments may detach from a weapon when logging on.

The Team chat is not always initiated when the Team Leader invites the first member.

All tailored clothes shown as “Uncolored” in the auction, even if they are colored. There are some issues with the Society terminals that will be fixed in next VU. Some laser carbines have the wrong graphics on the client when shown in the auction. They appear "fatter" than they should be. The looks is correct outside the auction after a logon.

List of 5.4 mini updates 08 Jan 2004
System updated (5.4.0.4) [2004-01-08].

Fixes

• Fixed the names in the auction for the new paints.
• Fixed an icon issue with Attachment blueprints (they all showed being level I, regardless of actual level).
• Some minor stability fixes.

--

System updated (5.4.0.3) [2003-12-21].

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with "Corrupt Paladin arm-guards" in the loot. The correct armor will be found in the storage terminal.

--

System updated (5.4.0.2) [2003-12-19].

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with "gluefeet" when moving on rolling terrain.
• Updated accuracy synch between server and client

--

System updated (5.4.0.1) [2003-12-18].

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with "stickiness" when moving near walls and up ramps.
• Updated a skill experience bug with Laser Weaponry Technology, BLP Weaponry Technology, and Plasma Weaponry Technology, where the increase rate was to high above the level of 3000.

VU 4.2 PE Gone Gold!!!

PROJECT ENTROPIA VERSION UPDATE 4.2
2003-01-28

*** PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT IF YOU FIND SOMETHING STRANGE IN PROJECT ENTROPIA! IT MIGHT PROVIDE THE INFO YOU NEED BEFORE APPROACHING PROJECT ENTROPIA SUPPORT! ***

Welcome!
The Version Update 4.2 (“VU 4.2”) for Project Entropia is a major step in the development of Project Entropia. Information about the content of the version update is located in this document. The VU 4.2 is scheduled for a release at the 30:th of January 2003.

VERSION UPDATE FEATURES

Participant versus Participant combat available
In a special area on the western shore of the continent of Eudoria (marked on the in-universe map) there is a special area where combat between participants is allowed. When entering this area the participant will be notified about the current status. Avatars are not lootable. The area in itself is quite valuable, with rare mineral deposits and uncommon creatures roaming round.

Personal Storage Facilities present
In various areas in Project Entropia each Avatar has the ability to use a Personal Storage Facility. This functions as a safety deposit box, in which you can store items of your choice. Certain items may not be placed here, namely Blueprint books, Deeds, the PED Card, Exchange certificates, and the orange starting clothes. The maximum amount of items that can be stored is at present limited to 500 items. A single stack of several items counts as one item in this Storage Facility. The Storage Facility is currently free of charge.
NOTE: In the next VU (4.3), the weight allowance will be reduced on your Avatar. Therefore we urge you to maintain a reasonable number of items on your Avatar. Also remember that a smaller inventory will increase performance and load times across the board.

Avatar look redesign
All old participants have the option to redo their Avatar looks. The Avatar will keep all items and skills. To keep the old Avatar look just press “Accept” without modifying the settings. You will also be able to change your Avatar name.
PLEASE NOTE that the name chosen is indeed your Avatar name, not your personal name. Also note that titles and ranks will soon be implemented in Project Entropia, reducing the need for entering such “names” as Avatar names. The Avatar name CANNOT be changed after it is entered and accepted.

Hall of Fame updated
The Hall of Fame (“HOF”) has been updated. A new area of fame is the crafting section. The HoF is also split in two sections, one for “All Time High” events, and one that shows the greatest effort of the last 24 hours.

Exchange enhanced
Several updates and enhancements have been made in the Project Entropia Exchange. Better information is available, and the interface has been tweaked for better understanding and functionality.

Skills are rated
Each skill has an individual rank associated with it, indicating how good an Avatar is in their respective field.

Skill experience tweak
The rate at which an Avatar gains experience in his or her skill levels has been set to the correct level.

Skill icons
The skills interface has new icons, making it easier to find a typical skill.

NPC:s populate Project Entropia
In various location there will be NPC:s (Non-Participant Characters) present, doing their thing.

Enhanced transfer capabilities
Several enhancements in the Bank Interface while transferring money from a real life credit card to PED:s have been made. Many of the problems with getting the now infamous “Internal error” message have been eliminated.

Limit amount of items per transfer
The number of items you can transfer in a Trade Terminal is limited to 40. A single stack of items (for example ore or ammunition) counts as one item.

Blueprint books tradeable
You can now trade and sell blueprint books.

Drop Confirm dialogue box
Every time you try to drop an item you have to confirm it.

Monsters drown
After a short while below water the monsters not ordinarily living in water will drown. Drowned animals will not drop loot.

Clothes
More various clothes are present in Project Entropia.

Faster Society functions
The technology running the Societies has been updated and should not take as much time as before accessing it.

Attributes Rating Values Fixed
The avatar attributes (Strength, Agility, etc.) were shown wrongly on the client. The correct values are now shown.

Invisible weapon accessories now visible
Weapon accessories, like scopes, laser sights and amplifiers, are now shown correctly.

Weapon decay mismatch fix
In some rare instances the value of a weapon was shown differently from the time you last logged out of Project Entropia, compared to the next time you logged in. This has now been resolved, and the correct value is always saved on the server.

New client loader and login screen
Project Entropia has a new leaner and more capable client loader, updater and information viewer.

Resumable downloads
The auto-updater utility keeping Project Entropia current has received an added resumable download capability. This means that if the connection should fail during a download, once you restart it, you will begin downloading the files from the point the connection failed.

New firewall ports
Sometimes the participant can’t connect to the Project Entropia Virtual Universe because of their firewall. Opening the following ports in the firewall you use can easily solve these problems.

· 20, 21 (TCP outbound) - Additional TCP port outbound for passive mode FTP
· 30584 (UDP inbound/outbound)
· 30592 (TCP outbound)
· 31111 (UDP inbound/outbound)

Newbie Guide online
On the Project Entropia web page there is a newbie guide present to educate newly arrived colonists about Calypso of what to expect and how to use Project Entropia, while downloading the client software.

Exploit Information Reward System active
At the Support section at www.project-entropia.com a new Exploit reporting category has been added. Participants who encounter “exploits” (bugs that can be manipulated into cheating) and report these to MindArk can be rewarded with up to 1000 PED:s.

KNOWN ISSUES

Radar is not updating all the time
Yes, we know. It has become better though. It will be completely fixed in the future.

Yes, you can run through trees
This is not a bug.

Missing icons on clothes and items
On certain PC configurations sometime the item icons in the inventory become invisible, or you receive a dummy icon called “Unable to show”. If this happens to you, please update to the latest video card drivers, check if Project Entropia officially supports your video card, and also change the video settings on the Setup button in the initial login screen. If this fails, please contact the Project Entropia Support.

Background music causing Crash To Desktop (“CTD”)
Sometimes a bug in mp3 decoder system causes the Project Entropia client to crash to desktop while playing a music file. If you experience a lot of CTD you could try to completely shut down the music in Project Entropia using the Options Interface.



This message was edited January 28, 2003 15:30:56 GMT

Regards

Marco Behrmann
Community Representative
MindArk AB