News: MindArk Signs Deal for Unreal Engine 5 - PRNewswire

Pleased!! I couldn't be more pleased! This will give them a good chance to reignite the game. And clean up the code. I know, I know, don't get excited. But how!?
 
Improve ded animation :3

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I will be there (y)
 
Wow that was quick, not even 1 month after the Early Access release ^^

My wishlist:
- No more falling through floors
- Fix the corckscrew camera problem in space
- Far away objects now loading fully, no more distance tresholds
- Elimate the limit on light sources so they all load properly from now on
- Re-design all manufactured textured, make them really cool so people will actually want to use them
- Being able to re-configure my Avatar again upon release of the UE5 VU, yay!
- Ability to zoom out further again!!!!
...

Some things I am NOT looking forward to:
- 250 GB download :/
- Grass and foliage not being supported :/
- Waiting 5 more years for UE5 to actually be deployed for Entropia
- All MindArk resources being divested toward this so no more content for a while...

Central to UE5 is their new "Nanite Virtualized Geometry" as they call it, which is about as revolutionary for video games as the Windows 95 OS was to personal computing.

It's great technology and it's about time they actually figured this out, seriously. It's a problem that's been beging to be resolved for about 15 years. And the guys at Unreal were extremely wise to do it, not only did they solve a problem that CryEngine helped to create, but they did it flawlessly and all while CryTek is busy trying to make reflections and translucent objects better rendered, something that not that many people really care about right now when everyone's focus is on optimization and efficiency due to too many constraints.

Nanite Explained
 
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EDIT:

I forgot one very important thing in my wishlist:
- Ability to zoom out further again!!!
 
Ya I hope MA can do this. And keep it comfortable. Overdue for sure.
EDIT:

I forgot one very important thing in my wishlist:
- Ability to zoom out further again!!!
YES PLEASE! Thanks for pointing this out, Legends!
 
Improve ded animation :3

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Alas it will be the same (Unreal has ragdoll physics [for those who can't or won't hire animators] too) - skip to end of video

 
I do not see that Engine coming anytime "soon", it will more likely happen when everyone is able to do real realtime raytracing with an IGP.
So right know it is a good time to invest in stock options connecetd to popcorn, because those comments about "I do not want to buy a new computer for 200$, I simply can not afford it because I need to lose 20k$ on EPs" will be really funny :D

For those that really want to save up, those AMD 7000 CPUs will be really good for it and you will surely be able to play at 1080p with a 4 core at least at medium settings :D No need for a GPU.
And with Windows 11 even running on a Raspberry Pie....meybe even a Pie5 will be enough.
 
Maybe CE is up for renegotiation, so MA wants a bit more bargaining power for the next x years of signing...
 
Wow I take it all back UE5 is gonna be amaazzzzzzebaaallzzz!


Star Citizen is using the Unreal Engine right? riiiiight? ;)

[ trollololol ,-) ]
 
It should be clearly and fundamentally understood... that Entropia will no more look like these videos post UE5 implementation, than it ever looked like this, post CE2 implementation:
I would imagine they are just going to stick the current assets into the new engine, for which I would be ok with.
 
Wow I take it all back UE5 is gonna be amaazzzzzzebaaallzzz!


Star Citizen is using the Unreal Engine right? riiiiight? ;)

[ trollololol ,-) ]
Engine is Lumberyard from amazon. First engine was Cryengine..but they are create Lumberyard based on CE.
 
Engine is Lumberyard from amazon. First engine was Cryengine..but then Lumberyard based on CE.

I think that MindArk rejected the Lumberyard option because they don't want to be tied to Amazon choices and policies on this matter.
For example if Amazon decide at some point to quit with Lumberyard, that would be a problem for MindArk.


Lumberyard is a quality free engine but, after all, it's a tricky option , not fully reliable.


The last release of the Unreal Engine is considered impressive : probably the best engine in the world.
It's not a free engine (but this choice again confirms MindArk's current financial solidity), but I would say this is a much more reliable choice.


If MindArk manage well the transition, EU will reach an unprecedented success.



Paul
 
I think that MindArk rejected the Lumberyard option because they don't want to be tied to Amazon choices and policies on this matter.
For example if Amazon decide at some point to quit with Lumberyard, that would be a problem for MindArk.


Lumberyard is a quality free engine but, after all, it's a tricky option , not fully reliable.


The last release of the Unreal Engine is considered impressive : probably the best engine in the world.
It's not a free engine (but this choice again confirms MindArk's current financial solidity), but I would say this is a much more reliable choice.


If MindArk manage well the transition, EU will reach an unprecedented success.



Paul
This is first time when I heard about the engine from Amazon. I have specially looked for in order to answer the question asked above. I am also of the opinion that the unreal engine is the best choice they could make.
 
I hope to hear before this engine upgrade goes through.. "Mindark signs deal with Amazon (or of similar quality) for new improved servers". The game can't even run my pitbull at max speed all the time without rubberbanding back and forth same for my chopper. There's no point in upgrading engine, graphics, animation if the servers are all still wonky making it seem like servers are from 2003. Get your priorities straight MA.
 
Sounds amazing on paper. But how long will it take for them to convert everything to the new engine? I remember many features took years to get re-added back in cryengine VU. Also a shit ton of bugs. What else is gonna be put aside for them to implement this? No other content in years?

I personally think they should have different priorities. But clearly they want fancy new graphics and UI in order to attract new players. We shall see how this will pan out and if it will have the sort of impact they are expecting.
Agreed.

Funny thing though it seems to me that they are making it harder on new players. Case in point, the value of sweat and the amount one gets from each pull. When I started (2007) it was much better and one could accumulate a little ped and go hunting or mining etc. and that is what got me hooked. Now it takes much longer and I am not sure I would have lasted very long if the early days were like they are now for new players.

BTW I did not see anything about this game until around 2004 and they are saying 20 years ago ? Maybe they meant the development started 20 years ago.
 
The guy who suggested an upgrade to UE5 and potentially making entropia public in epic games, to the CEO deserve a promotion.. thats the greatest news of the decade! Good job. Keep it up!
Not being rude but I am surprised at your comment. You and I started about the same time and I remember almost each time there was a major upgrade it took patches etc. to getting the game going and lag kept getting worse. I think one of the problems was they did software upgrades but never on the servers. One thing I do remember was the ped I lost because of bugs (not huge amount) and we never got it back and never even an attempt to make it right.

Just my opinion and not a slam against you at all. And I hope all goes well for them and us.
 
I would imagine they are just going to stick the current assets into the new engine, for which I would be ok with.
Yep, that's all they can do at first, just drag and drop all their assets in and re-create Entropia in UE5.

It won't look much different at the beginning, but as time goes on, the new content that is created, new textures, etc, should be much higher quality and more realistic.
 
- Grass and foliage not being supported :/
Is there discussion on this I missed somewhere? At least as a miner, I’m looking at the ground a lot, so terrain is my main immersion factor. I’d be curious to see where that part of your comment originates from (and also because I’m mostly out of the loop on UE).
 
Yep, that's all they can do at first, just drag and drop all their assets in and re-create Entropia in UE5.

It won't look much different at the beginning, but as time goes on, the new content that is created, new textures, etc, should be much higher quality and more realistic.
might be a bit out of the loop, but any RPG I saw so far on UE was not really enjoyable. For shooters it is really great, but only those that do not have a lot with Skills and progression. And even with the current engine some really amazing thing would be possible, but they never went around to fix the old structures still in game.
When I joined there was already the talk about CE coming "soon", took them another two years and after that ... REMEMBER HADESHEIM!
Some things like taming took them another 3 years (?!)...
And the bugs and exploits...I think most of them could have been avoided with a test server available to the public.
I do not see an UE version in the current state within the next 4-5 years, not if they handle it like they have done the past 20.
 
And the bugs and exploits...I think most of them could have been avoided with a test server available to the public.
I do not see an UE version in the current state within the next 4-5 years, not if they handle it like they have done the past 20.

The complexity in this game comes from misinformation. rather, a test server will be used for free to explore the game and to find more exploits for free... rather than the other way around.

The only way to do this is through remuneration, but who will pay for it? Rather, the complexity of the basic protection of the game would lead to greater difficulty for the developer.
 
Is there discussion on this I missed somewhere? At least as a miner, I’m looking at the ground a lot, so terrain is my main immersion factor. I’d be curious to see where that part of your comment originates from (and also because I’m mostly out of the loop on UE).
All of the literature and youtube videos I've consulted ragarding Epic's nanite technology states that things like foliage and grass are NOT supported by nanite. This doesn't mean you can't build scenes in UE5 with foliage and grass in them, it just means that nanite will not be able to optimize them for users/gamers.
 
Not really up on all of this tech but is this "Upgrade" just so we can paint pretty scenery ? I would much rather play than be a painter,
 
a bit ironic.....just read that the Lumberyard engine has become open source under the Apache2 and MIT licence and has been transferres to a new foundation :D
Since Lumberyard is basically just a Cry Engine but with support for DX12 and Vulkan, it might be more cost effective and a bit more bug freer than something completely new :D
Also triple AAA engine as open source....there will be an abundant community supporting and evolving that one
 
Interesting the Lumberyard version of Cryengine is free. Can't help feeling that a transition to a newer and more optimised version of CryEngine would be the easier move.... but then again that was more or less what happened in the move from NetImmerse to GameBryo IIRC... maybe MA were not so keen on this.

Meh for all we know they maybe just fancied a change of scene but wanted to stick with C++ as that likely matches their dev's current skill set. I have it from a good source that it will be a lot of work to change to Unreal 5 but isn't a bad choice. Apparently though it's getting quite hard to recruit developers these days (of the kind of caliber required for this sort of game dev - which may have been another reason MA chose to move to Unreal - perhaps better recruitment options in the face of a general short supply).

About the 20 years thing. I joined Entropia in spring 2004. A friend had been beta testing it in 2003 so yeh maybe dev started or alpha was in 2001 so yeh.... defo heading for 20 years depending on your definition
 
Hi everyone!

We have read all your responses in this thread, but many of the questions cannot be answered yet. We intend to share a lot more information in the beginning of Q4 this year that should give you all a much better understanding of the project.

As many of you have guessed, the engine switch brings much more than just improved graphics. Improved tools, better workflows and support will help us at Mindark focus on content game systems to deliver a better Entropia, instead of constantly having to update our own engine.

We also have the ambition to keep the requirements on a level where most players can still play with your current setup in one way or another.

We are really hyped and excited about this next step for Entropia Universe, and we hope you are too!
 
Thanks for the post, Dennis. One logical point, however, that a game developer and anybody working for one should understand, is that 'most' only means more than half, which is pretty much a useless word to those customers on lower than average systems.
Some kind of technical know-how sharing would also be nice, such as "it does look like 8GB will be a minimum, and we are aware that EU currently runs reasonably on just 4GB" - or something like that....
 
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