News: MindArk Signs Deal for Unreal Engine 5 - PRNewswire

Just wondering, does this mean RT is completely fucked because they don't have any developers? Or is MA supposed to make sure the planet still "runs"?
I assume MA will have to do the development of RT to Unreal Engine at a cost to ND ofcourse. Just guessing I don't know either
 
What's the status of RT these days? What's this about no developers? I remember the planet "compressed" itself to take up less server squares some years ago but that's the last I heard. I've noticed that the RT torch item could do with adjustment since the lighting update and that hasn't happened... but then again I don't know if it's even been reported. I note that MA didn't even fix the lights from the buggies so this isn't a good indicator of anything really.

If it isn't been maintained/developed anymore... then what next? Is it likely to be acquired by mysterious player run organisations?
 
What's the status of RT these days? What's this about no developers? I remember the planet "compressed" itself to take up less server squares some years ago but that's the last I heard. I've noticed that the RT torch item could do with adjustment since the lighting update and that hasn't happened... but then again I don't know if it's even been reported. I note that MA didn't even fix the lights from the buggies so this isn't a good indicator of anything really.

If it isn't been maintained/developed anymore... then what next? Is it likely to be acquired by mysterious player run organisations?
I volunteer a tribute to take over the planet.
 
More ideas on what avatars could in theory (but likely not in practice) look like in Untropia

 
Trees look pretty sorted, although for an alien world MA would need some more alien flora too. Certainly one of the things I'm liking in these unreal demos is that there seems to be as much scrub land / low level vegetation as there is for forests and the like. Meaning there shouldn't be any excuses for flat single texture areas. There should always be something that can go there, even if it isn't particularly tall or volumous.


PS that video remind anyone of Athena Space Port?
 
Trees look pretty sorted, although for an alien world MA would need some more alien flora too. Certainly one of the things I'm liking in these unreal demos is that there seems to be as much scrub land / low level vegetation as there is for forests and the like. Meaning there shouldn't be any excuses for flat single texture areas. There should always be something that can go there, even if it isn't particularly tall or volumous.


PS that video remind anyone of Athena Space Port?
Looking around at Caly and we'll see that many trees and other vegetation are updated last years
so there will probably be some good ones in UE5.
Might need to create new shaders for them but shouldn't be a too hard thing to do.
Looking at how vast worlds are created and handled in UE5 I guess the potential is there to create
really interesting areas. :)
 
Looking around at Caly and we'll see that many trees and other vegetation are updated last years
so there will probably be some good ones in UE5.
Might need to create new shaders for them but shouldn't be a too hard thing to do.
Looking at how vast worlds are created and handled in UE5 I guess the potential is there to create
really interesting areas. :)
Any specific areas you can think of that I can check? I've kinda been in one place for while...
 
Any specific areas you can think of that I can check? I've kinda been in one place for while...
Nah not yet, this is based on Epics Unreal Inside videos and seeing the potential from that.
Unless you also ment the updated vegetations, then the vegetation north of Jurra Plateau
have some nice updates.
 
Any idea how long people think this will take for MA to release the UE5 update?

I mean I know it will be a hell of a lot of work. But I have a feeling it could be at minimum 3 years?
 
I think Rt and any other planet partner who fails to migrate over to UE5 will probably just end up being discontinued and ended. They will probably either try get new interest or get them to be bought by new companies or they will just as I said end those planets altogether. That might then mean we get new planets to replace them in the future. I really do not know.

This is just a guess on my part.
 
I mean I know it will be a hell of a lot of work. But I have a feeling it could be at minimum 3 years?
Yes i think by the first release of UE5, the 3rd season of Witcher will be out :LOL: (joking!)


Question to the veterans : When they implemented the CryEngine2 update... Was it for everything at once ? or just for a specific planet ?

I am just wondering if they could release UE5 for one planet at a time ?

Thus making it the ideal destination for those who want to benchmark their big computers...

...And planets still under CE2 might temporarily be deserted ^_^
 
Yes i think by the first release of UE5, the 3rd season of Witcher will be out :LOL: (joking!)


Question to the veterans : When they implemented the CryEngine2 update... Was it for everything at once ? or just for a specific planet ?

I am just wondering if they could release UE5 for one planet at a time ?

Thus making it the ideal destination for those who want to benchmark their big computers...

...And planets still under CE2 might temporarily be deserted ^_^

Well I suspect that what might happen is they will just postpone the release until all planet partners planets have been migrated. Or like I said they would rather disable those planets. I do not see a way for them to have 2 engines running and switching between the 2 engines when a player goes to space and then flies to another planet. So yeah I suspect they might either postpone or just disable the planet partner planets.

So it might end up being one planet and space and the asteroid and space stations that will only be accessible at first until the planet partners catch up and migrate. But to be honest some planet partners might actually beat MA to it in the migration and be ready before even MA is ready. RT on the other hand though. I think they no longer maintain the planet. So I think they will need to find new buyers for those planets or just end them altogether as I said above.

Which is a shame. I loved RT when it was first introduced. Then it went downhill pretty fast and the updates made it worse and worse. They just kept changing what it looked like and now it is just a complete and utter mess. Things clipping into eachother roads are all weird and buggy looking. Just everything on RT now is just bad.

I mean I have been waiting for MA to switch to a new engine or do an engine upgrade and I am just happy they are finally doing it.

Will it bring more players to the game? Perhaps!? but it might also not really make much difference. if anything it will force some long time players who can not afford new computers away and will mean their old pc's might not be able to run the new UE5 version of the game. So it could have both good and bad sides to the rollout and playerbase.
 
Well I suspect that what might happen is they will just postpone the release until all planet partners planets have been migrated. Or like I said they would rather disable those planets. I do not see a way for them to have 2 engines running and switching between the 2 engines when a player goes to space and then flies to another planet. So yeah I suspect they might either postpone or just disable the planet partner planets.

So it might end up being one planet and space and the asteroid and space stations that will only be accessible at first until the planet partners catch up and migrate. But to be honest some planet partners might actually beat MA to it in the migration and be ready before even MA is ready. RT on the other hand though. I think they no longer maintain the planet. So I think they will need to find new buyers for those planets or just end them altogether as I said above.

Which is a shame. I loved RT when it was first introduced. Then it went downhill pretty fast and the updates made it worse and worse. They just kept changing what it looked like and now it is just a complete and utter mess. Things clipping into eachother roads are all weird and buggy looking. Just everything on RT now is just bad.

I mean I have been waiting for MA to switch to a new engine or do an engine upgrade and I am just happy they are finally doing it.

Will it bring more players to the game? Perhaps!? but it might also not really make much difference. if anything it will force some long time players who can not afford new computers away and will mean their old pc's might not be able to run the new UE5 version of the game. So it could have both good and bad sides to the rollout and playerbase.
Another option is for MA to do the Rocktropia migration, and then basically levy the cost of doing a basic migration on any Planet Partner earnings. Basically a tax on Neverdie's "tax". If that's viable for MA, no idea, but it's a possible option.

I for one don't want to see it discontinued because D-class amps.
 
Question to the veterans : When they implemented the CryEngine2 update... Was it for everything at once ? or just for a specific planet ?
CryEngine brought us the other planets. And Vehicles and Space Travel. CryEngine did what Gamebryo didn't (the original engine). It wasn't a planet-by-planet thing.

The game radically changed and was actually pretty difficult to play for 6 months during the last engine upgrade. The map changed. The controls changed.
 
Question to the veterans : When they implemented the CryEngine2 update... Was it for everything at once ? or just for a specific planet ?

The game was at its core completely demolished
When servers went back up after implementing CE2, we didn't have teams, taming or many other features we consider standard today.

Also, we still havn't been able to sit or lie down on the ground since. =(

It took many years before taming was introduced again.

My point is.. when the engine was changed there were massive changes in the game. A lot of features wasn't ready when engines was swapped.

I don't think that will happen now though. I think MA will make sure everything works with this move, since there are so many more developers ready to work with UE :)
 
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More ideas on what avatars could in theory (but likely not in practice) look like in Untropia

You're determined to set some expectations that you know they won't be met. You're setting yourself for 100% disappointment. Even if the engine will change, one of the first priorities of the EU team is to not become generic like in these videos, to try and stay unique. Every game designer has a vision that would like to apply on their game which will most likely be different than our own and that is OK. There are so many aspects that need to work well together and considering the team is rather small, the nice-to-have list would be pretty big but hopefully the list of bugs will be a lot smaller than it is now. For example, from the new upgrade I would like them to address, before avatar details and landscapes:

- MOBS HITBOXES!!!!!
- wave system;
- permanent fix for buff bugs;
- floor bugs/falling through floors;
- stuck in walls/rocks bugs, being teleported out of RDI rooms because touching some walls;
- removal of useless materials from loot tables;
- ingame news system with archives;
- PVP bugs;
- better mob AI
- mob spawns issues;
- better mentoring system;

Let's just hope there will be a smooth transition and all current features and systems will be present right after the jump.
 
i would add....
full zoom maps and map notes that do not vanish at logout
sticky note system is simply PRIMITIVE
possibly map mob spawn areas incorporated (like calypsomap site)
if i need a "XYZ" select it adn being offered for zone , nearest teleport and maturity to kill

and yes eve, revamp or removal of dead BP
 
Trees look pretty sorted, although for an alien world MA would need some more alien flora too. Certainly one of the things I'm liking in these unreal demos is that there seems to be as much scrub land / low level vegetation as there is for forests and the like. Meaning there shouldn't be any excuses for flat single texture areas. There should always be something that can go there, even if it isn't particularly tall or volumous.


PS that video remind anyone of Athena Space Port?
Very realistic indeed! I wonder what minimum specs will be to be able to handle this level of detail.
 
Nah not yet, this is based on Epics Unreal Inside videos and seeing the potential from that.
Unless you also ment the updated vegetations, then the vegetation north of Jurra Plateau
have some nice updates.
Thanks will check Jurra Plateau
 
Any idea how long people think this will take for MA to release the UE5 update?

I mean I know it will be a hell of a lot of work. But I have a feeling it could be at minimum 3 years?
My money is on 5
 
I think Rt and any other planet partner who fails to migrate over to UE5 will probably just end up being discontinued and ended. They will probably either try get new interest or get them to be bought by new companies or they will just as I said end those planets altogether. That might then mean we get new planets to replace them in the future. I really do not know.

This is just a guess on my part.
Makes me wonder what the actual agreement is. MA in theory would want to protect themselves/the platform from companies going bust like NI did. It looks bad for their platform to have content with bit rot, not to mention the damage it does to getting potential other planet partners on board. Not that I think there is much chance of anyone doing that again. Maybe they have something in place that says MA will re-acquire any assets added to Entropia after N years of going without updates/commits?
 
Well I suspect that what might happen is they will just postpone the release until all planet partners planets have been migrated. Or like I said they would rather disable those planets. I do not see a way for them to have 2 engines running and switching between the 2 engines when a player goes to space and then flies to another planet. So yeah I suspect they might either postpone or just disable the planet partner planets.

So it might end up being one planet and space and the asteroid and space stations that will only be accessible at first until the planet partners catch up and migrate. But to be honest some planet partners might actually beat MA to it in the migration and be ready before even MA is ready. RT on the other hand though. I think they no longer maintain the planet. So I think they will need to find new buyers for those planets or just end them altogether as I said above.

Which is a shame. I loved RT when it was first introduced. Then it went downhill pretty fast and the updates made it worse and worse. They just kept changing what it looked like and now it is just a complete and utter mess. Things clipping into eachother roads are all weird and buggy looking. Just everything on RT now is just bad.

I mean I have been waiting for MA to switch to a new engine or do an engine upgrade and I am just happy they are finally doing it.

Will it bring more players to the game? Perhaps!? but it might also not really make much difference. if anything it will force some long time players who can not afford new computers away and will mean their old pc's might not be able to run the new UE5 version of the game. So it could have both good and bad sides to the rollout and playerbase.

It seems odd... didn't ND make a metric f**kton of Benjamins selling a crypto coin that failed? or did all that cash go towards funding the development of the coin/infrastructure. Would like to hope he had that cash aside for RT development funding.
 
CryEngine brought us the other planets. And Vehicles and Space Travel. CryEngine did what Gamebryo didn't (the original engine). It wasn't a planet-by-planet thing.

The game radically changed and was actually pretty difficult to play for 6 months during the last engine upgrade. The map changed. The controls changed.

Nitpicking but original engine was NetImmerse (it kinda rebranded/evolved into Gamebryo)
 
CryEngine brought us the other planets. And Vehicles and Space Travel. CryEngine did what Gamebryo didn't (the original engine). It wasn't a planet-by-planet thing.

The game radically changed and was actually pretty difficult to play for 6 months during the last engine upgrade. The map changed. The controls changed.
I don't remember the controls changing much... wasn't it still the standard, you can redefine all the keys milarki? Certainly I don't remember anything as horrific as the last change they made where we can press forward and it runs our avatar backward... or our avatar is fixated in looking straight ahead if viewed front on... or all the way to the left or right.
 
The game was at its core completely demolished
When servers went back up after implementing CE2, we didn't have teams, taming or many other features we consider standard today.

Also, we still havn't been able to sit or lie down on the ground since. =(

It took many years before taming was introduced again.

My point is.. when the engine was changed there were massive changes in the game. A lot of features wasn't ready when engines was swapped.

I don't think that will happen now though. I think MA will make sure everything works with this move, since there are so many more developers ready to work with UE :)

Bringing back sitting/laying on the ground would be a nice touch. In fact... I will personally offer to learn UE5 and implement it for them free of charge!

Now there's an offer...
 
You're determined to set some expectations that you know they won't be met.

Damn straight

You're setting yourself for 100% disappointment.

Method to the madness. Once bitten twice shy. We know MA have a history of not utilising engines graphics/animation/lighting capabilities properly (although I'll grant that the conversion of CE2 levels to a massive continent wide map and a space implementation was nice work, as was the networking). They've done it twice before. The point is to highlight the possibilities early on to deter sub-par effort from being delivered as "good enough"

Even if the engine will change, one of the first priorities of the EU team is to not become generic like in these videos, to try and stay unique.

MA are certainly unique in how they do things.... but not always in a positive way.

Every game designer has a vision that would like to apply on their game which will most likely be different than our own and that is OK.

Probably flying mobs that go under the ground wasn't a bug but a creative choice that accentuates the artist's inner dreams and desires.

hopefully the list of bugs will be a lot smaller than it is now.

Realistically we know that won't happen

For example, from the new upgrade I would like them to address, before avatar details and landscapes:

Moving the engine to RenPy would be a good move if avatars and landscapes are not that important before game mechanics ;)

Let's just hope there will be a smooth transition and all current features and systems will be present right after the jump.

yes... definitely we should hope... but I won't be holding my breath. Amusingly... I actually suspect we'll have more chance of the graphics being done better this time but the features/bugs/gameplay implementation being the things lagging behind. Reason I think this is that that the current artists they have are making some quite nice stuff in cryengine and that it should be easy to hire extra ones for unreal. Case in point the RDI lab and some of the newer areas on Calypso - e.g. Corinth are nice.
 
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