|
| Planet: | Entropia Universe |
| Time: | 09-10-2007 |
| News: | New clothes/armor graphics, inventory changes, coloring system changes, selectable amounts in TT, foot guards, 4 out of 5 bank buildings |
|
|
ENTROPIA UNIVERSE VERSION UPDATE 9.0
2007-10-09
PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT IF YOU FIND SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY IN THE ENTROPIA UNIVERSE! IT MIGHT PROVIDE THE INFO YOU NEED BEFORE CONTACTING THE ENTROPIA UNIVERSE SUPPORT DEPARTMENT!
VERSION UPDATE FEATURES
Avatar Creation
- Avatars, armors and clothes have been remodeled. Improvements include: Increased polygon count.
- Higher resolution texture maps.
- Normal mapping technology.
- Reflective and glossy surfaces.
- Dynamic level of detail technology (see below).
- Advanced shader usage allowing realistic combinations of different clothing materials.
Existing avatars will now have the opportunity to remodel their avatars. Please take your time during the remodeling process as the procedure cannot be changed once 'Accepted'. A tip in achieving a unique appearance is to begin by randomizing the basic avatar before going into detail.
Facial expressions will be introduced in a later Version Update.
Beauty Specialists have access to a greater range of avatar modifications than the initial Avatar Creation process.
Banks
Bank buildings and functionality have now been introduced to Port Atlantis, Twin Peaks, New Oxford and Fort Argus. The fifth bank will be introduced shortly when its design has been completed. Bank owners will configure their services over the coming days.
Inventory
The Inventory has been redesigned. Increased functionality includes:
- Categories have been reorganized and new categories introduced.
- A new "View Equipped/All" toggle button allows you to quickly view which Inventory items your avatar has equipped.
- A new "Compact" button allows you to automatically reorganize your Inventory making the most efficient use of available space.
- A new "Avatar Camera Focus" button allows you to instantly bring your avatar into In-World camera focus.
- It is now possible to Equip/Unequip by directly dragging items to/from your In-World avatar.
- The inventory "Avatar View" section has been separated and is display optional.
- Equipped Items are highlighted in blue in your Inventory "All" view.
- Quick Menu functionality has been introduced for all Inventory objects allowing you to right click on items in your inventory and quickly view "Avatar Info", "Market Value", or "Equip/Unequip", "Split", "Open", "Detach Attachments", and "Merge All" for similar stacks.
- Items entering the Inventory are automatically sorted to the correct category.
Trade Terminal
The Trade Terminal interface has been redesigned. Improvements include:
- "Buy" and "Sell" are now two separate transactions.
- Unique amounts of ammunition/bombs/probes can be instantly bought, for example 87 probes or 3049 Medium Weapon Cells.
- A "Confirm Transaction" panel has been introduced listing all items being sold to the Trade Terminal. Items mistakenly sold to the Trade Terminal will no longer be replaced by the Support Dept.
Repair Terminal
The Repair Terminal interface has been redesigned. Also:
- A "Confirm Transaction" panel has been introduced.
- The default repair setting is now 100%. Use the slider to change repair percentage.
- It is now possible to repair equipped MindForce implants using the "Add Equipped" function.
- Equipment with attachments can now be repaired without having to separate the different pieces.
Storage Terminal
The Storage Terminal interface has been redesigned to reflect the same layout as the new Inventory including automatic item sorting (as Inventory) and the "Compact" button function (as Inventory).
Action Library
The 'Friend' section of the Action Library is renamed 'Avatar' and has received several actions previously founding the 'Interaction' section, including Avatar Info, Society and Team actions.
Coloring
The coloring system has been enhanced. Improvements include:
- Paint Cans have been redesigned and new colors introduced.
- A saturation slider has been introduced to the coloring process to allow better control over the final color.
- Lower skilled participants may attempt difficult colors but with lower success rate. A warning message is displayed when attempting to use colors above recommended skill level.
- 'Success Rate' and 'Professional Requirement' information for all colors has been added in the Item Info panel.
- Coloring using Paint Cans with difficulty matching your skills will give a learning period skill increase bonus.
- The success rate has been revised to better reflect skill level and amount of paint cans used.
- The amount of paint used when coloring will affect coloring results.
- Most of the Paint Can value is now transferred to the colored item.
- Items no longer deteriorate when colored.
Participants with Paint Cans in their inventory may notice that their amounts have changed. No loss of value has been incurred as the system was rebalanced to provide the same output from fewer cans.
The words "Uncolored" and specific leather type names have been removed from Item names. The information can be found in the Item Info stats instead.
Armor/Clothing
Armor Foot Guards are finally introduced. No extra damage will be incurred by avatars without Foot Guards until Version Update 9.1.
The increased detail of armor and clothing will demand more system performance. In an attempt to stave off a lag increase, a deterioration of 2 PEC per item has been introduced when equipping garments and armor. Increased realism will make clothes look more worn as their condition diminishes.
Just like today, all combinations of different armors and clothes will not be perfect but many new unforeseen combinations will look great.
Dynamic Level of Detail
A new 'Avatar Quality' slider has been included in the In-World Options panel allowing participants to increase or decrease the quality of avatars in their vicinity. A higher value allows better quality textures but increases memory consumption on the video card. A reduced value allows more avatars to be in view without increasing lag.
Navigation
Following feedback from the Entropia Guides, default navigation has also been mapped to the arrow keys on the keyboard. Your avatar can be rotated by right clicking, holding and moving the mouse. Unfortunately this was not compatible with the 'Instant Action Menu' option and it has therefore been removed from the In-World Options panel.
Beauty Styling
Only the basic range of hairstyles is available in this Version Update. A complete range of extra hairstyles will be added in Version Update 9.1.
Items
A wide range of new items have been introduced.
In the near future we will increase participant customization of various items including clothes, furniture, storage boxes and more. Participants will be able to apply different materials like metal, wood, leather and latex to customizable items. Due to the ongoing development process of this feature, crafting with leather has been disabled.
Login Window Options
"Disable Shaders", "Lower Resolution Icons", "Low Resolution Avatar Texture", and "Reduced Visual Effects" options have been removed from the Login Window Options panel.
Entropia Universe Web Site
The Account Application Process has been optimized.
Support
Support Dept. services have now been extended to Saturdays.
Other Enhancements
- The "Equipment" category in the Auction has been renamed "Components".
- An Extract PED/PEC function has been added to the PED Card Item Info panel.
- The "Attitude" feature, which allows society members of Rank 1 to set a relationship attitude to other approved societies, has been fixed.
Also, the Umbranoid species have disappeared from Calypso for the time being.
|
|