TWENTROPIA - Happy 20th birthday, Entropia Universe

Discussion in 'Entropia News' started by Tass, Jan 30, 2023.

  1. Tass

    Tass Administrator

    On this day 20 years ago Project Entropia was officially released with Version Update 4.2. Before VU 4.2 has been in Commercial Open Trial for 8 month. However, some critics would claim it's still in Beta 20 years later.

    The original message in Project Entropia's news section back then was rather minimalistic:


    PROJECT ENTROPIA GOLD - 2003-01-30 23:57:56

    Gold is launched.​


    Previously in December 2002 the Gold version was accounced with a longer press release:


    Project Entropia Goes Gold! - 2002-12-10 17:39:24

    Swedish interactive entertainment developer MindArk today announced the virtual universe Project Entropia is going gold on January 30th 2003. Project Entropia is Sweden's largest software project ever, and has been in development since 1997.

    Project Entropia is a three-dimensional virtual universe on the Internet accessible from any computer with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world.

    Project Entropia is an entertainment product aimed for global usage across culture, age and sex barriers. The main focus in the development has been to cater to the features desired by online gamers as well as for users engaged in society and community building - those with an interest in meeting other people for social interaction and adventure. Millions of users will be able to interact in the Project Entropia universe.

    Project Entropia introduces unique features like a real economy where its currency, PED, is exchangeable with any major currency in the world. The software needed to enjoy Project Entropia is free to download, and this virtual universe is free to enter and spend time in.

    'It is even possible to make a living in Project Entropia,' says Chairman Benny Iggland. 'This is being demonstrated by several of our commercial trial users. A market economy is rapidly evolving, with our users defining prices on various commodities and items available in the virtual universe. Project Entropia will also incorporate real world commodity trading in a three dimensional environment.'

    'Some 15 million USD have been invested in the development of Project Entropia to date and we expect to continue developing Project Entropia in the years to come for a sum of at least 5 million USD annually,' says Managing Director Jan Welter Timkrans.

    Swedish interactive entertainment developer MindArk today announced the virtual universe Project Entropia is going gold on January 30th 2003. Project Entropia is Sweden's largest software project ever, and has been in development since 1997.​

    Project Entropia is a three-dimensional virtual universe on the Internet accessible from any computer with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world.​

    Project Entropia is an entertainment product aimed for global usage across culture, age and sex barriers. The main focus in the development has been to cater to the features desired by online gamers as well as for users engaged in society and community building - those with an interest in meeting other people for social interaction and adventure. Millions of users will be able to interact in the Project Entropia universe.​

    Project Entropia introduces unique features like a real economy where its currency, PED, is exchangeable with any major currency in the world. The software needed to enjoy Project Entropia is free to download, and this virtual universe is free to enter and spend time in.​

    'It is even possible to make a living in Project Entropia,' says Chairman Benny Iggland. 'This is being demonstrated by several of our commercial trial users. A market economy is rapidly evolving, with our users defining prices on various commodities and items available in the virtual universe. Project Entropia will also incorporate real world commodity trading in a three dimensional environment.'​

    'Some 15 million USD have been invested in the development of Project Entropia to date and we expect to continue developing Project Entropia in the years to come for a sum of at least 5 million USD annually,' says Managing Director Jan Welter Timkrans.​


    Back then the map of Calypso was looking like this:

    Project-Entropia-VU-4.2-map.jpg


    And here the release notes of VU 4.2:


    PROJECT ENTROPIA VERSION UPDATE 4.2

    2003-01-28

    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.​
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2023
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  2. GeorgeSkywalker

    GeorgeSkywalker Explorer

  3. That's a long time and almost incredible it's still going. The map looks much different from the current one, although a lot of the TP locations are there.
     
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