11.10

Version Update Build Release Date Release Date::2011/05/17 Short Description Voice Chat Expansion, Push to Talk, Markers, Mining Update, In-World Support Service Updated Entity Entropia Universe Affiliated Updates Forum Thread News section on EP.com All Version Updates | Entropia Universe Version Updates

Official Release Notes

Release Notes Sum-Up

Since the release notes are pretty extensive, here you have them in short:

• The Entropia Unvierse Official Game Site is Updated - check it out: www.entropiauniverse.com.
• Voice Chat Expansion and Updates - proximity voice chat available for you all.
• Push to Talk - actively choose when your microphone is on.
• Markers - vehicle markers are added and there's now additional information when targeting participants and creatures.
• Mining Update - All bombs, all detectonators, all excavators and all refiners can now be used to find, extract and refine any type of resource.
• In-World Support Service - send support cases through Entropia Universe.
• Improvements and Fixed Issues- for example, we have added a relation between the strength attribute and max carried weight before speed is affected.
• Policy Updates - Voice Communication Service - Terms of Use is updated, due to the voice chat expansion and updates.

The Entropia Universe Official Game Site

Have you seen our complete remake of www.entropiauniverse.com? If not you should definitely check it out. There's the buzz,a blog-like function where we will post information regularly, the media section, with both concept art and screenshots from Entropia Universe, some basic beginner's guides and more.

Especially check out the latest buzz and the addition to the beginner's guide for Voice Chat (http://www.entropiauniverse.com/entropia-universe/beginners-guide/interaction/).

New Features

Several new features are included in this release:

• Voice Chat Expansion and Updates
• Push to Talk
• Markers
• Mining Update
• In-World Support Service

Voice Chat Expansion and Updates

In 11.3.0 we released the first part of the Voice Chat system that is developed through a collaboration between MindArk and Ericsson. Today we release the second part with the following expansions:

• Proximity Voice Chat. This is included in the Basic Voice Package which is a voice chat based on proximity, available for all participants for free.
• Create a voice team (Premium Voice Package).

...and more voice chat features are in the pipeline.

Basic Voice Package - Proximity Voice Chat

By using the Basic Voice Package you will be able to speak and listen to other participants in your vicinity. The participants' sound volume will differ depending on how close you are to them. Also, you can hear which direction the sound is coming from.

This feature is disabled by default, but you can easily activate it:

1. In the Main Chat UI, use the volume icon as a button to open the Options UI for Voice Chat settings.
2. Select Enable Proximity Voice.
3. Accept the changes and close the Options UI.

Premium Voice Package

The Premium Voice Package includes the following features:

• Private Voice Chat, where you call people on your Friend List when you are in-world.
  Note: The participant you are calling must also have the Premium Voice package.
• Create a voice team with a maximum of 6 members, including yourself.
• Increased sound quality, compared to the Basic Voice Package. This affects the sound quality when listening to other participant's proximity speech, no matter which voice package they are using.

Team Voice Chat

With a voice team you can hear the whole team, as if they are within 2 meters from you, even if they are spread out over different planets in Entropia Universe.

Note: You can only initiate a voice team if you subscribe to Premium Voice Package or Premium Voice Team Package+. However, the rest of the members only need the Basic Voice Package.

If you are in a Voice Team and target one of your members, you can see if that member has their microphone and loudspeaker activated or not.

You will still be able to hear other participants based on their distance to you and they can hear you in the same way.

Premium Voice Team Package

The Premium Voice Package can be upgraded to Premium Voice Team Package+ which includes the following features:

• Create a voice team with a maximum of 12 members, including yourself.
• All features in the Premium Voice Package.

Subscription

The subscription is based on a fee that is paid in beforehand, allowing free usage of the system for the coming 30-day period. At any time you can choose to deactivate the fee-based services and then that subscription is put on hold. You can either downgrade a service or select the free Basic Voice Package in the Desired Service option.

If you have a valid subscription of the current Voice Chat service, you will access the Premium Voice Package for the rest of the 30-day period. After that, if you wish to continue using the Premium Voice Package you have to activate that subscription. Otherwise you will only have access to the Basic Voice Package.

Note: The Voice Chat does not longer have its own PED balance. From now on, if you have accepted a fee-based voice service, your subscription fee is drawn directly from your PED Card. If you wish to pause your subscription you need to actively do so.

Basic Voice Package

The Basic Voice Package is available for all participants without any subscription fees.

Premium Voice Package

The regular subscription fee for the Premium Voice Package is 15 PED per 30 days.

Premium Voice Team Package

The regular subscription fee for the Premium Voice Team Package+ is 10 PED per 30 days.

Note: The Premium Voice Team Package+ is an add-on to the Premium Voice Package. Therefore, a subscription to the Premium Voice Team Package+ also requires a subscription to the Premium Voice Package.

Main Chat

Three icons are added to the Main Chat due to the addition of the Basic Voice Package:

• Loudspeaker icon: Button to enable and disable incoming voice sound. As default, when you log in, the loudspeaker is always enabled.
• Microphone icon: Button to enable and disable your microphone. As default, when you log in, the microphone is always enabled.
• Volume icon: Button to open the Options UI for Voice Chat settings. This icon also indicates the outgoing voice level.

Communicator

The Communicator UI is used for selecting service type and setting up payment for selected services.

• Current Service - Displays the highest service currently activated.
• Time Until Renewal - Displays the number of days and hours until your subscription needs to be renewed.
• Desired Service - Roll-down menu with available services. This is also where you can deactivate a subscription.
• Fee - Fee, in PED, for selected service in Desired Service.
• Package Details - Information about what is included in service selected in Desired Service

Bandwidth Connection Settings

If you want or need to change your bandwidth settings you will now do it through the Tools in the Client Loader.

Note: The voice chat is affected by your bandwidth settings. For efficient use while using voice chat we recommend 256 kb/s-1Mb/s.

Genesis

Genesis, the starting area for new account holders, also has free proximity voice chat.

Push to Talk

You can use the feature Push to Talk to actively choose when your microphone is on. This way you won't constantly transmit your background noise.

Enable (or disable) Push to Talk in the Options for voice chat. You find the action Push to Talk in the Action Library and then you can choose to bind it to a key on a keyboard set.

Markers

Vehicle Markers

Each spawned vehicle now has a marker placed above it when you have it in your field of vision. When the vehicle is located outside your field of vision the marker is placed on the border of the Desktop. The marker's size corresponds to how far away the vehicle is, the larger the marker is the closer the vehicle is to you.

Note: You can only see vehicle markers when you are sitting in a vehicle yourself.

By default, the whole marker is blue. The bottom part of the marker can have a different color to reflect your relation to the vehicle driver:

• Light blue - The vehicle driver is in the same team as you are.
• Green - The vehicle driver is your friend (on your Friend List).
• Dark blue - The vehicle driver is in the same s ociety as you are.
• Yellow - The vehicle driver is in the same force as you are.

Targeting Participants and Creatures

Additional information visible when you target other participants:

• Effect over time. You will see if the targeted participant is affected by any MindForce effect that lasts over time.
• Grace period. You will see "Arrival Safe" when targeting a participant during his or her grace period.

Additional information visible when targeting creatures:

• Effect over time. You will see if the targeted creature is affected by any MindForce effect that lasts over time.
• Danger level. Each creature's danger level is set in relation to other creatures' levels.
• Unreachable. Creatures will have unreachable state visible if they are unreachable.

Mining Update

All bombs, all mining amplifiers, all detectonators, all excavators and all refiners can now be used to find, extract and refine any type of resource.

Note: The new refiner tool also includes tailoring refining.

When you search for resources it is possible to configure what kind of resource to search for. Therefore, the detectonator UI is now opened as long as you have it equipped. You can also search for more than one type of resource concurrently. This will require the amount of bombs needed for selected resources and the tool will be deteriorated accordingly.

Any gained experience while using mentioned tools will be in the profession related to the found resource.

Background

Considering earlier input and future expansions on the mining system we have merged several individual tools within the same usage span into one tool instead of separate tools. The goal with doing this is to simplify the usage of them. With the merge you will have to carry less tools and you don´t need to switch so often at the same time as you can search for a wider range of resources.

Since we aim to expand the mining system with more items and categories along with our Planet Partners, the old system did not scale well and the complexity would be excessive. You can already see some new indications in-world of what is coming.

To maintain the balance when doing this merge we have thoroughly evaluated each individual tool's characteristics, considered market value and blueprints. All in all we believe that these changes are necessary and will make the system easier and more powerful to use, providing a flexible, viable and stable part of the foundation in the Entropia Universe economy.

Note that the tier levels on mining tools are maintained.

In-World Support Service

You can now open a support center UI in-world and handle your support cases through it. This functions just as the web interface for support cases, which means you can create cases, check both your active and closed ones and communicate with support through here. However, if you wish to upload files to explain your support case you have to submit your support case through the support web site.

Improvements and Fixed Issues

Health Points

• When you increase or decrease your maximum health points, you will receive a notification.
• When clicking on a Health Update Notification the Skill UI is opened with the Attribute category selected.

Max Caried Weight

We have changed the max carried weight before speed is affected. Additionally, strength attribute points can raise your limit for when your weight is affected by speed. When your max carried weight is updated you will receive a notification.

Miscellaneous

• MindForce implants can be inserted again.
• You won't be able to drop items when in a vehicle anymore.
• The in-world account details will now show the correct gender.
• When scanning a vehicle you can only get scanning skill when somebody is inside it.

Policy Updates

Updated or added the following sections in the Voice Communication Service - Terms of Use:

• Added Rule of Conduct. In short, the addition stipulates the following rules:
  • You may not broadcast copyrighted material.
  • You may not make disturbing noises that may compromise the experience for other users in Entropia Universe.
• Updated Termination of Subscription or Services
• Updated or added the following sections in the Voice Communication Service - Terms of Use:
  • Services Provided by Third Party
  • Subscription Fee
  • Service Level and Support
  • Termination of Subscription or Services
  • Cooling-off Period
  • Additional Terms

Note: The Voice Communication Service - Terms of Use is referred to from the Entropia Universe Account Terms of Use, which you have to accept before you can log in to Entropia Universe.

Known Issues

• The voice chat sound quality can be negatively affected when driving in a vehicle.
• If you activate a subscription for the Premium Voice Package, and previously had the Basic Voice Package, the voice chat will be silent for around 3 seconds and then it will be back again.
• Known issue affecting support cases sent from Calypso and Next Island in-world or to them on the web: the in-world and web support portals are separate, meaning that you cannot see support cases sent from in-world on the web and vice versa.
• Known issue due to the merge of mining blueprints:
  

If you have two blueprints, one for ore and one for enmatter, of the same type in a blueprint book they will be converted to two similar blueprints. One will be left in the book, while the other one will be extracted to your Inventory. However, note that the quality ratings might differ between them.

Further Information

Un-noted changes, images of new stuff, etc go here