UE5: What if it actually works?

General
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I’m gonna start this with a little bit of context as It’s more of a sentimental post than a technical one.

I started Project Entropia a long, long time ago with my cousin. It was way back, when the internet was new, it was when I had my first ever PC. We were learning about computers, modding GTA Vice City, downloading at 40KB/s, making videos on Metacafe lol anyone remember Metacafe?

Then comes along a little thing called Propject Entropia, fuck me, it was everything we wanted to do and more. Immerse ourselves in this digital alternate reality, play games, and of course, the RCE…. WE. WERE. HOOKED.

We played a lot. We explored for days on end, got stranded by the Oil Rig and those fucking Araneatrox… man, thank god for CRT! The potential was overwhelming at times. It was so fucking good.

But then time passes, you move onto other stuff, pop back in for a few kills to keep your account alive. But it’s always there…. Always.

Then one day, you log in for a few kills and don’t log out till you wake up, face in keyboard, WASD imprinted on your forehead. Hooked again!!

This time… it was fucking CRY ENGINE! The same engine that made Crysis look the way it did all the way back in what 2008 ish? Then cars, and proper space. All this new exciting stuff. We played a good few years when we came back. Then my cousin stopped playing for other reasons and I was cracking on solo.

Still very very very green by the way. Even after years playing. We were just happy exploring things, shooting things we shouldn’t be, hoping to land a HOF and not really paying attention I suppose lol

Then came the final day. I was out for about 5 hours straight, killing Argonauts behind Twin Peaks, down the winding path and onto the green plain over the hill…

“This creature didn’t carry any loot.“

“This creature didn’t carry any loot.“

“This creature didn’t carry any loot.“

…

…

“Click”

I logged off for the very last time with Lonny DANGER Saskobar.
5 hours without a single drop, I shit you not. I had no ammo left, and nothing to recover from.

Lonny starved of hope that day, with only his blue mohawk and eyes that were unsettlingly close together to sustain him. May Lootius rest his soul.

This is where the context I mentioned at the start plays it’s part, because I didn’t try to log back in again until October 2025, Lonny was dust and my account was gone. I was gutted, I thought I was almost uber with my Kallous 5 xD

That’s a pretty long time for shit to happen, and it did. I missed a ton, and can’t speak on most things that happened while I was away. I feel there’s a lot of trust lost and shit like that.

So when it comes to things like UE5 being announced for christmas and there’s people who aint as excited as I am, I get it, I just don’t share the feeling due to not being here.

Anyway.

This is what I think.

Entropia is about to undergo something UNREAL! Pun intended!

It’s about to move to it’s 4th engine technically. And why is that? Because the old engine is not able to step up to the plate anymore. The universe is evolving.

Does Cryengine have issues? bugs? things just totally not working or removed?

Fuck yeah.

And I’m really fucking glad it does to be honest. Change breaks things. Code has limitations. So if you try and do something the engine can’t do, you will end up with shit, half baked shit, that is released because that’s what the universe wanted to become, even if it couldn’t.

Now, I don’t want this to go into money territory, I know people are heavily invested and there have been real big losses due to change. That’s not what this is about.

That’s a separate issue on the same topic.

So yeah, the 4th engine. I don’t really think there are any other games out there that have done what Entropia is about to do. This whole reality is gonna change. The laws of physics will be different. Things we’re used to not working will suddenly work, because they were made ahead of their time on an engine that didn’t support it.

And now were coming into an engine that is seriously well document, tested, used, maintained…

Do not think of this as an upgrade, you have to think of this as a technical extinction event. The old is dead. And that’s exactly what Mindark calls it.

We have to think not only about the future, but we should also mourn the past. Because Cryengine 2 did well. Maybe not recently, but it got old, old things don’t work proper all the time. It brought us from Gamebryo to now. And we’re all still here because of it. We are the survivors of this Technical Extinction Event.

The new generation of civilisation will come, hopefully, new colonists will land and we will start again. We will rebuild. It’s up to us to make this work.

Mindark provide the Universe. We bring the life.

And we will, better than ever before. Maybe this time, the universe can be fully realised, and that spark that brought us all here in the first place will re-ingite and bring in the next generation.

Maybe this time the universe will be ready, maybe not.

But, can you imagine?

What if it actually works?

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Do you mean different as in correct-ish? Will that include thrust vectors and gravity in space, do you think? Will we be able to play some 3-d version of one of my old favourites, actually called simply “Thrust”, or even “Asteroids”?

Are you expecting some kind of reset because of the new engine? And I don’t know about re-building - maybe just building more than snugs finally? Bases, hubs and underground tunnels?

What are the elements required to keep many thousand people active in the game these days?

I believe that if it works, it will be because of gameplay, not graphics. However, our interaction with better graphics may admittedly play a big role, just as exploring the alien world made a difference all those years ago.

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On of my biggest hope of this thing getting finally realesed is if they can reduce expenses significantly and stop selling their game share by share and halve the cut of the house to keep players in game and not feeling they are getting robbed 90% of the time cycling

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Depends on Mindark if they want it to work.

Mindark have an opportunity.

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It won’t!

For sure it will look better but under the hood it will still have the systems in place that have been neglected for so long by MindArk. They don’t understand their game, they don’t listen to their customers and don’t have a long term vision.

All we have seen from them last few years is bandaids and shiny things to distract us for a few weeks.

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It will “work” for some time because I think many players will come back and try UE5, and get “rehooked”.

Bet lets be real, its MindArk we are talking about here. Many players stayed and played this game due to what it could have been. Many realized that it will never be THAT GAME.

But I dont want to just say bad things about MA, because I know its not easy to run a company (I have my own too). I understand mistakes CAN be made and WILL be made along the way but Mindark has made too many of them, and a lot of them really crucial ones and even in last several updates they keep making them. They dont learn from their mistakes, which is the problematic part.

I dont think EU will ever be a big game as we wanted it to be. It will always be just for several K of people playing. And thats fine, and people either accept it or just move on like most.

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To me a successful launch of UE5 will mean:

  • Bugs being less frequent and fixed in a more timely manner
  • Content will be pushed faster and more polished
  • Improvement to graphics

I don’t think there will be a magic surge of new players but I think it will make it easier for MindArk to provide a better product and keep it more interesting and as such increase retention and build long term growth.

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I’m not being literal when I say rebuild. I don’t mean to actually rebuild structures, I meant that as more of a metaphorical, hope-inspiring thing. As I said, it’s more of a sentimental post.

UE5 will do far, far more than just graphics. If you think that’s all UE5 is, then I think you will be happy :slight_smile:

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Yeah, I get you, but I’m not talking about money or PED’s.

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I really do sympathise with the trust lost in MindArk over the years and the lack of optimism with this.

Maybe I am naïve, a romantic, maybe it will all turn to shit, who knows?

I truly believe the potential with UE5 is staggering. And if they do get this right. It’s going to usher in a new age of Entropia.

Don’t forget the engine we’re on is a heavily modified and unsupported version of CryEngine 2 from like 16 years ago, nobody knows how to maintain it properly anymore, hence the bugs, fuckups, and other shit.

You also gotta take stock of the fact that a new CEO was appointed in April last year. Since then, there’s been some really good movement, and in the right direction it seems.

I have hope for the future.

I really fucking hope I am right :rofl:

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Mindark could create something a bit similar to Ready Player One movie but with out the bad parts or the dystopia.

With UE5 and AI integration they could start building something like this and with the power of UE6 and epics games systems just think about what Mindark could achieve.

We could have our Fortnite skins or things from other games inside Entropia with Epic Games eco systems.

It’s like some else said UE5 AI integration its not just about graphics the new tools will give them the opportunity to build new systems and game play mechanics and other things the limitations of the old engine and tools is almost over.

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The only thing that will save this game is - MOAR VOID LORDS

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The huge potential has been there for over twenty years.

Put a lift shaft in a building and you have the potential to install a lift, but time and time again MA have only installed a ladder - or a spiral staircase (yeah - telvelators and future tech… ok).

Now there is the software knowledge to put proc gen into the game, but there is the question of whether a planet/area of space is created quickly as a map and then takes server resources, or bits are generated on the fly with live compute, plus any ‘additions’. There is huge potential in both approaches, and both doable, but just look at MA to realise that potential is merely a mountain of possibility that is unlikely to be climbed to more than the foothills.

It’s not much consolation that no other company has apparently managed what MA hasn’t either, although I don’t know enough about other offerings to be fair…

Give me a huge proc gen volume of space that synths travel in dropping nice finds, but at some cost to explore in the first place, and I might do that rather than mining, crafting, hunting, who knows. Add mobs and supply chains and space vehicle modding etc. and it could even overtake games with three letters to their names. Now that’s potential!

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I agree, the potential has always been there.

But you can’t install a lift in an empty lift shaft if the motors are made of wood. Maybe UE5 will bring the metal :sign_of_the_horns:

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Agree with the post above.

The technology and and hardware wasn’t always there for mindark to build there vision.

Maybe now they can build the foundation and everything else.

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Ah man that’s exactly what I’m getting at.

What if it actually works :smiley:

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Based on the mistakes they have done, more technology wont help.

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There are many ways to fail, and the most consistent disappointment has not been the material (wood or metal), it has been the ineptitude associated with the people doing the driving. Or, in racing, it has sometimes been the race strategy guy.

Look at how things are doing with ANY of the new content in the past twelve months or so. All the stuff has been ported to be able to run on ‘wood’, and technically it is doing just fine, I’d say. There are even good ideas in amongst the mix, but they don’t make up for the poor overall results.

_____

Small language lesson for free, not meant as negative at all, just for non-native speakers.

What if it actually works is a first conditional, which means the probability is fairly open, anywhere from improbable to probable. The second conditional is what if it actually worked. Here the probability is on the low side. I believe almost all players will view the question as being much more a second conditional due to years of experience.

Yes, what if is still what if, but it will/would (same idea) take shifts that I simply have no faith in, despite all the potential that has been oozing for two decades now. It has been wasted and will be wasted. It amazes me more that it still appears to be unique.

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100%, especially in the early 2010’s and before.

That being said, I’m a bit skeptical because of MA tendency to miss major innovations. Among other things:

  • the mobile app revolution: we got Compet deeds/prototype and an Android companion app at some point.
  • cryptocurrencies: EU was perfectly positioned to harness the trend (OG P2E, RCE before it was a thing) and we got crypto deposits for a few years and a botched initiative (Deeptokens).

The game has changed a couple of times its engine before, I don’t know if it got more players/activity after that. Distributing the game through Steam has probably helped more (and we dodged Steam tokens).

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I am also skeptical that MA will get it right come UE5 client drop in December 2026.

But I agree with pretty much everything that Bix and a few others have said.

As the owner of Entropia Museum - I have had to keep fully upto date with everything MA is doing and has been doing more closely than others because I need to make sure the information I put onto the site is as accurate as it can be.

I am super excited about UE5 launch and I have very high hopes of the potential of what that engine can actually do too. People underestimate that because most people might still have ancient PC’s that they only play EU on.

So most players who play EU probably rarely play other games or more recent games that already used UE5. I played many games that was done in UE5 so I know exactly what it is capable off and what the graphics are like.

People are in for a huge shock when they first login to the client if your PC can handle it that is. If not now is the time to get a new PC/laptop so you do not miss out on this new era of EU.

I also do think we will get some new players come launch but I am in agreement with others that it will not be anything crazy or approaching thousands. Probably low hundreds then probably as word of mouth starts about EU now using UE5 it will spread but it will be slow.

The fact is this game has always been niche and always not properly been advertised by MA either. Yeah back in the early era there was thousands and thousands of active players but it has dropped and dropped to what it is now which is about 1K to 2K active players at a guess.

All I am saying I hope MA get it right at launch, but please do not get angry when they need to do hot fixes and or disable the UE5 client until Jan or Feb in worst case scenario.

Because they are doing dual client that will mean if they do need to disable the UE5 client the old client will still be usable and playable as a fallback which is a very clever move.

Bring it on and see you on the other side.

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