Info: A Brief History of Crafting

[Rayne Jade]

Highlighting VUs that affected crafting...

December 12, 2002 - MindArk sent this note about Patch 4.0 to Project Entropia , a persistent state world currently in open beta:
Construction System - The enhanced construction system will keep any would-be mechanic busy with several thousand unique components. Raw materials must be mined from Calypso and refined through several stages to produce finished goods, allowing for specialist professions to evolve from the different aspects of the construction process.

VU 4.1 - 20 DEC 2002
CONSTRUCTION COMPONENT REDESIGN
The VU 4.1 has a revised component handling system in place. Do not worry - no old knowledge or money is lost by this. All components are transformed into stackable heaps of items, to reduce strain and loading delays. We will also adjust the values of the components, but without any actual loss or gain for anybody. For example - before VU 4.1, a "Component A" was non-stackable and had a value of 20 PEC. When it later is made stackable, its value might be, say, 4 PEC a piece instead. If a crafter has a "Component A" in his/her inventory the component will, after the VU 4.1, be transformed into 5 stackable "Component A" instead (keeping the total value of 20 PEC). Some low-level components may stack as an amount of zero items. If that is the case, please stack more items together or sell the component. The value is the same as before – no money is lost!
New Blueprints Designs
There are several new designs available among the blueprints.
Construction Components Redesign
The VU 4.1 has a revised component handling system in place. All components have been transformed into stackable heaps of items, to reduce strain and loading delays. Please also see the “Read Section” above.
Attributes and Blueprint Quality Rating Values Fixed
The avatar attributes (Strength, Agility, etc.) and the Blueprint Quality Ratings were shown wrongly on the client, indicating values up to the millions. The correct values are now shown.
Blueprint Books Looks Updated
The looks on the blueprint books have been optimized.
KNOWN ISSUES
Crafting
Every time after you have pressed the “Take All” button in a crafting window and if there are two or more crafted items present, your have to restart the crafting process as the “Manufacture” button becomes stuck.
Blueprint missing designs
If you check the “Stats” button on a blueprint, you do not see the designs (ie. which components that is required to make the blueprint component or item). To get the info about the different designs, you must load up the blueprint into a Construction machine. Sorry about the inconvenience.

VU 4.2 - 28 JAN 2003
Blueprint books tradeable
You can now trade and sell blueprint books.

VU 4.3 - 4 MAR 2003
New Construction Areas
Two new areas of construction are introduced; Weapon Attachment Construction and Tool Construction.
More Trade NPCs
Several new trader NPCs have been introduced. Some of the terminals have been removed. Among the new traders is the Technician, who sells blueprints.
New Armor Available to Crafter
Several new armors have been introduced that are craftable only – some of these are the Trooper, Expedition and the Vampire.
Changes to Refining
In order to increase performance you now must place a stack in a Refiner that is dividable by three (for Ore) or two (for Energy Matter) before you try to refine.
Changes in the Traders’ Stock
The trade terminal will no longer sell weapon attachments, clothes or blueprints. The new place to find blueprints and books is on the Technician Trader. The number of Fast Aid Packs available will drop to the FAP-5 only. The rest will be removed from the stock entirely.
Items Info Touch-ups for Components
Several components have had their look changed in the Items Info window.
Blueprint Book Appearance Change
The upgrade routine on the blueprint books (when your book becomes more luxurious with more and better blueprints) has been updated.
Reduced CTD Rate when Clicking on a Blueprint Book
A bug often resulting in a CTD (Crash To Desktop) when clicking on blueprint books has been fixed.

VU 4.4 - 4 APR 2003
Clothes Making
The avatars now can make clothes using raw material from the fauna of Calypso. The system works a lot like the construction system with raw material, a blueprint of the design one wants to make, and a special machine for performing the action.
Colorize
Participants can also colorize their newly created clothes to suit their own style and feeling.

VU 5.1 - 13 JUN 2003
Attachment crafting level 6-10
Attachment crafting on level 6-10 is in, together with the associated components needed. At the moment none of these designs require Lysterium. ,-)
Updated component names
Several components have name updates, mostly the word “Parts” have been added.

VU 5.2 - 15 OCT 2003
Crafting
As stated above, the major reason for having performance problems is due to a high number of items. One of the most cumbersome areas is crafting, or more specifically, the blueprints. Therefore there have been changes to the crafting system. The number of unique blueprints has been reduced to about half, and some crafting categories have disappeared (Tool, Weapon, Armor, and Attachment Components, and Tailoring Materials) completely. The associated skills have also been removed. Some skills have also changed name (the old “Assembling” skills are now called “Manufacturing” instead, and the old “Manufacturing”-skill are removed). Those who have blueprints and/or skills in these areas should read the ”Compensation” section, below, before contacting MindArk.
The crafting system overall has been changed in that way that there are no longer any overlaps between lootable items and craftable items. All craftable items are craftable only. Therefore, a whole range of new craftable items is introduced. With this, several new minerals and EnMatters have been introduced as well.
Tailoring now works more like the rest of crafting. You have a raw material; you use a refiner on it and get a refined piece of material you can use together with a blueprint to make clothes.
The Manufacturing Interface is also revamped, and more logical than before. The participant is also informed on the relative chance of success, based on skills, blueprint QR and the level of difficulty.
Overall, the crafting system is somewhat easier to manage, with fewer steps needed from start to finish.
We are very much aware of that this is a major change and can feel like a letdown for some participants. This simply had to be done; otherwise the crafting area of Project Entropia would hamper performance across the board for every participant.
Compensation
There is an automatic compensation system in place when you load up Project Entropia the first time after the VU. If you are entitled to any compensation you will receive messages to that effect. Obsolete blueprints and components will be changed to current blueprints (with QR 1) and into minerals. Items/money stuck in the auction will be returned to your personal storage facility. Also, those affected by lost Quality Rating (including QR on converted blueprints) will be reimbursed for this, in a compensation system, where the participant can select which kind of compensation he or she desires. In this compensation system obsolete skills are also taken in consideration.
MIXED FIXES/UPGRADES
Fixed an issue with blueprints weighing double if inserted into a blueprint book.
Empty blueprints books are now sellable.
Fixed ”leveling” of blueprint books (visual leveling).

VU 5.3 - 24 NOV 2003
Crafting Equipment
Some of the “Equipment” crafting (Mechanical, Metal, Electronics) material have been updated to be used at various places on Calypso.

VU 5.4 - 17 DEC 2003
Enhanced Manufacturing
Added the Apprentice Level of manufacturing weapons, armor, and clothes.
More weapons
Some 100 weapons added to Project Entropia, of various performances. Among these several new models are introduced, like a dedicated BLP Submachine-gun. Several of these weapons are manufactured, even various BLP rifles.
More armor
Almost a dozen new armor sets added, including the new “Undead”-series.
More clothes and accessories
With the enhanced level in tailoring several new kinds of clothes can be found and/or made. A tailor may now make coats, jackets, miniskirts, boots, hats, shades, etc.
Coloring re-vamped
The coloring functionality changed to be clearer. It now shows the Chance of Success (as in Manufacturing) of coloring an item to best possible output.
New paints added
Several new paints have been added, allowing for even greater variety of participant-colored clothes.
Chance of Success update
The various levels of feedback when the Chance of Success is displayed (currently in the Manufacturing Interface and the Coloring Interface) has been split up into more steps, meaning you will see a more rapid advancement to your chance of success.
Skill increase changes
Skills related to the Mining and Manufacturing areas have received enhanced increase rates.
Blueprint acquiring
The chance of getting a new blueprint while manufacturing is enhanced. The chance of getting a blueprint that can be bought from the Trade Terminal is removed.
Portable terminals
There are now portable terminals available, that can be placed where the participant feels is a good spot. Remember that placing an item out in the open means that anyone can pick it up though, so be advised to place it in a secure location, like a house. To access a portable terminal, you need to SHIFT+Right click on it.
Merge of skills
The skills “Make Pants” and “Make Shirt” have been merged to “Make Clothes”, and the old skill levels have been added up.
Fixed a mismatch of Tailoring blueprint level in Items Info
Some tailoring blueprints showed as having level one when they indeed had a higher level.
Manufactured items with negative value
Fixed an issue with manufactured items in rare instances having a negative value.

List of 5.4 mini updates 08 Jan 2004
Fixed an icon issue with Attachment blueprints (they all showed being level I, regardless of actual level).

VU 5.5 - 17 FEB 2004
Skins usable in tailoring
Animal-specific skins can be refined into leather counter-parts. If you have good enough skill you may add animal leather to any tailoring design by putting the leather into the manufacturing interface. The Berycled coat is rumoured to be the fashion statement during the spring.
Added functions to manufacturing
You may now add several stacks of the same material in the manufacturing interface, if you so desire.
Blueprint acquiring
The chance of getting a new blueprint while manufacturing is enhanced.

VU 5.6 - 5 MAR 2004
Increased chance of success in crafting
The chance of success is increased on lower levels of crafting.

VU 5.7 - 1 JUN 2004
New area of crafting; Armor attachments
The Project Entropia crafters has a new area to master; the creation of armor attachments. These attachments are added to existing armor pieces by dragging and dropping them onto the armor. To remove an attachment, just double-click on the armor icon while it is in your inventory.
Massive load of new clothes
A huge pile of clothes is added to Project Entropia. All these are tailorable. Some examples are:
Headwear
* Sombreros
* Fedora hats
* Bowler hats
* Top hats
* Berets
Underwear
* Bustiers
* Thongs
* Stockings
* New bra model
Footwear
* Stiletto boots
* Stiletto heels
* Cowboy boots
Other clothes
* Tuxedos
* Evening dress
* Tanktops
* Mesh tanktops
* Cut-offs
* Bomber jackets

VU 6.0 - 10 AUG 2004
Scrollbar added to Manufacture interface
Scrollbar added to the input material list, to allow for designs with six inputs.
Container content usable in manufacturing
You may now drag input materials directly from a container to the manufacturing interface.
Info about blueprint books in the auction
Now it doesn’t crash when you check the info of a blueprint book that is in the auction.

VU 6.1 - 6 OCT 2004
Bleaching
A new attachment for the color tool is available, allowing for the removal of colors from colored clothes. Note that it only works on clothes colored after the application of VU 6.1.

VU 7.2 - 22 MAR 2005
Added clothes
New pieces of clothing added, some of which are tailorable, including formal wear and shorts.
Added weapons
A great deal of weapons added, including clubs, maces, daggers, and shotguns. Some items are craftable. There are rumors about a unique item being spotted as well.

VU 7.3 - 4 MAY 2005
Added clothes
New pieces of clothing added, some of which are tailorable, including shirts and pants. The tuxedo and dress is now tailorable.
Added weapons
A great deal of weapons added, including clubs, swords, axes, and Gauss rifles (a.k.a. “Rail Guns”). Some items are craftable. There are rumors about unique items being spotted as well.
Fix: Rex Top hat
Male versions may now be made.

VU 7.4 - 24 MAY 2005
Added clothes
New pieces of clothing added, which are tailorable, including uniform jackets and pants. The women have new sexy boots available.

VU 7.5 - 1 JUL 2005
Change to blueprint
The blueprint design recipe for the Armor Plating 1A is changed, as it contained a faulty ingredient.

VU 7.6 - 22 SEP 2005
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is initiated by clicking on the corresponding manufacturing machine. Select the blueprint in the correct blueprint book by clicking on it. Add the input materials specified by the blueprint. When ready, press the Manufacture button.
On the bottom-left side is the Success rate indicator. You have the highest rate of success when the bar is full and green. When red, the success rate on the selected item is low, with a scale in between. Higher blueprint Quality Rating and avatar skills will increase the success rate. The success rate indicator replaces the old "CoS" which displayed a text word feedback.
The Condition/Quality slider specifies whether the manufacturer would like to make fewer items but with a higher initial Condition (which can be important when making "Limited" items, please see the "Items with limited uses" entry) or a larger number of items with a lower individual Condition.
If you have residue of the correct kind you may add it to the input materials section in the interface. Residue will then be used in any following successful attempt in order to boost item Condition. Failure when making an item will not waste residue. The boosted item Condition does not count towards the value when determining a Hall of Fame entry.
Blueprints
New blueprints have been added to Project Entropia. Some of these are "Limited", please see the "Items with limited uses" entry.
Blueprint Books
The blueprint books can now be stored in Storage. The three equipment books are consolidated into one single equipment book for administrative purposes. The various book levels ("Apprentice", "Beginner", etc.) are removed; instead various "Volumes" are introduced. Blueprint books for limited blueprints are added.
Blueprint books have a searchable index page for quick access and evaluation. Book appearance will change to reflect the completeness of the book. Blueprints stored in a Blueprint book do not count towards the 200 visual items limit in the Inventory.
NOTE that any old pre-VU 7.6 Blueprint book will be automatically sold to the Trade Terminal. Your PED Card balance will be updated accordingly. This also means all your blueprints will be scattered in your inventory. If you have more than 200 blueprints and other items, you will not be able to see all of your carried items. You need to get a new blueprint book and place as many blueprints as possible therein and relog. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
New advanced items in manufacturing
Three new kind of advanced item versions have been added to the manufacturing line; the adapted, the customized, and the reworked versions.
New items to manufacturing
Several new items have been added to the manufacturing system.

VU 7.7 1 NOV 2005
Furniture manufacturing
A new area of manufacturing has been added – furniture making.
Storage manufacturing
Avatars can manufacture various kinds of storage boxes.
New skills added
New skills used when manufacturing boxes and furniture have been added.

VU 8.1 - 1 FEB 2006
Tool amplifiers
The manufacturing process has been enhanced, with the introduction of Detectonator Amplifiers. These amplifiers may be attached to the Ore or Energy Matter Detectonators, allowing for advanced prospecting.
When they become available in the auction, they will be found under Tools -> Mining category.
Skill progress on Blueprints
Some new blueprints now show skill progression.
New blueprints
Some 50 new blueprints have been added.

VU 8.2 - 22 MAR 2006
Construction Update
All the manufacturing UIs have been updated with a more sensitive ‘quality vs. condition’ slider allowing a greater range of setting possibilities. The success rate bar has also been updated to continually reflect your changing success status. The overall output rate however, is not affected. You will also receive a warning in the chat window if your success status is very low.

VU 8.3 - 24 APR 2006
More Items
As well as all the new clothing items that have been added by Vexed Generation, a number of other clothes, such as the tank top, have been added to the Entropia Universe by MindArk. Other items have also been added in the areas of weapons and blueprints.

VU 8.4 - 29 MAY 2006
Enhancements
All blueprints are now included within the blueprint category in the Auction.

VU 8.5 - 4 JUL 2006
Construction & Blueprints
Several new components have been added for furniture construction. New furniture and weapons blueprints are also available. The success rate is displayed in the blueprint item info.

VU 8.7 - 1 NOV 2006
Weapon Amplifiers
A range of new limited crafted and ready-made amplifiers have been introduced. New resources and items necessary for their construction are also in place. With this new range arriving on Calypso, compatibility requirements now require that the correct weapon is matched with the correct amplifier in order to the achieve the maximum 50% power boost available from an amplifier.
Regardless of compatibility, amplifiers can still be attached to weapons and will continue to deteriorate and consume ammunition.
New Mining Amplifiers
New 'Light' versions of low level mining amplifiers have been introduced in response to participant feedback regarding high manufacture costs. The 'Light' version amplifiers have a lower TT value and are cheaper to manufacture.
The OreAmp OA-101 and EnMatAmp MA-101 blueprints sold by the technician have been replaced with the OreAmp OA-101 Light and the EnMatAmp MA-101 Light. The manufacture cost of the OreAmp OA-101 blueprint, previously sold by the technician, has also been slightly reduced.

VU 8.8 - 18 DEC 2006
Private Signs & Screens
New crafted Signs and Screens have been introduced. Signs will be able to show preloaded images and static text. Screens will be able to show preloaded images with dynamic text.
Both Signs and Screens are available in a range of different shapes and sizes, including flat mounted and side mounted models. An operating panel similar to that of the current Ad Screens will allow administration of the Signs and Screens.
All content for these Private Signs and Screens is created from the preloaded images and participant created text. Advertising from Massive Inc. and other global participant created advertising will not be displayed on these Signs and Screens.
Manufacturing
You can now refill materials in initiated manufacturing jobs without having to close the Manufacturing Panel and begin the entire process again.

VU 8.9 - 6 FEB 2007
New Items
New weapons shipments have arrived on Calypso. Volume II of the equipment blueprint has been added to the Technician.

VU 9.0 - 9 OCT 2007
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.

VU 9.1 - 11 DEC 2007
Tailoring
The tailoring system has been enhanced with the addition of Material Texture customization options. All existing colorable items are now customizable, meaning participants can apply and remove custom colors and material textures.
Using new blueprints and extractors, Material Textures can now be manufactured from a range of well known minerals, precious stones and more. Using a new Texturizer tool, the Material Textures can then be applied to the various fields of customizable clothing. A range of further items including furniture will also be customizable in the near future.
The Colorator tool and Bleacher Attachment have received a visual update.

VU 9.2 - 19 JAN 2008
Material Customization
Texture customization has now been extended to all Customizable (C) items.
Using blueprints and extractors, Material Textures can be manufactured from a range of well known minerals, animal skins, precious stones and more. Using a Texturizer tool, the Material Textures can then be applied to the various fields of Customizable (C) items.
Customizable items' names have been adjusted to reflect a more basic description e.g. Small Wooden Chair is now Small Chair.
Equipment Blueprints & Books
Equipment blueprints and books have been renamed to Component blueprints and books.

VU 9.3 - 20 MAY 2008
Technician
The Weapons (Vol. III) blueprint book has been added to the Technician.
Blueprints
Blueprints can now be dropped on any page of the relevant blueprint book. The book will automatically open the right page and the slot will flash briefly.
Quick menu added to blueprints including Item Info and Market Value options.
Items
A range of new items have been added and are waiting to be discovered including new items celebrating Entropia's five year anniversary. Wooden 'boards' can now be refined and the refined materials used in crafting processes.

VU 10.1 - 6 OCT 2009
FIXED ISSUES
Manufacturing Issues
• Added new checkbox in the Manufacturing UI, Auto Mode. When checked, the Construction Machine goes on manufacturing until stopped.
• Fixed issue with manufacturing Trutun texture
• Fixed issue with the progress bar in Manufacturing sometimes being invisible
• The Manufacture button should now reappear properly when the progress bar disappears

[Pianoman178]

That is a neat time line there. Nice post, +rep.

[BENDIEMAN]

+rep great titel btw :-)

[Rayne Jade]

Big thanks to Slither and NetStalker for the EFD award... very much appreciated and I am glad you enjoyed the post.

Thanks for all the nice comments / +reps as well!

[Torlin]

Great work, really good post to read, long one but great , thanks for this.

[Rayne Jade]

Originally Posted by Torlin

Great work, really good post to read, long one but great , thanks for this.

Thanks! It is a long one, but history gets like that sometimes

You are responsible for a bit of history yourself A couple of ATH's iirc...