Tag: eve

Posts about a massive multiplayer online game EVE Online by CCP hf.

LMeve GUI update – Decryptors!

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , ,
LMeve GUI update – Decryptors!

I have recently made two commits to LMeve repository, that add some new functionality and fixed some bugs:

– Added Decryptors to Tech II and III invention
– Decryptor configuration is stored per typeID, so you can choose best decryptor for each item.
– Beautiful LMeve links – added “media” directives for Open Graph and Twitter
– Added Killboard button on login page, if killboard is opened in public mode
– Added print.css for printing pages from LMeve
– View is now rendered to HTML as the last thing, so LMeve pages can now modify title and other header attributes, including media tags.
– fixed JSON output of LMeve Northbound API – numbers are now presented as numbers, not strings (without ” quotes)

Speaking of Decryptors. Invention previously assumed no decryptors used (and ME=2 and TE=2 were hardcoded). Now for each item you can choose if and which Decryptor to use.
It will be used everywhere in LMeve – in Profit Chart, in Database and in Logistic Kits. While you choose Decryptors in Database, ME, PE and material lists are updated on the fly, cost calculation requires clicking “Save”. This will be fixed in a future release.

Enjoy!

Update is already available on LMeve project page.

EVE: Echoes unvelied during EVE Vegas (formerly Project Galaxy)

Lukas Rox EVE Echoes, EVE Online , , , , ,
EVE: Echoes unvelied during EVE Vegas (formerly Project Galaxy)

On October 19th CCP has unveiled their second mobile game coming to iOS and Android in 2019 – EVE: Echoes.

The name of the upcoming title was known two days prior to EVE Vegas thanks to some smart EVE players, who found out that CCP has registered the trademark for Echoes, but it was unknown at this time for which game this new name will be used.

 

EVE: Echoes (formerly known as Project Galaxy) is supposed to be a scaled down version of actual EVE Online, with all core gameplay elements intact. The game promises an “authentic EVE Online experience for mobile devices”. According to the Apple Keynote earlier this year, the game will also feature AR capabilties on compatible Apple devices.

It isn’t easy to port a game as big and as broad as EVE Online into mobile world, but if CCP and NetEase stuck to the core gameplay elements, it should be possible. I was rambling about a mobile game in New Eden at least since 2013, which was the first time I had to cut back on my PC gaming. Then in 2014 I started playing World of Tanks Blitz, which is an awesome mobile game, ideally fitting those short bursts of free time you have when waiting for something, be it a doc appointment or during your daily commute. Mobile devices at the time already had enough juice (i nterms of GPU power) to run original EVE from 2003.

EVE: Echoes will feature an expansive map with thousands of star systems (judging by the video shown at EVE Vegas it seems to be a copy of the New Eden cluster from EVE Online, at least system names look familiar). Core gameplay elements such as exploration, combat, mining and trading are said to now fit inside your pocket. Players will be able to form corporations and wage wars over territories just like in it’s bigger brother. Developers even expect the same huge fleet battles happening from time to time.

From the technical side, the game will be running on NetEase’s proprietary engine called NeoX (why not Unreal 4? CCP has recently chosen to use Unreal Engine for all their upcoming projects). EVE: Echoes will be released on iOS and Android in 2019, but no information about minimum requirements regarding CPU/GPU or screen size have been announced yet. From Apple perspective, AR mode will require at least an iPad Pro or iPhone 6s.

Speculation and hints for CCP

  • I hope it will be possible to link EVE: Echoes to EVE Online in some way, namely use the same name and avatar we had for EVE Online.
  • Speaking of which, I hope for cross-game promotions
  • I hope it will be free to play with similar Alpha-Omega modes as EVE Online
  • I hope there will be an API for the new game, so I can use it with LMeve
  • I hope there will be data dumps, so we can make fansites 🙂
  • It would be awesome if the game was eventually released for touch-enabled x86/x64 devices like Microsoft Surface or my Asus Transformer 2 in 1 tablet.

 

 

LMeve state: almost done, still work in progress

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Programming , , , ,
LMeve state: almost done, still work in progress

Hi Spacefriends!

In the recent couple of weeks I’ve put in considerable amount of effort into LMeve development, in order to bring back all lost functionalities.

At the beginning of September I brought back the core functionality of LMeve, namely Industry Tracking. Since then the following functions have been restored:

  • added Markets route
  • pulls Jita prices from /markets//orders/ (default: Jita/The Forge)
  • pulls game calculated average and adjusted prices for each typeID
  • removed eve-central.com – all data comes solely from ESI now
  • added Corporation Market Orders
  • added Corporation Contracts and Contract Items
  • Buyback feature works again
  • Wallet Balance
  • Wallet Journal
  • Wallet Transactions
  • added ‘KIT’ endpoint in LMeve Northbound API. Usage: api.php?key=&endpoint=KIT
  • added XML format – use ‘output=xml’ and ‘output=json’ in URL to select format
  • Assets
  • Industry System Indices support added
  • Killmail support added
  • Adjusted killmail view ( killmails are now ESI verified 🙂 )
  • Killboard is back up!
  • Corp Blueprint support added
  • ME/TE values are based on actual Corp Blueprints

Additional changes:

  • fixed a bug in Universe route
  • moved ESI settings to GUI
  • added ability to use data from Sisi (support for ESI datasource)
  • GUI tuning for Buyback feature (ESI has new contract states)
  • Deprecated and disabled everything that mentions old XML API
  • Bug fix in X-Pages support
  • Twitter card meta tags for Killboard – links look nice when sharing killmails

Stuff remaining to be done

  • Customs Offices
  • Citadels
  • Industry Facilities
  • Character connect using SSO
  • Member self registration using SSO (optional, disabled by default)
  • Bug fixing!

Known bugs

  • Manufacturing Price estimation does not compute correct prices despite having all prices in the database

EVE Project Galaxy – ARkit 2 enabled game for iOS

Lukas Rox EVE Echoes, EVE Online, Games, Mobile, Tablets , , , , , , ,
EVE Project Galaxy – ARkit 2 enabled game for iOS

This morning I was reading information about iOS 12 on the official polish Apple site.

To my surprise, I’ve noticed some EVE Online assets on an iPad in one of the photos. When I clicked on the photo, my jaw dropped so hard on the floor, I’m still looking for it.

Here’s what I saw:

When I bought my first iPad in 2011, one of my dreams was to play EVE Online or at least a mobile game set in New Eden. Fast forward 7 years, I bought an Intel-based Windows 10 tablet, which can just play EVE Online (or any other PC game). But for Project Galaxy, I guess I should’ve chosen a new iPad Pro instead.

In June, at Apple’s WWDC18 event, CCP Games and NetEase announced their coooperation in making a mobile game codenamed EVE: Project Galaxy. The game is scheduled to be released in 2019. It is said to be released for all major mobile platforms (so we can speculate iOS will not be the only one). Contrary to Project Aurora, which I have covered in this post about EVE: War of Ascension, Project Galaxy will be a scaled down version of EVE Online, with all core gameplay experiences like combat, mining, industrial manufacturing, trade and exploration. The game is also said to use the ARkit2.0 library, revealed by Apple at WWDC2018, which brings several new features to AR-enabled phones and tablets, such as persistent and multiuser virtual space which can now be shared across time and fixed to real-world locations, 3D object recognition, face tracking or scene reflection (ability to reflect real environment by virtual objects).

More information is in the official press release on ccpgames.com.

Ready to blow up some spaceships in your living room?
 

EVE Hype is real.

Apple spilled the beans! @CCPGames is making an iOS game for AR-kit called PROJECT GALAXY! I’ve noticed it on the polish IOS 12 description page: https://t.co/ehpCqTu5Zn I look and see EVE graphics on iPad and I’m like WTF?! #tweetfleet #eveonline #AR #iOS12 pic.twitter.com/qe6kYTz1z0— Lukas Rox (@rox_lukas) October 3, 2018

LMeve state: back from the dead, work in progress

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Programming, Software , , , ,
LMeve state: back from the dead, work in progress

Hi Spacefriends!

First of all, thank you for continued support and all your e-mails and EVE mails. I was surprised that so many people still use LMeve! I can’t simply ignore so many kind words and encouragement. Thank you for that!

I’m proud to announce that despite limited free time, I’ve finally managed to restore the core functionality of LMeve: Industry Tracking.

LMeve Industry tracking using ESI LMeve Industry tracking using ESI

User Story

You might wonder why it took so much time to restore any functionality, so here’s the story. When XML API cutover was announced, I realized I have to modify the backend of LMeve: the engine that handles API and feeds LMeve with data. But the old backend was written in plain procedural PHP. It was spaghetti-quality code, that was hard to modify and maintain, and even the simplest modification had to be done in multiple places in code. So I decided I have to rewrite it from scratch, this time as well as best as I could, so the new code would be easier to maintain once it’s done. The new ESI backend is written in objective PHP, with two main template classes and several inherited classes. The main one is ESI class and it represents the API itself. It allows access to routes, handles refresh and bearer tokens and all the necessary operations such as token renewal. You can easily access any route using simple but powerful instantiation: $ESI->Characters->getCharacterName($characterID) for example will provide a toon name when provided with character ID. Very easy to use, right? Each route inherits the Route base class, which handles the low level network communication, reporting and error handling. It also supports paginated output on ESI routes using the X-Pages header.

Moreover, this class can be used not just in the backend of LMeve, but in the GUI as well. It can be used to fetch data from ESI directly. Other apps such as my Annual Stats can (and actually already do) use it. This is why it was worth to take the rewrite-from-scratch approach, even if it took more time!

How to upgrade

  1. Right now simply download the new PHP code and overwrite your current installation. Don’t worry about the database tables, because DB will be updated automatically the first time you log in.
  2. Second step is to enable the EVE SSO using this helpful wiki guide: Integrating LMeve with EVE SSO .
  3. Then go to Settings and make sure Enable ESI Poller is checked.
  4. Last but not least, head to Settings -> ESI API tokens and create New ESI token. Please mind you must have a Director role to do this.

What works, what does not

Please remember this newest version is still a beta. Logging is heavy, so you might want to rotate your logs more often.

What works:

  • ESI integration and token management
  • ESI status checking and alerting in case of failure
  • Corp Member information
  • Industry Tracking and Tasks Tracking

Roadmap for the next releases:

  • Market prices
  • Assets
  • Wallet
  • Contracts
  • Killboard

I will release one feature at a time, using Agile approach.

What can You do to help?

I would like to ask You for some support. How can You help?

  • Use and test the new LMeve version. Bug report on the project’s Github page (please check the list of features that currently work and which don’t before you report)
  • Need a new alt for Industry? Use my buddy invite to register. You will get an extra 250.000 SP on your new character as a bonus.
  • Wanna send a tip? I could always use some extra buck! Here’s my PayPal donation page. It will also be easier to convince my better half that I need to spend some time on a freeware app for video games 🙂 just sayin’

Insert coin!

Thanks! Your help and support is always welcome and appreciated!

Special thanks goes to: Random McNally, Rixx Javix, Ramdar Chinken, Marq Aideron and Starfire Dai.

EVE: War of Ascension (aka Project Aurora)

Lukas Rox EVE Online, EVE War of Ascension, Games , , ,
EVE: War of Ascension (aka Project Aurora)

So on my 13th EVE Online anniversary (please mind I’ve been retired for the past 3 years) Kael Decadence informed me that Project Aurora is actually playable as open beta. So I’ve immediately downloaded the game to my Android phone and began playing (I don’t have enough free time to play games properly on PC, but generally can find time to play games on mobile – it’s why I focused on World of Tanks Blitz for the past four years).

After 48 hours of playing I am slowly reaching Command Module level 6 and already have some feedback to the Playraven/CCP teams.

Things that the Playraven team nailed:

  • Resource mechanics are nice. Corp moon mining <3
  • Citadel contesting mechanic is ok. Simplified, but similar to EVE.
  • Shield and armor ship setups <3
  • PVP is quite dynamic – you can help and defend your friends, too
  • Technology tree looks good
  • Spin counter <3

Things that the CCP team didn’t convince Playraven team to hard enough:

  • There is ship incosistency between EVE Online and EVE:WoA
    • Caldari Shuttle as Civilian Miner. Drop Shuttle from this line, make Venture as the entry level, and add Hulk on top of the tree.
    • Navitas and Heron are Logi and Ewar respectively – here are used as combat vessels
  • No in-game factions are present. Where are my Serpentis rats?!
  • Ships should be recyclable (can be at a reduced rate like in EVE), because right now I have to throw them at someone to destroy them
  • The same applies to Repair Bay – it should be possible to recycle ships from there
  • Ship descriptions are copied from EVE Online and don’t reflect the EVE:WoA specifics
  • Instant fleet Warp? As if there were no Jump Portals in EVE? Come on! Name the things appropriately please.
  • Fleet recall requires microtransactions? It’s free in most other games in the genre vide: Galaxy on fire Alliances, OGame, Supernova

Things that Playraven team could add:

  • Ability to link your EVE Online account and portrait with EVE:WoA (use SSO, download character image)
  • Cross-game promotions with EVE Online and EVE Valkyrie (unique SKINs, etc., unique items)

Update Open beta will go down on September 28th 2018. The game will go live somewhere in 2019. I will miss this little time-killer…

Taking a break

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , , ,

Hi,

I’m taking a break from EVE Online (possibly for good), so this blog will not be updated until further notice.

In the meantime, feel free to check out my other projects:

All the above are still supported and updated, so drop me a mail if you have any issues:
email

Yours,
Lukas Rox

LMeve dev-blog: Killboard with WebGL ship preview

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games, Programming , , ,

It was quiet on the blog lately, but behind the scenes I was receiving tons of valuable feedback, and development was slowly but surely progressing through the past month.

There were two recurring questions in the feedback I was getting:

  • Corp API Keys editable in GUI
  • Killboard

So these two features have been made the top priorities. Here’s the results:

Killboard

Some people set up an instance of LMeve, and then on the same host they set up a killboard. How convenient would it be if one app contained both? Good idea. But there is so many killboards already available, that writing a new one which copies existing functionality made little sense. I had to do something new!

In the previous release, LMeve got ship fitting preview in Inventory, and it felt like a great way to display the fitting of destroyed ships as well. But first, I need the killmail data.

Killmails are available from two APIs: XML (with corp API Key) and CREST (you need to know certain information about the killmail to be able to fetch it). Item list in the XML API lacks specialized cargoholds, so I opted for a hybrid approach. First, I download Killmail.xml.aspx, based on this information I can calculate a killmail hash required by CREST, and finally download the CREST Killmail to fetch complete item list, including fittings and specialized cargoholds. This default behavior can however be changed in Settings, where you can choose to use plain XML API instead (it’s a little faster, but fittings of destroyed ships might be incomplete).

Right, but theres nothing new here, right? zKillboard does this out of the box. Well, true.

That’s where the second feature comes in. I changed the fitting display to include a 3D ship preview (rendered using CCP WebGL) instead of a static ship image (which, mind you, is a fallback for older PCs/browsers). Yup, you can spin and zoom the ship on the killmail! It works in Inventory, too!

Enough words, pics or it didn’t happen:

killboard webgl_killboard_4 webgl_killboard_3 webgl_killboard_2 webgl_killboard_1

Corp API Keys editable in GUI

This is a very simple, yet important feature. Previously, during LMeve installation procedure you had to input your API Keys in PhpMyAdmin, by directly inserting into a database. I’ve chosen not to expose API Keys in GUI, because they could potentially be abused. But this made already complicated installation procedure even worse, so after some deliberation I’ve decided to add a GUI for it.

corpapikey

And here’s the complete list of this month’s features, coming to LMeve in 0.1.55:

  • Fully functional Killboard
  • XML and CREST killmail support in API Poller
  • Can use either XML or CREST killmail endpoint (configurable in Settings)
  • CCP WebGL preview in Inventory and Killboard ship fitting window
  • You can now input Corp API Keys in GUI
  • Disabled accounts have existing sessions terminated immediately
  • Bug fixes

Anniversary Giveaway Winners!

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , ,

Thank you everyone for your warm wishes!

I’m humbled and overwhelmed by the Community response. I really appreciate it! You guys are awesome!

This giveaway went much bigger than I initially expected, mainly due to CCP posting it on EVE Online facebook page. But enough rambling, I’m sure you’re curious who the winners are.

First I compiled a ticket list in order comments arrived – it’s available here (please mind some people commented under their real names or other nicknames, so I looked up their in-game character name in the comment itself)

Once commenting was closed at midnight, I’ve put 168 as the total number of tickets and 13 as the number of rolls into this Chribba dice. Rolled, unlocked, and…

The winners are:

1.
Men’s ‘Sterling’ Dress Shirt (Ishukone Special Edition) 134. Mav Kain
2.
One Billion ISK in cash 167. Siddhar Gangari
3.
Genolution Core Augmentation set CA1 through CA4 145. Rouge Queen
4.
Python Mine BPO (never unpacked), Anaconda Mine BPO (never unpacked) 89. Culu Dunkatar (@Hastabul)
5.
Assorted ship SKINs
Catalyst Intaki Syndicate SKIN, Thrasher Nefantar SKIN, others		 57. Belten
6.
GDN-9 “Nightstalker” Combat Goggles 30. Garageguy
7.
Genolution Core Augmentation set CA1 through CA4 69. SkulX Hekki
8.
Genolution Core Augmentation set CA1 through CA4 39. Xavier Strange
9.
Bonus prize

Rattlesnake

donated by The Angel Project

 8. Thansoli (@Thansoli)
10.
Bonus prize

Nightmare

donated by High Drag Podcast

 105. Galbadine
11.
Bonus prize

PLEX

donated by Llediarth

 71. easi
12.
Bonus prize

Rattlesnake

donated by Aideron Technologies

 34. Senor Kittens
13.
Bonus prize

Dominix Navy Issue

donated by Aideron Technologies

 64. Gor Fera

 

Congratulations!

Contracts are already up in game. Unclaimed prizes will be raffled once more.
10thanniv_winners

Thanks again!

Fly safe o7