Dev Blog: The Road to Unreal Engine 5 / as posted by MA

[DarkMoonEnigma]

MindArk Development Update, February 2026

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We've got a lot to share with you today. This update is going to walk you through the technical work that's been going on behind the scenes as we continue pushing towards Unreal Engine 5.

We want to begin by stating that we have never stopped working on the Unreal Engine migration and our commitment to this project has never been stronger than it is right now.

The Foundation: What Stays the Same​

Before we get into the technical details, let's address the most important thing first. When the switch happens, Entropia Universe stays Entropia Universe. Everything that exists in the live game at the time of the switch carries over. Your items, your land areas, your deeds, your skills, the economy, all of it. If a system is active and in the game when we make the move, it will carry over in the Unreal Version.

What changes is the engine powering it all. Unreal Engine 5 gives us access to world-class tools for rendering, physics, animations, world building, and so much more. The goal has always been to elevate the experience, not replace it.

What We've Been Working On​

We want to walk you through some of the key workstreams that are actively in progress, several of which have already shipped or are about to.

MetaHumans: Rebuilding the Core of Your Character​

Your character is at the heart of everything you do in Entropia Universe. It's what you see when you hunt, when you mine, when you craft, when you explore. It's what wears your armor, holds your weapons, and represents you in the world. That's why MetaHumans is one of the biggest and most important workstreams we have going right now, and we are well underway. And this isn't just for player characters, every humanoid in the game is getting the same treatment.

We've been working with Unreal's MetaHuman framework to bring a completely new level of fidelity to character models in Entropia Universe. But this isn't just about making characters look better. This is a full rebuild of how characters work under the hood. Every single armor set, every garment, every tool, every weapon, and every animation needs to work flawlessly with the new MetaHuman skeleton and body. Players need to be able to log in on day one of the MetaHuman release and see everything they own looking and working exactly as it should, just at a dramatically higher level of quality.

That means new morph targets, new skeleton rigs, new garment fitting, and making sure that the thousands of existing items in the game all sit correctly on the new models. This is meticulous, complex work and we need to get it right. There are no shortcuts here.

And then there's the animation side of things. MetaHumans bring with them an incredible animation framework, and the part we're most excited about is facial animations. Real expressions, real emotion, real life in your character's face. This is something Entropia Universe has never had at this level and it's going to change how the game feels in a very real way.

Here's the best part: we're implementing MetaHumans in CryEngine first. We are already well underway with this work, and you'll get to experience it very soon, and most importantly before the full engine switch. And because MetaHuman is an Unreal-native technology, the transition to UE5 will be seamless.

We'll be sharing imagery and video previews soon. Stay tuned for that.

Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF):​

Our legacy Scaleform UI system is over 15 years old. More importantly, it's incompatible with Unreal Engine, which means that without replacing it, there is no switch.

We've been migrating our entire UI layer to the Chromium Embedded Framework. This is one of the most critical workstreams on the path to Unreal, and we're accelerating the conversion process. The exciting part: CEF is natively supported by Unreal Engine. Once the migration is complete, the UI layer becomes plug-and-play. No additional rework needed when we make the switch.

Infrastructure & Database Modernization​

We're upgrading our database systems to modern versions capable of handling the demands of an Unreal Engine-powered release. When the switch goes live, we need infrastructure that can handle the influx of new and returning players from day one. Launching on a next-gen engine with legacy databases would be setting ourselves up for failure, and that's not something we're willing to do.

This also includes significant improvements to backend server performance and stability, work that benefits the live game today while preparing us for tomorrow.

Model, Texture, Compression & File Handling Improvements​

We've been making substantial improvements to how the game handles textures, file compression, and memory utilization. The result is sharper textures, models, and more efficient resource usage. These optimizations are designed to be directly compatible with our Unreal pipeline, meaning every improvement we ship now carries forward into the new engine.

Web Presence & Platform Modernization​

We've been rebuilding our web presence from the ground up. Modern frameworks, faster load times, tighter Steam integration, in-game News Feeds, an Official Discord server, and better channels for communicating updates like this one to you. There's more to come on this front.

Systems Cleanup & New Player Experience​

A huge engine migration doesn't happen in isolation. We've been doing extensive work on cleaning up blueprints, fixing long-standing system issues, and fundamentally rethinking the new player experience. A player who tries Entropia Universe for the first time on the day of the Unreal launch needs to feel welcomed, guided, and engaged. Not lost.

These updates have never been side projects. They are core pillars of the migration strategy. We will flip the switch once every piece is connected and every system is ready.

A Note on How We Communicate​

What we will do going forward is keep communicating updates like this one. Real information about real work. When we have milestones to share, we'll share them. When we have visuals to show, we'll show them.

The work speaks for itself, and it hasn't stopped for a single day.

Looking Ahead​

Every system we've listed here (MetaHumans, CEF, infrastructure upgrades, texture optimizations, platform improvements, the new player experience and more) are all pieces of the same puzzle. Some are already live. Some are shipping very soon. All of them move us closer to the switch.

We'll continue sharing progress as we hit milestones. Thank you for being part of Entropia Universe.

See you in-game.

The MindArk Team


Originally Posted Here