The Desktop - the graphical display of Entropia Universe on your computer screen is highly customizible. The desktop can display default shortcut icons, the Message Center, the Main Chat, the Radar, your Contacts list and more.
Main Chat
The Main chat window, by default located in the lower left corner of the screen, is the hub for text messages from the system, societies and other players. At the core of the chat system is the new Channel concept (described below) allowing users to create or join any number of private or public chat channels for your Avatars needs.
How to use the Chat:
To enter text in the currently selected tab and channel simply press Enter and start writing. Send your command or message of by pressing Enter one more time.
The chat window features both mouse controlled options as well as a command line syntax for faster usage.
The command line options can be listed by typing:
/help
more details about a specific command can be found by typing:
/help <command name>
In game links in chat messages can be followed by left clicking them. Links can also be copy & pasted to other tabs or channels by right clicking them.
Chat Channels 101:
Channels can be either Public or Private. Public channels can be joined and read by any other Avatar. Private channels can only be read by invited Avatars
Writing to a channel
When you type in a chat window you always target a channel. The active channel is named in the start of the row where you type, e.g. [Rookie]. To target another channel prepend your message with the channel name like:
#mychannel Hey this place looks nice
Creating new channels
A channel is created by typing
/create <channel name> [“public” or “private”]
the channel name should start with # followed by 3-14 alphanumeric chars.
Space and a number of other extended characters are not allowed in channel names.
A handy shorthand version for /create is /c.
The default setting for a new channel is “private” so be sure to type the word “public” to set the status to public.
For private channels the operator, “op”, of the channel will receive all join requests. The op can also set other channel members as op:s, remove other users operator status, mute members etc. The available options and how to use them can be found by the /help command
Find, Join and leave channels
To join, request to join or leave a channel simply right click the channel name and select the appropriate option.
To find public channels type
/listchannels <filter>
where filter is at least one character in the channel name, e.g.
/listchannels space
would list all channels that contains the string “space”.
Channels offers a lot of flexibility and possibilities for your Avatar so try them out. If you are a newcomer stay tuned to the public Rookie channel where you both can get help and help other Avatars out.
Tabs
Chats and Channels can be divided in Tabs. The Main chat window can be resized and dragged on the screen to suit your needs. It is also possible to drag out one or more tabs to separate windows to locate them elsewhere on the screen.
Apart from the Main and System tabs that have some options locked all other tabs can be filtered on what channels and messages they should contain. Each Channel can also be color coded in each tab for enhanced readability. Right click the tabs header to see the tabs filter options.
Message Center
The Message Center, by default located in the top left of your screen keeps track of all messages that are sent to you. The messages are persistent during login sessions and are only removed when you choose to remove them.
The message center window can be resized and moved by dragging its top and bottom bars. The entire window can be minimized and stacked to the left side of the screen by clicking the windows upper right corner.
Inside the Message Center:
New message and Sticky Notes
Longer text messages that doesn’t fit in the chat channels can be sent to one or more Avatars even if they are offline for the moment.
Sticky notes are short memory notes that you would like to keep for later use. Sticky notes that you write are saved under the Notes tab of the Message Center.
Filter buttons
The content of the message center can be filtered using the five buttons in the top bar. The buttons represent:
- Auction offers
- Notes
- Messages
- System alerts
- Globals
Click each of these to filter the messages shown in the window below.
The Contacts Window:
The Contacts Window keeps track of your friends list, society, nearby players and more.
Your profile
In the top right of the Contacts Window you see your Avatars thumbnail picture. Click on the thumbnail to open the Profile window where you can set your online status, name format and public biography. Keeping your profile updated is a good way to find other Avatars with similar interests.
Filter Panel and matching Avatars
In the main window you see the players matching the filter options set under the Filter Panel (toggle the filter panels visibility by the arrow in the top left). Click on each matching Avatar name to see Avatar details, send messages or to initiate a chat.
In the Filter Panel you can also open the User Registry window to lookup other Avatars and request to add them as friends.
Status Information
Between the Main Chat and the Radar you find some status information: your avatar name, health bar, PED balance on PED Card, if you have a tool in your hand and some info about that tool.
Radar
In the lower right corner of the Desktop you can see the Radar. Above it you can see which planet/location you are located on and your position in longitude and latitude. The Radar shows some entities as colored points:
- Green - Other avatars.
- Red - Creatures and mobs. These are in general more or less dangerous to you.
- Blue - Teleporters.
- Orange - In-game characters. For example, they can provide you with quests or missions.
- Yellow - Pets
- Purple - Society Members
- Dark Blue - Dead Creature
Note: There are certain areas where a jam signal disrupts the Radar receiver, for example, in PvP areas.
The icons below the Radar indicates some status information about the area you are in or near. They can be green, orange or red. They are described from left to right:
- PvP zone - Indicates if you are in a PvP zone (red), near a PvP zone (orange) or if you are in a non-PvP zone (green).
- Toxic zone - Indicates if you are in a toxic zone (red), near a toxic zone (orange) or if you are in a toxic-free zone (green).
- Vehicles allowed in the area - Indicates if vehicles are not allowed in the area you are in (red), if you are close to an area where they are not allowed (orange) or if they are allowed in the area (green).
- Allowed in the area - Indicates if you are not allowed in the area you are in (red), if you are close to an area where you are not allowed (orange) or if you are allowed in the area (green).
At the bottom to the right of the Radar you have a resize icon: left click this icon, hold the mouse button down and drag the mouse to resize the Radar window.
Top Right Icons
The top right icons are described from left to right:
- Mission Galactica: A universe wide mission chain for the more experienced avatar.
- Progress: Opens a progress UI that shows skill and profession progression for the session as well as an efficiency meter for the currently equipped tool
- Professions: Shows information about your unlocked professions for example, Combat and Mining.
- Skills: Shows your agility in several categories, for example, Mining, Construction and Tailoring.
- Inventory: Opens Inventory to view all items you currently carry.
- Mission Log: View information about active and completed missions
- Event List: Opens the global event list (local to each planet).
- Hall of Fame: View Hall of Fame
- Action Library: Opens a library of all actions you can perform. You can map actions to any key on your keyboard or place them on your desktop.
- Transfer Center: Deposit or withdraw currency to/from your PED card. View currency transaction history. Note that more options is available on the Entropia Universe website.
- Support Center: View support cases or open the support website to file a new case.
- Main Menu: Opens menu to adjust options for control and graphics, keyboard panel settings and to log out.
Note that these icons can not be removed. Additional icons can be added to the Desktop from the Action Library when the Edit Panel (default key L) is open.