Reality Thread 4 Crafting, Combat & Core E2V1 Optimisations

Introduction – A New Reality Thread Unfolds inside E2V1

Oct 31, 2025 – Sydney, Australia – It has been two months since we released Reality Thread 3, a milestone update that officially brought multiplayer to Earth 2’s massive open world, E2V1. Reality Thread 3 marked a key turning point – the first time Players could truly stand side by side inside the pristine digital world that geologically mirrors our own planet. Since then, our team has been quietly hard at work, pushing the platform forward in preparation for even more substantial updates.

Today, we are thrilled to announce Reality Thread 4, an update that represents some technical improvements and another step toward the connected, living ecosystem Earth 2 is designed to become. This release is the result of months of designing, implementation and community observation, delivering a combination of deep engine-level optimisations, key bug fixes and new foundational mechanics including crafting, survival tools and the first introduction of physical combat.

As always, E2V1 is still Pre-Alpha software and we want to remind everyone that:

Bugs are not only expected but are an essential part of the development process.

There will be bugs in Reality Thread 4 but our developers will continue to fix and refine the build progressively, just as they have for Reality Thread 1, Reality Thread 2 and Reality Thread 3.

The purpose of each Reality Thread release is not to showcase perfection, but to demonstrate transparent progress and allow our community to experience ongoing development firsthand. This open-development approach ensures that our progress is not visualised, but actually realised and provides an opportunity for the feedback from testers to directly help shape Earth 2’s future.

While Earth 2 continues to embrace elements of realism across its vast, geolocational world, it will also evolve to include wild, unexpected and sometimes humorously unpredictable experiences – moments that break away from real-world logic to celebrate the imaginative, spontaneous side of what a metaverse should be: part simulation, part metaversal mischief!

Open Development and Continuous Focus

In the Reality Thread 3 article, we wrote:

“While releasing the multiplayer now may introduce some delays in other future feature releases, it is a deliberate and strategic decision aimed at reducing future technical debt and significantly improving the long-term Player experience.”

That principle continues to guide our process today. Even with the considerable time invested in stabilising multiplayer, Reality Thread 4 shows just how much progress can be made through quiet, concentrated effort in a relatively short period of time. The volume of work packed into this update reflects the team’s determination to refine every underlying system before expanding access to a much larger audience of Players via the badge holder initiative.

Core Optimisations – Making E2V1 Faster, Leaner and More Performant

Over the past two months, our development team has invested an extraordinary amount of time in a sweeping optimisation pass across the entire E2V1 platform. This was not a quick adjustment; it was one of the most technically complex updates we’ve ever undertaken. It’s also the key reason Reality Thread 4 took slightly longer to arrive – because we wanted to complete this work before opening access to thousands of badge holders.

A Strategic Decision

Optimisation at this depth is like rebuilding the foundation of a skyscraper while construction continues above it. We chose to do this now because improving performance at the engine level benefits everything that follows – from rendering and multiplayer to crafting and combat.

This pass focused on refining how data is loaded, stored and streamed across both the CPU and GPU, ensuring that every megabyte of memory and every frame of processing time is used efficiently. The results have been transformative, and should allow Earth 2 to run on a wider range of hardware and at higher performance levels than before.

What This Means for Players

Testers should notice faster startup times, less device resources required for traversal across terrain, reduced lag on lower spec machines and more stable frame rates during multiplayer sessions on lower spec machines. Overall, E2V1 should feel lighter and more responsive on mid-range to low-range systems when compared to the previous version – opening the door for a broader audience when E2V1 eventually expands beyond the Pre-Alpha testing group.

Behind the Optimisation Work

Our engineers followed a structured approach, analysing the engine at a granular level to locate and eliminate inefficiencies:

1. Capturing and Analysing Memory Hotspots
   
   Using profiling tools, we captured live memory snapshots while E2V1 ran in various environments. This allowed us to see precisely which subsystems consumed the most RAM or VRAM, and under what conditions those spikes occurred.
   
2. Formulating Targeted Strategies
   
   Each identified hotspot – terrain streaming, texture handling, mesh caching, physics and so forth – received a custom solution plan. Some fixes involved rewriting logic, others required new approaches to data management.
   
3. Removing Redundant Resource Directories
   
   Over time, development builds accumulate thousands of outdated or duplicate assets. Our team combed through these directories and removed unnecessary data, trimming both installation size and load time.
   
4. Simplifying the Startup Scene
   
   Previously, E2V1 loaded a large portion of its assets during startup, which consumed excessive memory before gameplay even began. We’ve now restructured this process to load only essential assets first, streaming the rest dynamically as needed.
5. Texture Streaming Rework
   
   E2V1 already featured an efficient texture streaming system, but our engineers have recently reworked and refined it to achieve even better performance and memory management. The updated system further optimises how textures are loaded and prioritised in real time, ensuring that assets are streamed at resolutions appropriate to the Player’s distance and viewpoint.
   
   As Players move through the world, the improved system dynamically adjusts between high, medium and low-resolution textures with greater precision and responsiveness. This refinement reduces unnecessary GPU load while maintaining the visual fidelity expected from E2V1.
   
   Overall, the texture streaming rework delivers smoother performance and improved memory efficiency, all without compromising the visual detail that defines Earth 2’s large-scale environments.
   
6. Optimising Runtime Mesh and Texture Parameters
   
   Another major improvement came from refining how the game handles mesh data. Many models previously carried redundant vertex information or high-resolution normals that added little to overall quality. These were compressed and recalculated, reducing draw calls and memory use while maintaining visual fidelity.
   
7. Terrain Strategy Refinement
   
   Our planet’s terrain streaming system is extremely complex as it must render geological accuracy at a 1:1 global scale. To handle this efficiently, we restructured terrain caching and implemented smarter level-of-detail transitions. Players should now experience smoother movement across large areas during streaming.
   
8. Shader Variant Management and Dynamic Warming
   
   Shaders – the small programs that tell your GPU how to render surfaces – are powerful but can also be performance bottlenecks if not managed carefully. Previously, E2V1 compiled shaders dynamically at runtime, which could cause brief hitches when a new material appeared for the first time. We now pre-warm the most common shader variants dynamically at startup, ensuring smoother performance throughout extended play sessions.
   
9. New Resource Collection and Packaging Systems
   
   We have redesigned how assets are collected, packaged and referenced by the client. Previously, dozens of smaller, independent asset calls were required to load environmental data. The new system instead groups related resources into optimised bundles that load in a structured sequence.
   
   This rework greatly improves loading efficiency, reducing read times and minimising the brief stuttering some testers may have previously experienced when entering new regions on lower spec machines.
10. New Resource Management Systems
    
    Alongside improvements to collection and packaging, we also implemented a new resource management framework to better handle how assets are stored, accessed, and prioritised during gameplay. This system dynamically allocates and releases resources based on proximity, importance and player activity, helping to maintain consistent performance across a wide range of hardware configurations.
    
    The refined management approach enhances memory efficiency, ensures smoother world-streaming performance on lower spec machines and lays the foundation for future scalability as E2V1 continues to expand in size and complexity.

The Results

Testing was conducted on a Windows 11 system with an RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 32 GB of RAM, and a 12 GB VRAM capacity, running at a resolution of 2560 × 1600.

Before optimisation:

• GPU Memory: 9.5 GB
  
• RAM: > 9 GB
  

After optimisation:

• GPU Memory: 5.5 GB
  
• RAM: < 4 GB
  

Additionally, the executable build (the player launcher itself) was reduced from 13.5 GB down to 4.04 GB, cutting executable installation size by nearly 70% (note, this does not include the global terrain data files which were already significantly optimised and reduced in the past).

For Players, these optimisations mean:

• Faster load times and smoother frame rates across a more diverse set of PC configurations.
  
• Lower VRAM and RAM requirements, allowing E2V1 to run on a broader range of hardware.
  
• Improved stability, especially in longer play sessions or when multitasking.
  

Developer Notes

This optimisation pass was more than just a technical exercise; it was a preparation phase for the world to grow. Every texture streamed more efficiently and every shader compiled faster translates into a more scalable foundation for the thousands of additional Players who will soon join E2V1 under the Badge Holder program.

The strategy is clear: improve some of the heavy lifting now, before expansion. By addressing systemic inefficiencies early, we minimise future technical debt and ensure the platform can scale cleanly as both the Player base and feature set increase.

GLOBAL CHARACTER POSITIONING UPDATE

The Earth 2 team has been closely monitoring Pre-Alpha testers, including reviewing numerous streams of E2V1, which have proven invaluable in helping us identify issues and implement general improvements. One of the most frustrating issues observed among testers was situations where two Characters were in the same world location but unable to see each other. 

At first glance, the situation resembled what one might expect from separate server shards or instances – but we knew this was not the case as to date we have always run the open world of E2V1 on a single shard. Our engineering and QA team closely observed tester streams, compared simultaneous gameplay sessions and reviewed countless internal logs to identify the root cause. The issue was not multiple instances, but a misalignment within the global Character positioning system itself.

This system is the backbone of Character location inside multiplayer. It determines not only where your Character exists in the world, but how that data is replicated and displayed for every other Player. Even a minor miscalculation can cause Characters to appear invisible, misplaced, or desynchronised across clients – and in a 1:1 scale world like Earth 2’s, small differences can be amplified dramatically.

Once we confirmed the cause, we knew the fix would not be a minor patch – it required a full architectural rework.

How We Approached the Fix

The solution demanded more than simply correcting coordinates. Our developers conducted a top-down audit of how positional data flowed from the client to the server and back again. This included how Characters were initialised, how they moved through the physics simulation and how those movements were broadcasted across the multiplayer network.

We found that the system responsible for global coordinate synchronisation occasionally failed to reconcile state updates at the point of Character spawn. This could cause two Players to appear offset or completely invisible to one another, even though they were physically standing in the same world position.

To address this, we implemented a completely restructured global positioning logic, built around improved reconciliation timing and entity tracking. It required an enormous amount of QA and internal testing to ensure the system now consistently synchronises across all Players, regardless when they spawned into their Character session.

The rework also touched related systems such as collision detection, camera interpolation and animation blending to maintain visual consistency once Characters became visible to one another. Each adjustment had to be validated through live multiplayer sessions with multiple Character sessions beginning and ending simultaneously verifying not only accuracy but also performance stability under real conditions.

The Outcome

Our test results have displayed a far more reliable and synchronised multiplayer experience. In Reality Thread 4, when two or more Players gather in the same physical area, they should now be able to see and interact with one another more consistently.

We want to emphasise that while this update represents a massive improvement, we cannot guarantee 100% perfection yet, the system is complex and continued monitoring will help us refine it further. However, the difference should be immediately noticeable to most testers and there should be a significant reduction in Characters not being able to see one another in the same location.

This fix is a step toward one of Earth 2’s defining goals: bringing people together on the same virtual planet, seeing one another as they explore, craft and build.

Developer Notes

This issue represented a perfect example of why Pre-Alpha testing is so crucial. It wasn’t something that could easily be spotted through internal QA alone as it appeared after larger numbers of testers spawned in and out of Character sessions multiple times. It took live Player sessions, external perspectives and a variety of other conditions from our testers to reveal the inconsistencies.

Our team’s ongoing observation of community streams continues to be a valuable tool. We strive to watch streaming gameplay as often as possible, taking notes, identifying bugs, anomalies and subtle gameplay issues that data logs alone can’t always capture.

This proactive monitoring helps us correct problems quickly, often before they’re widely reported.

Testing Focus

After updating to Reality Thread 4:

• Gather with other Players in familiar areas and check mutual visibility.
  
• Watch for any instances where Characters are in the same location but cannot see one another.
• Characters should now be able to see one another even if new Characters spawn in and out frequently.
  
• Observe movement smoothness when multiple Players walk, run or jump together in close proximity.
  
• If any residual desync or offset occurs, please provide location details, session time in UTC and session logs where possible, these will help identify issues faster.
  

While this particular issue took time to resolve, it lays a stronger multiplayer foundation moving forward, enabling more stable interactions as future systems.

Multiplayer System Upgrades 

Following the global positioning overhaul, our team dedicated significant time to refining the broader multiplayer framework – the invisible infrastructure that connects every Character, movement and action across Earth 2’s planet-scale environment.

During the early stages of Pre-Alpha testing, we noticed that while Characters were now appearing correctly in the same space, their state synchronisation – the way animations, object interactions, and parameters updated across clients – could still drift or behave inconsistently.

Rather than applying band-aid fixes, we took this opportunity to restructure a lot of the multiplayer logic, improving the system for long-term scalability.

This upgrade was also a necessary precursor to the next phase of development – the release of badge holder access and upcoming interactive experiences such as Earth 2 Hordes which is activated by having your property actively staked, and other types of mini-games.

Core Improvements

The new multiplayer architecture introduces several important changes:

• Entity-based synchronisation: Instead of syncing entire “rooms” or areas as large data clusters, the system now tracks and updates each entity individually. This makes interactions far more precise and reduces unnecessary network traffic.
  
• Simplified server-side logic: Redundant “room management” systems were removed, replaced by streamlined entity state handlers. Each entity now independently manages its own replication data, improving stability and reducing CPU load on the servers which will in turn support a larger number of Characters concurrently on a single server.
  
• Smarter client-side reconciliation: We rebalanced the timing between client prediction and server authority, making Character movement and world interactions feel smoother and more responsive.
  
• Log management overhaul: We introduced a more efficient debugging and monitoring pipeline that outputs key frame data only when needed – this drastically reduces performance overhead while improving our ability to trace potential issues.
  

Developer Notes

This upgrade was not simply about polishing current functionality – it’s about expanding the capabilities of our multiplayer system and preparing Earth 2’s foundation for future gameplay mechanics.

The refined network layer will soon underpin everything from dynamic mini-games to persistent combat encounters, enabling a larger number of Players to share the same areas more efficiently.

Our engineers also focused heavily on ensuring that these systems are modular. That means when we introduce new forms of multiplayer content – such as mini-games like Hordes, cooperative events or social hubs – they can plug into the existing structure without needing to rebuild the core every time.

It’s all part of our commitment to scalable, sustainable development.

Testing Focus

We ask testers to focus on:

• Monitoring how Characters move relative to one another in multiplayer sessions.
  
• Observing whether other Players’ actions (walking, jumping, crafting, etc.) appear fluid and synchronised.
  
• Checking for latency spikes or sudden positional corrections when in groups – while noting tester location and server location (our server will be located in Singapore but may change from time to time for testing purposes).
  
• Reporting instances where multiplayer actions appear inconsistent, such as delayed animations or unresponsive interactions.
  

This data will help us continue balancing bandwidth and client-side prediction in future builds.

Material Classes – A New Way to Categorise Discoverable Materials

Almost every item in Earth 2 originates from the world itself – from the resources, plants, energy, life and materials that Players discover as they explore. As these systems grow more complex, it becomes essential to introduce a structure that could group resources logically while maintaining regional diversity. This is where Material Classes come in.

The new Material Class system in Reality Thread 4 is a cornerstone update that enhances both gameplay balance and backend organisation. It defines clear families of materials that share similar crafting potential, allowing Players to create basic items more freely without requiring specific, rare spawns for everything they build.

When we first designed Earth 2’s crafting ecosystem, we wanted the inspiration of the design to come from nature – diverse but structured. In the real world, a small branch and a large branch may differ in size, but they both serve similar purposes when making firewood, handles or frames. Our Material Classes work the same way: they unify functionally related materials into accessible categories.

Gameplay Impact

Players will now notice that many of the items they collect are automatically identified by their class. For example:

• Small Branches
  
• Large Branches
  
• Fruits
  
• Small Leaves
  
• Large Leaves
  
• Small Roots
  
• Large Roots
  
• Sap
  
• Nuts
  
• Berries
  
• Flowers
  
• Stones
  
• Bark
  
• And more to come.
  

Each class also features a unique icon design created by our concept art team. These abstract, stylised icons not only make identification quicker but also hint at future systems – such as runes, recipes or alchemy mechanics – where visual symbolism will play a larger role in how Players interpret and combine materials.

This system ensures that Characters can collect functionally equivalent resources almost anywhere on the planet, eliminating frustration while maintaining biome diversity. Whether you’re foraging in a desert, forest or tundra, you’ll often find items belonging to the same broader class for essential crafting needs.

Developer Notes

From a development perspective, Material Classes dramatically streamline backend management for crafting basic items. Previously, every unique item type had to be referenced manually in recipes and systems. Now, a single class can represent dozens of similar resources, allowing faster iteration when balancing gameplay or playing in new regions around the world.

For future updates, this means:

• Adding new biomes or adjusting existing biomes won’t break existing recipes.
  
• Balancing material rarity becomes easier across global zones for basic level items.
  
• The system can support emergent, regional economies once Player trade begins.
  

Testing Focus

Testers should verify:

• That each discovered material correctly displays its class icon and label (note that not all materials are classed yet).
  
• That crafting recipes properly recognise materials that match the material class icon on the material item thumbnail card.
  

The Crafting System – The Foundation of Early Survival

Reality Thread 4 marks the long-awaited introduction of the Crafting System – one of the most pivotal additions to Earth 2’s gameplay framework to date.

Crafting is the heartbeat of the early stage survival loop and a core pillar for the broader EcoSim that will govern how Players interact, build and trade inside the world until better technology and farming is achieved.

It represents the first time that Characters can take the raw materials they’ve discovered and turn them into meaningful, persistent items that exist both visually and on our backend servers.

How Crafting Works

Crafting allows Players to combine materials from their inventory using recipes – structured combinations that produce a resulting item.

At launch, Players will be able to craft a range of early-game items including basic tools and survival objects like torches, backpacks and campfires.

To begin crafting:

1. Press G to open the Crafting Interface.
2. Check the Public Recipes list to see if any current recipes are being shared.
3. Select the Recipe for the item you wish to craft (note, selecting the recipe only assists you with a reminder on which items are required, it is not necessary to select the recipe you wish to make. If you already know the ingredients you can craft without selecting the recipe from the public list).
   
4. Drag materials from your inventory into the available crafting slots.
   
5. Click Craft and wait for the result to appear.
   
6. If the selected materials match a known recipe, the item will be crafted successfully.
7. If the selected materials do not match a recipe, all materials will be lost.
   
   

The system is intentionally designed to be flexible, with backend adjustments allowing us to modify or introduce recipes without requiring a new client patch, so be aware that recipes could change at any time.

Persistence and Integration

Unlike many early access crafting systems, Earth 2’s is fully persistent and server-integrated. Every item crafted is recorded on our backend and permanently tied to your Character’s data.

This means your inventory remains consistent even if you change devices or reconnect from a different location. The persistence layer is also essential groundwork for future Player-to-Player trade and the coming Land–Character symbiosis within the EcoSim.

Crafting also introduces risk and reward. Every attempt consumes the resources used – regardless of success or failure. This mechanic encourages experimentation while maintaining economic balance and preventing infinite resource loops.

Design Philosophy

Crafting in Earth 2 is about time and progression. The most basic items can be made from raw, naturally discovered materials – things a Character could find and assemble by hand.

More advanced items, however, will require specific combinations, refined components and often energy types, which will become vital as we transition toward more complex open world interactions.

This multi-layered approach ensures that crafting remains relevant across all stages of gameplay. What begins as survival will later evolve into manufacturing, specialisation and trade.

Developer Notes

The crafting system was built with a dynamic backend structure capable of evolving in real time.
We can adjust recipe logic, success rates, or material requirements instantly, without forcing client updates — giving us the flexibility to balance gameplay quickly based on tester feedback.

This design also makes it possible for future updates to introduce profession systems or rare discoverable recipes that expand the crafting universe without fragmenting older data.

Every item crafted is an important data point for us — it helps us analyse how Players interact with the system and how resource demand will influence the in-game economy later on.

Testing Focus

Testers should focus on:

• Crafting multiple items using recipes from the Public Recipe list.
  
• Logging whether crafted items persist correctly after logout or respawn.
  
• Observing any interface delays or missing animation states in the crafting window.
  
• Testing both successful and failed crafting attempts to ensure resources are consumed correctly.
  

Remember that crafting is one of the systems where your participation directly shapes our balance decisions – your results and reports help us tune success rates, discoverability and usability for future releases. We are also aware that now crafting is live, it will gradually provide a time advantage to the Pre-Alpha tester group which is another reason why we plan to introduce badge holder access soon.

Equipping Items 

As Earth 2 continues to evolve into a living ecosystem, the ability for Characters to not only craft but also equip items marks a pivotal step toward deeper identity and functionality inside E2V1. Equipping items is how Players begin transforming their Character from a simple explorer into a purposeful inhabitant of the world – someone capable of surviving, exploring, trading, attacking, defending and eventually specialising in unique disciplines.

We’ve always envisioned Earth 2 as more than a world to walk through; it’s a place where every Player’s Character should reflect their progress, dedication and choices. The equip system is the first phase of that personalisation layer – allowing you to visibly and functionally attach items you’ve crafted to your Character and experience the benefits directly inside gameplay.

The first iteration of the system released in Reality Thread 4 is intentionally streamlined but powerful. Players can now equip functional items that impact gameplay – starting with the Backpack, which we’ll cover shortly – but the backend and UI have been built with the long-term plan in mind. In future Reality Threads, this system will expand to include a wide range of categories: wearable gear, clothing, accessories, tools, weapons, rings, implants and even cosmetic or symbolic items representing achievements or professions.

To equip an item, simply press H to open the Equip Interface. From there:

• You’ll see a list of your available items on the left-hand panel.
  
• Select the item you wish to equip and confirm the action.
  
• Equipped items remain active until manually unequipped, persisting across sessions.
  

This simple UI belies a complex system underneath. Behind the scenes, every equipped item is being tracked in real time by our backend, updating Character attributes and sync states so that other Players see you exactly as you appear. This synchronisation system ensures that equipping an item isn’t just a visual change – it’s a functional event recognised by the multiplayer layer.

Developer Notes

The equip framework was built as a modular extension to the crafting system. It supports multiple item categories and future stat systems, meaning once we introduce things like health modifiers, stamina boosts or resistance effects, those attributes will attach dynamically to the Character model at runtime.

The UI itself is designed to scale – so as the number of equipable items increases, your interface will adapt accordingly, displaying sections for a variety of equipment types.

This system also forms part of our plan for character progression and individuality. Every Player will be able to express a playstyle through the equipment they craft and wear and this is just the first step.

Testing Focus

For now, we ask testers to:

• Equip and unequip the Backpack to ensure consistency between the UI, inventory and Character model.
  
• Confirm that equipped items persist correctly after logout and login.
  
• Observe any visual glitches or delayed updates when equipping items in multiplayer sessions.
  
• Provide feedback on interface usability, button clarity, layout, and response times.
  

The Equip system is a cornerstone mechanic and your testing directly helps us refine it into the robust progression layer it’s designed to become. We note that this is a very early UI version of equipping and we do plan to improve the experience over time including the ability to equip some items directly from inventory and make the overall process more streamlined.

The Backpack – did somebody order more Space!?

If crafting is the start of survival, the Backpack is its first reward. It’s the first truly functional, equipable item in E2V1 and serves as both a gameplay necessity and a symbol of early progression.

In many survival experiences, inventory management quickly becomes a limiting factor. For Earth 2, we wanted this mechanic to feel grounded yet fair – encouraging Players to plan, prioritise, and value what they carry, but also rewarding them for advancing through crafting. 

The Backpack introduces the start of such balancing.

When a Player crafts and equips a Backpack, their Character inventory capacity increases from 100 to 500 slots. This upgrade allows deeper exploration, extended journeys and greater resource gathering before needing to return or craft storage options. In the context of Earth 2’s scale – a full 1:1 representation of our planet – carrying capacity isn’t a small convenience; it’s a key survival advantage.

Even after being equipped, the Backpack remains visible in your inventory to reflect its physical presence on your Character. This approach supports future systems where weight, material type and equipment loadouts may influence movement speed or stamina consumption and more.

Behind the Scenes

Developing the Backpack wasn’t simply about expanding a number in a data table. The feature required:

• Integrating new inventory architecture to support variable capacity based on equipped items.
  
• Creating the equip detection layer that recognises the Backpack’s presence and applies the expanded limit in real time.
  
• Designing the iconography and 3D model to reflect functionality and match Earth 2’s visual identity.
  
• Ensuring the system worked seamlessly in multiplayer, so that equipped items (like the Backpack) sync correctly across all clients.
• Ensuring that when the backpack is equipped that other active Characters can see it equipped on their own and other Characters.
  

All of this was achieved while maintaining stability within the Pre-Alpha build’s already complex data structure. The Backpack is a deceptively simple item that demonstrates the strength of Earth 2’s modular design philosophy – every new system connects naturally into the existing ecosystem.

Developer Notes

The Backpack also serves as a blueprint for how future equipment-based upgrades will work. In time, Players can expect to see other space capacity-boosting systems – Cydroids, vehicles, and specialised storage devices – built from the same foundation.

This approach ensures that the Player’s progression feels continuous. You start by crafting a Backpack with your own hands and later, through discovery, building, EcoSim progression on your properties and technological advancement, you’ll gain access to larger-scale storage solutions integrated with land assets and other devices.

Everything ties together under one persistent economy – a key part of how the EcoSim will provide different avenues for landowners, explorers and crafters to connect.

Testing Focus

Testers should pay attention to:

• Whether inventory expansion applies instantly after equipping the Backpack.
  
• Inventory persistence across sessions (items remain saved after logout).
  
• Whether unequipping reverts storage capacity correctly.
  
• Any visual or animation issues when equipping/unequipping.
  

We’re particularly interested in reports of inventory discrepancies (items disappearing, slot counts misaligning or UI misreads), as these will help us ensure the system remains stable when scaled to thousands of concurrent Players.

Campfires – More Than Just a Hearty Flame

Few features embody the survival spirit of Earth 2 more than the Campfire.

While simple in concept, the Campfire in Reality Thread 4 represents a sophisticated gameplay system that blends exploration, persistence and land interaction on a global scale.

A Campfire isn’t just a cosmetic light source – it’s a functional checkpoint that allows Characters to save progress and in future updates, perform additional survival tasks such as healing, cooking and crafting specialised items.

We designed the Campfire to bring meaning to the act of travelling, exploring and surviving within E2V1 without needing to immediately return to a Mentar or property. It introduces a strategic layer where Players must decide where to stop, rest and secure their progress – choices that carry real in-game consequences.

How Campfires Work

To create a Campfire, Players must first gather the required materials through the foraging and crafting systems introduced earlier. Once crafted, the Campfire becomes a physical object that can be placed in the world using the action bar. The placement system includes a built-in detection algorithm to ensure Campfires can only be placed on even terrain and within the centre of a tile, preserving spatial consistency across the map.

Visual placement indicators – green for valid and red for invalid – guide Players during positioning.

Once placed, the Campfire becomes more than decoration; it’s a Character save point. Saving your Character to a Campfire stores your current state, location and inventory for a fixed duration, depending on where it’s built and who owns the land beneath it.

Saving Rules and Ownership Interaction

Campfire duration varies based on land ownership:

• Campfire on unowned land:
  
  The save lasts 24 hours. After that time, if the Character hasn’t respawned, the Character permanently dies. This mechanic introduces urgency and risk management for those exploring untamed regions.
  
• Campfire on land you own (Tier 1 or Tier 2):
  
  The save lasts 72 hours (3 days) before the Character’s save expires and it dies. This offers greater security for landowners saving to their own properties.
  
• Campfire on owned land that isn’t yours (Tier 1 or Tier 2):
  
  You can still save your Character here, but you’ll pay a small fee to the landowner, equal to that property’s teleport fee. This dynamic subtly connects the Campfire system to the broader player-driven economy, giving landowners yet another utility-based revenue stream.
  

Importantly, Campfires placed on unowned land can be looted by other Players. This risk encourages strategic placement – hiding your Campfire in more secure or obscure areas, particularly if you’re streaming gameplay and don’t want others to track your position you might want to stop your stream or hide the Longitude – Latitude coordinates.

On the other hand, Campfires built on Tier 1 or Tier 2 land, whether you own the land or not, are protected from looting, giving explorers a reason to seek refuge on Player owned property when possible.

Beyond the Save Mechanic

Although the primary use for Campfires in Reality Thread 4 is as a save point, the system was built with modularity in mind. Future updates will expand Campfire functionality to include:

• Passive healing effects for nearby Characters.
  
• Cooking and meal preparation, essential for improving survival mechanics.
  
• Integration with crafting recipes that require a fire source.
  
• Potential group benefits – allowing allied Characters to share save points or recovery effects.
  

These expansions will turn Campfires into true multi-purpose survival hubs, bridging the gap between individual exploration and cooperative world-building.

Developer Notes

The Campfire system is far more complex than it appears on the surface.

Behind every placement and save is a network of global validation checks that interact with our backend to confirm tile ownership, payment permissions and save timers. This ensures the feature functions consistently regardless of who owns the land or where it’s built.

Additionally, this mechanic reinforces one of Earth 2’s long-standing principles: non-landowners and free-to-play Players must still have available gameplay loops.

Campfires allow anyone – including free-to-play Characters – to participate in the world, save progress and explore without owning land, while still maintaining balance and encouraging economic interaction with landowners.

Testing Focus

Testers should explore:

• Crafting and placing Campfires on both owned and unowned land.
  
• Saving and respawning to verify that timers behave as expected (24 or 72 hours).
  
• Observing placement accuracy – especially on uneven terrain or near tile borders.
  
• Checking for visual bugs (floating or clipping Campfires) and placement feedback clarity (green/red indicators).
  
• It is important to note that a Campfire placed by a Character will currently disappear when the Character saves or logs out. The looting system is not activated yet as we want to test the base system first so all Campfires placed by a Character that ends their session will disappear.

It’s also important to test ownership interactions: if a Campfire is built on another Player’s land, confirm that the teleport fee is applied.

Tile Search System – Expanding Discovery Materials

Discovery is one of the core pillars of Earth 2. Every branch, stone or fragment found by Players represents a tiny piece of a much larger ecosystem – one that often rewards curiosity, persistence and exploration. The introduction of the General Tile Search System in Reality Thread 4 further expands this sense of discovery by allowing Characters to search the world in a new, intuitive way.

Until now, most interactions in E2V1 required Players to locate specific objects and engage with them directly. This new system changes that dynamic. A Tile Search is a generalised exploration mechanic that lets a Character search a tile itself – not just an individual object within it – to uncover smaller or hidden materials that might otherwise be overlooked.

When you perform a Tile Search, your Character effectively performs a micro-exploration of that area, uncovering stones, flints and sometimes other basic materials embedded within the environment. Over time, as the system evolves, it will expand to include an even broader range of discoverable items, some of which may only appear through specific tools, conditions or skill levels.

How It Works

To perform a search:

1. Move the Tile Search icon from your inventory to your Action Bar.
   
2. Use the Left Mouse Button (LMB) to activate it.
   
3. Your Character will then search the tile, triggering the discovery system.
   

Each tile can be searched once per cooldown, maintaining a balance between discovery and resource generation. Once searched, the tile enters a “searched” state, ensuring that results remain fair and non-repetitive for all Players.

This system also sets the foundation for future gameplay where search proficiency and equipment upgrades influence what you can find. A new Player may uncover only common resources, while a more experienced or better-equipped Character could reveal rare or specialised materials.

Developer Notes

The Tile Search system is built to scale with future professions defined by Character equipment. 

It lays the groundwork for upcoming mechanics such as resource detection implants, foraging tools and environmental scanning devices that will build upon this baseline discovery function. It’s also fully integrated into the multiplayer and backend persistence layers, ensuring that every discovery is saved and synchronised correctly across sessions.

Testing Focus

Testers should verify:

• That Tile Searches correctly trigger on eligible terrain.
  
• That tiles cannot be  “searched” again after use.
  
• That discovered items appear in inventory with proper icons and classifications.
  
• Any visual or timing issues during the search animation process.
  

This is a deceptively simple feature but one that will become increasingly important as Earth 2’s resource systems deepen.

The Torch 

With Reality Thread 4 comes one of the most atmospheric and practical tools in E2V1: the Torch.

The world of Earth 2 transitions naturally between day and night and with darkness comes new challenges – both environmental and eventually, ecological. The Torch brings warmth and visibility to those nighttime expeditions while also acting as the first defence tool for nocturnal gameplay.

A crafted Torch illuminates your surroundings, allowing you to safely explore forests and other dense dimly lit regions. It also introduces a subtle but important survival dimension – basic light as a gameplay resource.

Right now, the Torch serves as a reliable light source, but in future builds it will tie into the broader ecosystem: attracting certain wildlife, repelling others and unlocking specific discoveries that only occur under torchlight.

Crafting and Usage

To create a Torch, Players must gather natural materials such as branches and resinous components, combining them through the crafting interface.

Once crafted, the Torch appears in your inventory and can be equipped via the Action Bar. Activate it using LMB and your Character will hold the Torch aloft, casting dynamic light around them.

Currently, Torches have no duration limit, allowing continuous use. However, later iterations will include a burn-time mechanic, where the Torch slowly depletes with use – adding to the resource management strategy.

Future Role of Torches

As E2V1 evolves, the Torch will play a role in multiple systems:

• Some night-specific items will only be discoverable while carrying a Torch.
  
• Healing properties: Torches will slowly heal Characters when held stationary or while walking.
  
• Defensive benefits: Certain hostile creatures or environmental effects may be warded off by light.
  
• Mini-games and quests: Future property-based night events may include light-sensitive challenges, such as detecting hidden Characters or illuminating runic symbols.
  

Developer Notes

The Torch is fully integrated into E2V1’s global multiplayer framework – meaning the light it casts and the actions it triggers are synchronised across clients. This required careful balancing between visual fidelity and performance, particularly during multiplayer sessions where multiple dynamic light sources may overlap.

Testing Focus

• Verify that Torch lighting is consistent and visible to other Players in multiplayer.
  
• Test equipping and unequipping behaviour.
  
• Observe any frame-rate drops or visual glitches caused by multiple Torches nearby.
  
• Report anomalies with illumination distance or colour consistency.
  

The Torch is both a simple tool and a key atmospheric feature, designed to enhance exploration and pave the way for more dynamic environmental gameplay in later updates.

The Glider – Freedom, Exploration and Speed

One of the most beloved items in early E2V1 testing has been the Glider, giving Characters the exhilarating ability to soar across landscapes.

Up to now, it was available as a default ability using the “F” key. With Reality Thread 4, the Glider transitions from being a default ability to a craftable and storable item – bringing it in line with Earth 2’s evolving item economy and survival systems.

This change is not about limiting Players; it’s about giving the Glider more value, persistence, and progression.

Now, when you see a Player glide across the sky, it represents effort – someone who gathered resources, crafted the item and earned that freedom of movement.

Crafting and Functionality

The Glider can be crafted using basic materials and unlike advanced tools, it does not require energy types to construct. Once crafted, it can be equipped to your Character and activated just like any other item through the Action Bar.

The mechanics have now transitioned to the Action Bar system meaning you can move your Glider from the Inventory to the Action Bar and use LMB to activate. The shift to crafted item-based functionality now means you can store, trade and manage your Glider like any other equipment piece.

Gameplay Impact

Gliding offers immense utility for exploration and travel, especially across large or mountainous regions. It also adds layers of tactical movement – allowing Players to reach otherwise inaccessible areas or quickly escape dangerous situations.

Many testers during earlier phases discovered just how enjoyable the Glider was, using it to traverse vast distances and perform daring stunts. We wanted to preserve that sense of freedom while integrating it naturally into Earth 2’s broader crafting and equipment systems.

Developer Notes

The Glider’s transition from a default mechanic to a craftable item required several key backend changes:

• Implementing persistent inventory tracking for airborne states.
  
• Adding real-time synchronisation between gliding Characters in multiplayer.
  
• Adjusting stamina consumption to slow down when gliding.

Testing Focus

Testers should:

• Craft and equip Gliders using the crafting system.
  
• Confirm proper inventory and persistence after flight.
  
• Test multiplayer visibility – other Players should see you glide in real time.
  
• Report stamina inconsistencies or physics anomalies during use.
  

The Glider remains one of the most fun and useful tools in Earth 2. Its inclusion as a craftable item ensures that every Player can earn their wings – literally.

The Spear  – The First Combat Weapon of Earth 2

Among all the features introduced in Reality Thread 4, few carry as much excitement or symbolic weight as the Spear.

This is the first true weapon in E2V1 and with it comes potential conflict – the foundation for both PvE (Player versus Environment) and PvP (Player versus Player) interactions.

It marks the beginning of combat inside Earth 2, bridging survival with confrontation or cooperation.

Crafted entirely from discoverable materials, the Spear represents early ingenuity – a tool fashioned from nature itself to confront the challenges of an emerging world. It doesn’t require energy types or advanced crafting stations, meaning any Character can make one with the right resources and knowledge.

A Message from the Founder

“The Spear is not just a weapon – it represents the first true expression of moral and mechanical choice within the metaverse,” said Shane Isaac, Founder of Earth 2. “My vision for Earth 2 is to create a world of choices, where Players enjoy similar freedom of decision-making inside E2V1 as we do in the real world. However, those choices will not always come without consequences.”

“We’re still in the early stages of Pre-Alpha testing, but I plan to introduce bounty systems where Characters who choose to kill other Characters can be captured and detained for rewards by other Characters – meaning real penalties may apply to Players who carry a bounty and are caught.”

“Different Megacities may also enforce their own laws and offer varying levels of protection to visitors or residents, including restrictions on the types of weapons permitted within their walls, effectively creating safe zones. So while Players may have the freedom to kill other Characters, they must also be prepared to face the consequences – from becoming unwelcome in certain areas to defending themselves if karma eventually catches up with them.”

This quote captures the long-term philosophy behind combat in Earth 2: freedom balanced by consequence. 

Combat Mechanics

Characters equipped with the Spear have two main attack options:

• LMB (Left Mouse Button): Performs a standard melee strike.
  
• Shift + RMB (Right Mouse Button): Triggers a powerful running attack, dealing higher damage but consuming stamina rapidly.
  

Each type of strike produces different results, animations and impact responses depending on your Character’s motion and positioning. Combat timing and stamina management become critical factors – you can’t simply spam attacks without consideration.

Multiplayer Integration

Implementing a real-time, multiplayer-compatible weapon required extensive development across multiple departments:

• Concept Art: Created visual identity and style for the Spear.
  
• 3D Modelling: Built detailed versions suitable for both first- and third-person perspectives.
  
• Animation: Designed multiple attack and defensive poses, as well as impact reactions.
  
• Programming & Physics: Implemented logical hit detection, damage scaling and stamina drain.
  
• Multiplayer Engineering: Integrated all data into the server system for live synchronisation.
  
• Audio Team: Recorded unique sound effects for different impact types (wood, flesh, metal, shield, miss).
  

Developer Notes

Each attack made with the Spear is registered and processed by our multiplayer servers, calculating whether a hit occurred, determining impact type, applying the correct damage coefficient and relaying that data to all affected clients in real time. This complex interplay ensures that combat feels responsive and consistent for all Players in the same world.

The Spear also introduces the ragdoll physics system to combat, which activates when Characters are hit with sufficient force – sending them sprawling or tumbling based on attack type. This not only adds some fun to the combat but will become an important part of the strategy, particularly when dealing with multiple opponents or cooperative encounters.

Testing Focus

Testers should experiment with:

• Both attack types (standard and run attack).
  
• Multiplayer encounters – verifying hit registration, visible reactions and ragdoll states.
  
• Impact sound consistency across surfaces and targets.
  
• Damage variations between stationary and moving Characters.

Note: the duration of rag doll mode often depends on the terrain the Character has been knocked on. For example, if a Character is knocked down on flat terrain then the recovery should be faster than if the Character is knocked down on a hill or mountain and falls onto a slope.

This is Earth 2’s first step into a combat-enabled world. The Spear establishes the technical and gameplay foundation for what will later evolve into an expansive system of weapons, armour and cooperative or competitive combat experiences.

The Shield – Defence, Counterplay and Strategy

Where there’s a weapon, there must be a defence. Following the introduction of the Spear, Reality Thread 4 also debuts the Shield, completing the first balance loop of Earth 2’s emerging combat system. The Shield is more than just a block animation – it’s a true physical object with weight, orientation and collision properties, designed to interact dynamically with weapons in real time.

From the beginning, we wanted combat in Earth 2 to feel intuitive yet skill-based. The Shield represents that design philosophy perfectly: effective in capable hands, but not an automatic safeguard. Just as with the Spear, every element of its creation and integration – from concept art to final multiplayer syncing – was meticulously built to behave like a real, tactile object inside a shared, connected world.

Crafting and Functionality

The Shield, like the Spear, is craftable from natural materials and does not require energy types or advanced crafting stations. Once you’ve gathered the necessary resources, it can be created through the standard crafting interface and then equipped through the Action Bar.

When held, the Shield allows your Character to enter a block stance, intercepting direct attacks from weapons such as the Spear. But its effectiveness isn’t absolute – only attacks that physically collide with the Shield’s hit zone will be blocked. Strikes that land from the side, rear, or bypass its coverage area will still deal damage.

This design creates a genuine positional combat system, where awareness, reaction and timing matter as much as equipment. It also opens the door to group tactics – formations where Players can coordinate attacks and defences dynamically.

Dynamic Interactions and Counterplay

The interplay between Spears and Shields has already produced some incredibly satisfying emergent moments during internal testing. We have designed the system so that if a Player performs a running attack with a Spear and their target blocks at the correct angle, the attacker will lose balance and fall into ragdoll state, temporarily vulnerable. Conversely, if a blocking Player is struck from behind or from an exposed side, they’ll take full damage and risk being staggered themselves.

These mechanics encourage not only skill but also creativity and teamwork. A group of Players could, for example, coordinate to lure enemies into charge attacks, then counter with timed blocks to knock them down. The result is a fluid, reactive system that makes even early combat feel alive.

Behind the Scenes

The Shield followed a similar production pipeline to the Spear:

• Concept Design: Our concept team explored multiple styles – primitive wood, bark composites and reinforced bindings – to find a look that matched E2V1’s early survival aesthetic.
  
• 3D Modelling: Created both first- and third-person assets with proper scaling and collision geometry.
  
• Animation: Developed separate states for idle, raise, active block, running and recovery transitions.
  
• Programming: Implemented logic to determine attack angles, block efficiency and stamina drain.
  
• Multiplayer Integration: Ensured all hit detections and block states sync across clients, including delayed packet handling and reconciliation for latency.
  

The Shield’s introduction also required additional tuning of the ragdoll system, refining how Characters react physically when blocking or being struck. For example, a perfectly timed block can send an attacker tumbling, while a partial block might still result in stagger but reduced damage.

Developer Notes

The Shield demonstrates how even simple mechanics in Earth 2 are underpinned by complex systems. What looks like a straightforward piece of gear actually represents extensive work integrating animation blending, collision detection and networked physics.

These early iterations of combat are intentionally grounded – melee weapons, directional blocking and stamina management – because they teach us how to handle synchronisation, impact reactions, and player control feedback in a real-time, global multiplayer environment.

Once perfected, this framework will support more advanced weapon types, armour, ranged combat and unique interaction rules for megacities or private regions.

Testing Focus

• Craft and equip a Shield, testing both stationary and mobile blocking.
  
• Engage in multiplayer combat with other testers wielding Spears.
  
• Observe collisions – especially hits from the sides and behind – to confirm correct damage behaviour.
  
• Report any instances where blocked attacks still cause knockback or vice versa.
  
• Evaluate stamina depletion and recovery while blocking continuously.
  

Every strike and block recorded helps us refine latency compensation, hit accuracy and the core balance between aggression and defence – fundamental building blocks for Earth 2’s long-term combat ecosystem.

Tile Ownership in Character Mode 

Another introduction in Reality Thread 4 is the ability to select and acquire land tiles directly while exploring in Character Mode.

Until now, Players could only purchase tiles via the website or from Free Flight Mode inside E2V1. But as the world becomes more interactive, it is important to give Characters the same purchasing agency within the physical environment they inhabit.

This feature bridges two key aspects of Earth 2: the web-based land economy and the in-world exploration experience. For the first time, you can walk across the terrain, evaluate it visually, and make a purchase decision on the spot – seeing and feeling the land before you own it.

How It Works

To use the system:

1. Move the Tile Selection icon from your inventory to the Action Bar.
   
2. Use LMB to activate selection mode.
   
3. Your Character can then mark tiles around their position, viewing purchase boundaries in real time.
4. Use LMB to signal you have finished selecting tiles.
5. Follow the usual steps to complete your ownership of the selected tiles.

Once confirmed, the system processes the purchase through your account, integrating the new property instantly into your portfolio. The purchase is tied to your Player ID, ensuring full synchronisation between E2V1 and your Earth 2 account backend.

This feature isn’t just about convenience – it’s also about immersion. Buying land while standing on it connects ownership to physical context. It transforms digital real estate into something tangible: you don’t just buy coordinates; you claim a place you’ve walked across, explored, and interacted with.

Practical Benefits

Tile purchasing from within Character Mode also plays a strategic role in survival.

Imagine you’re exploring far from your established properties and your Character needs a permanent save point. Instead of relying solely on Campfires, you can now buy the tile you’re on, creating a safe zone instantly. This mechanic gives Players flexibility in managing risk and rewards exploration with real economic consequence.

It also lays the groundwork for more advanced property-related interactions – future updates will allow Players to inspect tile metadata, nearby resources and environmental conditions before purchase, making informed decisions about where to build or trade.

Developer Notes

Integrating this system required bridging Earth 2’s transactional web layer with the live multiplayer client. Every purchase must validate ownership, update the live world state and replicate that data to all relevant clients without delay.

Testing Focus

Testers can assist by:

• Testing tile purchases in different terrain types (flat, uneven, coastal).
  
• Verifying that new ownership displays correctly after refresh or relog.
  
• Reporting any discrepancies between in-game and website ownership data.
  
• Checking that property borders render correctly and persist between sessions.
  

This system represents a convergence of gameplay, economy, and exploration – a glimpse into how Earth 2 will eventually unify all Player actions under one persistent world state.

EcoSim and City Prototypes

We’ve also received questions about the large city environments shown in earlier demonstrations. Those tests were designed to push the engine and validate scale – confirming that our world renderer could display and stream massive player-built settlements in real time.

From the beginning, the intention was never to drop finished cities into the world as static scenery – many games have prebuilt terrain but Earth 2 has never been about us pre-building such cities. The long-term EcoSim vision is for Players themselves to construct those cities through resource gathering, crafting, trade and collaboration. The early footage was about proving that the engine could handle those ambitions, not about prematurely populating the world.

If we released prebuilt cities, it would completely defeat the purpose of the entire EcoSim and the fundamental goals of Earth 2 – not to mention that in our opinion it would be boring.

By showing that technology early, we ensured that when the time comes for real Player-driven urban growth, the tools and performance will already be ready to support it. Cities in Earth 2 are meant to emerge organically, shaped by the hands of thousands of Players, not prefabricated by developers.

Conclusion – Building Toward a Living Earth

Reality Thread 4 is another substantial and technically demanding update adding to a growing list of delivered updates for E2V1. It represents months of hard work, collaboration and iteration across nearly every department resulting in engine optimisation and multiplayer architecture to crafting, survival and early combat mechanics.

Each Reality Thread release serves a specific purpose, and this one is particularly transformative. The introduction of crafting, equipment and weapon systems means that for the first time, Characters inside Earth 2 can live, create, and defend themselves using resources found in the world. The optimisation work done at the engine level ensures that this experience runs smoother and has the potential to support more Players than ever before.

Perhaps most importantly, this update reflects Earth 2’s philosophy of open, transparent development. We have made an intentional pivot to share our progress as it happens – unpolished, sometimes imperfect, but always authentic. Every bug found and every fix applied takes us one step closer to the future we’re building together.

For Our Testers

To our Pre-Alpha testers – thank you.

Your patience, reports and streams have been invaluable in helping us identify issues, refine systems and prioritise improvements. Reality Thread 4 includes many fixes and enhancements born directly from your feedback. Every hour you spend testing brings us closer to opening the doors of E2V1 to the wider world.

Please remember:

• Bugs are expected, especially as we introduce new systems like crafting and combat.
  
• Our team will continue addressing issues progressively, just as we always have.
  
• Your feedback isn’t just appreciated – it’s an active part of the development cycle.
  

Looking Ahead

Reality Thread 4 sets the foundation for what’s next: the rollout of Badge Holder access, expanded multiplayer systems and the introduction of new gameplay layers stemming from and tied to the EcoSim. Every update from here builds upon this groundwork.

As we move closer to E2V1’s public release to badge holders, each Player, tester and community member remains part of this journey. Together, we are shaping a world unlike any other – a persistent digital planet powered by Essence and determined by the choices of its inhabitants – the Players.

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Reality Thread 4 — Crafting, Combat & Core Optimisations

A step closer to a living, breathing digital Earth.

And as always – we are building the geolocational metaverse and this is only the beginning!