EF-Map Blog

Technical guides, feature updates, and optimization stories from the EVE Frontier mapping project.

Awakened Cinema: 4K EVE Frontier Videos Without the Banding

How we built a DIY HLS video streaming pipeline on Cloudflare R2 to deliver preservation-grade EVE Frontier cinematics—because YouTube compression destroys dark gradients.

awakened cinemavideo streaminghlscloudflare r24k videoeve frontier
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Improving EF-Map Visibility: Analytics, SEO, and AI Integration

How we enhanced EF-Map's discoverability for EVE Frontier players through dedicated landing pages, Google Analytics 4 instrumentation, Search Console integration, and AI Engine Optimization.

analyticsseogoogle analyticssearch consoleai optimizationeve frontier
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EVE Frontier Map: Your Complete Guide to the Interactive Star Map

Yes, there is a map for EVE Frontier. EF-Map is a free interactive 3D star map with Smart Gate routing, region analysis, and collaborative tribe marks—no account required.

eve frontier mapstar mapinteractive mapsmart gatesroute planningregion analysistribe marks
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Blueprint Calculator: Manufacturing Planning for EVE Frontier

EF-Map includes a free blueprint calculator for EVE Frontier that calculates material requirements, supports batch quantities, and shows complete material trees in your browser.

blueprint calculatormanufacturingcraftingmaterialseve frontierproduction planningrecipes
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EF Helper: The Desktop Companion App for EVE Frontier

Yes, EF Helper is a free Windows desktop companion for EVE Frontier available on the Microsoft Store. Get real-time location sync, in-game overlay, and mining telemetry.

ef helperdesktop appwindows appfollow modein-game overlaymining telemetrymicrosoft store
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Log Parser: Your Personal Flight Recorder for EVE Frontier

Turn your EVE Frontier game logs into actionable insights—locally. Introducing the Log Parser: a privacy-first analytics dashboard that never sends your data anywhere.

log parserlocal analyticsprivacy-firstmining analyticscombat statsroute playbackeve frontier
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GPU Performance Debugging: From 11.5 FPS to Smooth Rendering

How we diagnosed a user's 11.5 FPS performance issue on an AMD RX 7600S, discovered the root cause through collaborative debugging, and implemented safeguards to prevent future occurrences.

gpu performancewebglthree.jsdebuggingamd gpublend modeseve frontier
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Transparency Report: How Every Feature Works Under the Hood

A complete breakdown of how EF-Map works—what runs client-side, what data we access, what requires login, and why we built a privacy-first EVE Frontier mapping tool.

transparencyclient-sideprivacyopen sourceblockchainno trackingeve frontier
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CPU Optimization: From 28% Idle to 4% Through Idle Rendering and Live Events Separation

How a community performance report led to discovering Chrome Task Manager quirks, implementing idle render throttling, and ultimately separating event capture from visual display—cutting CPU usage by 85% while preserving all history features.

performancecpu optimizationthree.jswebglchrome task manageranimation looplive eventswebsocketindexeddbvibe coding
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Module Mission: From Discord Request to Production in One Hour

How we built a complete Module Mission feature—tracking all 114 Assembler modules with checkboxes, materials totals, and persistence—in under an hour using existing patterns, data pipelines, and LLM-assisted development.

module missionrapid developmentvibe codingllm developmentassembler moduleseve frontierreacttypescript
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Starfield Depth Effects: Adding Subtle Immersion to a 3D Universe

How we added five layers of depth effects—glow, flare, parallax, brightness, and desaturation—to make 24,000+ stars feel like a living universe. Iterative development with LLM collaboration and subtle-by-design philosophy.

three.jswebgldepth effectsstar glowlens flareparallaxshadervisual effectsvibe codingeve frontier
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The EF-Map Journey: From First Commit to 1,116 Commits in 137 Days

A comprehensive chronicle of EF-Map's development from August 12 to December 27, 2025—1,116 commits, 55,000 lines of code, and a complete EVE Frontier mapping ecosystem built by vibe coding with LLMs.

project historycommit historyvibe codingllm developmentdevelopment journeyeve frontierthree.jscloudflareblockchain indexing
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Unified Smart Panel: Consolidating Features for a Cleaner Interface

How we unified Smart Assemblies, Smart Gates, and SSU Finder into one tabbed panel, standardized UI styling across windows, and surfaced the Blueprint Calculator for better discoverability.

ui consolidationsmart assembliessmart gatesssu finderblueprint calculatorfeature barux improvementseve frontier
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WebSocket Keepalive: Diagnosing Zombie Connections and Zero-Cost Pings

How we tracked down a 'network error' that halved our connected users—from POST to /null bugs to Cloudflare Durable Objects auto-response for zero-cost WebSocket keepalives.

websocketdurable objectskeepalivecloudflarezombie connectionscost optimizationtroubleshootingeve frontier
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UI Refinements: Feature Bar Evolution, Scaling Consistency, and Storage Panel

A weekend of UI polish for EVE Frontier Map: fixing window scaling and positioning, adding vertical resizing to the feature bar, implementing scrollable tools section, and introducing the Beta/Storage panel for power users.

ui improvementsfeature barscaling fixesstorage paneldrag and dropux refinementpower user featuresalpha developmenteve frontier
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Killboard Implementation: Tracking PvP Activity Across EVE Frontier

How we built a comprehensive killboard for EVE Frontier Map using blockchain-indexed kill mail data, Docker cron jobs, and Cloudflare KV snapshots—from schema discovery to production deployment.

killboardpvp trackingblockchain indexingkill mailcloudflare kvdocker croneve frontierleaderboardstribe statistics
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Live Events Optimization: 24-Hour Persistence and Time-Travel Replay

How we transformed EVE Frontier's live event ticker from a pretty-but-useless feature into a powerful intelligence tool with IndexedDB persistence, multi-speed replay, and 24-hour event history.

indexeddbevent persistencereplaywebsocketbrowser storagelazy loadingevent historyeve frontier
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Live Universe Events: Real-Time Blockchain Streaming in EVE Frontier Map

How we built real-time event streaming for EVE Frontier using Cloudflare Durable Objects and WebSockets—watch smart gate links, tribe actions, and fuel deliveries happen live.

real-time eventswebsocketdurable objectsblockchain indexinglive streamingcloudflaresmart gatesevent tickereve frontier
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Smart Assembly Size Filtering: From User Request to Production in 45 Minutes

How we added S/M/L size filtering to EVE Frontier's Smart Assemblies panel—modifying a Docker container, blockchain indexer, Cloudflare KV snapshots, and React frontend—all in under an hour.

smart assembliessize filteringrapid developmentdockercloudflare kvblockchain indexingeve frontiervibe codingllm developmentfull stack
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Adding AI to EF-Map: Natural Language Commands with Cloudflare Workers AI

How we added natural language command parsing to EVE Frontier Map using Cloudflare Workers AI—from model selection to compound command support, all at 16x lower cost.

workers ainatural language processingcloudflare aillm integrationvoice commandsgranite modeleve frontiercommand parsingai interface
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Quick Tour: Interactive Onboarding with Driver.js

How we built a 9-step guided tour using Driver.js to teach new users EF-Map's routing workflow, complete with a themed exit modal and progress persistence.

onboardingdriver.jsguided tourux designuser educationinteractive tutorialeve frontierproduct tour
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Exploration Mode: Real-Time Pathfinding Visualization

Watch Dijkstra explore the star map in real-time. We built a visualization mode that renders visited nodes as the algorithm searches, with 5-second fade-out trails.

pathfinding visualizationdijkstra algorithmexploration modevisited nodesanimationeve frontieralgorithm visualizationreal-time rendering
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Embed Guide: Helping Partners Integrate EVE Frontier Maps

We built an interactive configurator to help streamers, tool makers, and community sites embed EF-Map with customized styling, coordinates, and feature toggles.

embed apiiframe integrationpartner toolsconfigurationstreaming overlayeve frontiercustomizationurl parameters
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Refactoring a 9,000-Line React Component: When NOT to Split

Why we kept App.tsx at 9,000 lines and extracted 15+ custom hooks instead of forcing an artificial split. A case study in pragmatic React architecture.

react refactoringcustom hooksapp.tsxthree.jscode architecturetechnical debtcoordinator componentlarge components
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Smart Gate Routing: Bidirectional Dijkstra and Gate Directionality

How we optimized EVE Frontier pathfinding with bidirectional Dijkstra search and fixed a critical bug where one-way Smart Gates were traversed in reverse.

bidirectional dijkstrapathfindingsmart gatesrouting algorithmminheapgraph traversaleve frontieroptimizationone-way gates
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Jump Bubble Visualization: Thin-Film Interference Shaders in Three.js

Creating a soap-bubble effect for EVE Frontier's jump range indicator using GLSL thin-film interference physics—wavelength-to-RGB conversion, flow noise, and spiral animations.

glsl shadersthin-film interferencethreejswebgljump rangevisual effectseve frontierphysics simulation
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Bandwidth Optimization: From 1.2MB Logos to Sub-Second Database Loads

How we reduced loading times by 99.9% through SVG conversion, IndexedDB caching, and intelligent loading screen design—cutting bandwidth costs from £12-22/month to £1-2/month while improving user experience.

bandwidth optimizationsvg conversionindexeddb cachingloading screen uxperformance optimizationeve frontiercloudflare cdnweb performance
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Solar System View: A Three-Day Journey from Concept to Production

The complete story of building a 3D planetary explorer for EVE Frontier Map in three days—from initial coordinate bugs to production deployment, featuring dynamic icon grouping, starfield backgrounds, and smooth camera transitions.

solar system viewthree.jscoordinate transformationdynamic groupingstarfield renderinggame developmenteve frontierwebglcamera optimization
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Remote Diagnostic Tool: Solving Overlay Injection Failures

How we built a PowerShell diagnostic tool to troubleshoot EVE Frontier overlay injection failures remotely—reducing support time from hours to minutes.

diagnostic toolpowershellremote troubleshootingoverlay injectionautomationeve frontier
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Context7 MCP Integration: Accelerating AI Documentation Retrieval by 20x

How we integrated Context7 MCP server to eliminate manual file attachments for AI agents, reducing documentation lookup time from 3-5 minutes to 10-15 seconds with zero user interruption.

context7mcp serverai documentationgithub copilotautomationdeveloper experiencellm toolingvscodeworkflow optimization
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Dual Database Pipeline: Preparing for EVE Frontier Universe Updates

Complete documentation for regenerating EVE Frontier map databases from VULTUR and Phobos extraction tools—ensuring fresh LLMs can rebuild production data after universe updates.

database regenerationvultur extractionphobos toolsuniverse updatesdocumentationautomationeve frontierdata pipelineverification scripts
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Vibe Coding: Building a 124,000-Line Project in 3 Months Without Writing Code

How a non-coder built EF-Map in 3 months—a production tool with 124k+ lines including C++ DirectX overlay—using LLMs, structured documentation, and iterative vibe coding. The complete methodology.

vibe codingLLM developmentAI codingGitHub Copilotagent modenon-coder developmentC++ without codingDirectX overlayEVE Frontier tools
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Smart Gates Phased Rollout: From Vision to Wallet-Authenticated Routing

How we integrated blockchain-powered Smart Gates into EF-Map through six phases—from overlay polish to SIWE authentication, authorized filtering, and opt-in routing—without breaking production.

smart gatesblockchain routingsiwe authenticationwallet connectphased rolloutpreview deployments
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Privacy-First Analytics: Learning Without Tracking

How we built a usage analytics system that tracks feature adoption and engagement using only aggregate counters—no user IDs, no sessions, no PII, complete transparency.

privacyanalyticsgdprserverlessaggregate datatransparency
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Cinematic Mode: Immersive Exploration of New Eden

Introducing Cinematic Mode—a fullscreen, distraction-free way to explore EVE Frontier's star map with smooth camera controls and atmospheric visuals.

ux designimmersive uiexplorationcinematic modeuser experience
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Follow Mode: Real-Time Location Sync Between Game and Map

Introducing Follow Mode—live location tracking that keeps the map centered on your in-game position, bridging the game client and browser via the helper service.

follow modereal-time synchelper bridgelocation trackinggps mode
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User Overlay: Real-Time In-Game Navigation HUD

Building a DirectX 12 overlay that displays routes calculated on the web directly inside EVE Frontier—seamless navigation without alt-tabbing.

directxoverlaygame integrationnative appsreal-time sync
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Embed Mode: Bringing the EVE Frontier Map to Your Site

Iframe embedding for partner sites—URL parameters for system focus, zoom levels, orbit mode, color palettes, and preloaded routes. Fully customizable and responsive.

embed modeiframepartner integrationurl parameterscustomization
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Compare Regions: Strategic Analysis for Territory Expansion

Side-by-side region comparison tool for data-driven expansion decisions—analyze resource density, player activity, gate connectivity, and strategic positioning across multiple regions.

region comparisonstrategic analysisterritory planningdata visualizationdecision support
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Ready to explore New Eden?

Try the interactive star map with advanced routing and optimization features.

Launch EVE Frontier Map