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General discussions about X Rebirth.

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sunu
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Post by sunu » Tue, 10. Mar 15, 22:14

timon37 wrote:Compatibility wise the only thing I'll be (initially) able to guarantee is ubuntu 14.04.
Though I'll be working to improve that asap.
SteamOS itself should also be very high in the priority list, if not #1. Steam has an easily installable DVD ISO image out there:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamu ... 243644036/
http://repo.steampowered.com/download/

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Post by wwdragon » Tue, 10. Mar 15, 23:50

timon37 wrote:Just a bit of heads-up as well as a warning;)
We're gonna publicly release the linux build very soon.
You've just given me a reason to actually use linux! :D
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Post by JClosed » Wed, 11. Mar 15, 08:12

I wonder if it will be made extremely very clear that the Linux build is an very early version? If not - be prepared to get an lot of (bad, hateful) comments from people that actually think it is an finished product! Especially on the Steam forum (but it will spark off to this forum too).

I strongly advise to put an big fat bold BETA or ALPHA in the name or be prepared to get completely slaughtered! That would be an shame really..

That said, it is nice to try out the first results of the port. I mainly work with Ubuntu 14.04 as this is an LTS version, so I got the "good" version. Without joystick the game will be not very playable for me yet (I never got along with mouse steering), but still nice to see the advances and limitations of the present build. Good work!

But - as I said, please, please, please be very clear about that it's not an finished port yet. The last thing we need now is an new hate-explosion on the Steam forum, just when things have calmed down a little over there...

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Tamina
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Post by Tamina » Wed, 11. Mar 15, 12:03

Yes, I agree. Egosoft is always so shy in that matter. Steam also has an Alpha-Warning-Window for the store page.

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Post by wwdragon » Wed, 11. Mar 15, 20:00

No worries for me.
I'll just switch out the hard drive.

I can swap back to winblowz anytime. 8)
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Post by ezra-r » Wed, 11. Mar 15, 20:30

timon37 wrote:Just a bit of heads-up as well as a warning;)
We're gonna publicly release the linux build very soon.
It's a really early build, so there will be quite a few things missing e.g. joystick support, anti-aliasing, ssao (full list coming soon).
There will be some graphical differences/glitches, however in some areas there are improvements so it's not all bad:)
Performance in my testing is a mixed bag (varies between bit better and much worse).
AWESOME news!!

Thanks timon, willing to test it and let it break things even, so no worries : o )

xenoncore123
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Post by xenoncore123 » Wed, 11. Mar 15, 23:18

Just curious to a few things:

1) What programming language did you use to create X Rebirth, i am assuming C++, as a C++ programmer my self i see a lot of similarities with the code of the game and the scripting languages. (Mostly gathered from your employee hiring requirements...)

2) What Artificial Intelligence features do you use ? For instance, things like Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms, A* Pathfinding, and State machines and many more.

3) Was X Rebirth just a test of the new engine ? Because i have a strong feeling that X4 will have many features of the old, such as controlling your empire without being in the same sector, and using the zone map to move around instead of conventual means. I like X Rebirth but i just started playing Albion again and there are so many features i would like in Rebirth, i really really really enjoy the realistic economy setting in Rebirth though, it is a bit of a nuisance knowing that in Albion the ships just spawn in.

4) Will you be taking advantage of the new hardware that is out and coming out, such as the 12GB graphic cards and the 16 core processors and the 3000Mhz RAM and the 2TB solid state drives ?

5) Would you consider doing some youtube tutorials on how you 3D model, Animate texture, Program, and sound/music creation because you do some beautiful scenery and Space 3D models and animation such as the new Xenon ships and the animation on the Stations and the programming of the economic system. By doing this you could make a ton of money from advertising the content and then spending that money on "office things" if you wish.

6) PS, You mention on your Staff Hiring credentials that you require people with Calculus knowledge, how would calculus be used in your engines ? I have not studied Calculus as of yet and i read this years ago (just asking now). It does have me curious though.

Thank you for your time.
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Post by fooka » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 00:18

looking very very very forward to the Linux version, If there's a way to contribute to testing it, i'd love to help out!

thanks!

p.s. you should totally add a "played under Linux" achievement for steam. *giggle*
-m

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edqe
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Post by edqe » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 09:04

For some reason I'm not able to download it (without executable) with SteamOS yet. Is there some alpha/beta code I have missed?

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Post by rboerdijk » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 09:23

edqe wrote:For some reason I'm not able to download it (without executable) with SteamOS yet. Is there some alpha/beta code I have missed?
We didn't publish it (yet) :wink:

Also a reminder about Timons comment a few posts back:
timon37 wrote: Compatibility wise the only thing I'll be (initially) able to guarantee is ubuntu 14.04.
Though I'll be working to improve that asap.

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edqe
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Post by edqe » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 09:35

rboerdijk wrote:
edqe wrote:For some reason I'm not able to download it (without executable) with SteamOS yet. Is there some alpha/beta code I have missed?
We didn't publish it (yet) :wink:
Some people mentioned that they are already able to download the game but not just executable. *IF* the game is going to be released in "some Friday" I may have to wait till next week if there are some flags forgotten during publishing process.
... I just want to make sure I'm able to start playing/testing it ASAP :)
rboerdijk wrote:Also a reminder about Timons comment a few posts back:
timon37 wrote: Compatibility wise the only thing I'll be (initially) able to guarantee is ubuntu 14.04.
Though I'll be working to improve that asap.
Sure. I'm ready to make an Ubuntu 14.04 installation if required, that's fine :)

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Post by rboerdijk » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 09:43

edqe wrote:
rboerdijk wrote:
edqe wrote:For some reason I'm not able to download it (without executable) with SteamOS yet. Is there some alpha/beta code I have missed?
We didn't publish it (yet) :wink:
Some people mentioned that they are already able to download the game but not just executable. *IF* the game is going to be released in "some Friday" I may have to wait till next week if there are some flags forgotten during publishing process.
... I just want to make sure I'm able to start playing/testing it ASAP :)
It appears that if there is a linux version ( even if not publicly accessible ) steam assumes it's "available" for that platform and allows users to download the (default) "bulk data" - hence some people are able to "download the game".

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edqe
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Post by edqe » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 09:54

rboerdijk wrote:It appears that if there is a linux version ( even if not publicly accessible ) steam assumes it's "available" for that platform and allows users to download the (default) "bulk data" - hence some people are able to "download the game".
Oh OK. It has happened to me as well earlier with some other games but it is possible that some recent SteamOS client updates has removed that "feature". Sounds like everything is in order, good to hear.

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Post by CBJ » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 10:42

Some answers:
xenoncore123 wrote:1) What programming language did you use to create X Rebirth, i am assuming C++, as a C++ programmer my self i see a lot of similarities with the code of the game and the scripting languages. (Mostly gathered from your employee hiring requirements...)
Yes, the code is C++.
xenoncore123 wrote:2) What Artificial Intelligence features do you use ? For instance, things like Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms, A* Pathfinding, and State machines and many more.
Some pretty buzzwords there, mixed in with standard techniques. ;) Regarding the latter, yes, we use A* for finding paths between sectors and systems using highways and so on, and we have state-machine-like systems for certain areas such as ware production.
xenoncore123 wrote:3) Was X Rebirth just a test of the new engine ? Because i have a strong feeling that X4 will have many features of the old, such as controlling your empire without being in the same sector, and using the zone map to move around instead of conventual means. I like X Rebirth but i just started playing Albion again and there are so many features i would like in Rebirth, i really really really enjoy the realistic economy setting in Rebirth though, it is a bit of a nuisance knowing that in Albion the ships just spawn in.
In the sense that it's the first game using the new engine, I suppose by definition it's a "test" of that engine. And of course having spent so many years developing that engine, it is our intention that it will form the basis of more than just one game.
xenoncore123 wrote:4) Will you be taking advantage of the new hardware that is out and coming out, such as the 12GB graphic cards and the 16 core processors and the 3000Mhz RAM and the 2TB solid state drives ?
Successful game development is, perhaps disappointingly, about creating something that can be played by "normal" people with "normal" hardware. This has to be carefully balanced against the more exciting prospects offered by the very latest bleeding-edge hardware, in order to maintain a viable commercial proposition. We will, of course, try to keep pace with new developments as far as possible, but as a small developer we can rarely afford to be an early adopter of new technologies. This is particularly true of technologies that may or may not reach the mainstream.
xenoncore123 wrote:5) Would you consider doing some youtube tutorials on how you 3D model, Animate texture, Program, and sound/music creation because you do some beautiful scenery and Space 3D models and animation such as the new Xenon ships and the animation on the Stations and the programming of the economic system. By doing this you could make a ton of money from advertising the content and then spending that money on "office things" if you wish.
I rather doubt this would be a viable proposition for us, but we do occasionally produce "DevBlog"-type videos that might cover some of this ground.
xenoncore123 wrote:6) PS, You mention on your Staff Hiring credentials that you require people with Calculus knowledge, how would calculus be used in your engines ? I have not studied Calculus as of yet and i read this years ago (just asking now). It does have me curious though.
Mathematics forms the core of several areas of any game engine, including physics and lighting, pathing and navigation, movement and animation, and many others. Calculus is touched on in several of these, but I suspect it's mentioned in the requirements more because it indicates a general level of mathematical knowledge than because we are specifically looking for Calculus as a skill.

xenoncore123
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Post by xenoncore123 » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 17:48

Thanks for answering my questions :)
"We are an island nation. What we lack in men, we can more than make up for in ships"

King Henry VIII- Tudors TV series

My virtual presence. Depressing isn't it ? :P
https://linktr.ee/scarrior

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edqe
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Post by edqe » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 19:53

Heh. The Linux version is in absolutely great condition already :) Wasn't expecting this at all because of the warnings and Alpha status. Great work!

I need to learn a proper way to inform about the problems.
Last edited by edqe on Thu, 12. Mar 15, 20:27, edited 4 times in total.

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Terre
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Post by Terre » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 19:57

edqe wrote:I need to learn a proper way to inform about the problems.
Support thread. - http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 33#4504833

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Tamina
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Post by Tamina » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 20:07

Can I run the Linux version on Windows?

Actual question, I do not have a powerful enough PC right now to try it out but it says that you can select the Linux branch in Steam... :)

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Und wenn ein Forenbösewicht, was Ungezogenes spricht, dann hol' ich meinen Kaktus und der sticht sticht sticht.
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゙(゚、 。 7 
 l、゙ ~ヽ   / 
 じしf_, )ノ 

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edqe
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Post by edqe » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 20:20

Terre wrote:
edqe wrote:I need to learn a proper way to inform about the problems.
Support thread. - http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 33#4504833
Oh, thanks a lot :) - I thought there is some bug tracker/bugzilla somewhere.

timon37
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Post by timon37 » Fri, 13. Mar 15, 10:11

Yes you actually can run the "linux" branch on windows.
On windows it's basically the same as the default one.
However when we do future updates there'll be a period of time when the default branch is "behind". So I'd suggest to not use it on windows.

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