Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Please post any spoilers for X4: Foundations here.

Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum

User avatar
Sam L.R. Griffiths
Posts: 10522
Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
x4

Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Sat, 9. Feb 19, 14:54

Hi Peeps,

We all should know by now how painstaking it can be to plan large station plots with the various performance and UI issues there are (at least at v1.60) and I could not find an existing suitable thread to share our ideas so I thought I would start one here. :)

To kick things off - here is my current primary station build project (XML shared by Google Drive): I will provide screenshots of it in this post later and will update the plan (and any screenshots) as the station evolves.

Enjoy!

Index of other player station designs FAQs
  1. Where to find station plans on your system
Last edited by Sam L.R. Griffiths on Thu, 21. Mar 19, 07:23, edited 18 times in total.
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)

"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55

"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb

"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams

User avatar
Phlt
Moderator (Français)
Moderator (Français)
Posts: 4190
Joined: Fri, 31. Mar 06, 19:26
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Phlt » Sat, 9. Feb 19, 16:10

Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 14:54

I will provide screenshots of it in this post later and will update the plan (and any screenshots) as the station evolves.
I am eager to see it. :)

User avatar
Sam L.R. Griffiths
Posts: 10522
Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Sat, 9. Feb 19, 16:56

Phlt wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 16:10
Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 14:54

I will provide screenshots of it in this post later and will update the plan (and any screenshots) as the station evolves.
I am eager to see it. :)
I noted an error in the latter stages of the build plan due to the auto snapping of modules so I am just trying to amend the error before I try to take a screen shot - the game freezing for minutes at a time every few minutes does not help. A problem that started after the v1.60 update. :evil:
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)

"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55

"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb

"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams

User avatar
Sam L.R. Griffiths
Posts: 10522
Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Sat, 9. Feb 19, 18:32

Ok, added a link to the Google Photos album I will use to share the pictures for this station.

Initial pic is just of the plan but once construction of this initial phase is complete I will share in-flight/external-cam pics.
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)

"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55

"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb

"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams

User avatar
Baconnaise
Posts: 619
Joined: Sat, 23. Nov 13, 15:50
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Baconnaise » Sat, 9. Feb 19, 18:52

Interesting choices! Nice work. I'm curious to see what happens when you use the randomize button. Might have to give that a go in my game and see what EGO's client comes up with design wise.

User avatar
Sam L.R. Griffiths
Posts: 10522
Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Sat, 9. Feb 19, 19:14

Baconnaise wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 18:52
Interesting choices! Nice work. I'm curious to see what happens when you use the randomize button. Might have to give that a go in my game and see what EGO's client comes up with design wise.
Just tried the randomise button, it did nothing. ;)

Just to add a bit more information wrt the design choice - it is located in Nopileos Fortune above the elliptic and roughly centred relative to the gates/accelerators there.

I have a sister station below it that is not quite as developed but essentially is a vertically inverse arrangement (production modules below the defence perimeter level). Will add the plans and photos of that too at some point.

EBI Space Station One is earmarked to have ship construction/maintenance modules added to it after 2.0 lands.
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)

"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55

"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb

"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams

User avatar
Baconnaise
Posts: 619
Joined: Sat, 23. Nov 13, 15:50
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Baconnaise » Sat, 9. Feb 19, 19:44

Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 19:14
Baconnaise wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 18:52
Interesting choices! Nice work. I'm curious to see what happens when you use the randomize button. Might have to give that a go in my game and see what EGO's client comes up with design wise.
Just tried the randomise button, it did nothing. ;)
Damn. I love some of the fugly/beautiful designs it comes up with sometimes.

pref
Posts: 5589
Joined: Sat, 10. Nov 12, 17:55
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by pref » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 14:53

Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 19:14
it is located in Nopileos Fortune above the elliptic and roughly centred relative to the gates/accelerators there.
I build mine at the same place, wish there was a xenon hub like sector to conquer which connects better to crowded areas - but nopileos is fine as well.


Image



Image
Last edited by pref on Mon, 11. Feb 19, 01:37, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Baconnaise
Posts: 619
Joined: Sat, 23. Nov 13, 15:50
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Baconnaise » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 16:55

Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 19:14
it is located in Nopileos Fortune above the elliptic and roughly centred relative to the gates/accelerators there.
pref wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 14:53
I build mine at the same place, wish there was a xenon hub like sector to conquer which connects better to crowded areas - but nopileos is fine as well.
Nice pref. I used to plop stations in Nope2 and 4 as well. They can hinder traffic with the collision on though. Grand Exchange trio seems like the better choice for eye candy and central location. Shame the Teladi own it. I'm trying out this mod this weekend which offers a new location.

https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/285

User avatar
Sam L.R. Griffiths
Posts: 10522
Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 17:01

Baconnaise wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 16:55
Grand Exchange trio seems like the better choice for eye candy and central location.
Well it is sector (0,0) and probably why Egosoft chose it as the location for the PHQ. ;)
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)

"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55

"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb

"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams

pref
Posts: 5589
Joined: Sat, 10. Nov 12, 17:55
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by pref » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 19:48

Baconnaise wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 16:55
Grand Exchange trio seems like the better choice for eye candy and central location.
Yes that sector is really nice. Would have been better to build there, but i was afraid of existing traffic and stations.

Still afraid of the game turning unplayable due to station size, but i really wanted to build a real bigger city.

Though so far i have seen no performance hit even though the game was running for 2 days and nights without interruption to progress with the build time a bit (have never let the game play itself before this).

User avatar
Sam L.R. Griffiths
Posts: 10522
Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 20:31

pref wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 19:48
Baconnaise wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 16:55
Grand Exchange trio seems like the better choice for eye candy and central location.
Yes that sector is really nice. Would have been better to build there, but i was afraid of existing traffic and stations.

Still afraid of the game turning unplayable due to station size, but i really wanted to build a real bigger city.

Though so far i have seen no performance hit even though the game was running for 2 days and nights without interruption to progress with the build time a bit (have never let the game play itself before this).
I have been noting periodic multi-minute long game freezes that seem to tie in with completion of construction of each new module of my current primary project. Apparently, V2.0 is supposed to address performance concerns with larger complexes.

Current in-sector performance (currently at the storage construction phase) when half the complex is in view is comparable to that of large complex rendering performance in X3.
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)

"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55

"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb

"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams

pref
Posts: 5589
Joined: Sat, 10. Nov 12, 17:55
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by pref » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 21:50

Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 20:31

I have been noting periodic multi-minute long game freezes that seem to tie in with completion of construction of each new module of my current primary project. Apparently, V2.0 is supposed to address performance concerns with larger complexes.

Current in-sector performance (currently at the storage construction phase) when half the complex is in view is comparable to that of large complex rendering performance in X3.
Ouch. Minute long? Hope i won't get that..
I expect 1 digit fps though.

How big the station - what was hull part requirement?
I have no clue on object count due to the connection structures.

User avatar
Loneshade
Posts: 181
Joined: Sun, 16. Dec 18, 22:54
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Loneshade » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 22:05

Huge Stations cause freezes while building. As soon as construction is done the freezes stop.
Egosoft is looking into it already, hope we get a fix in 2.0 or somesuch.

Work in progress...
https://i.imgur.com/YMdJtyg.jpg



{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversize image now linked - Terre}
Last edited by Loneshade on Wed, 27. Feb 19, 23:05, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Sam L.R. Griffiths
Posts: 10522
Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Sun, 10. Feb 19, 22:47

pref wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 21:50
Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 20:31

I have been noting periodic multi-minute long game freezes that seem to tie in with completion of construction of each new module of my current primary project. Apparently, V2.0 is supposed to address performance concerns with larger complexes.

Current in-sector performance (currently at the storage construction phase) when half the complex is in view is comparable to that of large complex rendering performance in X3.
Ouch. Minute long? Hope i won't get that..
I expect 1 digit fps though.

How big the station - what was hull part requirement?
I have no clue on object count due to the connection structures.
Just see the plan in my OP - it is not even completed, and not just 1 minute, several minutes at a time - could be mistaken for a complete lock up but leave it long enough and it does seem to recover eventually.
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)

"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55

"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb

"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams

pref
Posts: 5589
Joined: Sat, 10. Nov 12, 17:55
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by pref » Mon, 11. Feb 19, 01:55

Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 22:47
it is not even completed, and not just 1 minute, several minutes at a time - could be mistaken for a complete lock up but leave it long enough and it does seem to recover eventually.
Weird. I'm halfway through building, get some freezes - but a couple seconds only.
Maybe it matters how many other station modules you have, or don't know why the huge difference. Or maybe it grows exponentially with module count.
Or maybe it can grow several minutes if small quick to build modules are coming right after eachother in the build que and their delay overlaps.

I needed 61 L habs, judging from that i should get worse lags, but i never placed too many connector modules after each other except for a few cases - but those were at the beginning of the build when there were no freezes at all.

shealladh
Posts: 322
Joined: Thu, 11. Jun 09, 13:29
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by shealladh » Mon, 11. Feb 19, 07:52

pref wrote:
Sun, 10. Feb 19, 14:53
Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:
Sat, 9. Feb 19, 19:14
it is located in Nopileos Fortune above the elliptic and roughly centred relative to the gates/accelerators there.
I build mine at the same place, wish there was a xenon hub like sector to conquer which connects better to crowded areas - but nopileos is fine as well.


Image



Image
They look cool, more like fractals.
Have you got an actual screenie from the rendered version.

Think it comes down to good design principles and watching how the AI etc flow in/out of the station

BrasatoAlBarolo
Posts: 1404
Joined: Sat, 1. Dec 18, 14:26
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by BrasatoAlBarolo » Mon, 11. Feb 19, 11:11

You are artists.
My "Imperial Refinery", that has a single production module for each primary refined resource, is a messy (but functional) pile of bricks (that I won't show you for now - even if it might be a good laugh).
With a Paranid Administration Center, which gives me the property of Nopileos Fortune II.

Fame
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed, 16. Aug 06, 22:58
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Fame » Mon, 11. Feb 19, 11:58

Kudos to everyones "building plan" ... they do look Awesome !

Ps: SInce im poor and still trying to figure basic stuff out im not showing mine. They do look simple compared to what has been showed :)
Its a problem if you don´t have any problems.

User avatar
Baconnaise
Posts: 619
Joined: Sat, 23. Nov 13, 15:50
x4

Re: Station Designs (Build Plans & Screenshots)

Post by Baconnaise » Mon, 11. Feb 19, 15:10

Yea the lag is why I switched to smaller stations. Eventually building more stations causes the same thing :lol: . Hopefully they fine tune things some more.

Post Reply

Return to “X4: Foundations - Spoilers”