wow, i must love the X series

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mrbadger
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by mrbadger » Mon, 7. Sep 20, 10:25

I just found an old backup DvD from when I was doing my Ph.D, and it's got some X3: Reunion savegames on it. Actually they're in profile sets for my old savegame manager, but that didn't alter the files themselves, and I could still get it working.

I have a new manager 90% done, but the initial version I tried of the X Rebirth game couldn't be played with the controller I was learning to use one handed, so I gave up. The new version was designed to work with all of the games though, so if I ever go back to it people might find it useful. Too busy right now, and I don't have the time to play games as a result.

Hopefully this will change.
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by pjknibbs » Mon, 7. Sep 20, 12:03

dtpsprt wrote:
Sun, 6. Sep 20, 00:24
It's not a matter of nostalgia, in X3 there was a "massive" game engine change (like in X4). To play the previous engine you'll really have to overcome a lot of difficulties (different way of saving etc) and experience lots of differences.
I still think that X2 had the most beautiful space scenes in the entire series. The spaceships weren't as intricate or well-designed as X3, but there was just something about flying into Beacon of Hope in X2 that never got replicated in later games.

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by Y-llian » Mon, 7. Sep 20, 13:22

Been playing X games from BTF. Only joined the forums much later on... I've enjoyed every game. I have all my retail copies in the attic. Do you remember the days when games were still sold in retail boxes and you received posters, manuals, maps and sometimes even lore books? Those were the days...

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by mrbadger » Mon, 7. Sep 20, 20:40

pjknibbs wrote:
Mon, 7. Sep 20, 12:03
dtpsprt wrote:
Sun, 6. Sep 20, 00:24
It's not a matter of nostalgia, in X3 there was a "massive" game engine change (like in X4). To play the previous engine you'll really have to overcome a lot of difficulties (different way of saving etc) and experience lots of differences.
I still think that X2 had the most beautiful space scenes in the entire series. The spaceships weren't as intricate or well-designed as X3, but there was just something about flying into Beacon of Hope in X2 that never got replicated in later games.
Totally agree with this. As much as I enjoyed the engine upgrades of later games, the loss of those lovely sectors was something I definitely missed.

Weren't there also small toxic clouds you could get pirates to fly into? Either toxic to shields or hull depending on the type of cloud, so really dangerous in the early game, but also useful if you needed to shake off pursuit. I recall those being missing in a later game and sorely regretting their loss.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Niccolò Machiavelli

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by berth » Mon, 7. Sep 20, 23:38

mrbadger wrote:
Mon, 7. Sep 20, 20:40
pjknibbs wrote:
Mon, 7. Sep 20, 12:03
dtpsprt wrote:
Sun, 6. Sep 20, 00:24
It's not a matter of nostalgia, in X3 there was a "massive" game engine change (like in X4). To play the previous engine you'll really have to overcome a lot of difficulties (different way of saving etc) and experience lots of differences.
I still think that X2 had the most beautiful space scenes in the entire series. The spaceships weren't as intricate or well-designed as X3, but there was just something about flying into Beacon of Hope in X2 that never got replicated in later games.
Totally agree with this. As much as I enjoyed the engine upgrades of later games, the loss of those lovely sectors was something I definitely missed.

Weren't there also small toxic clouds you could get pirates to fly into? Either toxic to shields or hull depending on the type of cloud, so really dangerous in the early game, but also useful if you needed to shake off pursuit. I recall those being missing in a later game and sorely regretting their loss.
Iirc there was one such cloud in Ore Belt, south of the southern gate, which featured in a plot mission involving loads of Khaak. Took me several goes to complete that one.

I have fond memories of X2 but I think I preferred X3 overall, graphically as well as interface-wise.

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by brucewarren » Tue, 8. Sep 20, 01:33

I came to X2 after playing X3

Unfortunately the latter had forever spoiled me. I could not get by without the complex construction kits I had grown used to.
I did try shipping stuffs from factory to factory but it just wasn't the same :(

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by Cpt.Jericho » Tue, 8. Sep 20, 01:35

Wasn't it north of the north game of Ore Belt?
Anyway, AFAIK the biggest changes from X2 -> X3 were in the graphics engine and the GUI. The main game engine was merely improved but basically the same as in BTF.
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by mrbadger » Tue, 8. Sep 20, 08:40

The engine change was the reason entire sectors became foggy instead of just small fog banks. I'd rather have kept some of the older stuff to keep those foggy regions, since I'd developed so many ways to use them.
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by pjknibbs » Tue, 8. Sep 20, 08:44

Cpt.Jericho wrote:
Tue, 8. Sep 20, 01:35
Wasn't it north of the north game of Ore Belt?
Anyway, AFAIK the biggest changes from X2 -> X3 were in the graphics engine and the GUI. The main game engine was merely improved but basically the same as in BTF.
It really wasn't. The X2 graphics engine was a *major* upgrade from the BTF one.

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by jlehtone » Tue, 8. Sep 20, 10:14

brucewarren wrote:
Tue, 8. Sep 20, 01:33
I came to X2 after playing X3

Unfortunately the latter had forever spoiled me. I could not get by without the complex construction kits I had grown used to.
I did try shipping stuffs from factory to factory but it just wasn't the same :(
I did "proceed" from X3R to Xbtf. Apart from engine differences, the Xbtf was "easy"; you knew what to trade first in Seizewell.
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by berth » Tue, 8. Sep 20, 14:14

Cpt.Jericho wrote:
Tue, 8. Sep 20, 01:35
Wasn't it north of the north game of Ore Belt?...
So it was. Clearly I didn't rc ;)

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by mrbadger » Wed, 9. Sep 20, 22:43

i got so lost in Paranid space the first time I played X2. I had to stay up till about three till I finally made it back to Argon territory and could dock safely.

It was great. Hadn't had such a nerve wracking experience since my early PC gaming days, and I haven't since.
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by Chips » Wed, 9. Sep 20, 22:59

Thinks X2 remains my favourite of the series, but that may be hte perceived threat of the Khaak to me. They'd appear anywhere, so i had to have patrols. Can't remember if it was X3 Reunion or not, but even pirates just flew past my station and left stuff alone. Didn't feel any "threat" in space.

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by Cpt.Jericho » Wed, 9. Sep 20, 23:13

pjknibbs wrote:
Tue, 8. Sep 20, 08:44
It really wasn't. The X2 graphics engine was a *major* upgrade from the BTF one.
Yes, indeed that was an upgrade. But it was an upgrade to the graphics engine and not the game engine. A lot of things had changed between BTF/XT to X2, but as far as I know, the math happening in the background hasn't been tempered with that much.
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by mrbadger » Thu, 10. Sep 20, 13:28

Cpt.Jericho wrote:
Wed, 9. Sep 20, 23:13
pjknibbs wrote:
Tue, 8. Sep 20, 08:44
It really wasn't. The X2 graphics engine was a *major* upgrade from the BTF one.
Yes, indeed that was an upgrade. But it was an upgrade to the graphics engine and not the game engine. A lot of things had changed between BTF/XT to X2, but as far as I know, the math happening in the background hasn't been tempered with that much.
I did a detailed algorithmic analysis of the AI in the third game (no idea where it would be on this site now). It wasn't fundamentally any different from X2, but there were some improvements. I've not played any of the more recent games, but game AI is limited by the requirement of needing to take second place, or lower on the processor to the game itself. Thus they use simpler algorithms, better suited to the live world the X games present, if just a tad frustrating when your freighter full of expensive cargo faceplants into a station....
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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by CBJ » Thu, 10. Sep 20, 14:24

All the games in the X Series prior to X Rebirth use fundamentally the same game engine. It evolved and changed for each iteration of the game, so the version used in X3AP is significantly different in many ways to the one used in X-BTF, but it wouldn't be possible to draw a line between any two particular games that came one after the other, and say this game's engine is not the same engine as that game's engine. Certain areas changed, such as when the MCSI was added in X2 or the MD was added in X3, but very little was ever removed or replaced entirely.

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by mrbadger » Fri, 11. Sep 20, 10:08

CBJ wrote:
Thu, 10. Sep 20, 14:24
All the games in the X Series prior to X Rebirth use fundamentally the same game engine. It evolved and changed for each iteration of the game, so the version used in X3AP is significantly different in many ways to the one used in X-BTF, but it wouldn't be possible to draw a line between any two particular games that came one after the other, and say this game's engine is not the same engine as that game's engine. Certain areas changed, such as when the MCSI was added in X2 or the MD was added in X3, but very little was ever removed or replaced entirely.
Rebirth and after is where I ducked out. Not willingly. I had been desperate to play it when I first got out of hospital. I think i bought it either while I was an in-patient, or shortly after I got discharged. Not that it mattered, since the new controllers I had to use weren't fully supported. We're not talking weird ones either. I mean my new Logitech joystick (Previously I'd been a keyboard only player, never could shake my Elite years....)

I imagine There's full joystick support now, it wasn't there when I tried though, and my free time has vanished. I'll get back into the X series at some point. I've got everything I need to let me do it apart from that pesky time thing. However this not having time for games is really starting to bug me.

Time was I would always set aside a slot to play regardless of how busy things were, and it helped me relax. At the moment I've even bought the C&C Remaster and not found time to touch that either, so this is getting silly.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Niccolò Machiavelli

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Re: wow, i must love the X series

Post by ThommoHawk » Sun, 11. Oct 20, 18:24

X2 The Threat is where I came in. I'm an old timer gamer now. Past my 60.

I liked the cockpits, the neat training scenarios available for intro to fighter, trader, station builder, and there's been nothing like it in subsequent X versions. There's a cut scene where the on-screen hissing Teladi comm happens in the Brenan's Triumph mission plot - still recall being spooked by it and quitting out of the game to recover from the shocking first contact (for me) ALIEN ENCOUNTER. Yea and I do recall the gas nebula's eating my hull/shields, and the rotating asteroids, and those awsome fast Capital ships, when I at last managed to buy one. And they docked TS class ships and M6 class ships too? irrc.

After a long time doing other stuff, (Starcraft 2 being one) I've now revisited X3 AP and already have close to 100 ships, many are ex Dukes, thanks to Dukes TS', TP's, and pirate M3, M4, M5's. No stations yet.

In this game, first my pirate cap is a M4 Buster, which I got with my stock starter M5 Explorer. The second is a M3+ Pirate Kea (!) with same Explorer having just puny 3x1mj shields, because the Buster was still waiting for shields upgrade. Boron Pirate: "I'm leaving. I will remember you", priceless little one liners like this is what I still love in this game.

The game runs like a charm in Windows 10, on my 10 year old X58 chipset 12GB triple channel, Xeon 3.6 GHZ, upgraded Graphics 6GB GTX 1660 OC rig. No more screen tear, yay. X3 - for me It 'still cuts the mustard' everything on ultra, still a great game. Beautiful ships, I love the stations. Shame about the limitations of the single processor, (old save game has some sectors with over a 1000 factories).

Tip: Kea was being swarmed at the time by drones from a TS it had attacked, It happened nearby and I got a few shots at it, was the only way it would bail with my weak little IRE lasers.

Have got hard copies of all X universe games except X4 - did NOT pre-order X4 after the Rebirth fiasco. Patiently saving up for a new rig while waiting for X$ to have more bugs patched.
[XTrilogy]: Holy Argnu cows! I have found it! An asteroid of pure ore - 100% - I am rich! Now, I just need to find one like that made from silicon. hmmm, where do I want to go today?
X REBIRTH? "JUST A TOURIST until X4 IS RELEASED! Because That SUPERNOVA sure went FUBAR" (Quoting T.Hawk. Read all about it at: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=353678) :x3:

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