Multiplayer

[Cryonist]

I'm reminded of Star Ruler 2 which became open source recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVlae8SzC5c

I hardly believe there's much work from Egosoft to release it's source code. They worked on it on daily basis for years. It's not like they will provide support on it or answer questions. Just releasing what they have and nothing else will already open up new possibilities for modders to improve the game in significant ways not previously possible.

There might be other issues legal or otherwise preventing this though.

/edit: It seems that I was wrong on below. Thanks for correcting me LTerSlash.

Mainly I would consider that there's still some income coming from X3 and they need every bit of income after the XRebirth fiasco and X4 so far being received with a a fair bit of skepticism from fans. Forfeiting any possible future income might be something they are very reluctant to do regardless of the benefits.

[LTerSlash]

Once you re in the empire building business thingy the multiplayer would become an abusing playground.
or
Multiplayer would require a lot bigger universe or we would face the random god mode to generate all things like asteroids for mining.

I can not imagine how to defend my property offline.

There are ways, ive see some games working around that issue in diferent ways.

But as i say, enabling PVP in a game like the Xs would mean having to do quite a long list of changes to the game mechanics, it can be done but this is the part people fears about "it would not be the same".

As i see it, multiplayer in the X game should come as "iterations" to test the waters.

-Version 1: Single player with coop optional, inviting friends to take over a ship, do administation, etc, doing the same things you can done, while they are "on the same team". This should be the same singleplayer gameplay but with friends.

-Version 2: Private coop server, the same as before, but this time each player is an independient ententy. With PVP disable, altrought you could still do economic warfare.

-Version 3: Private server with PVP on/off switch on it, with sectors that are pvp, sectors that are pve, some limited offline protection.

Version 3 is what would need mayor changes, but i would be happy with just version 1.

[LTerSlash]

I'm reminded of Star Ruler 2 which became open source recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVlae8SzC5c

I hardly believe there's much work from Egosoft to release it's source code. They worked on it on daily basis for years. It's not like they will provide support on it or answer questions. Just releasing what they have and nothing else will already open up new possibilities for modders to improve the game in significant ways not previously possible.

There might be other issues legal or otherwise preventing this though. Mainly I would consider that there's still some income coming from X3 and they need every bit of income after the XRebirth fiasco and X4 so far being received with a a fair bit of skepticism from fans. Forfeiting any possible future income might be something they are very reluctant to do regardless of the benefits.

But no one can use your source code if they dont own the assets (the game itselft), it should bring more sales not less.

[EmperorDragon]

Well, there have been plenty of games that offered fleet combat, customization, multiple pilotable ships across classes, getting out of the cockpit and walking around etc. but, they are always online games. The X games are some of the few to offer an online alternative of the same scope. Please don't take it away from us offline players as well.

I wanted to play EVE Online so badly back in the day but there was never any offline alternative, then came along X3 Reunion to save the day!

No offence but people asking Egosoft not to implement multiplayer are people with no friends.

Dunno my man, I actually see it the other way around. The very reason I rarely play online is because it leaves me less time to spend with friends and family (real friends, not digital ones). When was the last time you went to the pub with a group of friends to socialize properly?

[JSDD]

@source code:
has anyone ever asked egosoft directly the question about releasing it ?? maybe only to a certain "group" of individuals in this community, under certain conditions, for testing purposes ?? for example, some of us form a "team" for gameplay improvements, receive the source code, and a job to do ... once that job is done, egosoft checks te result and adds a "beta patch" for all those who want to try it ...


@multiplayer in X3 (via source code release):
naaahhh, no way multiplayer will work in X3, the game is build around the concept of having 1 "active" sector in which [PLAYERSHIP] flies around. i think the game isnt appropiately designed to do that, in other words: its just too much in-depth-work to restructure the game in a way so that multiple players can independently play within the same x-universe ... how to distinguish logbook entries for 2 or more players? MD events are another BIG problem, there is too much to think about ...

[AlexAseks]

Sorry, but you're both over-simplifying this, and this is exactly why none of these "limited" proposals would work. The level of interaction between objects in this game is high, even when those objects are in different sectors. As a couple of simple examples, consider NPC trade ships checking for good trade destinations at stations in other sectors, or replacement support ships for an NPC carrier that have been ordered at a shipyard and need to rendezvous with their command ship. Dismissing great chunks of the game and saying you "don't need to sync" is just plain wrong. You may be able to limit what is synced, but you still have to do it for thousands of ships and stations in order for the game universe to function, and not diverge, between different clients.

Anyway, it's all a moot point, because that kind of "live" interaction is, as we keep saying, not going to happen in the context of X4.

There is a way to maintain a synchronization between several users, without having to synchronize all the content of all the sectors (events, ships, stations, etc.), but it would still require a great reform at the code level.

Let me explain: If you modify all the elements (decision making) of the game, so that they depend on a seed, then by synchronizing the saved game between players when loading the game, you could make the events jump simultaneously on two different PCs, without having to keep all the synchronization (sectors, ships, stations, events, etc), you would only have to synchronize the actions of the players (only the orders, not everything), since everything else would happen locally in each of the clients, and being based on the same seed, and synchronizing the execution time, and the actions of the player, the same event would happen in two clients, simultaneously, without synchronization.

In this way you can make even a client can act as a server, since it would only have to keep the actions of the clients synchronized, and if they are limited to 4, any pc that can run x4, could with that additional workload.

In a simulated game, without a player, with the same seed, the events would happen in the same horden and at the same time, regardless of how many times it was simulated, unless the seed was changed.

As I said, it is not something easy to implement, but it would not be impossible. It is just an idea, there are many details to see.

(Sorry for any mistakes, it is a translated text.)

[Falcrack]

If two people were playing a hypothetical multiplayer X4 game, to be fully synchronized, if one is in one sector, and the other is in a different sector, I would imagine the area around both players would have to be fully simulated in high attention by both computers, because the outcome of what happens in a sector is highly dependent on whether it is being simulated in high attention vs low attention. That would greatly increase the CPU load on the game. 4 players in 4 different sectors would probably be a nightmare in terms of frame rates. I'm speaking mainly of a multiplayer X4 game set in the full sized X4 universe.

I would wish for a localized battle arena, apart from the larger universe, without the need to worry about a highly simulated economy, where we could just set up fleet battles. The common answer to this is, "go play this or that game", but I don't know many such games where the player can both personally fly a single fighter, and have the same level of control over all the other ships in the fleet that X4 has.

[Treycore]

Every single game that I know of that makes the single player -> multi-player leap ends up kinda trash

Only game that did it right was Warcraft and that was a once in a lifetime thing

Focus on what the game is good at and that’s the single player experience

Edit: If I wanted to play X4 online, I’d go play Eve Online and that game burned me out like no other

[Good Wizard]

Every single game that I know of that makes the single player -> multi-player leap ends up kinda trash

Only game that did it right was Warcraft and that was a once in a lifetime thing

Focus on what the game is good at and that’s the single player experience

Couldn't have said it better...

X4 as Multiplayer (or a successor of X4, because the entire program structure would need to change) is an entirely different game, and would need to be entirely different. I do not say, it would be a bad game - just a multi-player game, and it would have to do things very different. Even if it has a 'Solo-Mode' like ED, I would not touch it. Multi-Player cannot be played in Single-Player mode, since it usually is boring, missing content and has a lot of 'balancing' measures, which translate directly to grind and annoyances. Only people who absolutely want to play against other human players will like these kind of games.

I am not one of them...

[Miniding]

I wonder why it was never asked until now? Given how popular multiplayer is, I'm sure it would have been asked before. Even the Galactic President is conflicted, strange times indeed.

MFG

Ketraar

I wonder why people keep asking for multiplayer for X game... I tried it's oponent Star Citizen a few time... and what happened ? First time I manage to take off my ship, I got blewd. Second time... also... Third time... again.... What is the point of wanting other people enter your universe to destroy it just for their fun ?

A few multiplayer features could be improvement for X Games but never Multiplayer as most intend.

I don't blame anyone or any thought. I just think it's not suited for XGames.

[Nanook]

This thread was born, and died, nearly five years ago. Yet it keeps getting dug up and 'resurrected'. It's time to permanently bury it, via cremation.