[REALSPACE MODS] "STARS" - "XRSGE" - "REM" - various

[wanderer]

You definetly have to use Reshade. The whole STARS 3.x is based on Reshade to give the final touch of contrast and hdr

Could you tell where can I find the instructions how to install it?

ReShade is a 3rd Party Tool - see https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/ReShade.
There you follow the instructions. First dl the ReShade Setup (the normal one should do it), then start the setup.
It now leads you through the installation process. It also shows the installed games. Select X4.
Now go through the setup steps, when it asks for the preset (aka this mods .ini file), select it (use browse button in the setup page).
Go and follow the steps until finished.
Vola, that was it...
Now, after you start X4, you will be shown that a ReShade (and a preset) is applied. I recomend to go through these first steps (tipp - wait until the menue is loaded, it is not needed to load a save).

Also, theres a hell of infos on ReShade side (wiki). Also very good for NMS and Skyrim...
(...for more games you need to 'setup' them accordingly. Means, one setuo for one game.)

[ziplock815]

Thanks a lot for the instructions. Tried to install, but unfortunately haven't noticed any changes. Does reshade change graphics a lot? Maybe I did something wrong All I have for now is significant FPS drop in mine/asteroid fields and stations.

[Realspace]

Thanks a lot for the instructions. Tried to install, but unfortunately haven't noticed any changes. Does reshade change graphics a lot? Maybe I did something wrong All I have for now is significant FPS drop in mine/asteroid fields and stations.

After installing you have to activate my settings that you downloaded, right? There is a file named STARS_dimm.ini.
Copy that inside main root aka where X4.exe is and where Reshade is also installed. Then at the first time you lunch the game and Reshade appears, load its function screen (usually F12 but it is customizable in the settings) and in the presets chose STARS_dimm. You'll see the effect immediatly. You can choose a key to switch Reshade on/off ingame, I usually use F11. So you can see the effect and also maybe cut off in those situations (as inside stations) where Reshade is too strong

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I've uploaded XRSGE 3.06
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507
It is just a couple bug fixes and rearranged sun in Nopileous and its ...

Spoiler

Show

hidden gate leading to Zyarth, now leads to another Teladi system, you'll discover

Made a quick update bc there was a name's overlap and, for as small as it is, it breaks immersion

[Newinger]

Still not back at my gaming PC, but still reading this thread Did you solve or work around the resource placement problem yet?

[Realspace]

Still not back at my gaming PC, but still reading this thread Did you solve or work around the resource placement problem yet?

Well somehow, I am becoming a master at turning limitations into...new ideas
As they are now, regions are available to player so it is ok for exploration. In many sectors I already had put different regions, far away with richer and closer with average. These closer ones still work for npc's. In general, there is already enough resources around, economy should not suffer. But it is just that the very rewarding I put far away can't be mined by npc.
What I am adding is the concept of deep space regions and harsh solar regions. Solar regions having high gases, deep space having roids. Both are not easy to colonize, distant gates (5000/8000km) and sometimes not working superhws in one direction or damaged by roids or shut down on pourpose, as Argon in Sonra to prevent khaak invasion. Limiting zones to only the gate, no others. Adding other perils as khaaks etc.
These areas can be mined by npc's but they have to cross the distance from gate to center and the possible enemies.
I am expanding the systems without altering their present layout and connections. Basically expanding them either towards the sun or towards deep space. And adding new un-owned systems as Omicron A and B. Omicron C will be next

..then there is Frontier Mod, it is on stand-by but I had already done 3 new systems

[ziplock815]

Well, started a new (for 20th time ) game and it seems that fps drop wasn't caused by reshade - game runs very smoothly now. I wanted to check split plot in my last playthrough, but fps was very low for some reason, so I started a new game.
I so totally love new "rebirth like" sectors, very immersive and very nice job with reworking some of the old version sectors ("Grand Exchande, Nopileos Fortune etc. Grand Exchange and Black Hole sun now nostalgically remind of X3). Almost every sector now feels like something special. I've read some descriptions in Encyclopedia - is Omicron b really an abandoned Albion system? Very interesting...waiting for Plutarch to return with big guns and wreak havoc

There're some questions on my mind...I see you've added X3 and Rebirth music, it plays sometimes which is very cool, but for some reason most of the time I hear music from split, terran and pirate dlc in random sectors. Maybe you could make music more sector/system specific for better immersion (x3 music in old sectors, terran in...terran, x4 in new and rebirth music in...rebirth sectors like in Legacy music mod or make it compatible with xrgre?
And a question about comm distance with npc ships. It's set for 40 km range which is good for vanilla, but since distances've been increased a lot maybe it's better to increase communication with ships for 100+ km? Anyway, that'd be a lot more realistic since we're playing a space sim taking place in future

btw, thanks to all for the answers about reshade

[Realspace]

Unfortunally comm distance seems hardcoded somehow, weird. I changed the params but no effect.

Tracklists are already specific. I made compilations for each race + one for xenon and one for exploration. Tracks change in an ample legacy collection. But all other tracks are added too, x4+dlcs. It is strange that you have them as major, legacy tracks are set to 5x times the chance more than x4's tracks in the random list. I think it is good they alternate to somehow lower the music "tension". Except some, I find x4's tracks a bit bland, which is good, to have such moments where music is not protagonist. X3 tracks are awesome, still now after years they give me chill and sense of mistery and deep space

Upladed XRSGE 3.07
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507
Bug fixes, names mismatch
Several new sun sectors and deep space sectors

You have to download the STARS PATCH too if you want the new planets be rendered. Btw, I am developing shine new planets that look good both low orbit and high orbit. It is a category that was missing: rocky planetoids with atmosphere

It is not necessary to start a new game. Since version 3.0 all saves are compatible but allow 2 times save/load to make the galaxy be re-arranged
I do not alter the configuration. version 3.0 was needed for this, allowing the expansion of systems what 2.0 did not.
Main systems will have a solar sector and deep space sectors. Since building connection to these areas is very difficult and gates are prone to be lost or damaged if not linked to a planet's orbit, only rich systems can afford to do it. Solar regions have gravitational fields that make the orbit very erratic. So gates are not alligned to the resources and different strategies are used in each system, you'll see. Some use lagrange points for better precision, some build backup gates, some can't afford to rebuild the superhighway (that is cheaper, teladi prefer) but more prone to be damaged. This is for next systems too that will be updated

[mellimell]

Your mods sounds great and I wonder, if I can use "X4RSGE" in a savegame with currently "vanilla sectors". Or do I need a new game?

[Realspace]

You can try but I'd expect a bit of a mess, like gates positioned differently. The engine updates the positions of zones, regions, etc. But I think there is a limit. There is not a single thing that has not been changed from vanilla, in my mod.

Other than this I think you will have many regions from vanilla kept in place plus new regions from the mod. Anyway, remember to save/reload two times at least. And please report what happens, we can learn about how the engine works

[ziplock815]

Found a minor issue: Greater Profit 5: Shadows of Giants sector description text should be Rusiris's Dream description and vice versa. If I'm not wrong

[Realspace]

yup, thanks, corrected..and some others too

Ok, I am proceeding into region expansions (and bug fixes oc). But I've started doing a systematic work to move any internal space to regain the distance of thousands kms for resources. It is a workaround I found that you already see in action in some sun sectors. Contrary to my belief, I found out that also superhighways can be moved very far and they work perfectly. So this little trick has resolved the problem of 1500km max for resources. Indeed I am putting resources at the center of sectors but moving both accelerators and superhighways and zones. It is a tedious work expecially for sHWs because you can't simply move them, as for accelerators, instead you have to rearrange the internal layout accordingly. But it works perfectly. And it makes also sense that a sector is around the resources, sort of..

In doing this, we are back to the feature I wanted to have in XRSGE 2.0 aka large sectors with far away resources to discover, but I don't let go the new/old idea of having core sectors with concentration of stations and remote sectors with resources but few stations. I am mixing the two ideas, resources are indeed more in far sectors, less in earth-like planets but in both they are far from gates. Resources close to planets are also smaller pockets for the player only (good for starting game when you mine yourself). While resources in deep space, solar regions or loworbit gas giants are vast areas that can be mined by npcs and show on map

So while rearranging space internally I am moving one by one the zones, for instance defence stations go close to gates or superhighways and sometimes there are two in very large sectors. And on top of this I add some sectors when makes sense, to expand systems even further.

While I have care not to change the connections, I do move gates etc so I think I will not add any update up to when the internal layout is completed. So you can continue playing the current game. I corrected some small bugs as the sHws in Silent Witness Sancturay not working (old issue, working only for npc) but nothing important. And some name's mistakes. But I prefer to finish the internal layout before updating.

I've completed 25% of the map sofar..

[craig m]

perfect. with the next update with the larger sectors will it require a new gamestart?
also as someone noted earlyer onn in this thread. some factions dont spawn that many economy ships, i ran the game for a while then checked economy/military strenth and the vigor syndicate terran and segaris plus the zyarth never build up economically.

[Realspace]

perfect. with the next update with the larger sectors will it require a new gamestart?
also as someone noted earlyer onn in this thread. some factions dont spawn that many economy ships, i ran the game for a while then checked economy/military strenth and the vigor syndicate terran and segaris plus the zyarth never build up economically.

When I made the first iteration of the mod, I used to add things in god file and despite this it missed many stations exactly in the above races aka the dlcs (and terrans too). It was only diff/add so no reason but the dlc were partially discarded. For jobs I still use the same method, single replacements and adds. Which btw should be the one to do. But, since my mod overhauls everything, I can try do do the same and make a totally new job file that replaces all. Maybe this solves...will do after completing the sector's enlargement.

I don't know whether a new start will be needed or not. Rather preferable, yes. I am moving things...have to do for enlarging the space in sectors. But I try not to delete anything nor delete connections. Better not to build in solar sectors and deep space or close to gas/ringed giants for the moment

[ziplock815]

I know I know, everyone hates stupid local highways....but, I think I've got an idea. Maybe local highways could be added as an option that could be turned on/off for players who don't use REM such as myself
They could be added to densely populated sectors for faster travel/economy so 4000+ km shipyards could be reached in less time? And the mod would feel more "Rebirth" in some locations

Btw, good work with binary star systems. Missed unusual -looking sectors a lot

[Realspace]

Maybe local highways could be added as an option that could be turned on/off for players who don't use REM such as myself

Well that could be a solution. A solution I don't like but could work, now that I've reworked all regions, even more because they are on one direction, N,S,E or W, so a straight highway would go from connections area to resources (low orbit). But I'd prefer other solutions and I think it would take less time, for instance, writing a simple vanilla travel mode overhaul to increase speed only for travel as it is for REM, without the hardcore physics.
.....................................

Anyway, here it is...this is really the last of the last things. We have all now, I implemented all the concepts we wished to add:

1) Resources are to be found close to planets, close to sun or in deep space. They are very far, but are shown on the map etc. Large minable areas are those far while smaller pockets are closer in planet sectors. There are still some very high yield ones that are not minable by npcs but yes by the player. Exploration is rewarding and makes sense. The world deep space is not only imagined. As we found out, and was confirmed by a dev in this post (viewtopic.php?f=181&t=449908) resources are limited to "only" r=1500km aka 3000km area. Not 3000km max for each resource's wideness (that would be not an issue) but no more than 1500km from the sector center, no matter how many and how large they are. So one has to chose where to put the center on each sector, having only one. Having them close to gates makes the game uninteresting: gate>resource>gate etc. Space loses the sense of...space. So I made this last overhaul of the mod in order to move all the most important regions (suns, gas giants, asteroid belts) far from gates and far from stations. This recreates the idea of deep space. I expect to see a nice in/out going traffic of mining ships for thousands kms.

2) Solar sectors are back, some as full big sectors some as the closer planet to the sun. Since building connections there is not an easy task (imagine a gate that should orbit a sun...), different strategies are in place. I know, X is a static space game that has no real simulation of space movements but let's pretend it is not, I tried to make this tangible with some descriptions too.

3) Altered some connections to make the routes follow a more strategic pathway with interrupted routes and one way only.

4) Stations are concentrated in core sectors while rarer in deep space or far planets (gas giants). This is more on chart than real because god engine tends to add stations close to resources anyway.

5) Rewritten the jobs. I added all dlcs again, not replaced, added fully, patched and modified in line with how I modded vanilla races, aka more trade ships and higher loadouts.
Please check the factions that were slow to build. It should be solved

What will be next? Well, a lot but no more modification of the current sectors:
1) expand some systems, firstly the Xenon systems. I want to add more eclyptics and resources to their (small) systems.
2) add new systems, aka Omicron C and other pirate
3) Expand some deep space regions for current systems (without altering the existing)
4) Continue with Frontier Mod, that expands the galaxy in the south with several new frontier systems

For now, here it is:
XRSGE 3.1

https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507

Remember to download also the STARS Patch for some new rendering of planets

[ziplock815]

Good news
Almost everything looks great now. Just wish you'd rework Loomanckstrat's legacy into that dark and scary system like in X3 with that creepy music I remember was played in Uranus too.
Anyway, there's a small issue with cool looking-rapidly-rotating-big-moon orbiting gas giant that doesn't obscure the light when it's between you and the sun of Loomanckstrat sector so star shines through it like there's no obstacle. I'm sure it's vanilla problem because sometimes suns shine through some of the ships, especially when you are inside L\Xl ship's crew quarters, but maybe you'll find a solution

[Newinger]

[this is really the last of the last things.

Well let's hope. Today I return to my gaming PC and looking forward trying your newest version.

[Realspace]

I've made a quick update for two little but very significant changes I realized had to be done after starting a new game, before all so they are applied at start:

1) Regions redone in shape (nothing you'll see) to reduce memory usage. Saves had gone back to be bloated to 2gb. To be expected, now that resources are all on map and are saved in memory. After reworking the shapes, save file is back to normal 1gb. It is double vanilla, which is good considering we have at least 3x the nr. of sectors
2) I've reduced patrols A LOT. They were really too much, interfering also with missions aka they kill anybody before you even arrive ..I am seeing that they are still too much, will reduce further in next patch

I am uploading the file and from here on I've splitted the cat (compressed archives) in two so any update will be just a small patch
This also helps those who want to change things in params and regions. Those files are in Ext_02, very small to unpack and repack...and sorry, I forgot to delete the thick border of systems, I use it in my game for testing. Will change in next patch.

...btw, this is v3.11 released in 11.11. I think it will bring luck

XRSGE 3.11 >> https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507

[ziplock815]

I'm a little bit depressed now. I definitely love Terran DLC music (when it plays in Terran/Pioneer sectors), but it keeps playing in ALMOST every sector somtimes changed by split and pirate music tracks and very seldom by a pair of old x3-x2 tracks
I've used your instructions to set dependency of Legacy music mod in content.xml file, but nothing changes except of loading screens.

I find it quite strange that I hear the same music most of the time because in sound_library.xml I see you've added lots of old tracks. Could it be that some files're missing?

No more not working superhighways though

P.S. In encyclopedia it's said thet Herron's Nebula is a system with two stars: white dwarf and neutron star, but I don't see the second this time. I remember it was in President's end. Did you delete it for some reason?

[Newinger]

Nice work on the new version.

There is a non-working gate from "Belt of Aguilar VI: Flashpoint" (in the north of sector), going to Antigone / Sandwell.


Also, the super highway from planet Sandwell going south (to Antigone Memorial) is behaving very strangely. There are hundreds of ships going through it and trying to near the high for more than 100 kms makes my ship come to a hard stop like an invisible wall.

I assume this is due to the high-way being one way - it seems this creates a massive traffic congestion. Leading to FPS of 2-3 and strange behavior. I somehow managed to fly through the highway with autopilot, but I had to set a guidance mission to a nearby station instead and then switch to the highway while the AP was active already... very strange.

By the way ... I said the SP is one-way ... but on the other side, in Antigone Memorial, it seems to be two-way.

Another thing: In the encyclopedia Antigone Memorial shows a negative amount of resources: -1975 of Ice