X4 Foundations

[bob48]

It looks amazing, but seems to be getting mixed reviews.

[Huw the Poo]

It looks amazing, but seems to be getting mixed reviews.

Everything said in this thread so far is true.  Jarhead's complaints are not without merit and there are definitely bugs to be worked out.  On the other hand Yskonyn, PanzersEast and I have been having fun with it.  The X games are always this way - they launch in a technically finished state but receive loads of patches over time.  X4 is no different.  Nothing in the game is broken, and as players progress we'll start seeing all the cool empire building stuff.

Personally, I love the fact that they've taken all the good bits from Rebirth and mixed them with a more traditional X game.  Also the much-maligned UI has had a complete rework and is better than ever.

[bob48]

Thanks, Huw. I'll keep an eye on it and maybe wait until its a bit more settled (and maybe in a sale). Its a bit out of my price range at present :-(

[Geezer]

Much of my hesitation right now is based on having a GTX 960 which is near the bottom of the system specs.  If I have to play the game in Medium or less and it looks like crap compared to the videos I've seen then that will be disappointing.  I could buy it on Steam and refund before 2 hours but that seems like a hassle.  Anyone playing it with a lower end graphics card?  If so how does it look and how is the framerate?

Edit - I'll be using mouse and keyboard so the HOTAS problems won't affect me.

[Huw the Poo]

Much of my hesitation right now is based on having a GTX 960 which is near the bottom of the system specs.  If I have to play the game in Medium or less and it looks like crap compared to the videos I've seen then that will be disappointing.  I could buy it on Steam and refund before 2 hours but that seems like a hassle.  Anyone playing it with a lower end graphics card?  If so how does it look and how is the framerate?

I have an R7 370 which from what I can tell is roughly equivalent to yours.  The devs have repeatedly said that your GPU needs 3GB RAM at a minimum; mine has 2.  Despite that I can play the game just fine, albeit on low settings.  I don't think I've tried high settings (but I can, and will report back, if you want me to).

Do I get 60FPS?  Absolutely not.  Is the game completely free of stutter?  Nope.  Is it playable?  Absolutely yes, at least in my experience.  I suppose it might change when I'm right in the thick of it with massive capital ships, I don't know.  However I've been flying in and around (and through) stations, and been in a few fights, with no noticeable performance hit.

Every now and again the framerate will absolutely tank for no discernible reason, which I suspect is either a memory leak or a symptom of not having enough GPU RAM.  However if I reload it's fine again.  This doesn't happen often, maybe 1 in 5 sessions so far.

I hope that helps - ask me any more specific questions if you like.

[Geezer]

Thanks Huw.  My card has 4GB memory and I was hoping to be able to play on Medium, but maybe that won't work.  How does the game look on Low?

[Huw the Poo]

Dunno, maybe it will handle medium with that much RAM.  On low it looks pretty good in my opinion but then I've never been one to pay much attention to graphical fidelity if I'm honest.  I did look for a few things specifically - there are reflections for example, which I assumed wouldn't be present with low settings.  It could do with some FSAA when I'm in stations but 95% of the time I'm in my cockpit and don't care.

I'm fine with low settings really, but I must stress again that I don't care much about graphical quality - if you do, you should probably aim for at least medium settings.

[Geezer]

OK, thanks.  I'm not a graphics hound either so as long as it looks decent I'm ok with that too.

Edit - I asked the same question in Steam and got this answer from one guy:

I used 960 4Gb variant slightly overclocked and it's runing on high presest with fxxa high at full hd. I from 30 fps when arround is more object and some bettwen 70-80 in space

[Huw the Poo]

Well that sounds great Geezer!  I say go for it!

[Jarhead0331]

Anybody know where to find a level 4 manager? I need to transport one to an argon station.

[Geezer]

OK, I'm in.  Not sure how much time I have to play today, but you'll know when I start playing due to all the noob questions that will start popping up.

Edit - Started the game and made a few changes to Settings based on what I saw on Youtube earlier.  Graphics defaulted to High so I left it that way.  Looks great.  No idea about framerate but will have to figure that out at some point.  Felt fine just turning around and walking on the station.

[JasonPratt]

Sounds like it might be almost time for me to get into X3!  :D

[Huw the Poo]

I don't understand it.  Sometimes I'll load the game and it's smooth as a baby's arse, even when flying around stations and stuff.  Then I'll load it later and get what must be 20FPS.

Anyway, I've got a much better idea of what I'm doing in the game now.  I have a question though: is station scanning really the only way of getting missions?

[PanzersEast]

My observations about 12 hrs in......

First the issues:

Clipping - There is clipping issues around the stations, especially large ships clipping and going through sections of the station.  Also during landing, I have gone through the floor of the station.

Controls Setup - This was pretty frustrating at first and legit grip.  I don't understand while more profiles where not supplied at launch as many are common place.  It took a while, but I am finally happy with my setup... but should not have taken the time that it did. 

Pathfinding - The AI pathfinding needs some tuning.  You can not always put on autopilot and set back.  It's like the autonomous cars, you have to monitor the AI.  The ai ran me through an asteroid etc...  Also, I saw a ship underneath a station trying to get around to dock, it just kept crashing into it.... - Also, sometimes after I disable the AI, I have esc out and then back in to take control of the ship.

Optimization - this always takes time with the X games, but the game is not fully optimized and certain settings are game breaking.

NPC - ok, the same janky voice and look (although somewhat improved) is there.... talking to them still makes you cringe.

The good Stuff:

No major Crashes - have not suffered a major crash yet.

X3 and X Rebirth have a baby - looks like we will get the best of both worlds.  While it is not full on X3, with some added features and DLC, it will surpass.  The game has great atmosphere, and the piloting of different ships has been fun.

Menu System Fixed - The horrid X-Rebirth menu system is a thing of the past.  The new system is intuitive and easy to navigate.  You can easily control fleets, ships, stations.  The easy modular construction of stations, ships etc.... filtering goods, etc...  It has made the experience more stream-lined.

Gates - The gates have returned!

Missions - You can easily browse missions in a sector from a map.

The X games are complicated and have a lot gong one, so issues are expected at release..... with that being said, Overall I recommend it out of the box.  There are issues there, however they are minor and the good out-weights the bad.  I've been having a lot of fun and I feel the series is back on track..... finally.

[Huw the Poo]

I'm cooking with gas now!  I finally got the cash to buy a Teladi M hauler, who is now busily trading in Teladi space for me.  I'll leave him to it while I go exploring and finding more missions, I think.

I can't praise the new map enough.  I guess Egosoft finally realised that when you have an empire to manage you spend a lot of time looking at it!  You can do almost anything with it, and I love that you can see everywhere at once just by panning and zooming.

X4 is definitely easier to get into than any other game in the X series, with the possible exception of Rebirth.  Today is my first day of proper play and I already have a trader working for me.  That takes a fair bit of dedicated trading or mining in previous games.  There's also one other major boost you get, which I won't discuss here because I guess it's a spoiler.

On the other hand, your starting ship is a piece of shit. :D