X4: FOUNDATIONS - Release date, prices and more

[birdtable]

@ Sammiclock
As a very old veteran of the games you did a damn fine job of showing the evolving X series ... Why is that amateur video makers catch the magic and mystery of possibilities in the game so much better than the so called professional trailers.
Almost made me pre-order X4 ....
Only fault ...should have been 20 mins longer,, 30 minutes maybe..... I remember them all with great affection..Thanks.

[Sammiclock]

@ Sammiclock
As a very old veteran of the games you did a damn fine job of showing the evolving X series ... Why is that amateur video makers catch the magic and mystery of possibilities in the game so much better than the so called professional trailers.
Almost made me pre-order X4 ....
Only fault ...should have been 20 mins longer,, 30 minutes maybe..... I remember them all with great affection..Thanks.

Thank you so so mutch, this is so kind

[nemesis1982]

Hey there,

today morning I was a bit bored so i thought i could do a Rewind of all the X Games, just for you guys!
I dont care about likes and stuff (i mean i got like 10 subcribers, dont mind), I just want to give all the 'old Veterans' to give them tons of these golden memories back again.

Enjoy and have fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5IVys0QHW8

PS: thats the first time i did a video like this so please dont be too mean
(i didnt get it to put this video in this post - so you got the link to it)

Nice, my first X game was xtension. Still think that ship is great

[Rockthorne]

Collectors edition:

Base game + 2 DLC + ebook + some more goodies

Sorry but you are wrong! Take a look into the shop and you will read this: Dieses Produkt benötigt zum Spielen die Steam-Version des Hauptspiels X4: Foundations. (This product needs the basic game X4: Foundations)

Sorry, but you are wrong. The Steam item that requires the base game is the "X4: Foundations Collector's Edition Content." You'll also notice that it's not directly purchasable. The purchase link on the page is for "X4: Collector's Edition," which costs however much it costs in whatever country you're in and includes the base game and also the Collector's Edition Content.

In the shop it says: this product needs the basic game! and under "This product includes" there is no basic game listed + the requirements for this product is only 1 gb space and nothing else! I wrote Bernd a message and asked him, have to wait for awnser

[ishmaeltheforsaken]

In the shop it says: this product needs the basic game! and under "This product includes" there is no basic game listed + the requirements for this product is only 1 gb space and nothing else! I wrote Bernd a message and asked him, have to wait for awnser

I PROMISE you that what I'm saying is true The misunderstanding is in what the "this product" you're seeing actually refers to. Once again, the Steam page that says "This product requires the base game" is not the Collector's Edition. It is ONLY the Collector's Edition extras, and you cannot purchase it separately from the base game.

Steam's treatment of store pages for what it classifies as "DLC" is really unintuitive and bad, but if you know how it works then you can usually sort stuff out.

[Rockthorne]

In the shop it says: this product needs the basic game! and under "This product includes" there is no basic game listed + the requirements for this product is only 1 gb space and nothing else! I wrote Bernd a message and asked him, have to wait for awnser

I PROMISE you that what I'm saying is true The misunderstanding is in what the "this product" you're seeing actually refers to. Once again, the Steam page that says "This product requires the base game" is not the Collector's Edition. It is ONLY the Collector's Edition extras, and you cannot purchase it separately from the base game.

Steam's treatment of store pages for what it classifies as "DLC" is really unintuitive and bad, but if you know how it works then you can usually sort stuff out.

I was messed up from beginning because of that Collectors Edition shop description, but i wrote Bernd and wait what he says. Of corse i would like to have the full package. we will see and i will write here as soon i have more informations About it.

[praypold]

Happy to have preordered the Collectors Edition for X4 Foundations, to support Egosoft's new X Universe game. Excited for November 30, waiting on baited breath.

[ypsylon]

So its official. Pre-ordered X4, despite terrible experience I had with Rebirth. It has the potential to re-kindle my Terran Conflict/X-Tended fix (sadly that engine is so dated with only one core support).

Can't wait.

[Juggernaut93]

I'm so happy to see the X4 will be available on in couple of weeks from now. This game always force me to spend money and time. May be its time to upgrade again? I built my i7 4770k + R9 290 just for the previous game.. which i din't enjoy and only play for couple of hours... This time, I'll make sure wait for it to lunch first before spending money on GPU. The X4 CE is consider cheaper in my country. Only MYR 135? normal ED is 89? Thank you.

The R9 290 looks to be in line with the minimum requirements for X4 and the CPU is good, so I think an upgrade should not be necessary, well, unless you want to play in 4K or something

[PabloRSA]

Is green man gaming supposed to be cheaper than steam and the store?

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/x4-foundations-pc/

Collectors edition is £10 off the store price whcih is -7% which means its -27% in total from full price from the store.

[Rockthorne]

Ok, I got me the CE in the Egosoftshop and all good, received key! Base game included!

[Vandragorax]

Is green man gaming supposed to be cheaper than steam and the store?

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/x4-foundations-pc/

Collectors edition is £10 off the store price whcih is -7% which means its -27% in total from full price from the store.

Third-party sellers will often have Steam keys up cheaper, especially for pre-orders. They rely on getting bulk orders and then purchasing a bulk of keys at once before the release directly via Valve or the devs and getting some deal on it for buying in bulk. But it usually means that if you buy there, you won't actually be given your Steam key until the very last minute as they wait as long as possible to gather as many pre-orders as they can before bulk buying the keys.

I'm not sure if this is how GMG works, but it's certainly true of similar business models. They can effectively advertise and sell the game at any price they want, and of course they will be looking to a) sell it at a high enough price to make a profit after their expected bulk purchase price, and b) to undercut competitors like Steam in order to get more sales.

[PabloRSA]

OK, was under the impression EGO set the price and since they are displaying the £65 for the RRP in GMG that would = the 7% discount EGO is offering in store which in turn nullify the discount EGO is offering.
I was just wondering if someone in the sales department made a mistake.

If that is true then I would have thought EGO sell on steam and GMG for £70 and EGO would be £65 (for example) to encourage buying from EGO Store as I would be sure they make more profit cutting out the middle man.

But if its GMG cutting their own profits then I am good with that, that is their choice.

[Vandragorax]

OK, was under the impression EGO set the price[...]

But if its GMG cutting their own profits then I am good with that, that is their choice.

Yep Ego set the price that GMG can buy keys from them. If GMG negotiated a deal with Ego to buy a certain number of keys at a lower price in order to undercut Steam, then GMG can afford to sell at a lower price than Steam (or even the Ego store itself). Either way, Ego gets the money as the original keys came from them somewhere along the line. Ego can probably afford to negotiate a better deal for GMG since they pull the Steam keys off to sell to GMG without the money actually going through Steam, therefore Valve probably can't get their 30% cut of the profits like they would from an actual Steam sale. This would make sense for Ego to sell the keys at a 25% discount for a bulk purchase because they still make 5% more than if the key was sold directly through Steam.

I'm pretty sure that wherever we buy from, we're supporting the devs adequately. They are in control of their own distribution for this release, but third party key retailers can sell for whatever they want after they've got the keys (or negotiated a deal to get them down the line).

Don't feel bad searching for the best deal as a consumer, more consumers should do it

[vukica]

Bear in mind that GMG, while cheaper for new titles (usually 15-25%) does not offer same refund condition as fair as what Steam does.
Second thing is that on GMG site you're paying in GBP. That means that the actual saving is a bit less that what it actually says because of currency conversion. Useful to know if you find the game on an another site with the same discount but in a different currency.

[X2-Illuminatus]

The opening post has now been updated with the following FAQ about release and preorder relevant questions.



System requirements

What are the system requirements?
Please note: The following system requirements are only estimates. There's a good chance that these requirements will change until release. Whereby we consider the minimum requirements already fairly stable.

MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit operating system and processor
OS: Windows 10 (64-bit), Windows 8 (64-bit), Windows 7 SP1 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel i5-4590 2.7GHz or AMD equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 780/970 or AMD equivalent (Vulkan support required)
Storage: 12 GB available space
Additional Notes: These estimates may change until final release.

RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit operating system and processor
OS: Windows 10 (64-bit), Windows 8 (64-bit), Windows 7 SP1 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD equivalent
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1070 or AMD equivalent (Vulkan support required)
Storage: 12 GB available space
Additional Notes: These estimates may change until final release.

What system can you recommend X4 runs well on?
We cannot make any specifc hardware recommendations, since the system requirements are not set in stone yet and "running the game well" is both subjective and dependent on the in-game context. In this kind of game the term "minimum framerate" is also completely meaningless. Put yourself in a situation where there is enough going on and it will start to slow down, because we don't artificially limit how much can happen in one place at one time, and of course the universe simulation will be going on in the background regardless. So it's safe to assume that there will be some variation in framerate in X4, depending on where you are in the game and what you are doing.
Having said that there are some general statements we can make to elaborate the System requirements posted above:

• About the Operating System (OS): X4 requires a 64bit operating system.
• About the processsor (CPU): The game has a similar threading model to XR. It will use two cores pretty heavily, for its core activities, and a few others more variably for other tasks. There is no fixed limit to how many it will use for those other tasks, but at the same time just increasing the number of cores won't necessarily improve performance beyond a certain point. With current-generation CPUs, which can usually run at least 8 threads on 4 cores, you will probably gain more from a higher core speed than from adding more cores.
• About the graphics card (GPU): Vulkan support is required, whereby this is provided by the majority of modern graphics cards. This, however, does not mean that any graphics card that supports Vulkan also runs the game. Onboard chipsets like Intel HD Graphics or Iris are not supported. Mobile cards, which you usually find in laptops, might be able to run the game. However, please note that those cards are usually less performant and have fewer features than their desktop equivalents. For example a Nvidia GTX 780 (desktop) is not the same card as a Nvidia GTX 780M (mobile, note the M).
• About the storage (HDD vs. SSD): As with most games, fast disk access will give the most benefit when starting X4. It can also help to reduce the incidence of assets "popping in" as they load during the game, though we do try to prevent that as far as possible with appropriate hinting anyway. As for the amount of disk IO, that's all about asset loading, not the simulation, and will vary depending on what you are doing.

How do I know, whether my system can run X4?
Start by looking at the System requirements posted above and compare the cagetories operating system (OS), memory and storage with your own system. If either of these do not meet the minimum requirements, you won't be able to run the game. Comparing processor and graphics card will be more difficult, as there is a great variety of those which also give different performance results depending on the overall system and usecase. The best we can suggest is looking for general benchmarks comparing your CPU and GPU with the ones from the System requirements listed above.
If you're still unsure about your system's performance, then feel free to discuss the system requirements with our community in this forum thread.
If you're planning to build/buy a new system and need feedback, then please open an own thread in the Off Topic forum.

Will there be a Linux version?
We definitely plan to support Linux. If a Linux version will be released from the start or a little later will be decided close to release.


Collector's Edition content

What is a paint-mod?
It's something used to adjust the appearance of a ship. It can consist of a number of attributes, colour being the most important. Other features of paint mods I will leave to be announced more formally. A paint mod consists of a set of attributes. You can't pick and choose which ones get applied.

Will the paint-mod, which you get when preordering the Collector's Edition, be part of the normal game?
You won't get this particular paint mod with the game if you don't pre-order, otherwise it wouldn't be "exclusive" as described in the announcement. The paint mod feature is of course part of the game for everyone, however.

Are there other paint mods in the game other than the standard and exclusive one?
Yes, there are.

Do I have to order the Collector's Edition from the Egosoft shop in order to receive the additional items?
The items are part of the digital Collector's Edition. It doesn't matter where you buy it.

Is the Collector's Edition limited?
The digital Collectors Edition will certainly be available after release, but as per the announcement, the exclusive paint mod is a pre-order bonus. Also, the pre-order price is discounted so it will be slightly more expensive then.

How do I connect my Steam account with my Egosoft account?
Click on your name at the top right corner of the forum, choose User Control Panel from the list that drops down, go to the fourth tab called "Egosoft Settings", then the second sub-tab called "Game Registration". The Steam link option is there.

Do I have to connect my Steam with my Egosoft account already prior to release in order to receive the exclusive paint mod?
No, as long as you preordered the Collector's Edition (i.e. bought it before release), you will receive the paint mod, no matter when you connect your accounts.

Which Format (epub, Amazon Kindle, pdf etc.) will the eBook have?
This is not decided yet. A pdf version will most-likely be included.


Platforms, boxed version and other purchase information

Will X4 only be released on Steam?
At the moment we only have plans to release on Steam. In the past, our release on Steam has been followed a year or so later by a release on GoG, but I can't guarantee that the same will be true this time around and no decision is likely to be reached any time soon. As far as I'm aware we've never released any game on Gamersgate directly, though they may have sold Steam keys for some of our games at some point.

What about a NoSteam.exe?
A NoSteam.exe for XR was first made available a year or so after the game's release, which was, not coincidentally, about the same time that XR was released on GoG.

Will there also be a boxed version of the game (be it the normal version or the Collector's Edition)?
We are still in negotiations with a publisher about a boxed version. If and when an agreement will be reached, we will share more information.

I want to support Egosoft. Should I order from the Egosoft shop?
Buying from the Egosoft shop is still the best way to support Egosoft. The choice is yours where you buy from, though, of course.

I have preordered the game through the Egosoft shop, but haven't received an email with my Steam key yet. What should I do?
This is normally a case of overzealous spam filtering or AV software. Therefore please first check your spam folder. If you've done that and are sure you didn't receive the email, then you can email order@egosoft.com with the details of your order and someone will look into it for you.

[I3laze]

I cannot see anything about Green Man Gaming being a authorised seller in the opening post? So is GMG legit to buy from then or not?

[Combat Wombat]

I cannot see anything about Green Man Gaming being a authorised seller in the opening post? So is GMG legit to buy from then or not?

So if you look what GMG is doing is pre-selling the game not offering you a pre-order. There is no pre-order paint mod included with their package. What that means is sometime shortly after release they expect to get keys and you will be first in-line for those. I "pre-ordered" Mass Effect: Andromeda from them not quite understanding this and had to wait a bit.

Relevant reading:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GreenManGaming ... dvertised/

[PabloRSA]

Either way, GMG is cheaper price for standard is a bargain if you want it at release, if not, wait for a sale.
As for CE, you still get expansions even if you don't get the paint skins so in effect your paying £10 less to not get the paint skins, which is still good, again if you want it at release.

It would be nice to have an official word from ES about this as some people might expect it and since it is released before they get the key they will miss out as its past pre-order and they cant turn back time.

Regarding the refund policy, i doubt most people who pre-order will be requesting that for this game, we all know ES patch their games quickly and have excellent support so even if it don't work form day 1 it will, as its usually "guarantee" unlike other game devs.

I am taking the assumption GMG wont have the paint skins, as you rightly said it seems they buy keys in bulk after release (from steam I assume), so after the promotion ends.

Edit:
Con confirm that GMG does not include the paint skin (source: support ticket)

[argantonio]

I have like a month to get a new pc it seems x'D