Rebirth engine?

[Net-FX]

So, I've pre-ordered X4: Foundations [so looking forward to this] but, was wondering if X4:F used parts of the rebirth engine?.

[csaba]

Some modells yes. Engine is different. Same engine(Vulkan) as XR VR edition but not base XR afaik.

[X2-Illuminatus]

It's based on the X Rebirth Engine, yes. The graphics engine has been updated to make use of Vulkan, now.

[Net-FX]

It's based on the X Rebirth Engine, yes. The graphics engine has been updated to make use of Vulkan, now.

Well, I sound scepticle here, I know. But Vulkan addresses the graphical side of things [which I thought were actually just lovely in X4:Rebirth] but my concern is that despite the massive amount of patches for Rebirth, there are still some issues and, if Foundations is using a modified source of Rebirth, might we find history repeating itself?. I truly hope not.

[csaba]

It's based on the X Rebirth Engine, yes. The graphics engine has been updated to make use of Vulkan, now.

Well, I sound scepticle here, I know. But Vulkan addresses the graphical side of things [which I thought were actually just lovely in X4:Rebirth] but my concern is that despite the massive amount of patches for Rebirth, there are still some issues and, if Foundations is using a modified source of Rebirth, might we find history repeating itself?. I truly hope not.

Which issues you are thinking about? If you list them here we can help you out with information so you can make a responsible purchase or not.

Otherwise I'd say wait until Christmass when there is plenty of reviews out. Although I'd advise looking around here first. X games are hard to swallow for the mainstream even bug free.

[X2-Illuminatus]

Feel free to remain sceptical. Mind you in my opinion it would be economical suicide to not reuse the engine that they just developed for several years.

[Alci]

Yes, it's the same engine. (Vulkan is just graphic API, doesn't affect engine much.)

And yes, it will share similar issues. Not sure what your specific problems with Rebirth are, but at least this is what all patches evolved into + another few years of development.

X3:AP shares some problems since X2 too (would say X1 but lack of features there also hid some problems).

My "issues" in Rebirth are "fixed" in X4 so..

[Fenhris]

It's based on the X Rebirth Engine, yes. The graphics engine has been updated to make use of Vulkan, now.

Well, I sound scepticle here, I know. But Vulkan addresses the graphical side of things [which I thought were actually just lovely in X4:Rebirth] but my concern is that despite the massive amount of patches for Rebirth, there are still some issues and, if Foundations is using a modified source of Rebirth, might we find history repeating itself?. I truly hope not.

Well, X games are quite complex games, and as far as I have understood, most X games had some troubles when they first came out, which was then fixed in later Patches. Well, X-Rebirth propably took the price in this regard, but still, it got fixed. I think it fair to assume that some bugs will make it into the initial release of X4, but personally I am not really that worried. XR got fixed without breaking save games.
Must say, I too am looking much forward to X4

[AleksMain]

It's based on the X Rebirth Engine, yes. The graphics engine has been updated to make use of Vulkan, now.

Feel free to remain skeptical. Mind you in my opinion it would be economical suicide to not reuse the engine that they just developed for several years.

For any skeptics below is prove about used X Rebirth Engine and Vulkan rendering engine (API to access the features of the Vulkan rendering library):

... As you know, with XR we essentially started from scratch, with a new engine and new scripting system. We weren't able to take full advantage of that in that first iteration, but hopefully with X4 we'll be able to make bigger strides forwards.

... part of the technology we're using (e.g. Vulkan rendering engine)...

[radcapricorn]

Well, I sound scepticle here, I know. But Vulkan addresses the graphical side of things [which I thought were actually just lovely in X4:Rebirth]...

Oh ye laymen... Vulkan, despite indeed being a graphics API, has little to do with "lovely" looks, and first and foremost "addresses" the CPU and memory "side of things", or that is it's intent, at least: to remove all the unnecessary gunk that the drivers had to do with OpenGL, and to an extent DirectX, forcing, instead, the programmers to explicitly maintain their required invariants. In simple terms: spend less CPU time drawing things, meaning either having more CPU time to process things, or more CPU time to draw more complex things (when the GPU isn't yet saturated). And X always were CPU-bound games with their big universes...

[Zloth2]

While there are certainly bugs in Rebirth still, the only one I can think of that's probably engine related is the tendency to pop your ship through geometry. For instance, about 1:50 into this lockbox location spoiler. It would be nice if the stations knew their insides from their outsides so they could kick you out if you got somewhere crazy.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

A bit of healthy skepticism never hurts, as you will either be proven right, or pleasantly surprised. Also remember that the game that releases is not the once and final product. It will continue to be improved and updated, so don't hold any launch-day bugs against it.

Yes, it uses parts of the Rebirth Engine, but also more powerful components, If I'm not mistaken. I thought the X Rebirth engine was interesting, it added not only more graphical detail, but allowed for subsystem damage as well. Don't forget, Rebirth was a new product on a new engine. They've had years to tune it and improve it.
This isn't like Bethesda riding the Gamebryo scooter for a decade.

[spankahontis]

They'll of had 2 years to better refine the Rebirth Engine, plus much of the new features if they added them to Rebirth as a patch would break your savegame, so it's an indication that the Engine has had a serious overhaul since Rebirth 4.0. Plus as Illuminatus said, the new rendering engine Vulkan, though it hasn't been used on many platforms since last checking, is said to improve performance a great deal, at least that's what people claim? So I'm hopeful.

[Net-FX]

Well, the one thing I am certain of is that if and when any issues with X4 arise, Egosoft will work tirelessly to fix them. This is why I own every X game thus far and have already pre-purchased X4.

[Protector AR]

Well, the one thing I am certain of is that if and when any issues with X4 arise, Egosoft will work tirelessly to fix them. This is why I own every X game thus far and have already pre-purchased X4.

I agree, I played X:Rebirth a lot and they fixed every bug I came across.
Most people didn't see this with X:Rebirth unless they stuck around long enough.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

Well, the one thing I am certain of is that if and when any issues with X4 arise, Egosoft will work tirelessly to fix them. This is why I own every X game thus far and have already pre-purchased X4.

I agree, I played X:Rebirth a lot and they fixed every bug I came across.
Most people didn't see this with X:Rebirth unless they stuck around long enough.

No one playing today shall know of the Dark Times... it is best that they never know.

[jasonbarron]

Pathing. If I see capital ships just blithely phase through a station in X4 like they do on a regular basis in XR it'll kill it for me.

[Observe]

Pathing. If I see capital ships just blithely phase through a station in X4 like they do on a regular basis in XR it'll kill it for me.

My thoughts exactly. I've been thinking about this quite a bit as we approach launch date. Combined with highways, this will deflate my interest severely. I can live with highways, because I can mod them out. Collision detection/avoidance/pathing absolutely absolutely must work though.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

Pathing. If I see capital ships just blithely phase through a station in X4 like they do on a regular basis in XR it'll kill it for me.

My thoughts exactly. I've been thinking about this quite a bit as we approach launch date. Combined with highways, this will deflate my interest severely. I can live with highways, because I can mod them out. Collision detection/avoidance/pathing absolutely absolutely must work though.

Didn't they add a sort of boost drive, so you don't have to use highways all the time?

[Axeface]

Pathing. If I see capital ships just blithely phase through a station in X4 like they do on a regular basis in XR it'll kill it for me.

My thoughts exactly. I've been thinking about this quite a bit as we approach launch date. Combined with highways, this will deflate my interest severely. I can live with highways, because I can mod them out. Collision detection/avoidance/pathing absolutely absolutely must work though.

Didn't they add a sort of boost drive, so you don't have to use highways all the time?

Have you played Rebirth? You dont have to use the highways all the time. Yes there is a boost drive just like in Rebirth (which you can use to avoid highways quite effectively), and also travel drive which is effectively just the boost drive that ships other than the player have in rebirth - its a boost drive, but it doesnt run out like boost does.