Where's the manual?

[Jasper]

I may be dense or blind, or both. If so, I will blame it on old age.

I cannot find the manual for X4. I did look in the steam folder, user folder, and here in the files section.

If someone would be so kind as to point me in the proper direction, I will totter off that way.

Thanks,
Jasper

[Perahoky]

Hm, i would assume there is'nt one except the ingame help itself.
Maybe there were not enough people/emploeeys to make a manual for this complex game, bacause it would consist of about tenth thousands of lines.

And, why do you need one? x games where never easy to got in. Lets try for yourself

Edit: if you have question and need help, just ask and we all will help you

[CBJ]

The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!

[crackman]

[quote=CBJ post_id=4757200 time=1543594809 user_id=39606]
The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!
[/quote]

Well, i understand manuals in multiple languages is expensive to produce, however, how about a basic PDF with 'key bindings and commands' we can at least print in GB and DE ... that would be very useful.

Im old skool, remember the boxed version i had of terran conflict, beautiful book, and galaxy map ... really nice back in the day. Before all this online delivery business.

Thank you.

[Slamdance_Kozmopolis]

That's disappointing. I guess it's a translation issue, but the tutorial for HOTAS setup isn't making sense. What is a primary/secondary steering axis and what is "x rotation"? and where is pitch, roll, and yaw?

I know from experience that the community IS super helpful and eventually setup guides and control profiles will be posted. But really, just expecting everyone to figure it out by trial and error is going to put a lot of first time players off.

[keno1999]

The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!

Dont know about all the tutorials yet, but the one for ship modes is not working for me. I am unable to follow along because the first keypress it asked me to do didnt do anything, then the whole context of it goes out the window. It seems like the tutorials depend on some starting assumptions that aren't automatically being setup, initially. It would be very helpful if the tutorial text was just posted online with screenshots including any starting assumptions.

Also, most tutorials in other games do not proceed until you successfully do what they asking you to do.

[4smoday]

Okay fair enough, but then i highly recommend tooltips / hoverups i.e. for the Settings menu as there are less to no Explanation on some of the Options so it is a Trial and error...

[Komuso]

The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!

This is a pretty crappy effort by a developer, not to offer even a basic guide manual.
The badly done in-game tutorial is also buggy and some of the "tutorials" also rely on you having more than one ship. That is crazy when you're just starting out and want to quickly run through the tutorials to learn the functions.
It's a terrible design decision and terrible customer support not to provide a proper manual and help guide.
The in-game encyclopedia also borders on the useless, with no real help available or links between entries.

Also seeing multiple AI ships half embedded into stations, which indicates both the AI pathing and collision detection is badly implemented. I haven't had any crashes so far but really unimpressed by the bad learning support and obvious AI bugs.

I'm not a complete noob (~560 hours in ED, ~600 in SOASE ++) and can learn on the fly but it really annoys the frak out of me when developers of complex games totally skimp on the learning and help support.

Relying on your community to produce the manual, help, and tips is a cheap ass copout for a game being sold for AAA prices. I paid ¥ 8,250 for a complex game the developers can't even be bothered to write a proper manual for, but they'll give you a 50-page pdf of art. Very unhelpful.

I'd like to apply for a refund, but you have to spend so much time trying to figure it out that it quickly takes you over the Steam 2-hour refund limit.

[GrieferBastard]

The problem is that there's a lot of key stuff that isn't covered in tutorials or that people seem to be able to figure out.

For example, can my employees improve? I've got digital seminars, do they work? Do they improve in skills over time?

That's just some examples. I love the game but there's a lot of stuff I need to know that doesn't appear in tutorials or encyclopedia or just sorting through menus.

[Tusler]

Inexcusable for the developer not to at least partner with Prima Games and have them write and sell a comprehensive strategy guide for this game, especially since it is the latest one in muti game series.

[VanHaver5150]

The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!

I'm sorry, really enjoying this game but the tutorials are anything but extensive..they're a mess and hardly helpful at all.

[SuzukiStumpy]

Inexcusable for the developer not to at least partner with Prima Games and have them write and sell a comprehensive strategy guide for this game, especially since it is the latest one in muti game series.

Bit difficult that one since Prima games has gone bust ... but I do agree, it's pretty inexcusable to not have a manual [or decent online, in-game content] covering the basic in-game functions.

[ATTACK_HAMSTER]

The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!

I'm sorry, but for a game as complex as the X series having no manual is not acceptable. Even as a seasoned X'er i would have benefited from a manual in the last 20 hours of gameplay. As for the tutorials, i would not class them as extensive, i would call them rudimentary at best.

New players to the franchise are more than likely having a frustrating experience in the X universe as their is simply no reference material - that's simply piss poor imho. Sort out a manual for Christ sake!

[Zupje]

Things could have been so much easier and more intuitive, if there would be .. tooltips!

[nonnex]

Tooltips solved:


+1
To be honest. The new UI is good (compared to previous ones), but it would be even better with some more love for context info/options, ergonomy/intuitivity and (of course) tooltips to give (especially newcomers) a helping hand.

[Komuso]

The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!

I'm sorry, but for a game as complex as the X series having no manual is not acceptable. Even as a seasoned X'er i would have benefited from a manual in the last 20 hours of gameplay. As for the tutorials, i would not class them as extensive, i would call them rudimentary at best.

New players to the franchise are more than likely having a frustrating experience in the X universe as their is simply no reference material - that's simply piss poor imho. Sort out a manual for Christ sake!

Exactly this (in addition to my previous message).

Unacceptable Egosoft!

[bl3ek]

If Egosoft doesn't have time to write manuals, the next best thing would be a set of video tutorials.

Honestly, I've done video, recording your screen and narrating - a subject you know well - is easy. It doesn't have to be super slick, just ensure good audio quality and talk people through how to do X, Y and Z.

I'm sure the devs are super busy right now, but taking a day out to run through these tutorials would help players considerably. Later and with dev time, they could be embedded in the game.

[Studders]

Have to agree with the majority here. Love egosoft games and the X series, I also enjoy learning on the fly but when you introduce a new UI along with features that haven't been in previous X games then that warrants some sort of manual or PDF guide from the get go. The crew system has caused so many forum posts that could have been avoided if explained well, I think I have read somewhere that seminars haven't been implemented yet? If the seasoned players don't know this then how are new people to the series meant to find this information out without going online and looking in the forums.

I remember the X Gold manual, was fantastic and detailed all the equipment like Advanced Satellites, I still remember reading about those and it made me want to play for that alone. New players must feel lost if they havent played an X game before. I love you guys but this is a pretty big oversight for the AAA price. A few tutorials that progress regardless if the player has done what it asked is not enough....

[Playbahnosh]

The game has fairly extensive tutorials to guide you through your first experiences of various features. We don't, however, have a separate manual for it, so your best bet is to dive in and explore the game!

Really, CBJ? That's like saying "Here's this frightening wilderness you must go through, but sorry, we don't have a map. Do you not have phones?!" (yes, I went there)

Not having a manual for a game this complex is unthinkable! This is not tic-tac-toe ffs, this is a very complicated space simulator! It's pretty harrowing to try and figure out how X4 works for even seasoned X veterans like myself. I can't even imagine how lost new players must feel. And no, the tutorials don't even work half the time, or want me to do stuff that's just not possible. And what about the stuff that's not in the tutorials? Like damage types, weapon loadouts, AI automation, why turrets don't work, what does ship crew influence and how to train them, where the hell do I get a station manager, etc. So either fix the tutorial system and the encyclopedia, or release a proper manual, because this just not gonna cut it.

[Komuso]

If Egosoft doesn't have time to write manuals, the next best thing would be a set of video tutorials.

Honestly, I've done video, recording your screen and narrating - a subject you know well - is easy. It doesn't have to be super slick, just ensure good audio quality and talk people through how to do X, Y and Z.

I'm sure the devs are super busy right now, but taking a day out to run through these tutorials would help players considerably. Later and with dev time, they could be embedded in the game.

Video is no substitute for well written and searchable text, where it's much faster for people to find answers.
Video should always be additional in-depth explanations. It's not basic reference material.