4.00 Public Beta now available

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Gregory
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4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by Gregory » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 18:45

Update 11.03.2021

:!: Important message regarding ventures in 4.00 :!:

As you may have read or heard already, we are planning a major overhaul of our "ventures" asynchronous multiplayer feature in the not-too-distant future. We're not quite ready to share more details about this just yet, but we do have an important message about ventures, involving next week's release of the big 4.00 update for X4: Foundations.

When the 4.00 update is released on March 16th, 2021, ventures will be disabled. You will be unable to start any new ventures, or continue existing venture missions that have already started. Ships that are currently on ventures in your game will automatically return to the Venture Dock from which they started, and they will not bring back any venture rewards.

As we make further progress with the aforementioned venture overhaul in the next couple of weeks, we will update you with details of the upcoming changes.

We apologise for any inconvenience, and look forward to providing you with more details on the revised ventures soon.

---

We announce, with great pleasure, that today is the start of the public beta phase for the much-anticipated 4.00 update of X4: Foundations. With the 4.00 beta version of X4: Foundations, you will get a first impression of our new developments and future vision for the game.

The 4.00 update is, without a doubt, the biggest free update so far to our space simulation X4: Foundations. This major update, which will be available to all owners of the game when it is released in the first quarter of 2021, enhances X4: Foundations in numerous ways, including completely new gameplay features and extensive technical improvements. For the full change log for the 4.00 beta update, please visit our forum.

Some of the most significant changes include:

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Volumetric Fog
The 4.00 update to X4: Foundations will see the introduction of several wide-ranging visual improvements, first and foremost volumetric fog. For those of you with an interest in the technical side of things: most implementations of fog in games are calculated on the surface of an object by the shader used to render that surface; volumetric fog, however, is calculated at intervals in the empty space in front of the camera, independently of any surface.

In practice, this means that you will notice soft fog layers in our universe, inviting you to come closer and check them out. We also hope that you'll enjoy how the volumetric fog interacts with light, and how this technical improvement changes your sense of space in the X4 universe.

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Improved Fleet Control
If you've ever commanded huge fleets through the X4: Foundations universe, then there's a good chance that you'll be excited about the following news: we've invested a considerable amount of time in improving fleet combat for the 4.00 update. This includes improved steering behavior and several important AI script changes.

There are a number of different elements to this feature, and we don't want to spoil all of them at once, but we'll start by giving you an overview of a new order called "Coordinate Attack". This tactical order is given to the fleet admiral when engaging a target fleet in battle. The admiral can subsequently give movement, escort and attack orders to all the subordinate ship groups, to coordinate positioning, formations and attacks against the enemy fleet. Once all the subordinate groups reach their positions, the new "Sync Point" feature is triggered. The admiral then moves on, to give orders to the groups of ships to attack specific targets.

This new Sync Point system allows the AI to synchronize orders to ships, but also gives you the freedom to manually trigger the release signal yourself, or let it be released automatically.

While a fleet battle is taking place, the groups of ships will dynamically receive new attack orders and will switch targets if the group configuration changes. This is especially useful once you have seen how the battle is progressing, and allows you to reconfigure your attacks with different group configurations.

Once you've had a look at this new feature and are feeling experimental, you can edit several of the order parameters. For example:
  • "Fleet aggressiveness" defines how aggressively the fleet should behave, as well as affecting the initial positioning of all ships and individual formation attacks.
  • "Weak targets first" determines whether to prioritize closer, weaker targets, or go for the larger, stronger ones.
  • "Ignore rally points" allows all ships to ignore Sync Points.
Image
(click gif for video demo)

This is just the first of several public beta updates for 4.00 which will lead up to the final release version of 4.00 in Q1 2021. These updates will introduce additional fixes and new features, including the Terraforming gameplay that was mentioned during our gamescom 2020 live-stream. Keep an eye on our news channels to avoid missing anything!

How do I take part in the Public Beta?
Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 4.00 beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum where they will find both the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum (no registration required) to find the relevant information.

Please note the following important changes to X4: Foundations login and the Egosoft forums!
  • New login method, both in-game and on the Egosoft forums, from 4.00
  • Login no longer available in-game with modified clients
To date, if you wanted to get involved in online ventures in X4: Foundations, or decorate your ships with certain paint mods, you had to use your forum username to login. This will change with the release of the 4.00 update: from then, login, both in-game and on the forum, will only be possible using your e-mail address.

During the public beta of the 4.00 update, which starts today, you will still be able to log into the game with your forum username in the usual way. However, when the finished 4.00 update is publicly released in the first quarter of 2021, it will become mandatory to login using your e-mail address.
Please note that those who use modified clients to play X4: Foundations will no longer have access to their online account in-game.

The reason for these changes is related to a major update to the X4: Foundations online gameplay planned for the near future. Before our plans can be implemented, these preparatory steps are unfortunately necessary. More information about these changes will be made available when the 4.00 update and the X4: Cradle of Humanity expansion are released, if not before.

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X4: Cradle of Humanity - The next chapter of X4 awaits you in the new year!
As announced at the beginning of October, the final release of the 4.00 update and the new X4: Cradle of Humanity expansion, has been postponed to the first quarter of 2021.

X4: Cradle of Humanity is the second expansion for X4: Foundations and will bring the X series back to Earth. It significantly expands the game universe with new sectors and welcomes two Terran factions along with their economy, ships, weapons and stations. New game-starts bring players closer to the identity and political stance of the Terran factions and offer alternative perspectives on events in the history of X4: Foundations.

---> Watch the Extended Teaser with Developer Commentary <---

You can already add X4: Cradle of Humanity to your wish lists on Steam and GOG. Owners of the X4: Foundations Collector's Edition will automatically find the second expansion in their game library when it is released.

We would like to thank all beta testers for their contributions. We hope you enjoy trying out the 4.00 update and discovering its new features!
All our channels in one convenient list :arrow: https://linktr.ee/egosoft

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mr.WHO
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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by mr.WHO » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 19:17

Gregory wrote:
Tue, 17. Nov 20, 18:45
During the public beta of the 4.00 update, which starts today, you will still be able to log into the game with your forum username in the usual way. However, when the finished 4.00 update is publicly released in the first quarter of 2021, it will become mandatory to login using your e-mail address.
Please note that those who use modified clients to play X4: Foundations will no longer have access to their online account in-game.

The reason for these changes is related to a major update to the X4: Foundations online gameplay planned for the near future. Before our plans can be implemented, these preparatory steps are unfortunately necessary. More information about these changes will be made available when the 4.00 update and the X4: Cradle of Humanity expansion are released, if not before.
I have a bad feeling about it.

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by chew-ie » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 19:27

mr.WHO wrote:
Tue, 17. Nov 20, 19:17
Gregory wrote:
Tue, 17. Nov 20, 18:45
During the public beta of the 4.00 update, which starts today, you will still be able to log into the game with your forum username in the usual way. However, when the finished 4.00 update is publicly released in the first quarter of 2021, it will become mandatory to login using your e-mail address.
Please note that those who use modified clients to play X4: Foundations will no longer have access to their online account in-game.

The reason for these changes is related to a major update to the X4: Foundations online gameplay planned for the near future. Before our plans can be implemented, these preparatory steps are unfortunately necessary. More information about these changes will be made available when the 4.00 update and the X4: Cradle of Humanity expansion are released, if not before.
I have a bad feeling about it.
You shouldn't - it was announced that there will be more "pvp" content in the near future. So some "hardening" has to take place to avoid abuse.

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by mr.WHO » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 19:44

The problem is that it push X4 more and more away from "modified" environment.
Mods were always the best thing of X-series.

Skyrim without mods is just sub-par RPG with nice soundtrack.
Fallout 76 was solid proof that this is bad direction.

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by Artean » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 19:46

Seriously impressive change log! Well done Egosoft!

Now, off to try it out. See ya in space.
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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by chew-ie » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 19:54

mr.WHO wrote:
Tue, 17. Nov 20, 19:44
The problem is that it push X4 more and more away from "modified" environment.
Mods were always the best thing of X-series.

Skyrim without mods is just sub-par RPG with nice soundtrack.
Fallout 76 was solid proof that this is bad direction.
A valid concern. Being a GOG customer I can copy as many X4 environments on my PC as I like (modded_1, modded_2, modded_3, X4_vanilla ....) - that way I can safely switch between vanilla "online play" and modded games.

And to be super-honest - I personally won't use mods in X4 until the Borons arrive. :D

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Nila Ti: Folgt mir, ihr Kavalkade von neugierigen Kreaturen!

:idea: Pick your poison seed [for custom gamestarts]

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by Marco Nero » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 21:38

My hope was for new sectors, ships, weapons, variety in general,better general FX, Borons and save of life improvements, for example selecting multiple ships and give them the same order to mine/trade a resources in a certain sector, instead of an upgrade for the multiplayer feature which is not suitable when you use a mod.. and i still belive a "X" game does not need multiplayer features, hope your resources will all be used for the stand alone game, at least for make the development of this game faster, leaving the multiplayer features at the end.

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by chew-ie » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 21:46

Marco Nero wrote:
Tue, 17. Nov 20, 21:38
My hope was for new sectors, ships, weapons, variety in general,better general FX, Borons and save of life improvements, for example selecting multiple ships and give them the same order to mine/trade a resources in a certain sector, instead of an upgrade for the multiplayer feature which is not suitable when you use a mod.. and i still belive a "X" game does not need multiplayer features, hope your resources will all be used for the stand alone game, at least for make the development of this game faster, leaving the multiplayer features at the end.
You will get the content you are longing for with the new DLC which Gregory gave some information as well. This beta is about the patch 4.0 which improves the game in a lot of areas as well as adding new features.

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by pgllrdp » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 22:31

But you do get to move the Hq finally :)

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by Artean » Tue, 17. Nov 20, 23:50

pgllrdp wrote:
Tue, 17. Nov 20, 22:31
But you do get to move the Hq finally :)
Superb!
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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by dtpsprt » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 00:19

What do they mean by modified clients?
I am on Steam and have some mods installed but they are not activated. Still the game refuses to open the online options, even though no mods are active. Second try with the mods manually removed from the Extensions directory resulted in the same. Is this a punishment of what?

CBJ
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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by CBJ » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 00:38

Once a game has been saved with mods activated, that savegame is modified from then on, whether or not the mods are currently active. Starting a new game with no mods active will give you an unmodified savegame when you save. If your game appears to be modified without mods installed then either you've missed one when removing them, or you have corrupt files and need to run a file verification using the Steam client.

This has nothing to with "punishment". It is a pretty standard requirement for games involving a shared online experience to need an unmodified client.

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by Lord Crc » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 02:13

This looks amazing! Can't wait to try it out.

Related q, does the GOG and Steam clients share savegame folder?

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by dtpsprt » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 03:08

CBJ wrote:
Wed, 18. Nov 20, 00:38
Once a game has been saved with mods activated, that savegame is modified from then on, whether or not the mods are currently active. Starting a new game with no mods active will give you an unmodified savegame when you save. If your game appears to be modified without mods installed then either you've missed one when removing them, or you have corrupt files and need to run a file verification using the Steam client.

This has nothing to with "punishment". It is a pretty standard requirement for games involving a shared online experience to need an unmodified client.
OK... understood... Actually I was too eager to try out the new Beta I missed the part that this Beta has no online options... so, it gave me the message that it was a modified client (I did not have time to turn them off before the Beta was loaded) and the next thing I saw was that there were no online options in the game...

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by alt3rn1ty » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 04:29

dtpsprt wrote:
Wed, 18. Nov 20, 00:19
What do they mean by modified clients?
CBJ and presumably the rest of Egosoft / programmers call the game itself a client, which is confusing when trying to report bugs and discuss what the modding community refer to as game clients ( being Steam app and GOG Galaxy app ), and Egosoft think you are discussing the game exe and associated saves ( been there, got the T-shirt :) )

---------------------

The new Fleet Management and sub-ordinate ship orders from the Fleet Admiral, as opposed to the player having to micro-manage a coordinated attack sounds superb.

Will the AI also have similar coordinated attack behaviour against the player?
And does this happen OOS aswell as IS?

I will be amazed if those questions are both answered with an affirmative .. but kind of hoping they are :)
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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by LameFox » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 04:41

Removed Interact menu option to follow ship (still available as default behaviour).
Is 'interact menu' the option when right-clicking on a ship in the map? Or something else?

It's gonna be really annoying if that's gone from the map. :?
***modified***

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by dtpsprt » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 04:47

alt3rn1ty wrote:
Wed, 18. Nov 20, 04:29

The new Fleet Management and sub-ordinate ship orders from the Fleet Admiral, as opposed to the player having to micro-manage a coordinated attack sounds superb.

Will the AI also have similar coordinated attack behaviour against the player?
And does this happen OOS aswell as IS?

I will be amazed if those questions are both answered with an affirmative .. but kind of hoping they are :)
Well... I can assure you that in 3 instances so far (5 hours play time in the Beta) Both the Xenon and the Khaak did coordinated attacks on me... I don't think it's just RNG...

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by alt3rn1ty » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 05:03

dtpsprt wrote:
Wed, 18. Nov 20, 04:47
alt3rn1ty wrote:
Wed, 18. Nov 20, 04:29

The new Fleet Management and sub-ordinate ship orders from the Fleet Admiral, as opposed to the player having to micro-manage a coordinated attack sounds superb.

Will the AI also have similar coordinated attack behaviour against the player?
And does this happen OOS aswell as IS?

I will be amazed if those questions are both answered with an affirmative .. but kind of hoping they are :)
Well... I can assure you that in 3 instances so far (5 hours play time in the Beta) Both the Xenon and the Khaak did coordinated attacks on me... I don't think it's just RNG...
Ace :D. First thing I had after downloading the update a couple of hours ago was a swarm of Xenon P and M came through a gate trying to bust up my rattlesnake fleet plugging up the gate .. I was in a Nemesis with two Nemesis escorts next to the gate when they came through, best battle I have been hands on with, ever!. But I treated it like a pre-4.0 game and personally protected the Fleet of Rattlesnakes IS against the swarm of small fast ships, so I still need to rebuild my Fleets to have smaller supporting role ships

But first it would be good to know if OOS is going to be the same, or would smaller ships in a fleet OOS be practically useless because Coordinated attacks OOS dont quite work the same (ie the usual biggest guns win OOS)
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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by hxsgame » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 06:01

Oh Gosh you really amazing, Thanks very much :D
And the new tips that are very important to me:

Added Assist assignment for subordinates of ships.

Added Coordinate Attack option for fleet commanders.

Added construction plan shuffle option to player HQ.

Added links to Encyclopedia for important items in mission objectives.

Added setting for default ship weapon and turret behaviour.

Added construction plan shuffle option to player HQ.

Added ability to store crew information alongside saved loadouts (only applied when building new ships).

Added ability to store weapon mode and ammo settings with saved loadouts and apply them in ship build/upgrade process.

Added option to set preferred build method.

Added sync point management to Object Behaviour menu.

Improved Kha'ak presence and behaviour.

Improved cases where ships preferred highways too much over direct route.

Improved flight movement for ships docking on capital ships.

Improved handling of ships sold by player to ensure their new owner recovers resources.

Improved shipyard generation to provide more dock capacity for medium ships (new game only).

Fixed ship traders getting stuck indefinitely attempting to build costly ships.

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Re: 4.00 Public Beta now available

Post by Solomon Short » Wed, 18. Nov 20, 06:24

hxsgame wrote:
Wed, 18. Nov 20, 06:01
Added ability to store weapon mode and ammo settings with saved loadouts and apply them in ship build/upgrade process.
what is "Weapon Mode"?

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