EGOSOFT and Deep Silver announce X Rebirth (updated 2011-07-29)

perkint · Post by **perkint** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 14:15

If you check out my "what we know about X:R" thread (I'll post a link later or google it) you'll see where the 2012 comes from (video from gamescon) and also confirmation of being able to add storage modules for stockpiling end product to stations (from same vid).

Tim

fOSSil · Post by **fOSSil** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 14:26

pwnstar23 wrote:Personally I wish they would add shadow mapping, it is possible in dx9 but requires the use of shaders and not using the fixed function pipeline. And if they went that route they might as well write a dx10 render.

You can see shadows and motion blur in the trailers. Its all possible with clever shaders in DX9. And they even have HDR rendering, DOF and other nice effects now according to a recent german interview with Bernd:

The graphical highlights of X Rebirth, which were presented to us by Lehan using a demo, included planets and asteroids that are more than a simple background but real geometry, very detailed shadows, realistically applied HDR, a particle system, motion blur and depth of field effects.

Source: http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,84068 ... tion/News/

thrangar · Post by **thrangar** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 17:35

Mightysword wrote:What is keeping me on edge is it seems Egosoft want to tackle their unproven (or badly proven) territory. It's clear that their focus this time is about the story and character, and frankly, it has always been the two worst territories in my experience.

- X2 to me has the best plot in X (pretty average in term of gaming). But at least it seems to be coherent. They introduce the Khaak and I think at the end of the game somewhat manage to build a somewhat generic ... but at least egnimatic entity then ...

- X3R completely reduced the Khaak into a bunch of generic homie. It feels like the plot and tension in X2 took a complete 180 turn. If I have to make a guess the writer want to change the FS2's Shivan approach to a "intrigeud" asmosphere with pirates/criminal/political and they fail pretty badly at that. The missions are disconected and nowhere as coherent as X2.

- X3TC ... well, I don't even know what it's trying to do. In all its original splender you need a "avoid the bugs" guide so you don't end up breaking it. The campaign feels like a bunch of random missions put together with any flow to it. It feels like I was buying ingredient for a BBQ, then end up cooking stew, but somehow have a fried dish on the table.

There are two type of writing you can have: a story driven like Freespace, or a character driven like Freelancer. Given Egosoft's track record, I would be completely surprise if the can come up with something as decent as Freelancer and characters like Trend or Junko, but I'm not hold my breath. Last but not least, I hope they have the time to put in all together, in my experience, they never do

Yes this is how I have always viewed the X series since X2.
Thats why I am here...I read/heard that ego is not forgeting thier sandbox players in X-R...
So does that mean we have to play through plot,to play sandbox,or will there be a custom/sandbox start and if you chose it will all elements be available to player unlike PH in X-TC
was if you did not do plot?
The new game sounds exciting,but if I have to play a plot will think twice about getting it.

Shootist · Post by **Shootist** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 17:59

Retiredman wrote:
Wolfie276 wrote:
Shootist wrote:Santi,

There had better be dev's creating games. Us old-timers are the reason there ARE video games. We were there first, with pong, asteroids and pacman. We were there when Adventure was a text game. We were there when Lord British released Akalabeth. We bought Zenith-Heathkits and Apples and Tandys and Commodores and AST and Packard Bell and Xerox micro-computers. We ran TRS-DOS or Xenix or PC-DOC and later MS-DOS.

You "young people didn't invent smoking grass and you didn't invent spending half your life playing computer games.
Man I love this post.

Best post ITT.

Blame Sputnik...
and dreaming...

That really is the reason, isn't it? That and Mr. Heinlein.

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 18:10

thrangar wrote:Yes this is how I have always viewed the X series since X2.
Thats why I am here...I read/heard that ego is not forgeting thier sandbox players in X-R...
So does that mean we have to play through plot,to play sandbox,or will there be a custom/sandbox start and if you chose it will all elements be available to player unlike PH in X-TC
was if you did not do plot?
The new game sounds exciting,but if I have to play a plot will think twice about getting it.

I'm not very optimistic if they continue the trend of X3R. If you think about it, comparing to X2, X3R is very restrictive. X2's plot "encouraged" you to enjoy the sandbox aspect of the game, mission is usually set up in a way that let you explore the universe or you receive mail to encourage you to go off on your own. Also for the most part you're free to bring any asset into missions.

X3R felt like it specifically want you to finish the plot before going off. The plot is very restrictive and hurl you around, and you're forced to ignore most of your sandbox element within the plot. For example, you get locked out from a race sector, you can't bring your own asset to most mission. It was a real facepalm and teeth clingy experience when I see the game "locked" your asset menu during plot missions.

Post by **Santi** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 19:21

Shootist wrote:
santi wrote:, they are devs targetting 60+ years olds with games, and that is great.
Santi,

There had better be dev's creating games. Us old-timers are the reason there ARE video games. We were there first, with pong, asteroids and pacman. We were there when Adventure was a text game. We were there when Lord British released Akalabeth. We bought Zenith-Heathkits and Apples and Tandys and Commodores and AST and Packard Bell and Xerox micro-computers. We ran TRS-DOS or Xenix or PC-DOC and later MS-DOS.

You "young people didn't invent smoking grass and you didn't invent spending half your life playing computer games.

I agree with you so much, my first was a ZX81 by Sinclair Research, splashed all my cash on it, to realize I couldn't afford a tape recorder. It gives you a different view of the videogames industry, when you got some perspective.

Brilliant post Sir.

perkint · Post by **perkint** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 19:33

Said I'd dig out the link to What we know about X-Rebirth earlier...

All the interviews (etc) I've seen with Bernd have not made it clear whether you will need to complete the plot before the sandbox becoming open to play in. I'd be surprised if there was not a way to get to it (eg a start opened up once you've completed the plot) but it hasn't been confirmed as far as I know.

Same as it hasn't actually been clarified as to whether you will be able to chose how your ship changes through the plot, or if you'll be able to change it again afterwards...

We'll get more info, eventually

Tim

thrangar · Post by **thrangar** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 20:39

perkint wrote:Said I'd dig out the link to What we know about X-Rebirth earlier...

All the interviews (etc) I've seen with Bernd have not made it clear whether you will need to complete the plot before the sandbox becoming open to play in. I'd be surprised if there was not a way to get to it (eg a start opened up once you've completed the plot) but it hasn't been confirmed as far as I know.

Same as it hasn't actually been clarified as to whether you will be able to chose how your ship changes through the plot, or if you'll be able to change it again afterwards...

We'll get more info, eventually

Tim

Thanks Perkint

Well there was more than I was aware of

I play through the before mentioned plot, so to say the story of the game, it is just an introduction, because we want to keep the sandbox-character of the game, a game where I set my own goals, where I can freely develop, nevertheless the plot is an important beginning and it shall be exciting and great and when it has at some point reached its top, when it has reached its goal, then it releases the player in an even greater universe with more opportunities to change the universe and it is up to the player what he will do next and what kind of goals he will set for himself. They can do the same, as we know it from the preceding games

oh that is highly dissapointing ,but not suprising...however to me it sounds like maybe the plot wont be long and drawn out

So because its dx9 will that mean multi core/thread wont be used welll/efficiently?

thrangar

Post by **Cycrow** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 21:30

thrangar wrote:
So because its dx9 will that mean multi core/thread wont be used welll/efficiently?

thrangar

Multi-core engine has nothing to do with the DX version used

Skeeter · Post by **Skeeter** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 21:57

I really hope they adjust the lighting in the game because it looks like they still are filling the systems based on nebula backgrounds which is the incorrect way to do things. I hope they fix it finally in this new game but according to the current screenshots it doesn't look good because screenies show asteroids as either green blue or whatever instead of black/grey. and other things that shouldn't be a coloured light making them appear a colour they arn't suppose to be.

Either that or they allow a modder to tweak the light source per map or really a global light source tweak so we dont have to do each and every sector to have a natural light source so ships, planets, asteroids, stations be a green blue or red mess.

Wolfie276 · Post by **Wolfie276** » Wed, 7. Sep 11, 21:59

thrangar wrote: So because its dx9 will that mean multi core/thread wont be used welll/efficiently?

thrangar

We're talking about parallel processing on GPUs, not CPUs. D3D9 has nothing to do with the CPU.

perkint · Post by **perkint** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 00:39

To elaborate on the comments saying DX9 has nothing to do with multi-threading - what the previous posters have not stated is that X-Rebirth is definitely multicore. Check the "What we know about X-Rebirth" thread for more details, but it has definitely been confirmed that it will support multi-core processing...

Tim

bill2505 · Post by **bill2505** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 01:09

will in rebirth you will able to visit planets (seamless)

frankzappa · Post by **frankzappa** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 02:01

Nanook wrote:
frankzappa wrote:... BF3 for example:
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/categories/show/215.page

Quarter of a million messages on there...

Skyrim:
http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/f ... -v-skyrim/

Almost 850,000 messages on there. My point is that people like to congregate and talk about new games and discuss things. That's the whole point of forums. You guys need to get your heads out the sand...
No, I think you're missing the point. Those are mainstream games with huge followings, and plenty to talk about, with thousands of people spamming the forums for more info. Rebirth is a niche game in a niche genre, produced by a very small developer, and only a few dozen people actively talking about it, if that many. It's probably not worth a new forum at the moment, and when there's more info to discuss, the Egosoft admins (note that the moderators, as opposed to most admins, here are all volunteers and not Egosoft employees) will most likely create a new forum. Besides, this is the developer's forum, not the publishers who actually have the power to dictate information releases.

Well my point is that this is a niche game with a small audience BECAUSE it's not run like those other games. They all started out as small companies too. The publishers (or whoever) should be helping it to grow, and 1 video, 4 screenshots and no forum is not helping.

I am happy for them if they can survive off the small audience they have, but too many small companies just end up closed and I just don't want to see that. I think they should be making an effort to grow. There are still a lot of old gamers out there who haven't had a good space since the Elite games, and there are a lot of new gamers out there who have never even played a space game at all. When I was a kid I had the Elite games and X wing / X wing vs Tie Fighter, Freespace, Wing Commander series, Privateer etc.. but most modern gamers just don't have that. The only space game I see the 'average gamer' talking about these days is Eve, which is pretty boring imo.

So I just think if the publishers made more of an effort to spread the word about this game, it might help them break out of this "small niche developer" situation. But that's just my opinion. I think I've said all I can say about it now.

bill2505 wrote:will in rebirth you will able to visit planets (seamless)

That would be great

I doubt it will happen though, but maybe someone can answer. It reminds me that I saw a video recently of a game engine which let you fly from space and then fly around planets. It looked amazing. I need to try to remember the name.

Legionnaire · Post by **Legionnaire** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 02:14

bill2505 wrote:will in rebirth you will able to visit planets (seamless)

No theres going to be no landing on planets.

You might want to check Perkint's thread for what is currently known about X:Rebirth http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=300884

Legionnaire

festa_freak · Post by **festa_freak** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 06:15

frankzappa wrote: That would be great I doubt it will happen though, but maybe someone can answer. It reminds me that I saw a video recently of a game engine which let you fly from space and then fly around planets. It looked amazing. I need to try to remember the name.

Infinity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7eREddMjt4.

Patiently awaiting info on X: Rebirth!

Post by **Cycrow** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 11:58

frankzappa wrote: Well my point is that this is a niche game with a small audience BECAUSE it's not run like those other games. They all started out as small companies too. The publishers (or whoever) should be helping it to grow, and 1 video, 4 screenshots and no forum is not helping.

I am happy for them if they can survive off the small audience they have, but too many small companies just end up closed and I just don't want to see that. I think they should be making an effort to grow. There are still a lot of old gamers out there who haven't had a good space since the Elite games, and there are a lot of new gamers out there who have never even played a space game at all. When I was a kid I had the Elite games and X wing / X wing vs Tie Fighter, Freespace, Wing Commander series, Privateer etc.. but most modern gamers just don't have that. The only space game I see the 'average gamer' talking about these days is Eve, which is pretty boring imo.

So I just think if the publishers made more of an effort to spread the word about this game, it might help them break out of this "small niche developer" situation. But that's just my opinion. I think I've said all I can say about it now.

its not a niche due to advertising, its a niche due to the genre of game.
it doesn't matter how much you advertise the game, theres always going to be a limited amount of people interested in a sandbox space games

danleach · Post by **danleach** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 14:38

Whatever other people try to argue I completely trust Egosoft.

There are only 2 games companies who produce products that I will buy sight unseen, Ego is one of them.
I never feel let down by anything they produce and that is why I'm looking forward to Rebirth

Raize · Post by **Raize** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 19:44

Damn its only going to be DX9, I guess that means we won't be able to have surround sound for this game. Bit of a shame really tbh.

softweir · Post by **softweir** » Thu, 8. Sep 11, 20:20

Raize wrote:Damn its only going to be DX9, I guess that means we won't be able to have surround sound for this game. Bit of a shame really tbh.

Those are two different issues, surely?

TC and co can't have surround sound in later Windows versions because those X games use an old, deprecated sound API. The replacement API works fine, and there is no reason a DX9 game can't use it. (That I know of.)