NEWS: Egosoft announces X³: Reunion, under development

[flagg209]

Wow! I am happy and sad at the same time. I am new here, but hear me I beg and say thankee

Overall I like the idea of X3 - the engine needed work, my system is damn near state of the art (well in the computer world - it was state of the art yesterday) and the engine still lags up some. In FS2 - if you had more ships on screen than the engine could handle it would crash (I made a mission where 30 cap ships jumped in at once - down went the game every time - even on a 3.2 P4 with a gig of ram - keep in mind recommended requirements for FS2 was an 8 meg tnt2 card!) So I think that a redesign is in order.

Greyhawk1 - I couldn't agree more about deus ex 2 - I was drooling for that game - and the sequel was HORRIBLE! ION really dropped the ball; Deus Ex <i> should </i> have been the standard that all FPSs were based on - and they really could have brought that home with DE2. Now the concept of leveling and open endedness is gone from the FPS scene.

[Greyhawk1]

If you had "go fever" about a new title and were fully committed to it - would you want to go back and rehash something released as a patch nearly 12 months ago?

IMO, this has been a signed, sealed and delivered decision for some time. They chose to release the info now for some internal reason.

Morrowind : Oblivion had been in development for two years before it was announced. Half Life 2 for four.

If they had extra cash they could outsource a team for fixing existing bugs in X2 but I think they are making the right decision based on limited resources to commit fully to X3.

[OutSane]

in responce to the requests to 'patchs'

who here has ever actually programmed a game before? (not counting a pac man esque game you made in high school programming class)

the task of rerwritting a graphics engine in monu-frickin-mental, they got to rebuild the X-universe, and they have set a very optimistic release date...do you really beleive they are going to drop everything to work on the bugs (which are probably buried in code, as any problem that easily sticks out would have been fixed before 1.4's release)

from what i understand for the XI bug you can easilly avoid it, just do one mission at a time, dont like the big bucks.. then dont do XI missions, problem only occurs if you accept more than one at a time.

I have no clue what the Khaak bug is (somthing about the purchasing of the info?)


Also a note to the members of Egosoft: AHH!!! a "NEW" graphics engine?!?!?! how am i going to afford to fix my car if my money all goes into buying a new CPU (i only got a 1.6Ghz right now and will prolly get a 3.0+Ghz when i upgrade)...frickin car is goin to fall apart.

PS:i hope there wont be too much of a gap in release dates for North America (well canada anyways...the US can wait..but i CANT!)

[RJV]

If it would take a month to fix those 2 bugs, test and release then there must be something seriously wrong with either the code or the development system.

I'm not trying to have a dig but I just find it unbelievable that it would take a month of the developers time to do this.

Agreed - I've seen posts (by Apoch himelf I think, apologies if incorrect) that said the XI bugs were fixed (at least the money side). Obviously don't know what other bits of code would need to be tested for a fix like this (suspect the BBS one may take a bit more ).

I know things take longer to code/test etc than a lot of people think - I am in this line of work myself so I understand. And if there is no fix it won't make me throw my toys out of the pram or anything silly, but I would like to see XI fixed. Let's face it, if it caused a slip of a week or two for X3 no one would know or care.

Like I said above, an unsupported hotfix might be a way around it. Give a couple of guys some overtime (what do they need sleep for anyway ) and we'd have it in a fortnight. I'm sure all the X3 dev schedules are drawn up anyway so we're flogging a dead horse more than likely, but it never hurts to throw up suggestions....

Cheers,

Rob.

[marksl]

I like to put a idea already mentioned on the forums. With the X3 expansion will it be possible for the fan base community to continue to write new scripts and updates for X2.

This is still a great game. With Egosoft putting thier full attention to a new project the community still has many talented script writers.

Anyt thoughts? Have egosoft made any comments about this.

[RJV]

would have been fixed before 1.4's release

XI bugs were introduced with 1.4

from what i understand for the XI bug you can easilly avoid it, just do one mission at a time, dont like the big bucks.. then dont do XI missions, problem only occurs if you accept more than one at a time.

Over time they clog up the BBS at various stations, rendering them unvisitable

I have no clue what the Khaak bug is (somthing about the purchasing of the info?)

To do with being able to capture them from the start instead of from a high combat rank. To my mind this is a non-issue.

Cheers,

Rob.

[Bunny]

Well that clears up the saved game compatability question.

Wait a minute, there already is a game called Reunion .

[Lutzie]

Well that clears up the saved game compatability question.

Wait a minute, there already is a game called Reunion .

But not X3: Reunion.

[Al]

in responce to the requests to 'patchs'

who here has ever actually programmed a game before? (not counting a pac man esque game you made in high school programming class)

the task of rerwritting a graphics engine in monu-frickin-mental, they got to rebuild the X-universe, and they have set a very optimistic release date...do you really beleive they are going to drop everything to work on the bugs (which are probably buried in code, as any problem that easily sticks out would have been fixed before 1.4's release)

from what i understand for the XI bug you can easilly avoid it, just do one mission at a time, dont like the big bucks.. then dont do XI missions, problem only occurs if you accept more than one at a time.

I have no clue what the Khaak bug is (somthing about the purchasing of the info?)

I have never coded a game. That is true. However I do code all day every day in my job. I use mainly 2 HDL languages but also Java, Tcl and some C/C++. We develop Ethernet solutions for programmable chips and have recently started shipping software to accompany some of our products. When there are bugs found or changes required we do respin all the components and can test and release them in a relatively short period of time, certainly less than a month when required.

I'm sure the task of re-writting the graphics engine is a very complex job but we're not talking about that. We're talking about 2 bugs which should be fixed in the code with little or no effort. Testing takes time and building a delivery mechanism too.

There are 2 problems with the XI mission: the masssive payments and the cloned missions. The XI missions were a big splash for the last patch and they are fundamentally flawed. the fact that it should be a mission script means that its not buried in the game code and should be fixable without screwing up something else.

The Khaak bug is that when the ability to capture them was included the condition that the Khaak specs had been bought and that you were at the correct combat rank are fine, but another branch of that code when neither is true also allows the Khaak to be captured.

Al

[Greyhawk1]

Isnt there any talent in the scripting community that could simply remove the XI missions completely? Not ideal I know but hey...its probably quicker.

[terrabyte]

• Excellent, I've never thought I be so excited when a game has been cancelled
  
  This is great news, I really think this is the best move and outcome.

[Brianetta]

If it would take a month to fix those 2 bugs, test and release then there must be something seriously wrong with either the code or the development system.

I'm not trying to have a dig but I just find it unbelievable that it would take a month of the developers time to do this.

There's something wrong with the code - it's changed.

What follows in this post should hopefully not breach my NDA, because it's a common enough situation in software development, and could easily be inferred by anybody in the industry.

The bugs are fixed for the X2:TR (now X3) game. This game is different in many subtle and unsubtle ways. Systems have been altered, redesigned, improved - generally changed. This is what happens when you advance your code base.

The bug fixes, to be made into a patch for X2:TT, would first have to be back-ported to the previous game. That is, the code-base would have to be rolled back to what it was at the last release, and the changes made to that code (avoiding any current code which might rely on changes to the core code made for the new version). Once done, that new code would have to be extensively tested (since it's really a final final patch) before being packaged up, run through the copy protection process, tested again (in case CP breaks it) and released to the public.

That sort of work could only be done by the core team. There is only one core team. They'd have to put X3 on hold while they did this. The same would have been the case if the product was still X2:TR: The previous title would still have required this amount of work to get a patch.

If you can see that entire process taking less than a month you have never worked in software development.

[D_Zorro]

Well now that a new x3 game is being created they finaly have more time, to make not only the ai better but create a fully new game engine too, i only hope that this new engine will be able to make it so that all computers can play large battles and not just a few. And make smarter ai as well.

Sure hope they will make it possable to build a better mod engine withing the game aswell.


DZorro,

[Skeeter]

A new game engine are you nuts! They admitted that x2 the threat only utilized about 5% of what the engine was capable of. x2 the return was supose to maximise this to 100% of the engines capability. Why go through the bother of making a new engine when the old one has so much life in it. They will probably be enhancing the x2 engine more with dx9c technology and not making a new engine based around the dx9c technology. To make a game engine is very complex and i am guessing takes year or two just for that.

Just enhance the hell out of the x2 engine and optimise for the mainstream computers which is like "1.5gig amd or p4, 512mb ram, 64mb dx8 or 9 cards" I imagine these are the type of systems most home owners use. As p4 3 gig and all that is only for the rich ppl or who can afford to build there own systems with the best components regulary. I built mine a few years ago and it still is a good computer.

Anyhow they can do what they like with the engine as in make new or reuse old one as long as its smooth "in battles" as mine is smooth and most everyone elses x2 was smooth but thats when ur not in large battles. They need to optimise large battles.

Meh im tired im off......

[Kaltier]

One more vote for dual core, it will make the game more future proof. I don't expect much faster single core chips out in the future so a year down the road it will not run any better if you do upgrade from todays near top of the line stuff.

Also I hope there is multiplayer in X3. X2 would have been very fun to play with a friend or two. And heck a client server model would be nice for even single players if you have a dual core CPU.

I wouldn't mind waiting a few months extra for either of these.

[fchopin]

The bugs are fixed for the X2:TR (now X3) game. This game is different in many subtle and unsubtle ways. Systems have been altered, redesigned, improved - generally changed. This is what happens when you advance your code base.

I understand that the fix is for X2:TR and not X2:TT and therefore will require more time to implement.

There is one thing you forgot, the game X2:TT will be remembered as a game with major bugs in the years to come, if egosoft are happy with this then so be it.

[RJV]

Remembered as a game with major bugs? Not by me. A little harsh methinks.

Brianetta - posts talking about XI bugs being fixed were made within a few weeks of the patch. If the code being modded had moved on significantly in such a short space of time (ie in a 'few' week period around the release of 1.4) then frankly I'm a little surprised.

Cheers,

Rob.

[Greyhawk1]

Major? Hardly. There's only a couple of biggies which can all be avoided easily.

You want buggy games, try playing The Temple of Elemental Evil....

[Xenon_Slayer]

If the bugs were fixed for X2TR why were they just not published right away for us? I know it must be a hard thing in the long run but it would have left X2TT quite complete.

Just wondering is X3 will have 3D glasses mode where the redicule isnt judged in the wrong place.

[fchopin]

Major? Hardly. There's only a couple of biggies which can all be avoided easily.

You want buggy games, try playing The Temple of Elemental Evil....

For me anything that unbalances the game is a bug.

I could start a new game and after the mission two capping I could cap a few Khaak ships with weapons, by selling the weapons I could make millions. In a few hours I would be able to afford an M2. If this is not unbalanced then I don’t know what unbalance means.