2026's major update: system requirements

[UnknownObject]

Dear Egosoft members, couldn't you tell us in advance what hardware should we have to play the upcoming DLCs with convenience?

[CBJ]

Sorry, my crystal ball's on the blink.

More seriously, we don't plan to change the system requirements. Regarding the performance implications of a future update or expansion, we won't know that until very late on in the process. And aside from that, we will never be able to judge what an individual player considers "convenient" when it comes to performance.

And finally, to pre-empt the inevitable question, yes, we continue to work on performance improvements to the game in general.

[UnknownObject]

More seriously, we don't plan to change the system requirements.

That's the very thing I wanted to read. Planning the hardware budget is complicated these days. Thanks!

[Falcrack]

Just because a system might meet the minimum specs for X4 does not guarantee it will be an ideal experience. And just because a system might meet the recommended specs does not mean the experience will not be enhanced with more powerful hardware. X4 is a demanding game, and pushes even the most powerful systems at times.

[Feloidea]

Realistically X4 is one of those few games where it would make sense to have two stage system requirements: early game and late game. Since a very busy universe is noticably more demanding on ones hardware, especially if the player fancied themselves a couple really big stations that can tank performance in high attention. But since most of that comes down to how someone likes to play, Egosoft can't really put hard numbers on this as a guideline.

So when it comes to X series games, it's a fair assumption that you want a bit of headroom to ensure your performance doesn't degrade with progressively more busy gamestates. Egosoft has quite frankly done an amazing job at making the game run on a lot of hardware, but there's "running" and then there's "plodding along wheezing like an asthmatic who just ran a marathon" when you played a savegame for a while and got the galactic economy running at full tilt.

[Timsup2nothin]

and then there's "plodding along wheezing like an asthmatic who just ran a marathon" when you played a savegame for a while and got the galactic economy running at full tilt.

In X3 I interpreted that as "declare victory and start over with new goals." I'm guessing X4 is similar, though at the moment I am just a bug on the learning windshield.