TheXseries of space simulation games have been at the forefront of the genre since X:Beyond the Frontierdebuted in 1999, and the series has been constantly evolving throughout the years. While the basic premise of the game has remained consistent, the scope ofEgosoft’s simulation of galactic conflict has broadenedwith each new release. Just like in previous series entries,X4players can personally engage in a vast universe where everything from the smallest mineral miner to the grandest shipyard plays an important role in the game’s simulation.
The game’s upcoming fourth expansion, Kingdom End, introduces the last missing main faction fromtheXuniverse. Along with the inclusion of the aquatic Boron race and its unique technology, the expansion includes a free update for all players that introduces a staggering number of improvements. In a recent interview with Egosoft founder Bernd Lehahn, Lehahn spoke about the changes coming to the game’s physics, graphics, and performance.
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X4: Foundations' New Physics Engine Addresses Some Players' Biggest Complaints
X4’s simulation is remarkably detailed, and it’s a true programming marvel that the game manages to simulate thousands of entities that may be manufacturing goods, mining resources, or engaged inspace combatall around the galaxy. Despite this impressive feat, players have noted that there is still room for improvement when it comes to the game’s occasionally immersion-breaking physics.
The new physics engine is certainly the biggest one we are focusing on because I was always annoyed by problems with the physics engine, like when you have bugs where ships get stuck in an asteroid or fly into a station and get stuck somewhere in geometry. That is something that this new physics engine really addresses because it knows about the solidity of an object. You don’t just have walls, you have a solid object, and that makes a big difference in physics.
Previously, the autopilot could sometimes take the ship directly through an asteroid or the player could get stuck within geometry, and this sometimes broke the carefully crafted illusion presented by the game’s simulation. The new physics engine appears to have gone a long way toward fixing this, and it can’t be underestimated how significant this improvement will be in providing the immersive experience that thebest space gamesare known for.
X4: Foundations' Improved Graphics Engine Opens Up New Possibilities
Egosoft has also been painstakingly working on the next generation of its graphics engine, which the studio calls X TECH 5. The latest iteration of this graphics engine brings major improvements to the game’s lighting and textures, particularly thanks to the new parallax occlusion mapping technique which adds more realistic depth and lighting to surfaces.
We’ve also improved the graphics engine. That’s all low-level stuff, but, of course, helps the game in many areas and visuals get better. We have this new rendering technique called parallax occlusion mapping, which is especially important for the Boron ships. That also gets us further with the lighting of the whole engine, which allows us to have more contrasted light situations, so we can have stronger lights and stronger sunlight, with more realistic and better shadows and reflections indoors especially.
It’s highly unusual for a game to make these low-level changes to its graphics engine this far into development, as these sorts of changes are usually reserved for whole sequels. Egosoft has been working on this engine for many years now, and X TECH 5 opens the door for a new level of visual fidelity that should bring an already-gorgeous space game to a higher level. The engine upgrade also brings some performance improvements, which are always welcome in a game as potentially demanding onPC hardwareasX4.
X4: Foundationsis available on PC.
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