X3: Reunion
Moderators: Cagliostro, lucimay, Creator, Sorus
X3: Reunion
Does anybody else here play this game?
If you've played and enjoyed Privateer, Freelancer, Wing Commander, or (going back a bit further to C64 days) Elite, then you will simply love this game.
Like in all of the above games you're a space-trader. Unlike those games, however, once you've made some progress some of those space-stations you're docking at will be YOUR stations.
The galactic economy is really dynamic (eg if you buy a silicon mine and put it on a high yield asteroid and then sell that silicon to factories that use silicon then the prices of their goods (eg high-tech weapons) will go down).
There's also pretty much the best online modding community that I have personally seen for any game. This is not a game you want to play vanilla.
You start off in the (Star Wars) equivalent of a stripped-down X-wing and end up controlling whole fleets of Destroyers and Carriers. I fart in the general direction of Darth's Death Star. But there's no way I'm going into a Kh'aak sector yet...
My housemate and I have been playing the modded version of this game religiously for a couple of months now. He's perpetually yelling upstairs at me to tell me about the latest developments in his game.
He has a much bigger economic/military space-empire than I do, I must admit. He thinks he's so friggin' good . It sickens me.
I cannot tell you how highly I recommend this game. If you have ever enjoyed the space-trader genre, THIS. IS. THE. SHIT.
If you've played and enjoyed Privateer, Freelancer, Wing Commander, or (going back a bit further to C64 days) Elite, then you will simply love this game.
Like in all of the above games you're a space-trader. Unlike those games, however, once you've made some progress some of those space-stations you're docking at will be YOUR stations.
The galactic economy is really dynamic (eg if you buy a silicon mine and put it on a high yield asteroid and then sell that silicon to factories that use silicon then the prices of their goods (eg high-tech weapons) will go down).
There's also pretty much the best online modding community that I have personally seen for any game. This is not a game you want to play vanilla.
You start off in the (Star Wars) equivalent of a stripped-down X-wing and end up controlling whole fleets of Destroyers and Carriers. I fart in the general direction of Darth's Death Star. But there's no way I'm going into a Kh'aak sector yet...
My housemate and I have been playing the modded version of this game religiously for a couple of months now. He's perpetually yelling upstairs at me to tell me about the latest developments in his game.
He has a much bigger economic/military space-empire than I do, I must admit. He thinks he's so friggin' good . It sickens me.
I cannot tell you how highly I recommend this game. If you have ever enjoyed the space-trader genre, THIS. IS. THE. SHIT.
- Loredoctor
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The Xenon ships look like squashed bugs. But once you've captured one of their LX class ships you won't care. They're quite pretty when you're looking out of the cockpit . That is one awesome heavy fighter right there.Loremaster wrote:The only thing I don't like are the aliens; their designs are awful.
This map might help with getting you started, Lore:
home.planet.nl/~nijs0240/
If you check it out you'll see that there are some derelict free ships out there that you can claim for your own to get your empire started.
(Fly within 20-40 metres of them, hit Shift-E to eject, target the derelict ship ("t"), hit "i", hit the "claim" option, turn back to the ship you came in, target it, hit shift-E to get back in)
The free Toucan Hauler in Menelaus's Frontier (roughly NNE of where you start) is particularly useful in the early game. Also, you can ignore the storyline and just go do what you want until you're ready. That first mission you're given doesn't start until you go into the sector called "Home of Light" (one jump south of the sector you start in, Argon Prime.)
Do some smuggling. Run some space fuel in Herrons Nebula (one jump north of Argon Prime). And away you go.
Last edited by Trapper on Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Loredoctor
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I don't disagree that the ship designs look great. However, I am talking about the alien physiology.Trapper wrote:The Xenon ships look like squashed bugs. But once you've captured one of their LX class ships you won't care. They're quite pretty when you're looking out of the cockpit . That is one awesome heavy fighter right there.Loremaster wrote:The only thing I don't like are the aliens; their designs are awful.
Waddley wrote:your Highness Sir Dr. Loredoctor, PhD, Esq, the Magnificent, First of his name, Second Cousin of Dragons, White-Gold-Plate Wielder!
- I'm Murrin
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It's a 2.17 GHz with 1.5Gb RAM, but I believe my video card is part of the problem; it's a Radeon 9800 XT, which was the fastest card in the world when it was released but which doesn't support pixel shading. I guess that's the drawback with buying exotics, they may not support a new technology that emerges in their working lifetime.
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
- I'm Murrin
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I'm sure everybody here knows this already, but I'm going to point this out for people who happen upon this thread and like me never realised it until they read it in the manual for Sims 2:
If you're gaming offline you should hit Ctrl-Alt-Del before you start up a game. Hit the "User Name" tab to sort by username. Right-click on every application that is specific to your username except "explorer.exe", "ccApp.exe" and "taskmgr.exe".
Close them all and your game will run better. My apologies for wasting the time of people who know this.
Murrin probably knows how to do this with a lot less mouse-clicks than it takes for me...
If you're gaming offline you should hit Ctrl-Alt-Del before you start up a game. Hit the "User Name" tab to sort by username. Right-click on every application that is specific to your username except "explorer.exe", "ccApp.exe" and "taskmgr.exe".
Close them all and your game will run better. My apologies for wasting the time of people who know this.
Murrin probably knows how to do this with a lot less mouse-clicks than it takes for me...
- I'm Murrin
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Neither am I, but it seems they have nothing to do with helping you play games, and it frees up a helluva lot of RAM. Like I said, I read this in the manual for Sims 2 (or one of the expansion packs).Murrin wrote:Actually, I've never done it, because I'm not sure what they all are.
Also, If you have AVG anti-virus , it occasionally starts up a process called "avgw.exe." That really slows down my PC. If I'm not online I close it and the difference in performance is incredible.
While I'm at it, I'll just say that I find that that is the only problem with AVG anti-virus. Norton's sucks big time, IMHO. The last time I upgraded my PC I switched from AVG to Norton's because that was the only virus protection that the place stocked.
God, Norton's sucks.
IMHO, anyway.
- I'm Murrin
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Isn't AVG available free online? It's on my parent's computer, and it's really irritating--the daily update slows everything down to a crawl on startup.
(I have Avira AntiVir myself, a lot faster.)
A question about modding. Which ones would you recommend people getting?
I notice the map you linked to mentions "XTM" and "XTM Sectors"--what are those?
(I have Avira AntiVir myself, a lot faster.)
A question about modding. Which ones would you recommend people getting?
I notice the map you linked to mentions "XTM" and "XTM Sectors"--what are those?
I use AntiVir (got the premium edition the other day, not sure I see the difference so far except that it scans my email now!) which I think is quite resource friendly. AVG can bog down sometimes, I think it starts a hidden scan of its own under certain circumstances. It's usually okay though and if you don't have time to scan the whole computer you can pick up where you left off later, which is a neat feature.
I tend to use Avast! on computers for people who know nothing about computer though, it does a lot of things automatically and does so with a booming electronic voice, so the user doesn't forget about virus protection!
I think my problem is purely graphical, rather than lack of resources but if the computer is struggling I turn off: Skype, TomTom Home, ituneshelper.exe and wmpnetwk.exe.
The wmpnetwk.exe is a real resource hog, but you should only have it if you've set up another device to stream media wirelessly from your PC (which I do with the Xbox). Thankfully there are no drawbacks to killing the process if you aren't currently streaming.
I tend to use Avast! on computers for people who know nothing about computer though, it does a lot of things automatically and does so with a booming electronic voice, so the user doesn't forget about virus protection!
I think my problem is purely graphical, rather than lack of resources but if the computer is struggling I turn off: Skype, TomTom Home, ituneshelper.exe and wmpnetwk.exe.
The wmpnetwk.exe is a real resource hog, but you should only have it if you've set up another device to stream media wirelessly from your PC (which I do with the Xbox). Thankfully there are no drawbacks to killing the process if you aren't currently streaming.
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
I think that's the same avgw.exe process that I was talking about before? Must admit I'm not really sure what avgw.exe does (from my observations it is most probably the (unasked-for) actual virus-scanning process itself, but I'm not sure). But like you say, you can just turn it off and let it run later.Nav wrote:AVG can bog down sometimes, I think it starts a hidden scan of its own under certain circumstances. It's usually okay though and if you don't have time to scan the whole computer you can pick up where you left off later, which is a neat feature.
I know for a fact that if I'm playing Diablo 2 online and I notice my game going slowly (or, more importantly, my PC itself making lots of noise) that hitting the Windows button, then Ctrl-Alt-Del, almost always reveals that avgw has started up. I close it, even if I'm playing online, and my PC's performance increases dramatically. I suspect that avgcc.exe is the process that detects:
Whereas avgw.exe is the scan, which you can always do later.Incoming!!!
I've never even heard of AntiVir. I'll check it out.
nb the reason I said that Norton's sux is that ever since within about a week of having it installed during a hardware upgrade, I get a message about five minutes after starting my PC, saying that Norton's has encountered an error. This interrupts whatever I am doing, so I always have to wait for five minutes after startup before I start a game. I see this as evidence that the Norton's files have been corrupted. I also suspect this corruption is due to a virus...
And if the goddamn thing can't even protect itself... then **** it. What a waste of $80 when AVG is free...
XTM is the Extended Mod. You get about 80 new sectors,about 50 or so new ships, and a a couple more races (to add to the 5 original ones). These include the Terran race, so you can fly around Earth itself, visit Mars, Hupiter, the Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud, etc. And, while I haven't got the rep with the Terrans to buy them, the Terrans have some amazing ships.murrin wrote:A question about modding. Which ones would you recommend people getting?
I notice the map you linked to mentions "XTM" and "XTM Sectors"--what are those?
I'll try to find the actual links that helped me. But what you want to do is go to:
www.egosoft.com/news/current_en.php
From there you should be able to get yourself copies of the bonus-pack (current version is 3.1.07) and the XTM mod (current version is 0.7.3).
I'm pretty sure that you install the bp first, then the mod. There's also some kerfuffle about .cat files in the folder, (you don't want any numbered over 10.cat, or something like that). I'll look into it again and let you know what I find.
In case I don't respond as quickly as you'd hope there are some really helpful moderators at:
www.thexuniverse.com/
I've never registered there, or asked questions of them myself. But I have lurkingly read through a lot of threads there, and I am really impressed by the effort they put into helping other X3 players solve their problems. These guys rock.
Last edited by Trapper on Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- Loredoctor
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Damn, just updated my video drivers, reinstalled the game and downloaded the 1.0 to 2.5 patch and it seems that the game will no longer run at all on my PC. I just get an "error opening video" message when I try and start it. It must be something to do with the patch, as I could run the game with patch 1.4.
[edit]Scratch that, turns out the video drivers were the problem. It seems to run quite well, now to find that Star Wars TC![/edit]
[edit]Scratch that, turns out the video drivers were the problem. It seems to run quite well, now to find that Star Wars TC![/edit]
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
A. Because proper tea is theft.
- I'm Murrin
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Here's a link to how to install the mod.
www.thexuniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2720
(nb use the 2nd section: "If you don't have X3 installed" as a guide rather than the first one, as the first one makes no mention of the bonus pack)
Murrin, you're right, it is very slow in the beginning. It DOES take a long time.
That's kind of the beauty of it, IMHO. You start off praying that you don't see a pirate or (god forbid) a Kha'ak cluster. Then you eventually can afford to get a better ship. And a better ship. And a better ship. bwahahahaha
Some good trade runs:
And the best run in the game, for which you'll need a jump-drive (available at the Goner Temple in Cloudbase South-West):
Never buy Maja Snails or Massom Powder. They're a complete pain to sell, even if you did get them at a supposedly good price.
And the best freighter to do this with is:
Although getting a Mercury from Argon Prime is a good step towards being able to afford that.
www.thexuniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2720
(nb use the 2nd section: "If you don't have X3 installed" as a guide rather than the first one, as the first one makes no mention of the bonus pack)
Murrin, you're right, it is very slow in the beginning. It DOES take a long time.
That's kind of the beauty of it, IMHO. You start off praying that you don't see a pirate or (god forbid) a Kha'ak cluster. Then you eventually can afford to get a better ship. And a better ship. And a better ship. bwahahahaha
Some good trade runs:
Spoiler
Soja Beans in Paranid space (buy for 14 or so in Empire's Edge, Duke's Domain, Duke's Vision, sell for up to 42 in Empire's Edge, Duke's Domain, Preachers Preacher's Void, Priest's Pity.)
Sunrise Flowers in Teladi space (buy for 5-15+ in Spaceweed Drift, Teladi Gain, sell for up to 35 in Greater Profit, Blue Profit)
Sunrise Flowers in Teladi space (buy for 5-15+ in Spaceweed Drift, Teladi Gain, sell for up to 35 in Greater Profit, Blue Profit)
Spoiler
Rastar Oil in Split space (you can usually buy it for close to the minimum price (252) in Njy's Deception, sell it for up to 715 in the square of sectors that contains Thuruk's Pride, Family Pride, Rhonkar's Fire, Rhonkar's Clouds).
If you can find Majaglit for 9 or 10 in Paranid space you can sell it for up to 62 in Argon Prime (or any other place with a Satellite or Advanced Satellite factory).
If you can find Majaglit for 9 or 10 in Paranid space you can sell it for up to 62 in Argon Prime (or any other place with a Satellite or Advanced Satellite factory).
And the best freighter to do this with is:
Spoiler
Caiman Super-Freighter (but only those from the Shipyard in Family Njy, much bigger cargo hold than the CSF's from the other Split Shipyards.)