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Egosoft have just released the next major expansion for X4: Foundations named X4: Kingdom End, plus a major free upgrade is also out now that brings full Steam Deck Verified support.

While the game had been given a Steam Deck Verified rating back in March, this was specifically for the Beta of the 6.00 update that only launched today. Confusing really, to have a public store page rating for something people would have to know about and manually opt into, a part of Deck Verified I hope Valve make clearer in future.

Enjoy a long-awaited reunion with the Boron in X4: Kingdom End, the fourth expansion for X4: Foundations, which completes the collection of the main factions in the X Universe. Discover the unique Boron ships, and fly them through distinctive systems, on a journey of discovery. Visit fascinating places, uncover old secrets and make new acquaintances. Embark on an immersive new chapter of X4!

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There's absolutely loads new in the game update including:

  • New Feature: Updated graphics engine, with Parallax Occlusion Mapping, Reflection Probes, enhanced lighting, improved shadows, and more.
  • New Feature: Jolt Physics engine.
  • New Feature: Live Stream camera mode.
  • New Feature: Position Defence for carrier-led fleets.
  • New Feature: New Construction Vessel designs for Paranid, Teladi, Split and Terran factions.
  • Added new bombardment assignment for subordinates.
  • Added command to order ships to attack surface elements on designated targets.
  • Added Salvage at Position and Deliver Salvage commands for use with repeat orders.
  • Added self-destruct command for player-owned satellites, resource probes, nav beacons, lasertowers and mines.
  • Added detection and penalty for theft from station build storage.
  • Added more gamestart information, indicating whether they are Tutorial, Guided, Assisted or Sandbox, and adjusted order.
  • Added option to edit Buccaneer relations in Custom Gamestart Editor under certain circumstances.
  • Added Custom Gamestart Editor story states for Tides of Avarice stories.
  • Added player HQ to Station Design Simulator.
  • Added Supervised Mining missions.

The list of changes goes on and on and on which you can read in full here.

You can buy X4 on GOG, Humble Store and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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22 comments
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beko Apr 12, 2023
that game. Just finished downloading my copy (after one failed attempt, thanks GoG!)


Also: Looking for Linux players interested in trying a modification I wrote specificity for Linux for stuff like companion apps. _No_ Proton players please. This is indeed platform depending.


Last edited by beko on 12 April 2023 at 6:32 pm UTC
beko Apr 12, 2023
Huh… the shipped openal.so failed to play nice with PipeWire. Chances are it also doesn't work on PulseAudio. It only offers default and Jack. I assume that's Alsa and Jack.

I removed `game/libs/libopenal.so.1` and now it picks up the system's lib and all is good:

ldd X4
[...]
libopenal.so.1 => /lib64/libopenal.so.1 (0x00007fe66d25c000)
[...]
Jajcus Apr 12, 2023
Huh… the shipped openal.so failed to play nice with PipeWire. Chances are it also doesn't work on PulseAudio. It only offers default and Jack. I assume that's Alsa and Jack.

For me editing /etc/openal/alsoft.conf and setting drivers=pulse there is enough to make it behave properly. Without it it would use Jack interface, which works, but does not obey the system default output settings, which is annoying.
beko Apr 12, 2023
Perfect. I just figured that out too: https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=414524&p=5172395#p5172395

My default config is empty and the shipped lib seems to default to alsa. Setting this (or ALSOFT_DRIVERS=pulse) seems to do the trick
tgurr Apr 12, 2023
Looks like they ship with openal 1.21.1 which doesn't yet support pipewire (but pulse - trough pipewire of course).
Recent versions also "moved" system-wide settings /etc/openal/alsoft.conf to /etc/xdg/alsoft.conf (https://github.com/kcat/openal-soft/commit/a2d34e4c2a37931fda58d0a632140da3e2edd5b0) though the former is still checked for and works therefore as well.

It can also contain a priority list:
[general]
drivers=pipewire,pulse,alsa,oss



Last edited by tgurr on 12 April 2023 at 8:32 pm UTC
Grogan Apr 13, 2023
Well, I'm not a fan of sims like this, but I'm going to give it a whirl just because it's on GoG and it's got a Linux native port. I love space stuff, even if I just mess about and fly some ships it'll be cool

P.S. Hah... for once, Linux users get a better experience. GoG is giving me the whole thing in a 17.5 Gb archive installer (one of those .sh files with shell script grafted on) instead of making me download the .exe and all the .bin files.

The DLC are SEPARATE offline installers, UNLIKE the Windows DLC, which are 1 Mb .exe files that download the content, too :-)


Last edited by Grogan on 13 April 2023 at 4:56 am UTC
Grogan Apr 13, 2023
That's a real treat, a native Vulkan game that I can just install and run. (the installer is GoG's gtk+ graphical installer actually... doesn't like my styling, but it's navigable and functional)

It works out of the box, on my custom "from scratch" system. (pure 64 bit, so no steam or anything and no wine... it's a more serious system). Other than running some tests/benchmarks to see it work, this is the first actual Vulkan thing I have on this system.

The Ultra preset is fine, but I have to use cheaper antialiasing. MSAA 2x is OK, the game doesn't need much.

Pure Alsa audio here, so no problems with OpenAL for me

Now I just have to figure out how not to suck at flying a ship.


Last edited by Grogan on 13 April 2023 at 6:52 am UTC
TheSHEEEP Apr 13, 2023
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Now I just have to figure out how not to suck at flying a ship.
For me, I was completely unable to fly with keyboard + mouse (in any flight game, btw, I just can't).
But even a controller (like XBoxOne controller) makes it very comfortable for me.
Or a hotas for a bit more immersion, but that's IMO optional.

Since X4 is a lot more than just the "fly spaceship" part, controller + keyboard might be the best variant to me, as you'll need a lot of keys to do all the things you can do in the game - more keys than any controller and most hotas have.
beko Apr 13, 2023
The flying part is kinda optional and only really required at the beginning. It's a sandbox game where it happens that you can also fly every ship

…and I'm totally bonkers on this anyway.


(What's with the Accept & Show? Ain't setting no freakin cookies)

In motion: https://tube.tchncs.de/w/gAmZsfTun1Ppp4RS8Sa6FM


Last edited by beko on 13 April 2023 at 8:42 am UTC
Grogan Apr 13, 2023
For me, I was completely unable to fly with keyboard + mouse (in any flight game, btw, I just can't).
But even a controller (like XBoxOne controller) makes it very comfortable for me.
Or a hotas for a bit more immersion, but that's IMO optional.

Since X4 is a lot more than just the "fly spaceship" part, controller + keyboard might be the best variant to me, as you'll need a lot of keys to do all the things you can do in the game - more keys than any controller and most hotas have.

I was having trouble with the tutorial with keyboard and mouse, so I tried it with my XBox 360 controller and it was pretty good. I haven't yet gotten into much besides basic control of the ship, but yes already I found myself using both.

Now that you mention it, I also have a flight stick sitting in the corner, collecting dust. It probably works, it's an older logitech. I can't even remember why I bought it or when or if I ever used it.
pete910 Apr 13, 2023
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that game. Just finished downloading my copy (after one failed attempt, thanks GoG

Why I bought it on steam

Got fed up with GOG due to the update BS for a game.

Also: Looking for Linux players interested in trying a modification I wrote specificity for Linux for stuff like companion apps. _No_ Proton players please. This is indeed platform depending.

I'll help !
Valck Apr 13, 2023
(What's with the Accept & Show? Ain't setting no freakin cookies)
This is likely not about you setting cookies, but being an external site and requiring the user's consent to load; "Accept & load ONLY THIS instance of an external site / Accept & load ALL instances of external sites during this session / Direct link to external site" ;)

Since I don't have an account on GoogleTube, let me use this opportunity to say 'thank you' for your excellent videos.
beko Apr 13, 2023
This is likely not about you setting cookies, but being an external site
I'm also that external site and I ain't setting no stinky cookie 🙃

Thanks for your praise :) That really motivates me to do such stuff.
grumpytoad Apr 13, 2023
Haven't played the DLC, but liking the update - engine feels more snappy, load times are a thankfully down to a few seconds. Curious to see how the controls work on the 'deck since there's a fair number of drop-down menus to navigate
Valck Apr 14, 2023
This is likely not about you setting cookies, but being an external site
I'm also that external site and I ain't setting no stinky cookie
But that's the point – you're linking to external media (yours or otherwise), and Liam tries to protect the privacy of his users (including you, of course ;) ) by requiring their consent so they can't be tracked automatically via referer or other means.
It doesn't matter whether your site does or doesn't set cookies, all are treated equally just in case. But Liam asks whether you want to include only this one media file in place on this one page on GoL, or "any and all and don't ask again in the future (for as long as the GoL cookie's lifetime)".

At least that's how I understand this "Accept/…/…" prompt, and I really appreciate not automatically being submitted to the usual external tracking and data collection via included media, regardless of whether any specific site would actually track or not.
denyasis Apr 14, 2023
Now that you mention it, I also have a flight stick sitting in the corner, collecting dust. It probably works, it's an older logitech. I can't even remember why I bought it or when or if I ever used it.

Prolly the same one I have: the Extreme Pro 3D (something like that). Funny for me, the game wouldn't detect it native, but did just fine using proton.

I'm partial to using that old stick, mostly cause it's what I played X2 on when it came out, lol.
Boldos Apr 14, 2023
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Oh.
I'm really looking forward to the weekend...
Grogan Apr 16, 2023
Prolly the same one I have: the Extreme Pro 3D (something like that). Funny for me, the game wouldn't detect it native, but did just fine using proton.

I'm partial to using that old stick, mostly cause it's what I played X2 on when it came out, lol.

I didn't want to touch it until I had vacuum with dust brush in hand (couldn't even see the logo on it), but I got it out and indeed, that's what it is, "Extreme 3D Pro". I don't remember if I ever plugged that in on Linux. I'll have to check my kernel config.

I now remember why I bought it, years ago I wanted to try a racing game "Burnout Paradise" with a joystick (I used to use them in the 90's) and it didn't work out so well, a game pad type like XBox 360 was better.

But this is an actual flight game.

All I need is joydev for USB sticks, any other logitech joystick drivers are for game port.
[ 3757.813609] usb 6-1: new low-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[ 3758.415727] usb 6-1: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=c215, bcdDevice= 2.04
[ 3758.415735] usb 6-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 3758.415738] usb 6-1: Product: Logitech Extreme 3D
[ 3758.415741] usb 6-1: Manufacturer: Logitech
[ 3758.449979] input: Logitech Logitech Extreme 3D as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb6/6-1/6-1:1.0/0003:046D:C215.0003/input/input20
[ 3758.450350] hid-generic 0003:046D:C215.0003: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [Logitech Logitech Extreme 3D] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1/input0


P.P.S.

IS working (button presses and axes registering in test apps) but not recognized in this game and there's no compatible profile defined. I can't get a peep out of it in game.


Last edited by Grogan on 16 April 2023 at 4:32 pm UTC
beko Apr 16, 2023
Is that with our without Steam?

…cuz Steam tends to map everything to a virtual gamepad hiding the real thing and that may not work with X4.
Grogan Apr 16, 2023
No SteamInput for me here, I have the GoG installer.

I added a udev rule and got further (buttons now work in game and can be programmed, but still no axes for steering).

I forgot that firefox uses dbus for this shit, so joystick test sites work. I needed rules to access the device nodes for native games like this.

KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c215", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", MODE="0666"

But that still doesn't help me as the steering axes don't work.
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