X3 Universe?

[CrisGer]

I just saw there was a "room" here for X3. I bought X3 Reunion two years ago and checked it out but put it away. I dont have Terran Conflict yet. I am open to expanidng ..as i love space sims, have done Homeworld which was nice but a but unreal, Freespace 1 and 2 which were also nice but a but too much zippy combat for my skill set, Freelancer which i got tired of the weird debris that was all over the universe, and a bit too unrealistic for the space ...so far, the one game that i really felt like i WAS in space was Tacyhon and they never did a sequel as had been hoped..and the ships you can control never got up to the largest. Battlecruiser Gold had a lot of optoins but the graphics were way tooo old to really enjoy. I have all the star wars space sims and have studied them and the mods but they dont really have that much depth to them after the Star Wars glow fades. Some are better than others, and the graphcis got pretty good, but I enjoy a larger universe.

I am open to returning to the X3 universe, just wanted to see if you guys think my system will run it worth the investment of time and effort..

I have an AMD 3400 2.6 ghz with 3 GB of RAM and an FX7600GT vid card.
It is a healthy machine and runs all the FS series up to X with lots of stuff on it, though NOT the highest settings. I do love space and would love to have a chance to explore and enjoy a really BIG universe. any thougts?

[Craig Taylor]

Hi CrisGer, and welcome!

Your system isn't too far off mine. I'm running a 4-yr old Dell 4600 3.0 GHz, but same RAM and a 7800GS vid card with 256MB. I'm running X3TC at medium graphics settings and only get an occasional stutter. I was running at high but it would turn into a slideshow in combat situations. Medium graphics aren't as pretty, but it's still a decent picture.

I'm having a ball with this. I didn't think I'd like a space sim, but this one is a lot of fun.

[gigabyte]

CrisGer, for Reunion you should have no problems you can probably even get the graphics pretty much maxed and have resonable frame rates, I find I am fine in Reunion but I have to scale the settings back for Terran Conflict especially for busy sessions where I am in large battles. BTW I am running a 2.1 Ghz Dual Core with 8 GB of Ram and Win7/64 but I had about the same performance with Vista 32 before I upgraded teh OS

[Lionheart]

Hey CrisGer,

I have a 2.8 Ghrz Dual Core duo with 4 Gigs DDR and running XP32bit and I run X3TC fine with shaders down one notch. I can run it full max settings but in battles, and in some sectors (2), I get slowed frame rates.


Bill

[CrisGer]

Thanks guys, well i think i will load up X3 Reunion agian and order X3TC and see how it goes. I am glad there are two in the series... will be fun to start on a new series (new for me) for the winter. thanks for the input on systems.

[GT182]

Cris, I'm running a 5 year old "built by me" computer. P4 3.2Gb CPU, XFX6800XT 512mb DDR2 graphics card, 2GB DDR2 memory, XP 32bit, and X3TC and Reunion set at stock setting. This is all on my second 200Gb SATA HDD. You should do just fine with your machine. Depending on the game situation I get an occasional stutter, but nothing serious.

[gigabyte]

Thanks guys, well i think i will load up X3 Reunion agian and order X3TC and see how it goes. I am glad there are two in the series... will be fun to start on a new series (new for me) for the winter. thanks for the input on systems.

CrisGer, see if you can find X3 Gold, it is a compilation of both Reunion and Terran Conflict and includes all of the updates which makes the install much simpler, and they have removed the DRM that was such a problem in Reunion ver 2.0. The cost is actually cheaper than the normal price of TC so it is the best way to go.

[CrisGer]

wow, sounds like a good deal. I will look for that, much appreciated.

[GT182]

Cris, check at a WalMart if you can, as that's the only place I've seen the X3 Gold pack. None of the GameStops I've been in has it... then again they don't have much of anything for PC games.

[CrisGer]

We have no Wallys World in our tiny hamlet, we just got our third stop light recently

but, amazon, the Great River of stuff did ...it just shipped to me from wherever and will help solace my long winter days, now that the snow has come at last and with a vengance

thanks

[Lionheart]

We have no Wallys World in our tiny hamlet, we just got our third stop light recently

but, amazon, the Great River of stuff did ...it just shipped to me from wherever and will help solace my long winter days, now that the snow has come at last and with a vengance

thanks

Glad you found it CrisGer.

Should be good fun during the slow winter days.

I cant imagine a world without 'Land of Wally'... Almost a scary thought. I guess I am a dependent when it comes to that store... arrgh.



Bill


Bill

[GT182]

Glad you found it CrisGer.

Should be good fun during the slow winter days.

I cant imagine a world without 'Land of Wally'... Almost a scary thought. I guess I am a dependent when it comes to that store... arrgh.


Bill

Same here, glad you found it Cris. But know this.... life as you know it will now be changed forever. Welcome to the X3 Zone. LOL

Bill, it seems the 'Land of Wally' is the only store where we can continue to buy PC games as they come out. So yes, that truely makes us dependent.

[CrisGer]

I have looked for a space sim that has both beautiful graphcis, good universe details..and good and believeable ships and both realstic and doable flight and combat. Some have some of these, but none so far have had them all, and I am hopeful. I peeked at Reunion two years ago, but did not have a joystick then, nor some of the experience i have gained learning the Flight Sim Series and some other work i have done since. So this is exciting.

[Lionheart]

I have looked for a space sim that has both beautiful graphcis, good universe details..and good and believeable ships and both realstic and doable flight and combat. Some have some of these, but none so far have had them all, and I am hopeful. I peeked at Reunion two years ago, but did not have a joystick then, nor some of the experience i have gained learning the Flight Sim Series and some other work i have done since. So this is exciting.

I have Reunion for my iMac 'Mac mode' and I think X3TC is a bit ahead with nicer graphics and ships and menu system, etc. Its really refined over Reunion.

Thats just my humble opinion. People like Mike still love Reunion and probably play in it more then TC.


Bill

[GT182]

I've been playing both Bill. The menu system is different between the two and takes some getting used to when switching between them. Graphics when played on my puter seem to be pretty close for both IMHO. But then gain I'm running that old 6800XT APG card. I sure wish I could run that new PCIx 8800GT with 1Mb of memory. But GTO engine comes first over a new computer build.

[Lionheart]

I've been playing both Bill. The menu system is different between the two and takes some getting used to when switching between them. Graphics when played on my puter seem to be pretty close for both IMHO. But then gain I'm running that old 6800XT APG card. I sure wish I could run that new PCIx 8800GT with 1Mb of memory. But GTO engine comes first over a new computer build.

Gary,

What year is your GTO?

Do you know who designed the GTO? He made one for himself to drag up and down a famous road in Detroit, I think near Highlands..

[gigabyte]

I have looked for a space sim that has both beautiful graphcis, good universe details..and good and believeable ships and both realstic and doable flight and combat. Some have some of these, but none so far have had them all, and I am hopeful. I peeked at Reunion two years ago, but did not have a joystick then, nor some of the experience i have gained learning the Flight Sim Series and some other work i have done since. So this is exciting.

CrisGer, I have played most of the Space sims released since 1991 and I have to say X3 is the the best of breed so far. I started with an Atari 600 XL and a very crude 1st person space game that got me hooked (forget the name now). I did fall totally in love with the Wing Commander series and still reload WC 3 & 4 with the enhanced grahic mods from time to time, the first Space sim that offered real "Open" play for me was Privateer and Privateer II the Darkening and I still have those, as well as Freespace, Starshatter, Star Lancer, Freelancer, Universal Soldier, and I forget how many others, the X series has taken the best of them all and come up with one hell of a game IMHO.

I am not much for flying anything without a joystick but X3 works really well with a mouse so that is an option.

I am sure if you like variety and wide open play you are going to love this game, and it may be all consuming for some time to come...

[randcbuc]

Steam has X3: Gold on sale for $14.99.

[gigabyte]

Steam has X3: Gold on sale for $14.99.

That is a good buy, just be sure you have a good connection the download will be somewhere near 8 gig...

[CrisGer]

Thanks for that shairng Gigabyte, yep i have most of those older space sims you mention also, but never did find the open universe you mention, so hopefully this is it thanks a lot for the encouragemnt, will look forward to first launch.