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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRwj_Vu80m0
X Rebirth had a very bad start, but it seems to be getting better with each major patch. The major news is that the first Linux version has been released.

You have three days to download it for free on Steam, and see if it is worth it.

To get the alpha
Right click on the game, go to properties, select the beta tab, and select linux from the dropdown box.

It’s worth taking a look at the official forum post here, as there is a list of missing features and known issues.

Note: It’s 64bit only, and will stay that way.

It only officially supports the proprietary Nvidia and AMD drivers, and a list of known issues are copied below:
QuoteKnown issues and missing features:
Missing joystick/controller support
Mouse wheel doesn't work
Blurry text
Stations/ships being built look finished instantly (it's a graphical issue)
Missing: glow, blur, ssao
No Anti-Aliasing, FXAA makes everything darker
Only high quality non-legacy shaders implemented
Radar objects are white
No muffling for outside sounds
Some audio differences in loudness / pitch / effects
Transparency order issues for ice asteroids on amd-catalyst driver
Performance issues in asteroid fields
Performance issues with station scan mode
Performance issues after alt+tab on amd-catalyst driver
Long game launch time (window/screen may be black during this so please give it a few minutes)


About the game (Official)
In the distant future, the X universe faces a period of profound and irrevocable change. While the universe stumbles towards an uncertain future, countless adventures await as new enemies rise in search of power. Enter a young adventurer and his unlikely female ally traveling in an old, battered ship with a glorious past - two people alone against the galaxy, playing a key part in the events to come. The fate of the universe rests in the hands of the player...

X Rebirth represents a spectacular new beginning for the X series, offering loyal fans and newcomers alike a vast, vivid and extremely detailed universe to explore throughout the game. Varied gameplay elements such as action-packed space combat, detailed trading mechanics and high-speed space exploration with fast travel allow players to experience a truly unique space saga that will keep them hooked for dozens of hours. X Rebirth features a whole new user experience - it is easier than ever to start with, and remains as deep as fans expect it.

My thoughts
It loaded up fine, and was very quick to load. So, I don’t seem to get their logged issue of a black screen for awhile. It’s not often you get a better experience than you were expecting!

In my brief testing the graphics seemed pretty decent, apart from character models looking a bit too plain. Mouths also didn’t seem to match up exactly to what they were saying at first, but it levelled out later on.

Performance wise, it seems pretty solid! Running it on Ultra on the 970 seems to give me over 100FPS while in the cockpit!

There is stuttering when it switches to little cutscenes, but it soon clears up.

When you have an Encyclopaedia entry telling you about something, like docking at the first station, the subtitles don't continue past the first entry. Not a major issue unless you're hard of hearing, so if you are, you may want to skip that part, or wait for the game to be more polished.

The first station gives me between 80-100+ FPS, so it's smooth as silk as well. I didn't even know you could actually walk around areas like this, so it's pretty awesome to see the inside of stations. I was expecting an Eve Online like approach of mainly having a UI to interact with things, and not an FPS mode.

The pitching problems with voices is noticeable, and they are rather quiet. It's on their list of known issues though, so we imagine it will be patched up eventually.

It did eventually crash when alt+tabbed, but stability will be an issue for such an early alpha on Linux.

I'm liking what I see even with the noticeable issues, and think it could be a great game once it is polished up.

Check out X Rebirth on Steam now. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Simulation, Steam
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39 comments
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Feist Mar 13, 2015
OK, thanks again! I just noticed that "X3:Goldbox" (Albion Prelude, Reunion, Terran Conflict) was only 8,49€, while "Rebirth" is 13,59€. So I think I'll go for those 2 after all.
dubigrasu Mar 13, 2015
I'm not into this kinda of games (my loss I suppose) so I just played just a couple of minutes.
It works pretty good (80 - 100 FPS when not recording) but it also shows graphical corruptions (weird colors, missing textures etc) if you start altering the graphical textures while you're playing.
View video on youtube.com
gilboa Mar 13, 2015
Having previously X2 (LGP), X3:R (LGP), X3TC (Steam/Egosoft) and X3AP (Steam/Egosoft) and spent God knows how many hours playing and customizing this sandbox game (I started my last X3AP games ~year ago, and I'm at ~20 days game time), buying X:R the day it was released for Linux was a no-brainier. (Even though the reviews seem to suggest X:R is not as good as X3:*)
Hopefully the Linux port quality will be as good as X3:TC and X3:AP, which worked out the box, joystick controller and all, on my nVidia based workstation(s).
gilboa Mar 13, 2015
Quoting: edqeThey have story modes and the X universe has a lore so in that sense it would makes sense to play them in chronological order. There are some novels/books published as well and if I remember right a new one is coming.
In the other hand lots of players play them in a sandbox mode so it story/lore really doesn't matter. If you are interested in sandbox mode I would buy X3 Albion Prelude and X Rebirth. X3 and X Rebirth are somewhat different so it is really hard to say which one you should buy if you are going to get only one of them.

In my view, the story line of each of the game X3, X3:R/TC/AP is less interesting than the game itself. While I do take the time to finish the built in mission (and some, like X:R are actually quite good), the real game starts once you start playing the game in sandbox, read: customizing the game (E.g. Xtended on X3:R, XRM on X3:TC/AP), building a fleet, building stations (or later on, huge complexes), and once your strong enough, taking over the galaxy :)

- Gilboa
Feist Mar 13, 2015
Just started playing "X: Reunion", not very happy about it this far.

The start of the game simply dumps you in the seat of spaceship that seems to have a ton of options and various functions to become accustomed with. No introduction to the game-universe or the back-story. No tutorial at all for navigation, flight, combat, the cockpit viewscreen and other important aspects. The help-menu did seem to contain some technical instructions though, now all I have to discover is how to increase the text-size about 4 times, so I'll actually be able to read it.

Oh well, maybe there's a pdf-manual included (been a long time since I felt I had to read one of those, guess I have become a bit spoiled) ;-)

EDIT: Yup, there certainly was one. I suppose I'll spend half an hour or so with that, before I try the game for real.
edqe Mar 13, 2015
Quoting: gilboaIn my view, the story line of each of the game X3, X3:R/TC/AP is less interesting than the game itself. While I do take the time to finish the built in mission (and some, like X:R are actually quite good), the real game starts once you start playing the game in sandbox, read: customizing the game (E.g. Xtended on X3:R, XRM on X3:TC/AP), building a fleet, building stations (or later on, huge complexes), and once your strong enough, taking over the galaxy :)

- Gilboa
Yeah, totally agree. I think that sandbox is actually "the real X game" but the story helps you understand why things are as they are - if you are interested. I wouldn't mind if they start to push lore even further and in to game. Campaign are more or less just a tutorial to learn game mechanism. I have played about 250h X Rebirth so far and I have not even started the campaign yet. I'm planning to start it now while Alpha/Beta testing Linux version.
edqe Mar 13, 2015
Quoting: FeistJust started playing "X: Reunion", not very happy about it this far.

The start of the game simply dumps you in the seat of spaceship that seems to have a ton of options and various functions to become accustomed with.
Well, sounds like X game to me! ;)

Sorry to hear you had a bit rocky start. The game has a bit steep learning curve but it is not that hard when you learn the basics.
Linas Mar 13, 2015
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Unfortunately I am just getting a segfault:

XRebirth[18395]: segfault at 7f85d875bbb0 ip 0000000000f15de3 sp 00007fff39d65f48 error 6 in XRebirth[400000+160d000]

Nothing really useful in the backtrace either. Any ideas?

GL_VERSION: 4.4.0 NVIDIA 343.36
GL_VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER: Quadro K1100M/PCIe/SSE2
gilboa Mar 14, 2015
Quoting: edqeYeah, totally agree. I think that sandbox is actually "the real X game" but the story helps you understand why things are as they are - if you are interested. I wouldn't mind if they start to push lore even further and in to game. Campaign are more or less just a tutorial to learn game mechanism. I have played about 250h X Rebirth so far and I have not even started the campaign yet. I'm planning to start it now while Alpha/Beta testing Linux version.

I fully agree.
BTW, how's X:R compared to X3*? The initial reviews were very underwhelming, especially ones that were made by avid X2/X3 followers. Do you play the stock version or did you mod the game?

- Gilboa
edqe Mar 15, 2015
Quoting: gilboaBTW, how's X:R compared to X3*? The initial reviews were very underwhelming, especially ones that were made by avid X2/X3 followers. Do you play the stock version or did you mod the game?

- Gilboa
I cannot say which one is better X Rebirth or X3 games because they are quite different. I have been playing X Rebirth much more recently and I'm happy about some design choices they have made; getting rid of SETA for example. Of course there is still problems but I think it is already very good game and excellent base for upcoming X titles.

For some reason instead of keep playing X3 many "X3 fans" are using their time bashing X Rebirth instead. It was well known that "next X title" was not going to be X4 as the name "X Rebirth" indicates it as well.

X Rebirth had very rocky start because of numerous of technical issues; stability problems, broken campaign, etc. So the question arise why Egosoft published the game in that condition. Although earlier X games has not been in stellar condition on release date either :). Luckily Egosoft has great and long lasting support for their games.

I play X Rebirth without mods and X3 series with mods.
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