X Rebirth opt-in beta build adds new gamestarts, ship commands, more

Through this beta gate, there could be an amazing new version of X Rebirth.

A newly released opt-in beta build of X Rebirth adds a number of features that could make this poorly received space sim worth revisiting. Egosoft didn’t release X Rebirth in a particularly stable or complete state, but since then they’ve been working to salvage something from the game.

The latest beta build (which will eventually be released as an official patch) hopes to go some way towards doing that by adding three new starting points to the game (with different cockpit configurations,) further rebalancing combat and introducing new commands for your ship. Quite how different these game starts are isn’t clear, but the changes sound positive overall.

If you want to opt-in to this beta version, all you have to do is right-click on X Rebirth in your Steam library (and have it installed, of course,) select “properties,” finding the betas tab and entering the password “IBackedUpMySaves.” You should heed the password’s advice, too.

Here’s what the latest beta version includes:

• New Feature: Three new gamestarts, each with a new cockpit configuration.
• New Feature: Rebalanced combat with three difficulty settings.
• New Feature: Additional commands for your ships.
• New Feature: Autopilot can fly your ship while you are busy.
• New Feature: All new highway flight model.
• New Feature: Most tasks can now be performed without landing on stations.
• New Feature: Full screen HUD detail monitor option.
• New Feature: Clicks on event monitor now open relevant menus.
• New Feature: Map/radar on event monitor.
• New Feature: New ships in Omicron Lyrae.
• New Feature: Huge new Xenon ship.
• New Feature: Four new missile types.
• New Feature: Improved graphics for an even more beautiful universe.
• New Feature: New graphics options and presets.
• New Feature: New start menu scene.
• New Feature: New Steam achievements.
• Added support for up to 8 input devices (now even your pet octopus can get the most from the game).
• Added option to buy replacement player ship cockpit layout from certain traders.
• Added shield damage for collisions.
• Improved responsiveness of main menu and dialogs.
• Improved event monitor with more space for important information.
• Improved positioning of interface elements in first person mode.
• Fixed gamepad mode switching on when axis has non-zero value while at rest.
• Fixed problem with wrecked state of ship/station surface elements not always being loaded from savegames correctly.
• Fixed collectable objects not showing a target element.
• Fixed gates not showing a target element.
• Fixed info points not being displayed at drone launch pads.
• Fixed cases where clicking on larger targets didn’t work.
• Fixed rare instance of mission objective bar being stuck on screen.
• Fixed text field not being reset when closing and reopening trade menu.
• Fixed problems with overlapping/truncated text on first person event monitor.
• Fixed cases resulting in jumping target elements.
• Fixed incorrect text in certain conversations.
• Fixed icon size in licence encyclopedia entry.
• Fixed distance sorting in trade menu.
• Fixed capital ships becoming invisible when boosting while player is close.
• Fixed several other causes of occasional crashes.
• Various optimisations resulting in small performance improvements.