X Rebirth relaunches as X Rebirth 2.0

A pretty clear admission that the original release was a bit rubbish.

Six months on from an awful launch, X Rebirth is effectively being relaunched as X Rebirth 2.0. If you already own the game on Steam, it should automatically patch and update to the latest version. This is the official roll-out for the 2.0 beta we reported on last week.

It’s too early to say whether this re-launch will salvage the reputation of the game, but it’s clear that Egosoft has been working hard to get X Rebirth back into reasonable shape. 2.0 adds a substantial list of features to the title, including new game-starts, improved combat, different cockpit configurations and enhanced graphics. Whether it improves on the rather sub-standard performance of the original launch remains to be seen.

Here’s a new trailer, followed by a full list of changes in X Rebirth 2.0. The game is currently half off on Steam, but I’d be very hesitant about taking up that offer until players report back about the functionality of this update.

• 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.
• Improved production logic now skips products where the station has too much stock.
• 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 cases where build icons were displayed without a builder ship in the player squad.
• Fixed missing trade offers for architects with no money.
• Fixed rare case of missing target elements (usually build locations or player owned cap ships).
• Fixed cases where targeting objects using gamepad/joystick controls did not work correctly.
• Fixed trade restrictions menu getting stuck.
• Fixed several causes of occasional crashes.
• Various optimisations resulting in small performance improvements.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Jonathan “MAD Joker” Ziller whose NESA mod was a major source of inspiration for our version of the functionality to allow most tasks to be performed without landing on stations.