Since the release of the 4.00 update and the second expansion, X4: Cradle of Humanity, we have been busy working on the next big update for X4: Foundations. Today we're kicking off the public beta phase for the upcoming 4.10 update, which you too can take part in. For details on how to join the beta and share your feedback, read on. In the 4.10 update we will be adding a couple of major new features, as well as improving some existing ones such as terraforming. In response to your feedback on the 4.00 update, we are fixing, among other things, various issues associated with mining, trading and station management. Another improvement we have made is to our graphics engines asset management in X4: Foundations. This should result in better use of graphics memory, and help with things like asteroids popping in. The full changelog for the first beta version of the 4.10 update can be found at the bottom of this news. Please note that the two key new features mentioned above will not be in the first 4.10 beta release, but are scheduled to be added in later beta versions. Below is a brief summary of what you can look forward to.

Multiverse Team Seasons

With our new Multiverse Team Seasons online element, you and your friends will be able to organise yourselves into a team and send your ships into the Multiverse on missions and expeditions. You and your team will represent a coalition for which you will collect points. Will your coalition win at the end of the season? Exciting prizes await you! In our first episode of the Inside Egosoft Podcast you can learn more about Multiverse Team Seasons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQnWHVpTw8

Custom Game Start

The new Custom Game Start feature will allow players of X4: Foundations to customise certain starting conditions in the game, within limits that are set in order to maintain game balance. It will be possible, for example, to influence factors such as available starting capital, sectors already explored, and relationships with other factions. Episode 2 of the Inside Egosoft Podcast includes more details about the Custom Game Start feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ului0trvo

How do I take part in the Public Beta?

Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 4.10 beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum where they will find both the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum (no registration required) to find the relevant information. We would like to thank all our beta testers for their contributions. We hope you enjoy trying out the beta version of the 4.10 update!

4.10 Public Beta 1 - Changelog

Version: 4.10 Beta 1 (447174) - 2021-06-14 Added two new terraforming projects to directly increase or reduce air pressure. Added Deliver Fleet mission variants that ask for specific ship type but let player choose exact ship and equipment. Added storage information to active terraforming projects. Added ware reservation information to trade menu. Added option to cancel ware reservations at player-owned stations. Added option to assign ships directly to subordinate group in Object List and Property Owned menus. Added status info about insufficient funds to Account node in Logical Station Overview. Added Show Upkeep Missions option to Interact menu. Added HQ account info to Research menu. Added mass crew transfer for group trainees with player HQ. Added Polish localisation Improved Build Station and Deliver Fleet mission rewards to give return on investment instead of flat reward. Improved Deliver Fleet mission variants to ask for varying loadouts. Improved Reflective Cloud Particles and Black Dust terraforming projects by making them repeatable. Improved Emergency Eject feature. Improved behaviour of station-based mining ships working for stations that require multiple resources. Improved behaviour of police ships to sometimes allow player-owned objects to skip inspection if relations with police faction are good enough. Improved station-based traders to prevent them prioritising resources that are produced by their station even when those resources are in shortage. Improved faction logic to prevent construction of excessive numbers of stations. Improved hazardous regions to also work when player is not nearby. Improved AI pathing to fly around hazardous regions where possible. Improved flight pathing for small ships docking at Tokyo. Improved range and force of container magnet for M, L and XL ships. Improved scanning movement of recon ships and resource scouts. Improved balancing of relation penalty for destroying stations. Improved low attention combat involving multiple capital ships. Improved workforce information in Logical Station Overview. Improved menu layouts for Hire and Reassign crew. Improved interface for selecting sector order parameters. Improved manual trade offer settings to allow buy amount that is higher than sell amount. Improved visibility of save-related messages. Improved visibility of station modules in station build menu. Improved visibility of turrets in scan mode. Improved Gravidar update rate. Improved variety of factions seen on dock areas. Improved appearance of Argon characters. Improved lighting on Argon L bridge. Improved asset pre-loading on GPUs with high memory capacity. Improved asset streaming on GPUs with low memory capacity. Changed default setting for Alerts in Map to Low for new players Changed size difference for fleet leader icons from 50% to 25% larger than other objects. Removed resource yield requirement from mining ship upkeep missions. Removed ability to drag order lines away from inter-sector connections as they often happened accidentally. Removed XS dock capacity from Docked Ships info on map. Fixed Terran and Pioneer introduction missions to HQ being stalled by research ship being destroyed. Fixed Hatikvah story sometimes getting stuck if dialogs are interrupted. Fixed player not being able to take control of freighter because it was put into internal storage during Hatikvah story. Fixed data vault mission not being completable with Cradle of Humanity expansion active. Fixed rare situation in which Escape Plan mission cannot be completed. Fixed players getting trapped in Boneyard during Tax Evasion 101 Split story mission. Fixed Rebellious Thralls Split story mission being stuck if player has bad faction relations towards FRF when asked to dock at Slave Trader 3. Fixed Rebellious Thralls Split story mission being stuck at undefined Scan guidance. Fixed objects in Abandoned Asteroid Base in Astronauts, Champions, Truth Seekers mission disappearing while player is absent. Fixed Astronauts, Champions, Truth Seekers mission getting stuck if conversation with Ellipsis Trouble is started before story dialog could finish. Fixed indestructible Sweet Jack ship remaining after Covert Operations storyline is completed. Fixed A Matter of Respect mission getting stuck if Helianthus tries to launch too many drones at once. Fixed Torus switch riddle to reset all switches on leaving sector. Fixed Torus switch riddle not behaving correctly if switches are repaired/damaged too quickly. Fixed Operation Smoke and Mirrors mission not activating properly under certain circumstances. Fixed A Heart for Pirates mission not getting removed from Mission Manager when aborted by player. Fixed advanced terraforming projects not being available if Cradle of Humanity is enabled after terraforming is unlocked. Fixed The Smoking Gun mission not triggering if Amplifier Station is destroyed too quickly. Fixed Defenders of Sol mission getting stuck if Silverback is destroyed before player arrives at rally point. Fixed adding gases increasing air pressure on worlds where that stat is not relevant. Fixed some story missions being abortable. Fixed player-owned subordinates sometimes not trading with other player property due to lack of funds when they don't actually need to pay. Fixed looped trade orders not accounting for discounts when looking for trades with matching price thresholds. Fixed incorrect trade offer price calculation for certain shipyards. Fixed rebuilt build modules remaining inoperable after being wrecked before hack expired. Fixed ships undergoing recycling disappearing when stored resulting in no recycled resources being gained. Fixed modules under construction which are then destroyed not being recycled properly. Fixed build storage of destroyed stations sometimes remaining in longer than intended. Fixed more resources being returned to build storage when recycling station loadout upgrades. Fixed very rare case resulting in broken ship movement when teleporting between ships in same highway. Fixed automatic storage allocation breaking for stations with extremely large number of production modules. Fixed subordinate traders sometimes buying then immediately re-selling same wares at commanding station. Fixed boarding ships not trying to keep their boarding target alive while moving to engage. Fixed turret control of boarding ships sometimes reacquiring target after target hull is below safe threshold. Fixed player-owned mining ships finding resources in undiscovered areas of known sectors. Fixed mining ships not firing on asteroids if any turrets are set to Attack All Enemies. Fixed ships with turrets set to Attack Capital Ships or Attack Fighters not firing unless at least one turret is also set to Attack all Enemies. Fixed turrets set to Missile Defence not working. Fixed ships sometimes not uncovering areas hidden by fog of war. Fixed player-owned ships finding paths through undiscovered sectors. Fixed auto-traders not correctly updating when loading certain older savegames. Fixed some buttons and doors not working after teleporting to station. Fixed autopilot not working if guidance target is unknown and/or inactive gate or accelerator. Fixed autopilot not using travel mode when approaching gate or accelerator. Fixed not being able to call ship from storage if its cover faction is hostile to owner of object at which it is docked. Fixed ships sometimes starting final dock movement many kilometers from dock. Fixed never getting docking permission under certain rare circumstances. Fixed fleeing ships repeatedly docking and undocking. Fixed cases of ships being permanently unable to undock. Fixed explosions of large objects not doing damage. Fixed cases of duplicated HQ research modules. Fixed Terran solar panels costing more resources than intended. Fixed Kha'ak weapon platforms sometimes being unarmed. Fixed Kha'ak outposts no longer appearing over time in certain situations. Fixed pirate ships plundering objects belonging to friendly factions. Fixed attacking capital ships staying outside weapon range. Fixed weapons not shooting under certain circumstances. Fixed being able to collide with hidden bridge geometry. Fixed broken collision detection when flying certain ships near large objects. Fixed map icons of docked ships flickering between two positions under certain circumstances. Fixed position of icons next to trade offers on Map when view is rotated. Fixed object select mode in Map not working in gamepad mode. Fixed certain Xenon stations being invisible in Savage Spur. Fixed cargo display in ware exchange menu for stations owning mining ships. Fixed inaccurate text for manual buy/sell offer amount settings in Logical Station Overview. Fixed several issues with ammo and drone quantities in Logical Station Overview. Fixed future station construction resources not appearing in Station Configuration menu if build is already in progress. Fixed Ware Transfer options when docked at another ship. Fixed Request dock at option not being disabled when already docked at that object. Fixed option to change Default Behaviour not being disabled under certain circumstances. Fixed planned Default Behaviour changes getting stuck when changing to another menu tab. Fixed ships retaining previous Default Behaviour when being set to Repeat Orders. Fixed station-wide loadout level resetting every time Station Build menu is closed. Fixed problems with Personnel Management menu if ships get destroyed. Fixed Sell Ships menu not being displayed or not being scrollable under certain circumstances. Fixed loadout presets being available for ships with installed equipment mods Fixed inconsistency between player ship and other player-owned objects regarding whether default orders of subordinates can be changed. Fixed medium ships incorrectly showing missile turret compatibility in menus. Fixed missing title text in Interact menu under certain circumstances. Fixed missing interactions in Crew Info tab for player employees on stations. Fixed mismatched construction budget estimates in several locations. Fixed traders adding logbook entries describing purchase after having sold ware. Fixed Terraforming Expenses stat being too high by factor of 100. Fixed Terraforming projects showing invalid resources if more was delivered than needed. Fixed overlapping text in Ship Configuration menu. Fixed input mapping conflict not being detected when assigning axis. Fixed various localisation issues. Fixed Terraforming menu crash. Fixed Paranid head clipping through cockpit roof in Cerberus. Fixed NPCs walking over furniture in Faction Representative office and Secret Service Bureau. Fixed cockpit crew sometimes not interacting with terminals. Fixed visiting NPCs behaving as though they are local crew. Fixed Split and Terran NPCs neglecting their air marshalling duties. Fixed ship crew from player-owned shipyards being random races instead of workforce races. Fixed Yaki appearing on dock areas where they shouldn't. Fixed jump effect sometimes not coinciding with destination position on sector transition. Fixed rare cases where Venture Dock would still appear as if venture was running after ship returned. Fixed scaling problems in station editor when copying sequences repeatedly. Fixed looped animations stuttering at very large time values. Fixed brief incorrect image display in several menus. Fixed weapon effects being visible in upgrade menu. Fixed incorrect grouping of turrets on Advanced Electronics production module. Fixed floating turrets on small Terran Liquid Storage module. Fixed turrets being rotated wrongly on Argon Defence Disk. Fixed visual glitch in Microchip production module. Fixed build modules being offset when wrecked. Fixed turrets being located on top of player logo on Nomad. Fixed turrets on Tokyo clipping inside ship hull. Fixed floating geometry in Manorina gas miner ship. Fixed misaligned Cerberus spacesuit dock. Fixed wrong texture on Okinawa bridge window. Fixed missing holo-instruments on Argon XL bridge. Fixed mirrored decals in Argon L bridge. Fixed rotating flack bullets. Fixed pink faces on male Argon NPCs. Fixed several causes of crashes.