X3: Terran Conflict

X
X: Beyond the Frontier	1999
X-Tension	2000
X2: The Threat	2003
X3: Reunion	2005
X3: Terran Conflict	2008
X Rebirth	2013
X Rebirth VR Edition	2017
X4: Foundations	2018

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) release of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

X3: Terran Conflict is a singleplayer first-person vehicle simulator and business game in the X series.

General information

Official Forums

Official Wiki

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

The developer offers an official DRM-free executable for versions using Steam DRM.

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		TAGES DRM (removed in Patch 2.5).^[1] The Aldrin Missions release uses TAGES Solidshield DRM. Gold Edition is DRM-free. Albion Prelude requires Steam.
GamersGate		Terran War Package also available.

GOG.com		Includes Albion Prelude and Farnham's Legacy, but doesn't include the Bonus Packages.
Steam
Mac App Store (unavailable)
Mac App Store (unavailable)		X3: Albion Prelude. Sold as a standalone app.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Albion Prelude	Also received a boxed standalone release.
Albion Prelude Bonus Package	Free. Can be downloaded either through Steam or from here.
Terran Conflict Bonus Package	Free. Can be downloaded either through Steam or from here.
Farnham's Legacy	Requires Albion Prelude.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Skip Intro^{[citation needed]}
Add `/skipintro` to launch options to disable the intro video. The option `/noabout` skips the launcher and starts the game directly.

Patches

Patches are available.

Remove menu background

Remove menu background^{[citation needed]}
To improve loading times, this mod replaces the default menu background with a simple star field.

Official DRM-free executable

The developer offers an official "nosteam" (DRM-free) executable here.

Necessary for mods as the Steam executable tries to connect to nonexistent IP addresses, sometimes leading to crashes.

Game data

Launcher general settings.

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\EGOSOFT\X3TC %USERPROFILE%\Documents\EgoSoft\X3TC\profiles\ %USERPROFILE%\Documents\EgoSoft\X3AP\profiles\
macOS (OS X)
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/EgoSoft/X3TC/config.yaml $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/EgoSoft/X3AP/config.yaml $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/EgoSoft/X3FL/config.yaml

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\EgoSoft\X3TC\save\ %USERPROFILE%\Documents\EgoSoft\X3AP\save\
macOS (OS X)
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Egosoft/X3TC/save/ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/EgoSoft/X3AP/save/ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/EgoSoft/X3FL/save/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents* folder in OneDrive on all computers.*
Steam Cloud		^[2]

Video

Launcher video settings.

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		For unlisted resolutions, edit the `res.dat` file.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)	Configurable from 70° to 90°.
Windowed	Only certain resolutions configurable (same as for fullscreen). AA is disabled in windowed mode.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	Added in patch 3.4 (Terran Conflict) and 3.3 (Albion Prelude)
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Only available in fullscreen mode.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Input

In-game key/button map settings.

Launcher control settings.

In-game control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Effects, music, voice.
Surround sound		6 channel support requires DirectSound3D^[3]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 2,^[4] EAX 4^[5]

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Russian				Official localization by Noviy Disk.
Russian				Fan translation by Elite-Games.ru
Spanish

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision		Use Helix Mod to improve 3D support.
TriDef 3D
iZ3D

Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking		Supports: Extended View - Eye & Head Tracking and Camera Boost. Requires GameHub 4.0 for official support of Opentrack standard.^[6]
TrackIR		Albion Prelude only.

Issues fixed

Game crash to desktop

ffdshow, a DirectShow codec which can be installed as a standalone codec or alongside other DirectShow codecs in a codec pack, can cause a CTD (Crash to Desktop). To correct this, the game's executable needs to be added to ffdshow's blacklist. To do so:

Add the game to ffdshow blacklist^[7]

Open ffdshow's configuration utility.
In the DirectShow control tab, there's a section called "Don't use ffdshow in:". Make sure the adjacent box is checked.
To the right of the checkbox is a button which says "Edit...". Click on it.
Add x3tc.exe to the list of blacklisted executables.

Notes

In certain versions of ffdshow, there is no "Edit..." button to the right of the "Don't use ffdshow in:" checkbox; instead, there is only a text box containing all the blacklisted executables. In this case, manually type in x3tc.exe into the box, ensuring a semicolon is added immediately after the last executable in the list (before adding x3tc.exe).

Alt-Tab behavior

It may not be possible to re-enter the game after alt-tabbing out due to the "Run game in background" setting in the Gameplay Options menu being set to "No" by default. To correct this:

Enable "Run game in background" in Gameplay Options^{[citation needed]}
While in-game, hover over the Options button. From the menu which appears, select Gameplay. From the window which appears, set "Run game in background" to "Yes". Exit the window and resume gameplay as normal.

Linux issues

Instructions^{[citation needed]}
For documentation and discussion of issues with the Linux ports of Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude, refer to this thread on the official EgoSoft forums.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
OpenGL	2.0	OS X and Linux only.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work* on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.*
Linux

Mods

Game generates the game world AFTER you are already ingame, so the game will be sluggish for some time. For mods, a 4gb patch is required.

Plugin Manager for Egosoft X Series

Plugin Manager

Mayhem

After Lithcube's Universe, this mod also serves as a base for other mods.

Mayhem3

Lithcube's Universe

Functions as a base for the vast majority of mods.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2	Vista SP1, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	3 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9 compatible Shader model 1.1 support	Shader model 3.0 support

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.7	10.8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz Intel Core i7-2620M	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	3 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Intel HD Graphics 3000 256 MB of VRAM OpenGL 2.0 compatible	512 MB of VRAM OpenGL 3.0 compatible

Linux
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz Intel Core i7-2620M	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	3 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Mesa 9.0 256 MB of VRAM OpenGL 2.0 compatible	512 MB of VRAM OpenGL 3.0 compatible

References

↑ egosoft.com :: View topic - X3: Terran Conflict 2.5 has arrived! - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Steam Cloud Sync Enabled - Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: X3: Terran Conflict - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Realtek spdif out - no surround? - egosoft.com forum - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Some Sound Questions - egosoft.com forum - last accessed on May 2023
↑ EGOSOFT · Support · FAQs · FAQ: Read answer - last accessed on 9 June 2023
↑ Opentrack Tobii Gaming - last accessed on 2025-09-16
↑ X3:TC Forums, "How to disable ffdshow" - last accessed on May 2023

[1] soft.com :: View topic - X3: Terran Conflict 2.5 has arrived! - last accessed on May 2023

[2] Steam Cloud Sync Enabled - Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: X3: Terran Conflict - last accessed on May 2023

[3] Realtek spdif out - no surround? - egosoft.com forum - last accessed on May 2023

[4] Some Sound Questions - egosoft.com forum - last accessed on May 2023

[5] EGOSOFT · Support · FAQs · FAQ: Read answer - last accessed on 9 June 2023

[6] Opentrack Tobii Gaming - last accessed on 2025-09-16

[7] X3:TC Forums, "How to disable ffdshow" - last accessed on May 2023

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Developers

	Egosoft
macOS (OS X)	Virtual Programming
Publishers
	Deep Silver
	Interactive Gaming Software
OS X	Virtual Programming
Engines
	X³ Reality Engine
Release dates
Windows	October 16, 2008
macOS (OS X)	October 5, 2009
Linux	July 1, 2013
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Vehicle simulator, Business
Vehicles	Space flight
Themes	Sci-fi, Space
Series	X