The promised 4.0 update for Elite Dangerous PC players is now available. This update creates instances so that all players who are on the original release, Horizons and players who purchased the Odyssey expansion can both play on versions of the 4.0 codebase and have access to narrative content going forward. Also open is the console copy portal, which will let console players copy their profiles over to the PC version.
What this means for the Elite Dangerous community is that all players now have access to Aftermath, the new narrative phase that began last month. This is the new phase going forward after the Azimuth Saga came to an end. Now, all PC players will have access to some version of 4.0 and continued access to the story content. Some content will continue to only be available to players that own Odyssey, including anything that involves walking around, Odyssey ranks, and station concourses.
Additionally, this access will be instanced, so If you own Odyssey and your friends doesn't but you both now have access to 4.0, you and your friend won't be able to play together because each of you will have a different instance active. This is the way that Frontier was able to make this work and at least open up future story contents for all PC players.
The PC player community is about to grow, too. Frontier Developments announced that they would be ending active console development, but said there would be a way to copy a profile from console to PC. The console copy portal is now open, and will let console players copy most of their profile information, with some exceptions, and includes a free copy of the PC version of the game.
There are instructions and a full list of what won't be transferred over over at Elite Dangerous. You can read the 4.0 patch notes here.
