Custom sandbox games will always have the modified flag. I'm not sure why Egosoft does it, but it's not a bug, but rather by design. You should pick one of the other start options if you want to get rid of it.

Albion Prelude should also be hidden somewhere in there with its own executive file.

ok. I'll try other game modes and report the results when I get back to my desktop computer.

The name of the custom game start is misleading as you cannot customise anything in the start. It is rather meant for large mods.

Yes, after choosing another start scenario the ****modified**** tag is gone. Thank you guys for your clarification!

I still think the game(s with X3AP) are better slightly modded but play vanilla first and you will learn what you find lacking.

Indeed, I won't even bother playing without a Cockpits mod anymore. Need those blinking lights to keep me occupied during travel. Not that I'm ever "slightly modded" at this point, as I can't really go back to vanilla after Litcubes Universe.

But it's well worth playing through the base game(s) and getting a feel for everything before going to something like XRM or LU. X3's low on hand-holding to being with, but the large mods are a whole other beast.

Do install the official bonus packs though. They won't mark your game as modified, and they're fairly essential to building any sort of trade empire.

...and then 50 hours or so in, you'll get tired of the terrible turret and missile control, you won't care about that modified flag, and you'll install the MARS Fire Control mod ;)

Well, not HIDDEN. X3AP.exe is in the X3 Terran War Pack folder, along with X3TC.exe (X3 Terran Conflict).

My understanding is Galaxy hides it away. Did they change that? I do not use Galaxy.

Galaxy doesn't have a link to the executable by default, which is odd, but it will appear in the Windows start menu entry. Galaxy 2.0 lets you link the executable as a separate game as well if you wanna run it through there.