Titans of Space® is a short guided tour of a few planets and stars, the point of which is to give the player a sense of scale of just how big these planets and stars are compared to each other.

It's not meant to be realistic, but more on the surreal holographic side. Everything you see is toy-sized, shrunk down to 1 millionth of their actual size, which means you will see Earth as a 12.7-meter-wide holographic ball, rather than the giant 12756km-wide ball of rock that it is.

Although the tour is on rails, you can proceed through it at your own pace. The controls are very simple, but there are a few things you can do during the tour:

1. Look around
2. Zoom in on things
3. Read the info panel in front of you (sometimes multiple pages)
4. Rotate a planet or moon (when applicable)
5. Orbit a planet or moon (when applicable)
6. Proceed to next tour stop whenever you're ready

This program supports several optional forms of input: keyboard, mouse, and/or a gamepad.

Once the tour is underway you don't actually need to use any input device (aside from the Rift) unless you wanted to zoom in on something. Most options can be configured using the Rift only.

There is a lot of information presented before the tour starts but you don't need to remember any of it. All of this information is accessible at any time during the tour, just hit the Escape key to cycle through the Help and Options menus.

1. If you have Oculus Runtime 0.6.0.1 installed, first switch to "Direct HMD Access from Apps" Rift Display Mode via the Oculus Config Util.
2. If you have Oculus Runtime 0.7.x installed, first ensure you are using the latest drivers for your graphics card.
3. To run the program, simply turn on your RIFT and double-click the TitansOfSpace-Classic-RIFT.exe to begin. Titans of Space v1.8 has been built against Oculus SDK 0.6.1, so you must have Oculus Runtime 0.6.0.1 or 0.7.x installed.
   
4. Crank up the sound or use headphones! Sound effects and music are an integral part of this experience.
5. Performance Requirements: A graphics card capable of DirectX 11. Technically it can run just fine in DirectX 9 if needed, if you pass in the -force-d3d9 command line argument via a shortcut or batch file. Titans of Space® maintains a minimum of 250 FPS on a Geforce GTX 680 (in VR), and 220 FPS on a Geforce GTX 660. Performance of this particular version is currently untested on lower-end or older hardware. If the program struggles on your system, I would appreciate hearing about your experience at drashvr (at) fastmail (dot) net.
6. Translations for 15 other languages are available from inside of the program.

Titans of Space® [Classic] is free to use (in a non-commercial setting), but if you happen to like it a lot you can thank me with PayPal or Bitcoin.

Any payment you make will also help fund future development. I plan to release a full version of Titans of Space and two spin-offs.



PayPal:

Bitcoin Wallet ID:
1N67SxzCDLCC7fSHwtz9zoMPp9UrFbUX6G


If you make a payment (or if you have already made one in the past), I will make sure you receive your choice of the full version or one of the spin-offs for free!

Thank you for playing! :)

*NOTE: All of the below information is available to you during the tour when you hit the [Esc] key or [Button Y].


Basic Controls:

• Proceed to next Tour Stop:
  ---- [Enter] / [Right Mouse Button] / [Controller Button X]
• Select a Button:
  ---- [Spacebar] / [Left Mouse Button] / [Controller Button A] (Mainly applies if you're in "Wait for Input" mode)
• Zoom:
  ---- Hold: [Shift key] / [Left Mouse Button] / [Controller Right Bumper "RB"] / [Controller Right Trigger "RT"]
• Show Next Info Page:
  ---- [Alt key] / [Controller Button B]

Assistance During Tour:

• Cycle through Help and Options screens:
  ---- [Esc] / [Controller Button Y]

VR-Related (General):

• Reset Orientation / Position:
  ---- [F1] / [Controller Start]
• Toggle Chromatic Aberration Correction:
  ---- [A]

VR-Related (Oculus Rift DK2):

• Mirror to Desktop:
  ---- [F2] (Default: ON)
• Cycle Tracking Camera Boundary Modes:
  ---- [F3] / [Left Trigger] (Default: OFF)
• Toggle Low-Persistence:
  ---- [F4] (Default: ON. Occasionally this will be off for some reason, and will make a bunch of dark green blobs appear in the night sky.)
• Toggle Timewarp:
  ---- [F5] (Default: OFF)
• Toggle Positional Tracking:
  ---- [F6] (Default: ON)
• Cycle Body / Seat Visibility:
  ---- [F7] (Default: BOTH body and seat are visible)
• Toggle Vignette:
  ---- [F8] (Default: ON)
• Toggle Overdrive:
  ---- [F9] (Default: ON)
• Black Smear Correction:
  ---- [F10] (Default: ON)
• Toggle Blur When Tracking is Lost:
  ---- No key mapped, must use in-game options menu for this. (Default: OFF)

Tour Options:

• Toggle Object Labels:
  ---- [L] (Default: ON)
• Toggle Info Text:
  ---- [T] (Default: ON)
• Keep Planets Visible:
  ---- [K] (Default: ON)

Route Options:

• Toggle Route Length:
  ---- [C] (Default: Complete. Compact skips most moons)
• Toggle Route Intensity Level:
  ---- [I] (Default: Low)
• Toggle Looping:
  ---- [D] (Default: OFF. Loops around Solar System only)
• Toggle NonStop:
  ---- [N] (Default is 20 seconds @ each stop, can be overridden via command-line argument "-nonstop-stop-duration #")

Misc Options:

• Toggle whether to always Show FPS:
  ---- [F] (Default: ON. When set to OFF, the FPS will still show up if dipping significantly below the ideal framerate)
• Toggle Vsync:
  ---- [V] (Default ON. Can be turned off to see effective framerate beyond 75 FPS, but for DK2 it should be turned on.)
• Cycle Language:
  ---- [1,2] (These number keys are above the letter keys, not on the numpad. Default: Based on system language.)
• Zoom Scope:
  ---- [Z] (Default: OFF)

Audio Options:

• Toggle Music:
  ---- [M] (Default: ON)
• Toggle Voiceover:
  ---- Coming soon
• Toggle Subtitles:
  ---- Coming soon

Advanced Controls:

• Quick Hop to next Tour Stop:
  ---- [Tab] / [Controller Back]
• Rotate Planets:
  ---- Hold: [Left or Right Arrow keys] / [Controller Dpad Left or Right] (Does not apply to large planets)
• Orbit Planet:
  ---- [Ctrl key] / [Controller Left Bumper "LB"] (Applies to most single-body tour stops)
• Adjust Time:
  ---- Hold: [Up or Down Arrow keys] / [Controller Dpad Up or Down] (Default: Max Speed)

Misc Actions:

• Reset Preferences:
  ---- [F11]
• Screenshot:
  ---- [F12] (Saves screenshots to the _Data/screenshots folder)
• Reset Tour:
  ---- [R] (only works during tour right now)
• Quit:
  ---- [Q]

Below is a list of available command-line options. They are unnecessary for the core user experience, but if you are interested in demoing the program to others, some may prove useful.

• -full-tour-loop (tour will endlessly loop from end of tour back to beginning)
• -2mindemo (kicks off a short and automated end-to-end demo lasting around 2 minutes)
• -complete-demo-loop (sends the player on a non-stop loop around the Solar System, moons included)
• -compact-demo-loop (sends the player on a non-stop loop around the Solar System, most moons excluded)
• -nonstop-stop-duration # (sets the amount of time spent sitting at a tour stop in Non-Stop mode)
• -end-after-solar-system (introduces an earlier "definite end" after the Solar System portion of the tour)
• -end-after-large-stars (introduces an earlier "definite end" after the Large Stars portion of the tour)
• -go-directly-to-tour (skips the starting menu areas and goes directly to the tour)
• -disable-help-and-options-during-tour (disallows the use of Help or Options during the tour)
• -restart-after-idle-time #.# (restarts tour after #.# seconds of no input. if -detect-idle-hmd is specified, then this also monitors movement of the headset itself.)
• -detect-idle-hmd (experimental, works for my DK2 in my home environment, but not necessarily for others)
• -angular-threshold-multiplier #.# (used to fine-tune the idle HMD detection threshold)
• -linear-threshold-multiplier #.# (used to fine-tune the idle HMD detection threshold)
• -enable-cockpit-rotation (allows the use of controller thumbsticks to rotate the player's cockpit)
• -max-cockpit-rotation-rpm #.# (sets the max cockpit rotation speed)
• -disable-path-rotation (prevents tour flight paths from rotating the cockpit)
• -endscreen-returns-to-mainmenu-after-delay #.# (after reaching the "Thanks for Playing" screen after the tour, a non-zero value here will automatically return to the main menu)
• -compact-route (sets the Tour Length to "Compact")
• -complete-route (sets the Tour Length to "Complete")
• -info-text-color FFFFFF (sets the information panel text color to the specified 6-digit RGB hex value)
• -addl-info-text-color FFFFFF (sets the additional info text color to the specified 6-digit RGB hex value)
• -addl-info-title-text-color FFFFFF (sets the additional info heading color to the specified 6-digit RGB hex value)
• -proceed-button-activation-delay (override the required gaze duration to activate the "proceed" button on the right side of the tour dashboard. default is 1 second)
• -backlight-button-activation-delay (override the required gaze duration to activate the "READY" button below the tour dashboard. default is 1.2 seconds)
• -activate-buttons-via-gaze (forces the button selection type to be "automatic". this is only useful if you are skipping the language selection screen)
• -disable-endscreen-interactivity (normally the end screen after the tour has interactive elements, buttons that take the user to various areas. use this to hide those)
• -normal-travel-speed-multiplier (multiplies the speed of normal flight time between tour stops. does not affect fast-forward or fast-fast-forward speeds)
• -return-to-mainmenu-when-restarting (when -restart-after-idle-time is set, the player will be taken to the main menu instead of in front of the Earth)
• -hide-fps (forces the FPS indicator off at startup, regardless of the default or previous setting)
• -player-moves-through-space (forces this option on at startup, regardless of the default or previous setting)

This program now collects data on all platforms:

What is collected:

1. The app being played, and the app's version number.
2. The operating system and operating system version number (e.g., Android OS 4.4.4).
3. The name of the controller used, if any (e.g., Samsung Gamepad EI-GP20).
4. The name of the device used (e.g., Note 4)
5. The number of times the app has been played on that device.
6. The duration of each playtime.
7. How far through the app the player gets before quitting.
8. Whether or not certain features are used.

What is NOT collected:

1. No user-identifiable information is collected.
2. No IP address is collected.
3. No device ID is collected.

How is this data collected:

1. A lightweight encrypted data transmission at startup, if the internet is accessible.
2. A lightweight encrypted data transmission when pausing/exiting the app, if the internet is accessible.

How is this data stored:

1. All data is stored in a secure database that no one but DrashVR LLC has access to.

How will the data be used:

1. All collected data will be used to gain visibility into how the app is played in order to improve it.

Who will be able to access this data:

1. Only DrashVR LLC.
2. There may be a time in the future when aggregate "big picture" statistics are published so that the VR community can benefit from it.