Oculus store version:

The full version is on the Oculus store for $4.99 or £3.99 depending on your region.  The current version is 0.981.  Oculus and Steam versions are developed in parallel and should, by and large, behave the same.  If you have one version and want the other, contact me with your purchase details and I'll send you an install key.  The Link is:

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1200589813347888/

Steam OpenVR version:

This is intended to work on non-Oculus headsets and motion controllers.  It is currently in development with an early access version.  A time limited downloadable demo is available on the same page.  The price is the same as the Oculus version.  If you have one version and want the other, contact me with your purchase details and I'll send you an install key.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/583530

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Aquila Bird Flight Simulator Early Access Version 0.9964 - 4th October 2020, (c) Graeme Scott
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http://www.aquila-bfs.com

YouTube Tutorials for Touch Controllers available here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCr_yOjbGVuV9EYDlIAZTo0ISB9ewPtcc

Various other gameplay videos available on my YouTube channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHBianz233xf6pmUIxBawGA

Thank you for trying this early access version of Aquila.  It is not finished and will be updated.
It gives you a flavour of what to expect, and an opportunity to report back with bugs.

I am aware that without the comfort mode switched on, this is a testing application on your head.  This is a flight simulator.  I cannot make rolls and harsh flying comfortable, and you may or may not get used to it.  With the comfort mode on, your flying is limited but you will feel better!  I recommend leaving this option on if you are sensitve, especially to begin.  It is on by default.

Proceeds from this project help towards bird of prey conservation at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Hampshire, UK, where I do voluntary work.  Supporting this project helps towards vital conservation, rehabilitation, and education schemes throughout the UK and overseas.

So on behalf of the Trust, the birds, and the staff, thank you! :)

Feedback is very much appreciated!  Please use the website above, or the development forum at:

https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/27726/aquila-bird-flight-simulator-demo-available

**or**

http://vrtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?6157-Aquila-Bird-Flight-Simulator-Demo-available!

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Early Access Features:
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- All three landscapes in Scotland, Columbia, and Graham Island BC Canada. (DEMO has Scotland only)
- Oculus Touch support, as well as Xbox360 controller, Headset steering, and (if you're desperate) keyboard control.
- An experimental Autopilot, which can hold a glide pitch, level the wings, hold your altitude and (try to) avoid terrain, and fly to the map centre.  It will also point you in the right direction if you leave the map area.  This is enabled by default when starting airborne, and through the in-game menu.
- Thermal and ridge soaring, with configurable wind direction and speed.  Most start points and wind directions should be soarable, but this isn't guaranteed!
- Three species of eagle.  Differences are purely cosmetic at the moment.  We have the Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle and Harpy Eagle.
- Day/Night cycle using trueSKY.
- Seasonal extras, such as Santa's sleigh in December and January, as well as a Valentines bonus... ;)

- Multiplayer Test: Yes you can host games online. You'll need to set up your router to port forward to your pc's local network address using port 7777. Use your favorite search engine to find out your actual IP address, and give that out to whoever wants to join your game. I plan to run a server as much as I can for the odd event. To join a game, enter the address on the Network page and click Connect. If it says "Connecting", then returns to "Idle"... connection was unsuccessful. Games are capped at 16 players for now.

Latest changes for 0.9964:
- Achievement added for landing in a tree.
- Extra view added for your pc screen. Select HR Headset View from the main menu options, and while in-game pressing O alternates this view on and off. It basically watches a random bird, or your bird in single player, using a pan & zoom camera.
- Various bugs fixed as to which cameras can see which elements on screen.
- New button added to the in-game GUI for Multiplayer games, which alternates a table showing You at the top, and your player marker colour, and the 5 closest players and their distance in KM. Each player in a multiplayer game is assigned a random marker colour. In time, I'll make this colour selectable.

Latest changes for 0.9963:
- Yet more bug fixes relating to Multiplayer. Official server address updated.

Latest changes for 0.9962:
- Numerous bug fixes for synchronising multiplayer, and fixing single player problems that occurred as a result.
- Join Official Server button added to Network page. This joins my home server, if it is running. The demo will only join servers running the Scotland map, and the 5-minute demo limit applies.

Latest changes for 0.995:
- Multiplayer added via Mirror. Address entry is via the Network button. Time of day, bird animations/sounds, and thermal positions are all synched across users. Users are marked with a white chevron when too far away to see. A dedicated server option is also available. If you are a server, and playing also, press N to view network information on your pc screen. There is also an option to show the player name over their avatar.
- VSync option added to Settings. This defaults to On if no VR is detected, and is forced on for a dedicated server to reduce CPU/GPU usage.

Latest changes for 0.9915:
- Bug fix for keyboard controls not working when no vr setup is detected.
- Bug fix for start position being ignored and starting with a non-moving levitating bird, when no gamepad is detected and running in a non-vr mode.

Latest changes for 0.991:
- Non-vr gameplay hopefully works better, although the menu's for the title screen and in-game require use of the mouse pointer. They can't yet be used by gamepad alone.
- camera moves away a little when landed with birds back view selected.
- multitudes of bugs swatted.

Latest changes for 0.990:

- New models for the bald eagle, and a golden eagle has replaced the previous white-tailed eagle.
- All eagles now have complete sets of animations.
- All eagles can land in tree's, and can start in a tree (new option on title)
- Lux Water system added. Scotland has a few lakes added to use this, and Canada has an ocean.
- With Touch controllers, bringing your wings in has an immediate negative affect on glide angle, as well as an increase in stall speed.
- New title screen, with configurable options to optimise performance.
- New achievements screen, listing achievements and total flight time since install.
- Many divide by zero glitches swatted.
- The optional courses have been removed.

Previous changes for 0.985:
- Numerous bugs and tweaks over 0.981.
- As the thermal clouds are not compatible with trueSKY, I have removed them for now.  The thermals still exist, and can be found as a column of rising air you should see if you explore a bit.
- trueSKY now used for the day and night cycle.  This may explicitely require a graphics card with single-pass rendering, such as Nvidia 10x0 series cards.  I am checking this further.
- Bird flying physics now brought 'in-house' for better controllability.  This is most evident with Oculus Touch controllers, as you can bring your wings in and do fancy things to descend or even stoop. Flapping is now simpler than before, although less authentic.  Perhaps I'll add the old method as an option.
- Fade in/out added to front screen and game.
- Starting calibration screen enhanced with a sky scape.
- Motion controller tutorial is now voiced by me, and takes you through the controls.
- Some mellow music!  This is on by default, but can be switched on or off in the menus.
- Oculus SDK and Unity versions updated.
- Bald eagle model updated to a new high resolution one, and the Harpy eagle model has been updated to it's latest version.

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Required specifications:
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Any VR ready pc should cope, but your PC specification would be very useful in any feedback.  Note single-pass rendering may now be required, but I am checking with Simul regarding trueSKY in VR.  It seems to *require* single-pass rendering for VR. :(
 
I am running my simulator on: Intel i9 9900K, 16gb ram, Nvidia GTX 1080, with current Oculus runtimes and a CV1 only for now.

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Please read the following notes to make best use of this software:
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- Try the in-game tutorial, and DEFINITELY view the website video tutorials if you want an intro to Aquila.  Select Tutorial from the main menu.  There are tutorials for all three control methods covering: Touch, XBox controller, Oculus Remote and Headset steering.

- This release should, once again, work on the DK2.  It works on mine at least, with head tracking!

- Run the executable from Oculus Home or Steam as appropriate. If you have Norton, or similar, mine springs up saying that it's an unknown file. Well duh!!! It also is net enabled, so I guess that gets Norton's hackles up. Please allow it.

- Oculus Touch Support: Remember the section at the bottom of this Readme. :)

- In-depth tutorial videos are available on the YouTube link at the top of this readme file.

- I can run with graphics set to Everything, but try whatever you feel is right. Any VR ready pc should cope.  If you want to try stepping down to Beautiful, hold CTRL after launching and select the preset.  This will disable anti-aliasing and may increase performance.

- Run the game.  Read the notes regarding initial setup on the first screen you see.  It wants you to center your view to be used in-game.

- Each map has its own wind direction by default, but multiple start points are used depending on the direction you pick.  I recommend those below.

--> Recommended wind directions for the default start point:
Scotland 230 degrees.
Columbia 050 degrees.
Graham Island 200 - 230 degrees.

- IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TRY... Stick with Scotland and keep reading. :)  The Tutorial does a grand job of showing this. :)

- Do the tutorial FIRST. It explains alot.

- Start airbourne with your initial flights, to avoid the fun of take off if you want to avoid that!!

- Sit comfortably while the game loads, looking straight ahead.

- Wait and let yourself glide forwards over the ridge. By default, with the wind at 230º with Scotland, it is blowing up the slope, so the big slope infront of you is generating lift.  The game starts with the autopilot enabled, and gives the short cut to begin flying (usually green 'A' on the controller).

- You get basic instruments showing your speed and altitude.  In the middle you also have an arrow and speed indicating where the wind is coming from.  It is pointing into the wind, as you'll see when you start.  The wind direction is displayed all the time.

- The sky day/night cycle is sped up to encourage more bugs to show.

- There is an in-flight menu screen.  Press Space, or red 'B'/Back on the Xbox controller (or Menu on the Left Hand Touch controller, or Oculus Remote Back) to display it.  This works the same as the title screen.

- You can quit the game from the menu's in-game and on the title screen, but Alt-f4 still works and ESCAPE in-game will quit too.

Important!
- The early access version has no time restriction on flights, unless you set one on the main menu.

- If you feel sick, remove your headset and press keyboard ESCAPE to quit. Be gentle to start, flying games on the Oculus can be strong on the senses.

- Observer mode is built into the game, and will run on your main pc's main screen if you select it from the in-flight menu.  It is rendering a second complete view, and does have an appreciable performance hit.  If you select Headset view, which is the default, this second view isn't generated. You can also select HR Headset View from the title screen options. This will use your main pc screen to show a high resolution version of your VR headset view, which is better for recording or uploading. If you then use the "PC Screen Mode" from the in-game menu, this disables the HR Headset View as long as any view available on that option is un use.

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In-game Key Summary:
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Space/RB (top right shoulder button) - While you hold the button in Headset steering mode, this freezes headset control to look around.
A/D (left analogue stick) - Turn left/right on the ground or roll in the air.
W/S (left analogue stick) - Pitch up/down in the air.
Right Shift - Flap (using a gamepad, run forwards and use RH analogue stick to fly). Remote use main center button while moving forwards.
Backspace (Blue X button or press Touch controller thumbstick) - centre view.
Escape - Quit game
V (or top-left shoulder button) - change view
U - With HR Headset View option active, this cycles it on and off.
CTRL, or both gamepad triggers - land in tree (if you're in range of the land point on the top, and the tree is infront of you. :) )
 ... with Oculus Touch, to land in a tree you fold your wings when you would press CTRL/Triggers as above. You need to have a ground speed less than 40mph.

Above all, please have fun!!  This is not finished, but I've had some fun with it for sure :) .

Graeme Scott