ElHombreAlex--FTL-Faster-Than-Light-VR/docs/STATUS.md

Project status

Prepared source snapshot: 0.1.0-alpha.1, 2026-10-03.

This is a playable experimental client connected to the real game. It is suitable for technical enthusiasts who can follow the source setup instructions and help test supported versions. A broad public release and a portable compiled installer are still future work.

Implemented

Area	Current behavior
Campaign	FTL runs its normal campaign, events, difficulty, combat rules, audio and saves
Ships	Dynamic local layouts, extruded hull presentation, rooms, weapon mounts, opposing bows in combat and stable movable encounter placement
HUD	Original native HUD follows the headset; native enemy HUD region is removed in gameplay; hand screen and pointer draw above it
Navigation	Available actions only; actual sector map appears above/ahead of the pilot room and faces the viewer
Menus/dialogs	Main menus remain 2D; native shop/ship windows and event choices float in the encounter; BUY/SELL panels are retained
Crew	Native positions/tasks/selection, animated procedural race models, grab preview and native move orders; occupied crew face the viewer
Targeting	Weapon and beam room targeting, plus native mind-control, teleporter and hacking target routing
Systems	Installed-system shortcuts, modifier support and a System Power page using native allocation rules
Doors	Open/closed, locked, damaged/hacked state and thin tier-dependent armor driven by native strength
Combat visuals	Shields/super shields, weapon charge strips/pips, native firing/impact/projectile paths and enemy hull bar using locally imported vanilla art
Drones	Distinct procedural space/interior families with deployment/power state and placement by native render space
Hazards	Room fire/breach tiles and surrounding asteroid, sun, nebula/storm and pulsar presentations
Input	Steam Frame actions, generic fallback profiles, controller infographic, action wheel and QWERTY rename keyboard
Lifecycle	Isolated game copy, fingerprinted hooks, separate hs_ftlvr_ saves, pre-launch backup and graceful save/exit

Verification recorded during development

Check	Evidence and limits
Real-game startup	Main menu, hangar, new game, event choices and combined client/bridge startup checked
Crew and doors	Native crew selection, room movement, station return, modifiers and upgraded door state checked
Navigation	Actual map opening, beacon selection, fuel consumption and new event checked
Weapons/combat	Player laser/missile targeting, enemy fire, shield/hull impact and native hull damage checked
Systems	Power operations for installed powerable systems, native mind control and teleportation effects checked
Hacking	Enemy room targeting accepted; attachment/effect completion remains unverified
UI	Native HUD during Tactical/map/store/event/ship modes; enemy-region transparency; BUY/SELL content; rename input and original fonts checked across development revisions
Drones	Native equipment/special/global lists deduplicated; actual combat and interior battle-drone state inspected
Automated tests	Latest source revision passed 27 Python tests and seven Godot suites before this packaging task
Desktop graphics	Vulkan rendering and model/UI inspection checked on RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB
Save handling	Normal combined launch/exit and preservation of backed-up campaign data checked
Steam Frame play	Maintainer confirmed playability and substantial partial runs; latest changes need further hardware coverage

The automated suite uses synthetic fixtures for many edge cases. A passing test does not establish that every race, layout, weapon, drone, hazard or boss encounter has been exercised in a campaign.

Performance: what the measurements mean

• The old Tactical texture path delivered about 6.30 updates/second in its measured consumer case.
• The raw RGBA path reached 29.09 in the same consumer case and about 27.89–28.60 in complete desktop scene checks, including an asteroid scene.
• Tactical uses 960×540 capture with a 30 Hz target. Jump/maps and native windows keep 1280×720. The independent native HUD targets 10 Hz.
• These are capture/texture-delivery measurements. They are not stereo headset FPS, motion-to-photon latency or SteamVR frame-time measurements.

Known limitations and remaining work

Before a wider player release

1. Test setup from this standalone repository on a clean Windows machine.
2. Measure physical Steam Frame readability, hand-screen steadiness, pointer latency and stereo frame pacing after the latest changes.
3. Complete campaign coverage: Flagship phases, ship layouts/races, boarding, cloaking, beams/bombs, drones and hazard combinations.
4. Verify hacking-drone arrival, attachment and resulting effect end to end.
5. Check long-session transition/capture recovery and graceful shutdown under failure conditions.

Compatibility and polish

• The preparer accepts only the fingerprinted Steam Windows 1.6.14 input and official rollback to 1.6.9. Unknown executables are rejected deliberately.
• GOG PKG extraction works; the complete GOG executable/loader route is not verified.
• Other headsets/controller profiles, Linux/macOS and FTL overhaul combinations are not verified.
• Native game rules remain authoritative. VR hazard animation and some projectile/drone presentations are approximations, rather than complete reproductions of their 2D appearance or timing.
• A source setup is supplied; compiled client distribution, export packaging and an end-user installer are not yet validated.
• Python uses pinned Frida/Capstone and minimum Pillow/NumPy versions. Other combinations need testing.

Useful next tests

Start with the supported setup. Report the exact game/loader/client versions, controller interaction profile, whether the problem occurs in VR or desktop, and steps to reproduce. For performance, distinguish stale Tactical textures from low headset frame rate. Use the issue forms and follow CONTRIBUTING.md.