18 replies to this topic

[DPRoberts]

As most know, I’ve spent a good amount of my free time devoted to helping the course Design community over the years and tried to push what was possible in PG. As a ” simulator player”, I was cut off from PG in July 2020 (or thereabouts).

At that time, I created a Discord server to bring together Designers and try and maintain the “brotherhood” created here. I had a few come and participate with my vision to create an engine agnostic Course Design tool so that we could avoid abandonment and our Courses could live on.

A few that came were eventually swallowed up by Trackman, such as RobC, MRose and Birdie. So, I continued my quest and have put together something rather special for hobbyist in my mind. I paired up with Johnmeyer and Stingreye and built something known as the Open Platform Course Designer abs I have a community of over 800 members now building courses.

These courses are played in a game called GSPro, which has both stimulator and mouse input, albeit, the mouse is much alpha state and more just a RTS type input (no 3 click atm). But, what I do have that I didn’t have with PG is 1 on 1 discussions with the developers and they put things in the Game that allow us to improve the artistry/look of the courses.

Additionally, we have unleashed easier ways to build and have Tools to make the process more friendly. I actually enjoy the planting part the most and can focus on biomes artistry instead of ugly billboards planted about. It also comes with FPS advantages to allow us to pack more into the Courses. Massive thanks to Stingreye who has built the back bone for that.

I encourage you to check out http://zerosandonesgcd.com
to see what has been happening outside of this forum.

Please also check out my latest version of The Home of the Players.

Happy to have anyone on my Discord server as well. You can join through my website.

Special thanks to Justin9926 for the Clubhouse and other structures on my latest Course build.

V8burble playing THOTP -

[DPRoberts]

[KenR]

Well, what a pleasant surprise this morning! I suppose the first question that will go through everyone's mind is how can I play this on my PC, or can I play this on my PC?

[Buck]

Very cool DP!

[Jugador]

 The course looks fantastic, and the water really looks good. The only thing I would suggest, tell that guy to get a bag, he used half his energy running back and forth to grab a club! 

 Seriously tho, it makes me wish I had a Sim setup. It really looked like fun. I also liked the "time of day" sliders, nice option!  

[Buck]

Such a shame PG didn't become "the game" -- combining sim users, mouse users, controller users -- all that was missing was console users really.

 

So much fragmentation of software platforms, input methods and ultimately the talented designer community. 

 

Net result is sort of worse for everyone.

[jt83]

I'm glad that DP & co all landed on their feet.  THOTP looks like their masterpiece.

 

I haven't jumped into GSPro yet...I did ask for a mouse license but it never got sent.  I've decided to wait and see what happens.  It's a shame that it will probably take someone a lot of work just to get GSPro where PG was abanonded - animation, swing meter etc.  If it gets there I'll dive back in.  In the meantime I have to try to swallow my bitterness when I see how thriving the discord is...that's how this place used to be.

[clint]

I ask yetserday for a mouse license. Let's see what happens.

[DPRoberts]

I think Justin9926 can probably give the best perspective. He has built a Course with the OPCD Toolset and probably played the most of anyone with the mouse control.

Whatever they land on with mouse, would definitely be different. We have played with animations but I’m not entirely convinced it’s needed. I get the customization part that some like but playing without an animation is more of a “simulation” experience. I won’t speak for Justin but I think his biggest complaint is not the lack of animation but not having a fine enough touch with short game at the moment. He has also played a little multiplayer with a friend of his.

They face similar issues as PG so I don’t want it to be a similar fail but that’s certainly possible. They have really only 2 programmers but they are both extremely talented. They are relying on my Discord to teach everyone how to build and that frees them time to focus on the game improvements.

They started the programming of the GSPro engine some time in 2019 (?) but second programmer wasn’t involved at the start. So, they are way further along than I had anticipated but have a great road map ahead.

Will they achieve their goals? Dunno, but, it has been a place to try and keep what I have learned and enjoyed about PC Golf Course development alive.

We Spline in Inkscape (2D vector graphics) and your Shapes turn into Meshes in Blender. It’s really way more efficient and less restrictive than CF. I really hope they can one day make it attractive to the PC crowd and maybe console. I feel like you guys have a passionate community and a lot to contribute.

[DPRoberts]

For any Designers, this is a time lapse of a build. Biggest things to see are the splining process and Tekbud using VSPro. I actually use it different than him and Spline my biomes instead of paint them and I would say since he was trying to do a speed build, not all the artistry is there on this video but he has produced some great ones for GSPro.

Greatest thing about Biomes - you can essentially create “Themes” that contain vegetation and take to your next project and not have to reinvent the wheel. There are a few magicians that used to be around here that could work wonders with it.

[Armand]

I'm glad that DP & co all landed on their feet.  THOTP looks like their masterpiece.

 

I haven't jumped into GSPro yet...I did ask for a mouse license but it never got sent.  I've decided to wait and see what happens.  It's a shame that it will probably take someone a lot of work just to get GSPro where PG was abanonded - animation, swing meter etc.  If it gets there I'll dive back in.  In the meantime I have to try to swallow my bitterness when I see how thriving the discord is...that's how this place used to be.

 

I've been browsing the GSPro site and associated discord channel for the past couple of hours, and I think I'm in the same boat - wait and see what happens.

 

I'm not a designer, nor do I own a simulator, so I have not requested a mouse licence to simply play the game (I don't think that is the intention at the moment).  I'm going to have to upgrade/buy a new PC before getting involved in GSPro as well, since my current PC can only handle the basic PG courses at the moment! 

[DPRoberts]

I think that makes the most sense. This wasn’t really to say jump aboard, it’ll be great. It’s more just to be aware that there could be something else out there at some point.

[Justin9926]

So far I've built one course with the OPCD toolset. There's plenty of documentation and videos to help create a course. I'd also like to add that it's amazing to see the quality of some of the first time courses the guys are putting out. You would never guess that it was their first course ever built.

 

Now for the mouse swing. It's just in a beta stage at the moment. It is similar to the RTS swing. There is no avatar which at first I wasn't too keen on. But as I've been playing I prefer it much more without one. I know in PG a lot of times I miss seeing my putt due to the avatar. That's no longer a problem. It becomes more of a feel thing instead of just watching your avatar. Right now all it has is a full shot. Then of course putting on the green. But as I've been playing it more I'm starting to get the hang of the short game. From my understanding they are planning down the road to add other shots for the short game. There is no lobby but there is a multiplayer. So if you have a group of guys you can set up a round to shoot together. As far as game types it has the typical stroke, scramble, match play, alternate shot, best ball, scramble.

[jt83]

A question for DP - does the OPCD have a special trick for Sandbelt bunkers that transition straight to a green?

 

[DPRoberts]

Because of the way I process the SVG, there are really no rules in regard to how you "spline". You can definitely do something like you show and still have rough around the lower part of the bunker.

Hopefully, this image post works, my Imgur seems to never load properly anymore....

http://drive.google....iew?usp=sharing

http://drive.google....iew?usp=sharing

[slouis]

 

So far I've built one course with the OPCD toolset. There's plenty of documentation and videos to help create a course. I'd also like to add that it's amazing to see the quality of some of the first time courses the guys are putting out. You would never guess that it was their first course ever built.

 

Now for the mouse swing. It's just in a beta stage at the moment. It is similar to the RTS swing. There is no avatar which at first I wasn't too keen on. But as I've been playing I prefer it much more without one. I know in PG a lot of times I miss seeing my putt due to the avatar. That's no longer a problem. It becomes more of a feel thing instead of just watching your avatar. Right now all it has is a full shot. Then of course putting on the green. But as I've been playing it more I'm starting to get the hang of the short game. From my understanding they are planning down the road to add other shots for the short game. There is no lobby but there is a multiplayer. So if you have a group of guys you can set up a round to shoot together. As far as game types it has the typical stroke, scramble, match play, alternate shot, best ball, scramble.

 

Justin, I went to the GSPro site and saw that there was a $250 subscription fee.  I assume the fee is for simulator use.  If that is correct, how do I get the PC version as I am curious as to how it compares to PG at this stage of it's development.

In regards to the OPCD tool set, would you say it is easier or more difficult to render a course than using CF?  I watched some videos of GSPro on You Tube and some of the courses are actually ones rendered for PG.  As an example, Bear Mountain where they haven't even bothered to change the splash screen. 

Thanks.

[KenR]

Curious about GSPro as well, wondering what the Mouse license will cost once the bugs are worked out and I am making an assumption that this allows you to play the game with a mouse swing on your PC, as I don't have a simulator.

 

So, are the graphics that much of an upgrade over PG? They look improved in the screenshots provided but how does it run FPS wise compared to PG? Quite a few questions so will watch this thread for more information.

 

Thanks for the heads up on this DP! 

[Buck]

Hope the mouse implementation is as good (or very close) as RTS-M

This might be pretty interesting if so!

[Justin9926]

Justin, I went to the GSPro site and saw that there was a $250 subscription fee.  I assume the fee is for simulator use.  If that is correct, how do I get the PC version as I am curious as to how it compares to PG at this stage of it's development.

In regards to the OPCD tool set, would you say it is easier or more difficult to render a course than using CF?  I watched some videos of GSPro on You Tube and some of the courses are actually ones rendered for PG.  As an example, Bear Mountain where they haven't even bothered to change the splash screen. 

Thanks.

You're correct slouis that's for the simulators. If you scroll down to frequently asked questions open up the first one. What are the difference between purchase options. You'll see there's a mouse control only subscription. Take a look at that.

As far as the OPCD I would say it's easier. I can spline the course much faster in inkscape. Plus it comes out more uniform. If I draw the fairway I can just outset it for my cleanup cut then do it again for my semi-rough. So basically I only have to draw the fairway once to get all 3.  When it comes to creating the cart path it's so much easier. All you need to do is make a line then at the end change it to a path and set whatever width you want. It will be nice and uniform all the way through.