18 replies to this topic

[jurgie]

Question for any of you course designing gurus. I think this available feature is a great addition to the PG Sim. It allows the player to make intelligent decisions on ball placements on the tee as well as approaches to the greens. I have noticed that there are numerous custom designs where this feature is not available. Is this because it is a lot of extra work to incorporate this feature into the design? I have also noticed that in some courses it works for a couple of holes and then it no longer functions. This feature when available, in my is a great addition to the course design. Please enlighten me on why all the course do not offer this great option. On the ones that feature it, what would really be great is that the flyby initiates from where you start it. In other words, if your in the middle of the fairway, it should start there. As it stands now, it always goes back and starts from the tee area. I am trying to learn something here so any input would be greatly appreciated.

[jspirate]

Yeah, the designer can add it if he wishes.  I don't like it in game, so I do not add it when I make a course.  There are other options that provide the same thing in less time.  They are not hands free options, but they are built in to the game.  For example, F5 allows you to fly up much quicker and if you are playing as a pro or below you can use F3 or F2 (green).

[RBarley]

With Meadia Heights I didn't include the flyby's. The designer will tell course forge were to start and end. So if you tee off and use the flyby it will always start where the designer has set to start. I agree with jspirate that the free camera is better to show what you want to see.

[Tekbud]

It's a PITA to add them so I chose not to. F3 and F5 are your friends.

[zmax - sim]

I don't use it all.  

[Stingreye]

Agree, I haven't included them in my designs either.

[jurgie]

Agree, I haven't included them in my designs either.

Thank you gentlemen, I appreciate your time to respond. I had forgotten about the "F" options. I do however like the overhead view of hole. It gives me a clearer understanding of the hole layout and from what side of the fairway to attack the hole. Thanks again.

[RobC]

I put them in all of my designs...takes about 1 minute per hole... Like you say its a good feature

Cheers RobC

[M Rose]

I tried them with one of my first courses, and found they were hard to make to a high standard.... I figured with the free cam that they were kind of redundant.

 

It's also one more thing to do before final release.... which for me is always at a point where I'm sick of death of working on the course and just want to get rid of it, so I'm never in a very good state of mind.

[jurgie]

I put them in all of my designs...takes about 1 minute per hole... Like you say its a good feature

Cheers RobC

Hey Rob, your rendition of Spanish Bay looks super. I was hoping someone would come along and do this course justice. As you probably know, there were a couple of renditions of this course in both L2K3 & TW. None of those really thrilled me. How close is your rendition to being completed?

[RobC]

Hey Rob, your rendition of Spanish Bay looks super. I was hoping someone would come along and do this course justice. As you probably know, there were a couple of renditions of this course in both L2K3 & TW. None of those really thrilled me. How close is your rendition to being completed?

10 Holes Done ish

[jspirate]

It's also one more thing to do before final release.... which for me is always at a point where I'm sick of death of working on the course and just want to get rid of it, so I'm never in a very good state of mind.

 

^This is how I feel towards the end!

 

These are my five stages of grief of course building:

1. Excitement/hope - at this stage you look forward to building a course that has no FPS limitations, plays like a dream and looks even better.
2. Frustration – when you start to acknowledge that the limitations you face are no different than the last build.  ARgggggg, is this course going to be similar to my last???
3. Bargaining – you start to tell yourself that maybe you can find some unknown Unity 5.2.3 tweaks that remove the limitations allowing you to build an incredible course that looks fantastic and plays ultra-smoothly at 4K on a Texas Instrument TI-99.  Maybe with a little work and a few searches on the Unity Asset Store will help???
4. Disappointment – the dread you feel when you come to grips with the the fact that its up to you (and only you) to make this course better than the last one you made and that there is no silver bullet or secret trick that will lead to the greatest success that’s ever been had in legacy Unity
5. Acceptance – this is the hardest stage.  You need to accept that you will finish the build because not doing so relegates all the previous time spent to wasted time.   The problem is that you are sick-and-tired of looking at it and sick and tired play testing it.  The level of drive at this stage is at an all-time low for the project and all you want to do is close Unity and walk away.  You force yourself to dig-in and work towards completion.  All-the-while you are constantly fighting the intense desire to just render and call it the “done.”

[jurgie]

 

^This is how I feel towards the end!

 

These are my five stages of grief of course building:

1. Excitement/hope - at this stage you look forward to building a course that has no FPS limitations, plays like a dream and looks even better.
2. Frustration – when you start to acknowledge that the limitations you face are no different than the last build.  ARgggggg, is this course going to be similar to my last???
3. Bargaining – you start to tell yourself that maybe you can find some unknown Unity 5.2.3 tweaks that remove the limitations allowing you to build an incredible course that looks fantastic and plays ultra-smoothly at 4K on a Texas Instrument TI-99.  Maybe with a little work and a few searches on the Unity Asset Store will help???
4. Disappointment – the dread you feel when you come to grips with the the fact that its up to you (and only you) to make this course better than the last one you made and that there is no silver bullet or secret trick that will lead to the greatest success that’s ever been had in legacy Unity
5. Acceptance – this is the hardest stage.  You need to accept that you will finish the build because not doing so relegates all the previous time spent to wasted time.   The problem is that you are sick-and-tired of looking at it and sick and tired play testing it.  The level of drive at this stage is at an all-time low for the project and all you want to do is close Unity and walk away.  You force yourself to dig-in and work towards completion.  All-the-while you are constantly fighting the intense desire to just render and call it the “done.”

 

Although I am not a designer, I can certainly feel your pain of frustration and sometimes the disappointment when going through the numerous steps of the designing process. I tried tackling the APCD in Links 2k3 a couple of times and knew that if I didn't abandon that idea, that I was going blow a gasket. 

[DPRoberts]

Wonderful post jspirate! I'm forever stuck in the bargaining phase. Damn Unity and its limitations!

[M Rose]

It's when you get to the very end and find yourself doing a lot of course builds in a short period of time, perhaps even for one small stupid fix or tweak. That's when you go nuts.

[axe360]

And the planting! Oh man, the planting!

[jspirate]

It's when you get to the very end and find yourself doing a lot of course builds in a short period of time, perhaps even for one small stupid fix or tweak. That's when you go nuts.

 

I can't say I relate to this as a whole.  I am new to this course building stuff.  That said, one thing that I did think about while reading your post is that I ALWAYS find something that needs attention.  The only way I don't find anything is when I stop looking.  At some point you have to stop looking... then you go to beta and other people look.  Other people that are in a totally different place than you are.

 

LOL, this thread is great therapy for me!

[Joe Habiger]

Drawing shapes and finding the best textures I hated, I was always just to anal on that stuff and that's why I don't put out many courses. I can't seem to stop being so analish so other things like planting just seem to never get done.

[DoGgs]

Planting is by far the most frustrating part, i'm always chopping and changing.  Some i never manage to like. but you can't get too hung up on it, as for fly by's ...nah!  with all the splines on they are a PITA when you don't have a high powered rig, you don't need em anyway.