18 replies to this topic

[worrybirdie]

I've used several course designers before this, and this one reminds me of the level

designers for some of the shooters I've played. It's just an access into the same software they use as professional level designers, and just as unfriendly. The PP devs promised us an easily usable course designer. This is not it. Yes, I've done all the tutorials, printed out hint books, and I still can't do the most basic of tasks in trying to make my vision come to life. It's buggy, its quirky, and its not ready for primetime, though its been out for over a year. Maybe when the W10 version comes out it will be improved...because this version is for the hardest of hard core.

[✠ davef ✠]

figured out way back it was not for me then i tried again, and again

this stuff is way beyond me i think people who are designing courses might 

have had a little education on computtering or something cause i have been on these things for a bunch

of years and can navigate the machine enough to not have many problems i can't figure out without to much help.

i just hate having to put up posts to try and get the guys who are designing to do some courses i would like to see in the game. 

 

Hey where them Trump courses fella's

just funning. lol

[Dazmaniac]

WB,

Just curious what exactly you find unfriendly about Course Forge?

[Jimbo63]

WB,

Just curious what exactly you find unfriendly about Course Forge?

Daz - item is headlined Unity is lunacy, so is WB implying that it is the reliance on Unity that is the problem, not Course Forge itself. I found that Course Forge was relatively easy to understand but Unity proved too complex for my old brain. I soon realized that I would never be able to design courses to anywhere near the standard of the ones already being made for this game and hung up my JNPG designer boots 

[Crow357]

I learned ALOT about Unity, doing one of their video tutorials on how to make a game in Unity.  I fear Unity no longer... lol.

[Dazmaniac]

I only asked as majority of the work to layout the holes, place tees, pins, hazards etc is all done with CF.

Unity is basically required to sculpt terrain and plant 3D objects.

It just makes me wonder if he actually downloaded CF or is just trying to design using Unity alone, lol.

[Drgnslyr221]

A lot easier than APCD. Less buggy too.

[worrybirdie]

Daz I was speaking mostly of Unity. CF is for the most part similar to course designers I've used. Perhaps they could do what they did with CF to the rest of the Unity experience. Create a simplified interface that was specifically made for course design. They could also make it possible to still get directly into Unity to do some of the most sophisticated tricks.

[worrybirdie]

Found this link to the original CF youTube (from Jan. 2013!) in order to respond to a posting in a different thread. It really belongs here. Notice the fundamental differences between the simple interface in the movie and what it ended up as.

 

(https://youtu.be/hmqEKRHzM-c)

[RobC]

Looks and works pretty much the same to me...I can create that same hole in the same amount of time

Course Forge now compared to then is even easier to use I would say...less menu's and more just clicking icons for what you want

[DPRoberts]

WB, there are really only 4 main parts to the process to create a hole/course.

1 - sculpting terrain (Unity)
2 - outlining and planting desired aspects of the hole (green, fairway, rough, etc), tees, shot points, pins and hazards (CF)
3 - painting terrain textures and adding vegetation (Unity)
4 - Compile course build and play! (Unity/ CF)

You can make as easy or complicated as you wish.

Which of the above points is your hurdle? Might help identify CF or Unity issues.

The interface provided by CF is actually much more user friendly than several other peripheral assets that I have wasted money on. Many are basic text based boxes with limited/ no icons.

At least for me, CF is probably the best bang for buck on a hobby game that I have spent. Certainly has provided more than 30 bucks of entertainment.

[jt83]

That's the kind of thing newbies need - a workflow.  I found one on OGT and it made starting out a lot easier.

 

I think people are running into trouble because all the different steps to making a course haven't been unified, unless you just want to play around in the tutorial terrain.  If that's all you want to do, then Mike's tutorials suffice.  If you want to make a real course, the steps would be something like - 

1.  Watch Mike's tutorials

2.  Follow Joe H's lidar tutorials or ask someone to make the heightmap, import it

3.  Use a workflow combined with the tutorial advice to build course

 

If you want to make a fresh course on flat terrain in Unity - well don't ask me!

[Keith]

I never dreamed I would design a golf course, but have now completed 14 holes.  There have been many bumps in the road, but if you stick with it the Unity/CF setup is definitely rewarding.  I can't thank the PP team enough for making this available to us. 

[Dropzone73]

I've used several course designers before this, and this one reminds me of the level

designers for some of the shooters I've played. It's just an access into the same software they use as professional level designers, and just as unfriendly. The PP devs promised us an easily usable course designer. This is not it. Yes, I've done all the tutorials, printed out hint books, and I still can't do the most basic of tasks in trying to make my vision come to life. It's buggy, its quirky, and its not ready for primetime, though its been out for over a year. Maybe when the W10 version comes out it will be improved...because this version is for the hardest of hard core.

I had never used any designer software and I could make my first real course (Kytaja Golf, South East) in three months. I downloaded lidar data by myself and made it usable and right size for Unity. Used lidar ascii files to find out the min and max heights of the course. I watched tutorials of lidar from You Tube and Mike's tutorials of Course Forge. Then posted some questions here when in trouble and then it's just patience and hard work. I could also make birds and butterflies fly in the course. There were troubles in all aspects but it was doable.

 

There are always many thinks that could be simplier and easier, but I think it's great that we can use the same gear as the pros and add our own personal style into it. It's just the question of will to get it done.

 

So, stop whining and go for it. You have already wasted half year.

[Kablammo11]

Found this link to the original CF youTube (from Jan. 2013!) in order to respond to a posting in a different thread. It really belongs here. Notice the fundamental differences between the simple interface in the movie and what it ended up as.

 

(https://youtu.be/hmqEKRHzM-c)

 

The video you linked only shows the Unity "Scene" window - the rest of Unity is there as well, but out of frame. If you look closely, you can spot Mike's cursor moving outside to set sculpting brushes in the nearby, hidden Unity terrain editor. 

You will never ever get a standalone CF app that looks as simple and sleek as the one you thought you saw in that video, sorry. Would be nice, though. But that's not on.

I do not subscribe to the notion that Unity/CF is only for some and not for others. It does require a bit of self-education, stamina and, dare I say it?, WORK. It's not all fun and games, nor is it intuitive, but where there is a will, there is a way. Also, it absolutely does get a lot easier very quickly once you pushed through the first few WTF-challenges. It's a rite of passage, yes. Do you have what it takes?

[nstone73]

 

If you want to make a fresh course on flat terrain in Unity - well don't ask me!

 

You can do this (sort of) by using the supplied terrain and selecting the "Paint Terrain" option on the terrain menu...the second button with the "Height" option. This is where you can paint terrain to be a certain height. You can put in a value in the height box and hit "Flatten"....and then you can remove all the trees. Obviously don't use "Flatten" if you've done any sculpting.

 

With regards to Unity/CF....I never managed to complete a course in any other design software (looking at you, APCD), let alone one I would release for other people to play. To be honest, I went very little off script and there are many many other things to play with (I've just started playing with Blender, watching DPR's fantastic tutorials....haven't even touched the layers library yet, or EasyRoads).

[axe360]

My only gripe is the Layers Library. Man, need an tut for dummies. I have messed around and messed around and next thing you know, I lose all libraries.  I tried cloning, making new, I just don't get it.  Doesn't seem like you should be able to Lose all libraries cause you do something wrong.

And not to be rude, I really don't care what anyone else has to say about the Layers Library. I'm just telling you, it isn't as simple as some might say. At least not for me.

 

So the course I have now, will have the same old stock libs. Tough. Probably will be my last anyway..

 

Peace

 

Oh as far as Unity/CF goes, Awesome programs. Love it, beats the hell out of the old TW's Course Architect. Gr8 job on that!!

[Kablammo11]

Larry, you probably saved your new library .cfl file somewhere where you shouldn't have, and probably you were tricked to do that without noticing. Unity is pretty anal about save locations (That actually would be a legitimate lunacy complaint, Unity truly is unbelievably and needlessly obtuse in this respect and should be slapped hard in the face for the next six months only because of this - and CF, as a result, is forced to follow suit to their poor example).

 

Since I usually drag and drop CF into a new project, this creates a conflict between the old project location where CF thinks it should save the .cfl file and the new project location where it does save it into. So it dumps the save into one location (new project folder) then goes looking for it in another one (Perfect Parallel depository outside the project folder) - and comes up empty. By now I pretty much have to load my library .cfl manually at the start of each session and even click on the Cancel button when CF sends me an error message, just to recover it. 

 

But NO WAY your work is lost. Data don't just vanish into thin air, unless you do not click the confirm button on a delete command. Use the search function on your PC to locate the wanted .cfl file and reconstruct the file path in the load window that pops up. Same as you would do with any other file on your PC that you need to conjure up from underneath a pile of folders and subfolders.

[axe360]

Thank you Chris, much appreciated. The good thing is, it was only on a Practice Course that I did this.

 

I think I will try baby steps.

 

So don't anyone take me for my earlier comments that this course textures will just have to stay stock. Lol

I have something in me, that doesn't want to settle for just 2nd best.

Peace