The PGA 2000 diary

[Viper]

Steve,

Thanks. I assumed there was a lot of difference in this game depending on what textures were used. There are a few forum posts here that touch on the subject.
It's another reason I'm really not fussed about switching to 3 click from Trueswing. I enjoy 3 click for starters. I don't enjoy shooting 15 under par where you are looking to birdie every hole on the course and eagle the par 5's. Never could understand why people were happy shooting such low scores. With PGA 2000, the various texture properties, course conditions and even the meter itself all seem like you can make it quite a task to shoot good scores. I have plenty of experimenting to do to try and work out how I will set things up permanently. A drawing cards method may not be a bad idea.

If I want something random, I use a random number generator. I assign the things I need selected numbers and let the generator do it's thing. For example, in a F1 racing game I play, out of the 17 races in a season I want 3 wet weather races. I use a generator to select a random number between 1 to 17. The first 3 results are the races that will be under wet conditions.

[J.J.]

Although I haven't played PGA2K for a long while I do remember mastering TrueSwing and being quite consistent without hitting the crazy low scores some were managing. Something changed, can't remember whether it was Windows XP, Windows 7 or as you mentioned, the demise of the ball mouse. All I know is that after whatever that change was I couldn't get any consistency at all. I more or less stopped playing Season play and focused on messing around with the course designer, churning out an incredible two courses

[Viper]

Although I haven't played PGA2K for a long while I do remember mastering TrueSwing and being quite consistent without hitting the crazy low scores some were managing. Something changed, can't remember whether it was Windows XP, Windows 7 or as you mentioned, the demise of the ball mouse. All I know is that after whatever that change was I couldn't get any consistency at all. I more or less stopped playing Season play and focused on messing around with the course designer, churning out an incredible two courses

Yeah, modern mice seem to be the issue. Go 3 click and play some rounds or set up a new season or pull out the designer again!

[Polslad]

So, the big question for me, after following this thread, with discussion regarding graphic glitches and true swing issues with optical mouse, is, should I install PGA on my current PC?
I bought a new one about 18 months ago and never got around to PGA.
I've been playing JNPG, graphics are great, but there's no game play or competition or season mode, just round after round.
I don't know what spec my PC is, but it's got enough grunt to run the modern programs and a few games, and I guess I'm on the latest windows version too.
Am I likely to get the pixelated golfer and other issues?
I guess there's any easy way to find out!

I do miss the architect and real course projects.
Shame there's no demand for them any more.

David.

[Viper]

Am I likely to get the pixelated golfer and other issues?
I guess there's any easy way to find out!

Unfortunately, if using Win 10, yes, plenty of issues most likely. You can try and report results. So far everyone on Win 10 has had the same issues.

A virtual machine works well but only for 3 click not Trueswing.

Should add, I think no matter what it takes, it's worthwhile to get PGA 2000 running.
Lets face it, PC golf is dead from any real future potential coming from new games. Coronavirus is going to make the gaming market even tougher in the future as the industry will suffer the economic effects just like any other industry. I expect to see more mainstream game development and many of the niche type games becoming not viable to develop as consumer spending in the gaming market is liable to not be what it was until now. Unless another Tiger Woods enters real golf, I can't see virtual golf rising again.

Luckily, we already have many great golf games from the golden era of PC golf. The effort to get them up and running is worthwhile if you are a virtual golf fan. These are the golf games we will likely be playing for a very long time yet if not forever.

The best solution is an old Win XP machine. You can play them all without hassle except maybe the old Links LS series which can provide issues even on Win XP for some.
If not using a Win XP machine, Links 2003 and Golden Bear Challenge are the only old golf games left that work pretty much problem free on Win 10 for most people. PGA 2000 seems ok for 3 click using a virtual machine.

[Viper]

As a quick update:

I've worked all through Covid, been VERY busy! Time has been minimal for games.
I have a little more time now so I looked to break out PGA 2000.
I'm so impressed with this game and now that it works on Win 10, heck, virtual golf could not be in a better place.
Going to set up a season, start exploring all the great courses I downloaded and get my 3 click game going.
I hope a few people drop by and return to the game now that everyone can play it again on Win 10.
I still sit here long after discovering things like the season capabilities of PGA and am blown away with the great job they did.
I'm totally looking forward to the next few months playing PGA 2000!

[Westerner]

Links 2003 and Golden Bear Challenge are the only old golf games left that work pretty much problem free on Win 10 for most people...

I found that Jack Nicklaus 5 also works in WIn 10 "straight off the disk", no patches needed.
Not as polished as GBC, and I find the putting more difficult.

JN4 and earlier in the series are not compatible with 64 bit architecture.

[Viper]

I found that Jack Nicklaus 5 also works in WIn 10 "straight off the disk", no patches needed.
Not as polished as GBC, and I find the putting more difficult.

Ok, thanks, good to know. I never tried JN5. Does it have any tournament/season type mode? For me that would be one issue and the other is I don't have any courses for it. The first and only JN game I played was JN6/GBC.

What golf games do you play Westerner?

[Westerner]

Does it have any tournament/season type mode?

Not any more. It looks like all the tournaments were connected to the original publisher Accolade.
No season mode.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=screen+shots+ ... us-5_2.jpg

I don't have any courses for it.

They have a few at Golden Bears Den Community, mostly they just convert them to GBC.
You'd have to sign up with the site to get to them.

[BrianZ111]

This site actually will become the future home of the Jack Nicklaus Signature Edition (JNSE) courses, files, etc. JNSE is the 1992 version of the JN series. I talked with Fred Hanser a little over 3 weeks ago, who still runs a tour for the game called Play with the Pros at http://pwp-tour.000webhostapp.com/ and since there is no other host for all of the content for this game currency, I offered to host it and he is going to upload it. The only hold up is me having time to get the webpages together and up. This was a DOS game so you have to run it in DOSBox on today's OS's. I haven't actually run the game myself since I retired my XP machine 11 years ago and that was 32-bit so I don't know if DOSBox works with 64-bit machines. JNSE is the only JN game I ever played. I made the jump over to FPS: Golf's after that and the mouse swing had me hooked. That later became the PGA series.