PC version of Golden Tee... any good?

[TOK]

I was cleaning out Ye Olde Computer Closet  and found that I have the 1998 PC version of Golden Tee Golf. It must have come bundled with one of the dozens of video or sound cards I've purchased, because I didn't even realize I had it.

Don't feel like installing it only to find out it sucks and have to uninstall. Does it work decent on a cab w/trackball?

[namedos]

works decent but I like Tiger Woods a lot better.  Graphics are better, control is better, courses are better.

[kinnunenjustin]

I play it all the time on my cab....yeah tiger woods is better but it sure doesnt have the arcade feel of GTG...it works great with the trackball you get just the same control and power as arcade...def give it a shot

[TOK]

I'm not really into Golf enough to spring for a separate golf game, but figured if Golden Tee was pretty true to the arcade version I'd throw it on there.
Wasn't sure if it'd play decent with a trackball, since they most likely geared to playing with mouse.

I'll give it a shot.

[StLouisRod]

Are you kidding?!?!? Golden Tee PC is the BEST game to play on your arcade cabinet, assuming you have a real 3.5" trackball on there (and who wouldn't?)

Here's the best part.... ONLINE play mode!

Simply join Cases Ladder (or any of the other hundred ladders), and start playing other people in that ladder from all around the world. Losers report on the Ladder website. Then you can start kicking butt and taking names! I once got to #20 on the Cases Ladder, but soon got humbled and knocked down again.

But make sure you keep your keyboard handy.... chatting with your play partners is the funnest part! Nothing like a little psychological warfare, right?

And I think the graphics are better than the arcade... especially since IT hasn't improved the graphics AT ALL since 1997!!!

And don't forget to master the "super long drive" shot. Sure it's a "bug" present even in the arcade versions, but it's it's difficult and fun to learn, and impressive to others when you crank out a 400yd drive!

[kinnunenjustin]

Well it didn't improve from 97 til 2k...but have you played 2005...I play it at the bar at least once a week....great game, great sound, great graphics...It's too bad they don't make a new PC version. I can't imagine its extremely difficult to port

[mccoy178]

The PC version that is online, does it have the 3D rendering like the Fore's and TW's, or is still have the old style courses from the mame versions?  And if so, what exactly is the name of the PC version?  Is there different years of it?

[TOK]

StLouisRod, thanks for the additional info. I went on Incredible Technologies website before posting here and saw the info about Cases Ladder, but since the game is old I wasn't sure if the info was current. Page for the PC version looks pretty old.

Here is the page that has a link for the demo if any of you guys are interested in trying it out. http://www.itsgames.com/Products/GoldenTeePC/
I'm busy today, I'll probably install and play the game a little bit tomorrow.

[StLouisRod]

I bought every legal copy of the game I could find on E-Bay (average price $5.00), since IT doesn't appear to even sell the game anymore! What a shame.

 The game didn't initially sell well because who wants to play a cool trackball game with a MOUSE?!?!? Now that many of us have stand up cabinets with a real Golden Tee 3.5" t-ball, the game can finally be played properly. If they were smart they'd start selling the game again, maybe with a trackball controller bundle

Anyway, if they aren't selling it, you might feel better about downloading the game + expanded courses, using WinMX 

[Silverwind]

I have a happ 3" trackball.. will I survive?

 

[mccoy178]

Could someone answer my question please from the above reply?

[Lilwolf]

btw, is there a reason to play the pc version now that its emulated?

It runs well on my system... didn't know what the pc port brings to the table...or...cabinet

[drunkatuw]

And don't forget to master the "super long drive" shot. Sure it's a "bug" present even in the arcade versions, but it's it's difficult and fun to learn, and impressive to others when you crank out a 400yd drive!

What is this super long drive you speak of?  I've searched google and have not found anything about this "bug".  Can you try to explain it or provide a link?

[mccoy178]

Could someone address my question about the 3D rendering.  Ever notice that the fore's have hills and steep slopes to hit around, and the older versions only had pretty flat landscapes and trees?  That is what I'm talking about.  Could someone throw me a bone?

[big daddy]

btw, is there a reason to play the pc version now that its emulated?

It runs well on my system... didn't know what the pc port brings to the table...or...cabinet

I wonder if my setting is incorrect for my mame versions of goldentee...because those emulated (even the new ones like 2k) look absolutely horrible from a graphics standpoint.  My Goldentee pc port looks very good graphically, so that's why I play that one.  Compared to teh graphics of the goldentee pc, the mame emulated one is unplayable because it looks so bad.

But like I said, I've never been able to figure out if that's how the game really was (I never played/saw GT2k outside of mame) or if I just have some settings wrong. 

[TOK]

Could someone address my question about the 3D rendering.  Ever notice that the fore's have hills and steep slopes to hit around, and the older versions only had pretty flat landscapes and trees?  That is what I'm talking about.  Could someone throw me a bone?

I've only played a little bit, but the game is great. There aren't huge elevation changes if that's what you're looking for, but I just played the second of 3 courses and there are holes where you have to shoot up onto greens that appear to be on a slightly different plane.

I'll affirm what the other guys have said -this is an awesome cab game, I'm really glad I found it.

[mccoy178]

Thank you sir.

[TOK]

Do you guys have any odd problems with the game? I've had it installed for two days and did the patch from the web site, but I have some issues.
Golden Tee often hangs on exit, it doesn't save any of the game settings like resolution (should you have to calibrate the track ball with the practice swings every time?), and now I just had it drop me to the desktop after a 157 yard drive that brought me 3 under par! 

It said I made the greatest shots club, showed the replay, then bombed to the desktop at the start of the next hole.

Edit to add: I'm running it on a 2ghz Pentium 4 with 512 meg of RAM, Nvidia GeForce3 Ti200, DX9 and Windows XP with unnecessary services disabled.
MAME is rock solid on the machine.

[TOK]

btw, is there a reason to play the pc version now that its emulated?

It runs well on my system... didn't know what the pc port brings to the table...or...cabinet

I missed your post on first go-round Lilwolf... I'm in PA and have a buddy in upstate NY with a cab. We've been looking for some cab-worthy games with online play. The PC version of Golden Tee appears to have awesome online play support.

[StLouisRod]

Do you guys have any odd problems with the game? I've had it installed for two days and did the patch from the web site, but I have some issues.
Golden Tee often hangs on exit, it doesn't save any of the game settings like resolution (should you have to calibrate the track ball with the practice swings every time?), and now I just had it drop me to the desktop after a 157 yard drive that brought me 3 under par! 

It said I made the greatest shots club, showed the replay, then bombed to the desktop at the start of the next hole.

Edit to add: I'm running it on a 2ghz Pentium 4 with 512 meg of RAM, Nvidia GeForce3 Ti200, DX9 and Windows XP with unnecessary services disabled.
MAME is rock solid on the machine.

I had this SAME problem on a Windows XP machine. But I never experienced it on my older Windows 98SE machine. Maybe you could run the game in Windows 98 compatibility mode (I don't think I ever tried that).

It has something to do with file security. On XP, the game can't overwrite one or more of it's data files. So that's why you keep losing your settings.

I remember posting the problem to a Golden Tee PC web forum and getting many suggestions on how to fix it. But that was over a year ago and I'm drawing a blank right now 

[StLouisRod]

And don't forget to master the "super long drive" shot. Sure it's a "bug" present even in the arcade versions, but it's it's difficult and fun to learn, and impressive to others when you crank out a 400yd drive!

What is this super long drive you speak of?  I've searched google and have not found anything about this "bug".  Can you try to explain it or provide a link?

It's sometimes referred to as the "monster hook". Click on the monster hook icon on the following web page for more details:

http://www.gtgstooges.com/gtg.htm

Basically you turn 1 or 2 clicks left or right (depending on which hook you do). Then do an extreme hook shot, like the ">" or "<" shots. I typically pull back and to the side for a full backswing, then pick up my hand and do it again and again, for like 7 times. It's called "pumping" the ball. Then you quickly do the forward angle to shoot. If done properly, the ball really flies!

Some GTG tournaments outlaw this type of shot, but I figure if you are good enough to master it, why not allow it?

On GTG PC, certain mouse drivers work better and are "hotter" than others. Which seems a little unfair... but either you allow cheats or not, right? No whining!

[TOK]

StLouisRod, thanks for the input. I thought about trying the 98 compatibility mode right after posting my original message. The game renders really slow in that mode for some reason. I mean, like you move your mouse and 10 seconds later something happens slow. It's unbearable.

Since I never ran the unpatched version of the game, I uninstalled, cleaned out the directories (there goes my 157 yard birdie Greatest Shots replay!) and reinstalled. I immediatedly noticed the sound stuttering problem addressed by the patch. Game play seemed OK, but the sound looping is a wicked problem.

I re-installed the patch and played a few holes with no crashes, but the game still hangs on exit. I looked at the PC version FAQ on the web page and couldn't find any helpful info... I missed the web forum linked from the PC version of the web site. They have a general web forum from the main page? I'll take a look.
I'm also going to look at the forum you linked in another post. I also had a look at the Case's Ladder forum, but didn't see any tech help type posts. I didn't want to register and post something that would have got me bombed right from the start  so I went to Google. Tons of links, but just too much to wade through. Lots of links to reviews, arcade tournaments, and vendors. I spent 40 minutes looking at crap in hopes of finding a diamond. Heh.

The fact that you found a forum that has solutions has renewed my hope. I'll keep digging. My brothers and neighbor are going to absolutely LOVE playing this game on the cab, so I don't mind working a little to find a solution.

[TOK]

After a lot of reading, it seems the PC version of Golden Tee has a problem with DirectX 9. The solution seems to be to uninstall it. The game is good, but maybe not good enough to do that.

I hadn't upgraded MAME since .83, so I was stuck with Golden Tee II as the newest version. I'm not a real stickler on graphics if the play is good, but they looked really bad after playing the PC version.
I downloaded .99 and ROM for Golden Tee 3D. This game is very comparable to the PC version of Golden Tee. The play mechanics and menus are pretty much the same, but there are a few downsides...
The graphics aren't quite as sharp as the PC version, doesn't appear to be a way to override the games club selection in the arcade version that you can in the PC version, the PC version saves replays and "Shadow Games" so you can look at highlights and compete against yourself, and finally -the biggie, the PC version has awesome network play. I was in the network chat room and able to find a game minutes after installing.

I might go back to the PC version later, but for now I'll just be playing local games of the arcade version with buddies.