Help File:
There is no Help included in the Beta. If you get the Update, there is an early draft of the manual included.
Missing FOREST.PST
The documentation makes mention of a FOREST.PST that accidentally got left off the CD
Missing OBJECT LIBRARY Button
If you are running in 800x600 or 1024x768, you'll run into situations where the contents of the Command Panel (the panel on the left) don't fit on the screen. To solve this problem, simply position the cursor over an empty portion of the Command Panel. It should turn into a hand. Click and drag upwards and the Command Panel will scroll, allowing you to see the rest of it.
AMD K6 Processors
There is a bug in the Setup that erroneously reports a slow processor if you have an AMD K6. Simply click OK on the Error and continue with the installation. As long as your processor meets the minimum requirements (K6II-300) the Course Designer has no known problems with the K6 line of processors.
Panoramas:
No panoramas shipped on the beta CD, as the panorama functionality wasn't in at that time. With the Update, you can use panoramas. For this reason, we have provided 2 beta panoramas on the Update Website. To use them, download them and unzip them onto your hard drive. Then Open the Course Properties Dialog (Click Edit, Course Properties), and then Click on the Panorama Tab. In the Panorama drop-down, select Custom and click the Browse button (the button with '...' on it). Browse to one of the panoramas and click Ok. You should no see it in the preview window. Click Ok, and the Designer will take a moment to compress it into the course, and then you have a panorama. To view the panorama, make sure you have a Perspective viewport, and right-click on the Perspective viewport label. Click on Display and make sure there is a check beside panorama. This should turn it on so you can view it.
VIDEO INFORMATION:
The Arnold Palmer Course Designer runs in Direct 3D. If your video card doesn't support your current desktop resolution and color depth in D3D, then you will run into an Error message (something along the lines of: "D3D Error. D3D Caps Not Supported"). It's also important to make sure you have enough memory on your video card to run your current resolution/color depth. The following table gives a rough estimate of the Video Memory required for various resolution/color depth combinations:
800x600x16 4MB
800x600x32 8MB
1024x768x16 8MB
1024x768x32 16MB
1280x1024x16 8MB*
1280x1024x32 16MB
1600x1200x16 16MB
1600x1200x32 32MB
1800x1440x16 16MB*
1800x1440x32 32MB*
(*Trying to use this resolution and color depth on a card with the amount of memory listed may not work. This is due to varying Texture Memory requirements as you work on your course.)
Known Video Problems:
Voodoo3 series: The Voodoo3 Series does not provide support for 32-bit color in Direct 3D. To use the Course Designer on a Voodoo3, you will need to change to 16-bit color.
Voodoo Banshee Chipset: There have been at least 2 instances where trying to start the Course Designer on a machine with a Video card using a Voodoo Banshee chip has locked the system up.
General 32-bit color: There are some instabilities in the Beta version when running in 32-bit color. If you experience odd video responses, such as disappearing shapes, try reducing the color depth to 16-bit to solve your problem.
Win9x Issues: The Thumbnails for Objects do not display properly on Windows 9x machine at present. The objects can still be planted, and will appear properly on your course.
OTHER ISSUES:
Playable Course: The beta version produces courses that are playable in Links2001. To have a course that is playable in Links2001, you will need to satisfy two requirements:
-Have 18 holes with pins and tees.
-Have all Tee Ratings assigned to a tee position. This is only an issue if you have less than 5 tees per hole on your course. This can be accomplished by going to the Course Properties Dialog (click Edit, then Course Properties), then clicking on the Per Hole Tab. Select the Hole you wish to edit, then click on the "Assign Ratings to Tee" button. Make sure that the only thing left on the Available side is None.
You will be able to import a course with less than 18 holes into Links2001, but you will only be able to practice on the completed holes. You won't be able to play a round until all 18 holes are complete.
***********************************************************************
BASIC COURSE CREATION INSTRUCTIONS:
This isn't an honest to goodness tutorial. One of the testers here (Lon O.) came up with these instructions recently. They are designed to walk you through creating a very basic course that will work in Links2001. If you wish to modify your terrain to add Hills and valleys or if you wish to plant objects you can skip down the section titled "Other Course Modification Instructions" to find instructions.
**Warning: If you create a very short Par 3, there can still be some problems when you insert the shapes into the Terrain. To avoid this, try to keep your Par 3's longer than 140 yards for now.
Creating a Basic Course
CREATING TERRAIN
-After the program is installed, launch the program.
-Click File and New Course. The New Course Terrain Wizard will appear.
-The default settings in the Terrain Wizard should be good for building a course.
-Click Ok. A Grid of dark green triangles will appear.
PANNING
-Click and hold down the middle mouse button in a viewport.
-Drag the mouse around. The Terrain should redraw in the new position
*If you do not have a middle mouse button to use, click on the Tool Tab. Then click on the Pan button on the Tool bar above the viewports. Then in the viewport you wish to pan, click and drag to pan the course.
ZOOMING
-Hold down the letter Z.
-Click and hold the middle mouse button in a viewport.
-Drag the mouse up and down. The zoom will change accordingly.
*If you do not have a middle mouse button to use, click on the Tool Tab. Then click on the Zoom button on the Tool bar above the viewports. Then in the viewport you wish to zoom, click and drag to zoom the course.
TURNING
-Hold down the Ctrl key.
-Click and hold the middle mouse button in a viewport.
-Drag the mouse around. The Terrain should rotate to the new position
*If you do not have a middle mouse button to use, click on the Tool Tab. Then click on the Navigate button on the Tool bar above the viewports. Then in the viewport you wish to turn, click and move the mouse to adjust the camera. When you have it pointing in the desired direction, click again to set the direction.
CREATING A HOLE
-Make sure that Plan is the selected tab. On the Tool bar above the viewports, click the Define Hole Path button (the picture of the drafting squares). Placing the mouse pointer over a button will display a Tool Tip description of that button.
-Decide what Par you want your first hole to be. Enter the number in the Control Panel on the left in the field that says "Par".
-Decide how many tee areas you want your first hole to have (between 1 and 5). To keep it simple, select one. Enter the number on the left in the field that says "Tee Boxes".
-Click a place on the terrain. A stretchy line should connect this point and the mouse pointer.
-Move the mouse pointer to a spot where the pointer does not show a crossed circle. Click this spot. A second point is displayed.
-If you selected a Par 3 hole, the hole has been defined. There should be wire-framed shapes around the 2 points.
-If you selected a Par 4 or 5 hole, a new stretchy line should appear. Click another spot where the crossed circle is not seen.
-If a Par 5 hole was selected, click a fourth spot in like manner.
-There should be wire-framed shapes around the points.
-You have defined the first hole. The Hole number will automatically increment by one.
-Repeat this process for the other holes.
INSERTING A HOLE
-The wire-framed shapes have not changed the terrain. To do this, click Insert Shape (kidney with arrow) in the Toolbar above the viewports.
-Click the Red shape around each hole. These are the Hole ID Shapes. All wire-frame shapes change the inside terrain to their respective terrain types.
-Each shape can be inserted separately, but clicking the Hole ID shapes is simpler.
-When asked to add a Tee, select Yes.
-When asked to add a Pin, select Yes.
***********************************************************************
OTHER COURSE MODIFICATION INSTRUCTIONS
CREATING HILLS AND VALLEYS
-Click the Terrain tab. The Surface sub-tab should be already selected.
-Click the Paintbrush Height button (picture of a paintbrush) in the toolbar above the viewports.
-Make sure that "Select" has a dot by it in the command panel on the left.
-Select a large area of terrain by dragging a selection box around it in the Top viewport. It is Ok to select the entire course if desired.
-Place a dot by "Modify Terrain". As the cursor goes over the Top viewport, it becomes a spray can with a circle.
-The Radius control on the left controls the size of the circle. The circle determines the width of the mountain or valley.
-The height can be a positive number for a mountain, or a negative number for a valley.
-Click a spot on the selected terrain and drag it across. The mountain/valley will appear where the circle was dragged.
-If the Height was set to a large number try not to drag across a hole. Such a hole would be very hard to play.
PLANTING AND FORESTING
If a course is not already open, open a course. Click File and Open. The Open menu should appear. Navigate around until the desired course is found. Click it and click the Open button. Click the Planting tab and then click the 2D tab below it. If "Object Type" is empty, a Planting Set needs to be opened.
OPENING A PLANTING SET
Click on the Planting tab. Select the 2D tab below it. Click the button on the left labeled "Object Library". The Object Library menu should appear. Click File and Open. The Open menu should appear having a list of available Planting Set files (extension .PST). Select one (Complete.PST is recommended) and click the Open button. The "Planting Set" tab should now contain a list of objects. Close the Object Library menu. The dropdown menu under "Object Type" should contain a list of object types to choose from.
MAKING SURE OBJECTS ARE VISIBLE
Place the mouse pointer over a viewport label (where it says Top, Perspective, etc.). Be sure that the pointer is not over the constraint indicator (where it says XYZ). Click the right mouse button. A menu should appear. Highlight the first menu item, "Display". A secondary menu should appear. Make sure that 2D Objects, 3D Objects, and Crowds all have check marks by them. If an item does not have a check mark, click it with the mouse. Repeat the process for each viewport.
PLANTING AN OBJECT
In the Planting/2D tabs, click the Plant button (tilted tree) in the toolbar above the viewports. Open the drop-down menu under "Object Type" on the left. Select an object type such as Trash Can. If there are no items listed under "Object Name", select another object type. Select an object name. A thumbnail picture of the object should be seen. If not, don't worry about it. Find a place on the terrain to plant an object. It may be necessary to zoom and pan to the desired location (see below). In the Top or Perspective view, click the terrain where the object is to be planted. Wait a moment. The object should become visible most views. 2D objects cannot be seen in the top view.
FORESTING OBJECTS
To plant a Forest, a shape is needed.
CREATING A SHAPE
In Plan/Layout, click the Create Shape button (kidney shape, no arrow) in the toolbar above the viewports. Click and drag a place on the terrain. There will be a `lever' at this location. The center will be where the terrain was clicked, one of the arms will be where the mouse button was released. Click and drag a place nearby. Another `lever' should appear. The second spot should be connected to the first spot by a curved line. Make more levers in this manner to form an enclosed area. To close the area, click on the center point of the first lever.
FORESTING A SHAPE
In Planting/2D, click the Forest button (multiple trees) in the toolbar above the viewports. Select a shape. It should highlight. Select an Object Type, then select an Object Name on the left.
If the Plant Forest button is not visible on the left, the menu needs to be scrolled up. Place the mouse pointer over the command panel on the left. When the pointer turns into a hand, click the mouse and move it upwards. The Panel should move upwards.
With a shape highlighted, click the Plant Forest button. Wait a moment. Several objects (looking the same) should appear inside the shape on most views. 2D objects cannot be seen in the top view. It may be necessary to pan and zoom closer to the shape.
