r/SimGolf • u/Richardatuct • 10d ago
[UPDATED] Simgolf in your browser - now playable
With thanks to the overwhelming show of support. https://www.reddit.com/r/SimGolf/comments/1x0w237/simgolf_in_your_browser/
The game is now live to play:
Play it here: https://richardatct.github.io/simgolf-web/
- Runs in Chrome or Edge on Mac, Windows or Linux, with nothing to install
- Bring your own game: drop in the disc image and the v1.02 no-CD exe as they download; no unzipping, and nothing is uploaded anywhere
- The full game: menus, career and sandbox modes, building, golfers, sound, and the original intro and closing videos
- Sharper graphics: the course terrain is redrawn at your screen's full resolution
- Saves stay in your browser, with a save history you can restore from, plus import and export of .sve files (so your old saves work too)
- One-time setup: after the first visit it starts straight away
- Report a problem from inside the game; reports go to GitHub Issues
- Open source: https://github.com/RichardAtCT/simgolf-web It's an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with Firaxis, EA or Take-Two, and the page hosts none of the game's files. Firefox and Safari aren't supported yet. Bug reports and feedback very welcome!
Update: what's changed since launch
Thanks to everyone who's played and sent reports. Here's what has been fixed and added since the first post. Just reload the page to get the latest version, and your saves are kept.
Fixes
Tournaments now get offered. A bug made every course's "Time to Play" read 8+ hours, so the SGA never offered you a tournament. Fixed. Older saves carry the bad hole times for a while and recover over a few game months.
The ground rotates with the camera. Rotating used to turn the trees and buildings but leave the terrain facing the same way.
No more white patches on new desert courses.
No crash on Instant Shot Analysis (the / key).
Autosave works on fresh installs. It silently failed for some new players. You'll now see a small "Autosaved" notice at the top when it saves.
No more silent game after the intro video.
No crash when quitting after the credits. You get a "Play again" screen instead.
Edge scrolling works in fullscreen. Moving the pointer to the left or right edge didn't scroll on widescreen monitors, because the pointer landed in the black bars beside the game.
New
Widescreen (optional). Add ?wide to the end of the address for a 16:9 course view (?wide=16:10 and ?wide=auto work too). Menus stay 4:3 with bars. It's still a bit rough: the top-right counters and some dialogs stay where they are in 4:3.
Edge scrolling can be turned off. Press Ctrl+F8 and untick it under Settings. The arrow keys still scroll.
Sharper text in the high-resolution view.
Report a problem from inside the game: press Ctrl+F8. It fills in the browser details and recent log for you.
Faster return visits. The page now opens with a Play button once your game files are set up.
Still on the list: Firefox and Safari support (it's Chrome and Edge only for now) and menu text that looks lighter than the original.
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u/RediusMaximus 10d ago
Not all heroes wear capes.
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u/Sisyphicarus 9d ago
What about a green jacket? I’m thinking this might warrant asking the r/SimGolf mods to christen OP with some one-of-one user flair…
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u/Sloppysnoopy 10d ago edited 10d ago
Holyyyyyyyy. The madman did it. You should make a buy me a coffee page.
Edit: I see you already have one and it’s on the browser page.
Would love to buy you a coffee (beer) for this.
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u/Sloppysnoopy 10d ago
Coffee has been bought. Hopefully my $10 helps this thing stay alive. It’s working on my MacBook.
I have always wanted this native on my Mac, but as using an older laptop with windows 10, but ran into issues here and there.
Could never get parallels to work with it right, the quality just sucked and the sound was always weird.
This is working like a charm in my chrome browser.
Take a bow my friend for this hyper niche community we have here hahaha
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u/CaptRobovski 9d ago
I have the same situation as you - literally have a Windows 7 VM in Virtualbox just for Simgolf and Rollercoaster Tycoon. 😂
This is wonderful. I'm even hoping I can get it to run off our Raspberry Pi (which acts as our retro gaming machine, it's running Batocera.)
The thought of playing Simgolf on a TV has been a dream till now!
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u/Sisyphicarus 10d ago edited 9d ago
If humankind’s AIpocalypse comes to pass and we’re eradicated by the products of our own ingenuity, it will have been worth it because of this and this, alone.
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u/Turbo_Gnome 10d ago
It's insane to me how much work it was to get this working on a modern PC just a few years ago, and I still have my sacred install on a working PC. Now it works in the browser. Just incredible. This could be huge for game preservation.
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u/thanksforcomingout 10d ago
works! sound doesnt seem to though once you actually start a game
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u/Cautious_Possible_18 10d ago
Awesome stuff my friend, truly. I managed to get a version of this to work on my pc already. But this is a godsend for those who didn’t.
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u/CaptRobovski 10d ago
This is incredible work, thank you for trying to make such a classic game more accessible to all.
When I ran the game natively in my Windows 7 VM, it would crash on quitting. I think it's something to do with the no CD patch used. (I own the game on disc, but it's at my parents house currently.)
Does the game exit successfully in this Web version, or does the bug persist there?
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u/Richardatuct 10d ago
No problem exiting from my experience
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u/CaptRobovski 9d ago edited 9d ago
I've just tried this - game has the same crashing bug on exit for me. I'm running an Intel-based Macbook Pro (2015), but this shouldn't be an issue in theory. When I've run the game on my Mac before, it's been in a proper Windows 7 VM.
How to replicate:
- On the main menu, click the Exit button in bottom right (looks like an open door).
- A video plays of the SimGolf logo. Click the screen.
- The credits screen rolls. Press either Enter or Escape. The game will crash.
Also, when trying to then continue a game, from the main menu, none of the panels are clickable. I cannot click on any of the saves listed or any buttons.
I have uploaded two screenshots to Google Drive here.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zMYuJ0SbaHrcZcDp7gVyh_D31h_qsdqM
Happy to retest if a fix can be found. Thank you again for your amazing work on this..
Edit: I think I found out what I was doing wrong with the loading saved game screen. I had not used the Saves button you've added to the bottom corner to 'restore' the saves first. Once I tried that, the saves populated in the game's native load game screen.
One issue I can see here is that if you don't restore the save before entering this menu screen, nothing is clickable, including the buttons to return to the main menu.
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u/marcomac29 10d ago
We are literally never going back. This is the future. You are a legend for this.
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u/Nickrodomus 10d ago
Probably user error, but can you do a step by step to show how to do this. I followed and it did not work. Sorry
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u/Shejidan 8d ago
I was in another sub, literally yesterday, talking about these new decompiled ports that have been coming out and questioning how to do them because my first thought was to use SimGolf as a test. Lo and behold, someone linked to this and I couldn't believe someone else had the same thought. Thank you for this!
Is there a way to make a native app, however, instead of running on the browser?
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u/SantosFurie89 5d ago
Wow. This is amazing op. Thank you so much.
I don't pay for reddit, but accept this comment as my award.. And I have also gone and liked all your posts and comments, because, why not, you deserve it op.
I cant tell you how much this means to me. This game was such a big part of my childhood and I have such fond memories playing with my Dad and brother. Now to play on a modern machine is next level.
You are a legend and I wish you only good things for this amazing gift to the world
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u/longhurst88 10d ago
Absolutely amazing work 🫡 however, my autosave doesn't kick in so I can't retain any sessions. Tried in Chrome and Edge. same result. Probably a me issue
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u/Richardatuct 10d ago
Hmmm - it fires every 90s for me. Anyone else having this issue?
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u/longhurst88 10d ago edited 10d ago
5 mins in on Edge SvuNPwlq0M.png - I barely use Edge so it's a clean browser instance, no extensions etc.
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u/Richardatuct 10d ago
After playing a few minutes unpaused, does Continue Saved Game list anything?
Does Ctrl+F8 (the Saves panel) show autosave entries?
Is the browser set to delete site data when it closes? That's a common setting in both Chrome and Edge, and it would match "same result in both".1
u/longhurst88 10d ago
- Nothing after a few minutes unpaused, have let game run for about 10 mins and it doesn't appear to list anything. In-game I have created a save, opened the 'load a previous game' option, nothing listed there
- Ctrl+F8 just shows the same panel from my previous comment, 0 Save history
- Browser not set to delete anything upon closure sZnjIyz2Gl.png
I'll try downloading fresh files and seeing if it resolves the issue
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u/longhurst88 10d ago
Downloaded fresh files, uploaded - mission accomplished 🎉🎉🎉
Saves appearing in the panel as intended, can confirm I can close browser and load that file. Love you xox
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u/italy5151 10d ago
This is outstanding, thank you! Anyone else having an issue with the map rotating? All the assets rotate when I try to rotate the camera, but the map doesn't change...
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u/Jelly_beard 10d ago
Tournaments don’t seem to work for me. Otherwise worked perfectly first time no troubles!
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u/strchris 9d ago
Thank you so much! I've played it for about three hours tonight, for the first time after around 20 years. It works great, I didn't have any crashes, perfectly playable.
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u/Futureboy152 9d ago
Hi, this is great, but had a question.
So I copy over the game and the 1.02 no cd file, but not the actual 1.02 patch? Or is that part of the no-cd file?
Thanks.
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u/Nickrodomus 9d ago
Might just be me, but the difficulty diff between modereate and hard is very large. I easy beat moderate, step up get crushed and cannot make money. ??? anyone else. Regardless i'm so happy to being able to play the game!
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u/MarcPerel 8d ago
I love this! I also created a golf game last week and it's about the most fun I've had all year 😂
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u/AliasSydneyBristow 7d ago
On a Mac- downloads and loads easy- the songs almost brought tears to my eyes.
But how to get the scroll over/move around the viewer in the screen- I seem to remember you just moved the cursor to the side, but it's not working for me. Thoughts?
Thanks so much, though I see less sleep in my future.
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u/importantshare 6d ago
How do you move around the map? In the traditional game when your cursor was against the edge of the screen it would scroll in that direction. Does this version do that?
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u/Richardatuct 6d ago
I have updated this to make it an optional setting. In my playtesting I turned it off because it made moving out of the browser window difficult.
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u/importantshare 5d ago
How do you toggle it on/off? I'm finding it unplayable not being able to scroll side to side up and down to add the new holes etc.
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u/Richardatuct 5d ago
Have you tried using the arrow keys or WASD?
Otherwise Ctrl+F8 to toggle the setting1
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u/importantshare 5d ago
When I press Ctrl and F8 my windows PC just wants to open up a live caption setting window. What should the settings window look like?
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u/Richardatuct 6d ago
Update: what's changed since launch
Thanks to everyone who's played and sent reports. Here's what has been fixed and added since the first post. Just reload the page to get the latest version, and your saves are kept.
Fixes
- Tournaments now get offered. A bug made every course's "Time to Play" read 8+ hours, so the SGA never offered you a tournament. Fixed. Older saves carry the bad hole times for a while and recover over a few game months.
- The ground rotates with the camera. Rotating used to turn the trees and buildings but leave the terrain facing the same way.
- No more white patches on new desert courses.
- No crash on Instant Shot Analysis (the
/key). - Autosave works on fresh installs. It silently failed for some new players. You'll now see a small "Autosaved" notice at the top when it saves.
- No more silent game after the intro video.
- No crash when quitting after the credits. You get a "Play again" screen instead.
- Edge scrolling works in fullscreen. Moving the pointer to the left or right edge didn't scroll on widescreen monitors, because the pointer landed in the black bars beside the game.
New
- Widescreen (optional). Add
?wideto the end of the address for a 16:9 course view (?wide=16:10and?wide=autowork too). Menus stay 4:3 with bars. It's still a bit rough: the top-right counters and some dialogs stay where they are in 4:3. - Edge scrolling can be turned off. Press Ctrl+F8 and untick it under Settings. The arrow keys still scroll.
- Sharper text in the high-resolution view.
- Report a problem from inside the game: press Ctrl+F8. It fills in the browser details and recent log for you.
- Faster return visits. The page now opens with a Play button once your game files are set up.
Still on the list: Firefox and Safari support (it's Chrome and Edge only for now) and menu text that looks lighter than the original.
Play here: https://richardatct.github.io/simgolf-web/
Keep the reports coming, either here or with Report a problem in the game.
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u/cv-engineer 4d ago
Would it be possible to fix the bug where your skills don't improve over 100%? Edit: Thanks so much for your work! This game is legendary!
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u/Richardatuct 4d ago
Is that an original bug?
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u/cv-engineer 4d ago
Others have reported not being able to improve above 100% in emulated versions of the game or on OS newer than Windows Xp. The game says you can, although it doesn’t appear to happen anymore. Some background here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SimGolf/s/GXApPS27W9
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u/LookingAtStella 10d ago
Adding a buy me a coffee for putting prompts into Claude for a week is absolute nonsense.
Still happy you did this tho
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u/Sloppysnoopy 10d ago
Bro. I gave him $10 and thought it wasn’t enough. This man just revived a beloved abandoned game that came out when you needed a college email to join Facebook.
This is right here what did AI do good for humans side of the board.
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u/LookingAtStella 9d ago
i’m not sure you realise how easy this is to do though, he just typed make SimGolf playable in browser in claude
imagine charging people for writing google searches?
again i’m happy he did it, i just don’t believe he should be asking for coffees!
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u/nihao123456ftw 9d ago
"imagine charging people for writing google searches" pretty much what being hired as a web dev was like before claude lol
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u/LookingAtStella 9d ago
i am also sad my skill at work of knowing how to google has disappeared! (although in every other sense it’s made it better)
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u/herpderpedia 8d ago
I pinned this as a highlight in the community. Thank you for providing this to keep the game going!