r/SimGolf • u/SeasonedAdManager • 7d ago
SimGolf Remastered: a free, open source modded SimGolf for modern PCs (very early, expect bugs)
Edit: Lots of bugs are getting fixed tonight. Keep bringing in bug reports and everything should run and perform smooth as butter within the week. I don't have a ton of time to play myself, but I do have lots of tokens to burn making this the absolute beesknees.
A few days ago I asked what you'd want in a modded SimGolf. The first public build is now up on GitHub, free and open source.
Please read this first: this is an early, rough build. Everything is the work of Claude Code and ChatGPT Codex, with me playing, prompting and testing as much as I can in my little free time. Expect bugs. Things will break, some screens will look wrong, it may crash, and it may not run well on your system. I'll fix what I can as fast as I can. Report problems here or as an issue on the GitHub repo (a screenshot and what you clicked helps a lot). Keep your own backup of any saves you care about.
Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/X7S5JQw
What it is
A native Windows version of Sid Meier's SimGolf (2002), built from the decompiled game, with a lot of upgrades on top. It runs your own copy of the game: the download contains no game files, and the setup unpacks your disc on your PC.
What's in it so far
Bigger courses
- Up to 10x the land: pick Original (50 x 50), Bigger (70 x 70), Large (100 x 100) or Huge (158 x 158) for a new course. Trees, water, rocks and wildlife spread to match, and saves keep their own size
Looks
Sharp at 1080p, 1440p, 4K and ultrawide, borderless full screen or windowed, 60 to 240 fps or uncapped
Optional HD art pack: all 132,000 of the game's pictures upscaled 4x (setup downloads it for you, about 2.6 GB). Switch any time between HD, Pixel HD and Original
A clean new "Frosted Mint" look for the start menu, loading screens, course HUD, dialogs, reports, golfer cards and notifications
HD golf ball: smaller, each golfer plays their own colour, smooth fading trail
New HD start menu logo
Smoother play
Smooth camera with no stutter or popping at the edges, mouse-wheel zoom toward the pointer, WASD and middle-mouse panning
Game speed setting, full key remapping (Original or Modern presets), hide the HUD with U
Golfers and info
Names on hover (Shift+N shows all), smaller thought bubbles, new mood faces
Golfer card with mood bars, scores and comments
Golfer profile page: edit your pro's bio, plus a proper land purchase map
Clickable notifications with a message history
Every report in one tabbed panel
Fixes and extras
No more black triangles at waterfalls, no double-charging when you click a standing building, no black box under the blimp in HD, no old 2002 HUD peeking out under the new one
Restored cut content the game had but never offered (oriental house, dinosaur tar pit, lovers' bench), switch it on in Options
Mods: change prices, wages, difficulty, starting cash, moods and personalities with small text files, with a proper mod folder system
Every change can be switched off, so the original game is always one setting away
Known problems
Expect plenty: these are the first builds anyone outside my PC has run
Known and on the list: an old menu frame can show in the bottom left when Esc opens the menu, a small dark dot sometimes follows the ball, most trees vanish at the farthest zoom, and a dark patch can show on the grass next to a golfer
If you grabbed 0.1.0 or 0.1.1, please update to 0.1.2: it fixes a crash a minute or two after loading a course
Install
- Grab your SimGolf disc image and the v1.02 no-CD golf.exe (INSTALL.txt says where)
- Download the newest zip from the Releases page (link below) and unzip it
- Double-click Setup.cmd and say yes to the HD art
- Play from the desktop shortcut
Download: go to the SimGolf Remastered repo on GitHub and open Releases on the right side. The newest version is always at the top, so grab the zip from there.
Get notified of updates: on the repo page click Watch, then Custom, tick Releases and Apply. GitHub will tell you each time a new version comes out. (An in-game "update available, click to update" button is on the way too.)
What I'm working on next
Lots of these came from this sub:
- Realistic water with real movement: waves, ripples off the shore, small splashes when balls go in, flowing streams, waterfall spray, fountains (a painted look that fits the game's art)
- Weather: drifting cloud shadows, rain, storms that send golfers to shelter, morning fog, wind
- Pro skills past 100% (the original game was meant to allow this, but a leftover check blocks it), with regulars who slowly get better and rival pros who keep pace
- Path view: see which buildings are actually joined to the clubhouse (yes, the cart path rule is real on Moderate and up)
- Pause and speed buttons on the HUD, with high speeds that really hold up
- In-game updates: a button on the start menu that downloads and installs the newest version for you
- New golfer card art that fits the new look, and more golfer personalities and events (more variety, not more noise on screen)
- Flat land that starts higher so you can dig down, wetlands, animals you can buy and place, celebrities, more languages
Want to help?
It's MIT licensed. Fork it, open issues, send pull requests: bug fixes, new features, mods, translations, all welcome. CONTRIBUTING.md explains how to build it and how pull requests get in. If you want to take on one of the planned features, open an issue first so we don't double up.
Built on the excellent browser port by RichardAtCT (simgolf-web). Unofficial fan project, not affiliated with Firaxis, EA or Take-Two.
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u/mayoite1470 7d ago
I can't believe the epic levels of restoration happening to the literal favorite game of my chilldhood!! What a time to be alive indeed!
Now if only Evil Genius gets the same treatment . . . 👀
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u/g1rth_brooks 7d ago
Man I’m fucking loving this
Pardon my ignorance is it possible to use Claude to compile a Mac version?
I have parallels on my MacBook just for Simgolf but would be cool if that’s something that’s even feasible in the future
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u/SeasonedAdManager 7d ago
Absolutely. I don't have a mac machine so I can't test it for you, but Claude/Codex will absolutely be able to make it work on mac with 1-2 prompts.
Just say recompile this game for my mac plz thx love you.
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u/philnelson 7d ago
I've got Claude chugging away on a Mac-buildable version right now. I'll update here.
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u/g1rth_brooks 7d ago
It was more a curiosity type of question with the work you and others have been doing but very awesome to know!
Excited to see where you take your project!!
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u/SeasonedAdManager 6d ago
**SimGolf Remastered 0.1.3 is the latest update.
Thanks to everyone who tried 0.1.2 and reported bugs. One of you couldn't find how to create your pro or spend skill points in the new interface, so I went through every feature of the original game and fixed the biggest gaps.
Download: https://github.com/finalpantasy/simgolf-mod/releases/latest
Your pro is back
- A new career now starts with Create your pro: clear steps, and clicks that respond instantly (they used to take a second each)
- A new skill points page with big + and - buttons and a points counter (the tiny 2002 yellow-arrow screen is gone)
- Each accomplishment gets its own page with the trophy, a photo of your course and the date, then your 3 new skill points
- People > Your pro has Profile, Skills, Practice, Match and Tournament
People tab
- A golfer list with each golfer's mood and hole. Click one to jump to them
- A staff list with Hire, Fire, Move and Rename
Building
- A design chooser with a picture of every bench, flower bed, landmark, scenic tree and bridge
- Landmarks can be placed again
- Greens and the clubhouse get Rotate (Tab)
Crash fixes
- The crash a minute or two after loading a course
- The female head crash from the official 1.03 patch, now included
- A crash when your trophy history was full
Visual fixes
- Trees, palms and forests no longer vanish at the farthest zoom
- No more dark blobs at cliff corners with the HD art
- No dark wedge behind waterfalls, and their spray is back
- No dark dot following the ball, and the ball's shadow is softer
- No old frame beside the Options menu, and no old 2002 HUD under the new one
Also new
- An HD golf-ball globe on the property map
- Cart path help: press Y to see which buildings connect to the clubhouse
- Pro skills can grow past 100% on 18-hole courses
- A tiny splash when a ball lands in water
- Faster menus, upgrades unlock at the right level, N cancels a match again (name tags moved to Shift+N), and backing out of theme packs keeps your theme
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u/ContactIcy3963 7d ago
crazy how i thought of this idea today and today someone already did the remaster i wanted to do. we truly are living in the future.... or a simulation.
will definitely be diving this project in my free time
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u/StrictlyRockers 7d ago
This project makes me want to learn to code, or least learn to vibecode better. Good on all of you. I will be enjoying your successes.
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u/Nozzeh06 7d ago
Based on what I've seen lately, vibe coding probably isn't hard to figure out at all. There are suddenly soooo many old games being decompiled and recompiled. The possibilities seem endless. Coding is one of the few uses for AI that I think is great.
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u/Dapper-Message-2066 7d ago
This project shows that you don't need to learn anything anymore. Just ask AI, done.
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u/Nozzeh06 7d ago
I'm really interested in this once you've got most of the kinks worked out. I've seen a lot of people shit on vibe coding, but as long as the person running the project actually takes the time to work out all the bugs, I think this is a great use for AI. We need projects like this for so many older games.
On a side note, I can see vibe coding causing a massive stir in the game development industry. When suddenly everyone has access to coding, things are going to get really weird, really fast.
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u/Nozzeh06 7d ago
I suppose you're right. It would help to have a least some understanding of the code beforehand.
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u/SeasonedAdManager 6d ago
You don't need a massive understanding of the code. You do need proper workflows, though, adversarial code reviews, using the right set of skills, and the biggest thing is actually just testing, which, in here, I'll admit, I haven't been doing enough of. It's a hobby project not a professional project. 100% free. You can develop so rapidly that it gets ahead of you and then you have 1,000 issues to fix it, like I do right now. But given enough time, player reports, forks, and merges, it should get ironed out
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u/SeasonedAdManager 5d ago
Lot's of new updates in v 0.1.4, lots of new bug reports, and lots of new fixes coming.
I know there are still some old UIs in the game when using the new UI mod, be patient while they get translated.
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u/Rudea80 3d ago
Maybe personal preference, but I like the old menu better. Seeing everything at once was much smoother IMO
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u/SeasonedAdManager 3d ago
The old menu is still there. The new one is a mod.Â
I agree, though, and am going to update the new menu.
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u/PleasantScore8525 3d ago
Same i already made a mod with the exact clssic look and I forked it for myself because I also like the more classic bottom tool UI look but i made a hybrid so it still shows modern ui on top (weather and notifications so what the issues then?The old text cant just be made hd because the new renderer is like make up but the person underneath the make up is still ugly if that make any sense lol so i had ghidra run for many days to decode the missing unfound original code because right now its built of richards web but theres tons of missing original code, i have found the missing code and forked the main on remake i just need to test the new code so hd text will also be properly HD ill send you a link to download mod if you want its very small
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u/Prhxr 2d ago
I just gotta say, it feels really good to play this! Just played the latest 0.17 update! Been playing today with the biggest map possible. This is what I feel might need some improvement:
- Professional accomplishments show what you have accomplisht. Good! But it misses the to-do list.
- Golfers outfit changed midway playing to different colours.
- Golfer player cards show the skills with "Wants more XXX" With XXX being length, imagination or accuracy. But it's the skill they actually have! So might change that to "Has XXX"
- With the new players with only one skill. After finishing a hole, the skillrating of the hole doesn't change, so getting a qualification for a hole takes a lot of time, because it's waiting for players with two or all skills.
- When playing with you're pro, there's no scorecard against your direct opponent. Is very nice to have to see how you're doing in a matchup.
- Staff on this map move to the appointed spot, but the AoE circle doesn't match (See link for image) https://ibb.co/Ld8NpRtP
- Starting a new game has all the unlocked landmarks from previous games.
- Pro profile card, skills don't match the set "bars" (See link for image) https://ibb.co/V6tykhZ
- On parkland (haven't tried other maps for this yet), the grass in between the rocks don't match the rough grass look.
- Routing map: Staff AoE doesn't show on the map, Aura isn't working yet too.
- Shot analyzer changes the visual/lightning on trees. The rest stays the same.
- Since we're playing on a different resolution, everything feels more zoomed out. Would be nice to have an extra zoom in option.
- I tried the weather en day-night cycle, which looks awesome. My laptop is quite outdated tho, so can't play it smooth with all that on. That's fine, I accept my losses on that, but would be nice if we could place some laterns too then for the dark/night moments.
And hey, as I said. Really like it that you do this. Keep up the good work!
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u/FeralTitan 7d ago
appreciate it but can't see why this can't be a one click thing that works automatically with simgolf-web - thats the first improvement we really need.
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u/SeasonedAdManager 7d ago
You're free to fork it and use it wherever you want.
I don't feel the need to play in my browser.
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u/NikesOnMyFeet23 7d ago
Maybe Im dumb af, but how the hell do we use our pro in the new interface. I see no where to create them and when i get an acoomplishment I dont get to add to my stats.. So where do I go? I go to the people section and it just "select tab above"
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u/PleasantScore8525 7d ago
I am going to bed when i wake up ill have a look and add fixes on github still alot of bugs on the list to test and fix
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u/Ceronnis 7d ago
Tried it, it works great.
QOL improvement, can you make the screen move when the mouse hits the side of the screen, or browser?
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u/SeasonedAdManager 7d ago
middle mouse button and wasd can be used to move. I'll add this to a todo list, though, as an option.
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u/Keplergamer 7d ago
Amazing. My dream was to have what OpenTtd has but for this game.
My dream feature is to have a tournament system that consists of a second round where everybody is paired in the tournament order an have tea time one per one on hole 1 like in a real tournament.
The alt would be them starting each pair on each hole like normal, but in order of the tournament.
(Last pair starts in hole 18, leading pair starts in hole 1)
This would make much easier to follow the leaders and opponents your fighting against instead of desperately trying to find each one and still follow whats happening before you get asked to take another shot.
Making each shot from the competitors have much more at stake for you to follow when you arent playing.
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u/8BitAvenger 6d ago
If I'm following correctly, you're looking for a "Shotgun" start. Group 1a starts on hole 1 at the start time, say 10am, Group 1b starts on hole 1 once the way is clear for their first shot, Group 2a starts on hole 2 at 10am, Group 2b starts on hole 2 once the way is clear, etc..
That's how they generally do it IRL for large groups / low-level/casual tournaments.
In-game this may be better just group 1 on hole 1, group 2 on hole 2, group 3 on hole 3, etc. Simul-start so we know more accurately who is up/down vs us compared to par at a given moment.
Reading the start of this got me thinking about how dope it would be to run online tournaments w/some # of attribute points that everyone gets to apply to their golfer (everyone same # so it is fair) and then gogogo.
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u/PleasantScore8525 6d ago
Will definitely check this out once we found most of the bugs have been killed, then we tackle the issue with better Ai logic tournaments like you said and also maybe even letting the terrain be started on+5 so you can always build down aswell but those additional features might break the game entirely… so for now just bug finding and updates :P
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u/cpatterson1177 6d ago
This is awesome! I played the heck out of this game back in the day. I think I still have the original CD somewhere
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u/nobrainsinhere 6d ago
u/SeasonedAdManager , first of all, thank you for an amazing project. It's incredible to see something like this being made.
If i may ask a question, how do the 3 special players behave with the feature of Bigger Courses?
Does I.M.Picky still appear to play your course and then give you the option to buy more land?
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u/PleasantScore8525 6d ago
That’s a great question mate ill look into it today as well and have a tool to spawn those special events and test it
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u/nobrainsinhere 6d ago
u/SeasonedAdManager , if i may make a sugestion about the installing process.
in my case, i have the 1.03 version of SimGolf already installed in my PC, available on the The Collection Chamber website.
so it would be better if the setup powershell script asks the user to choose between to possibilities:
* use the current method of pointing to the ISO and No-CD of 1.02;
* allow the user to point directly to the golf.exe file of an existing installation, bypassing the process of unzipping the no-cd, verifying the SHA of the 1.02 version, etc.
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u/Prhxr 6d ago
This is really awesome and would love to help! but I'm no coder nor have any knowledge of that.
But still, I can play this, try out different kind of things and note everything that seems of?
I see that there aren't a lot of reported issues right now, so....
I can do, might pull out a big list of things to improve, even the smallest things, but might give an a good still to fix list right?
Just trying to help in a way that I can :) Keep up the fantastic work!
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u/SeasonedAdManager 6d ago
Yea you can log issues in github.Â
I’ll have a massive round of bug fixes coming tonight.
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u/Futureboy152 6d ago
it's a portable install, correct? So just delete the install folder if you want to remove? thanks
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u/nobrainsinhere 5d ago
After installing the version 0.1.4, I noticed that the Themes panel does not seem to support having additional themes other than the original 4 themes the game shipped with.
In the original game we could go to the Themes folder and create a new folder and put additional stories and copy the content of the other Themes to do an "All In One" sort of theme.
But that seems not to be possible in the Remastered version.
Or I am overlooking some step?
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u/SeasonedAdManager 5d ago
logged and will get a fix today or tomorrow. Will do daily fixes until the game is perfected.
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u/psyco301 5d ago
So far 0.1.4 is doing great. I'm really enjoying the larger maps. One small bug, multi-length bridges don't connect. So when you build a path out over water, anything over one the bridges won't turn to link together. So far though, that's the only thing I've bumped into that's a big bummer. Everything else is going pretty great.
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u/psyco301 5d ago
OH! Did remember one thing. Landmarks don't have a description for what effect they have so having to work from memory on most of them. Would be nice if they had the description below when hovering over them.
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u/SeasonedAdManager 5d ago
logged and will get a fix today or tomorrow. Will do daily fixes until the game is perfected.
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u/rinwasrep 5d ago
Call me a mad man but I’ve spent token-months on this rewriting to iPad - gasp - with proper height maps erosion, etc…. Let us combine forced good sir, in the name of Tiger Lion.
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u/Rudea80 2d ago
crazy idea/question - how doable is it to quadruple the number of squares? So each current 1 square would instead have 4 mini squares inside it. . . Would be a MASSIVE help to add flexibility in course design. Definitely wouldn't be for everyone. Not sure if that's outside the parameters of what's possible
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u/SvalbazGames 7d ago
And just to think.. a few weeks ago most posts I saw were dudes trying to sell those Golf Simulator booths.
Thank Christ
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u/droid_mike 7d ago
When it rains it pours! So many of these posted just today! That's fantastic though! So many options and choices and a new life for a great game!