Getting Started

Before you start building courses, you’ll need a few of different tools installed on your machine to create courses for OpenGolfSim. We recommend grabbing and setting up all these tools before you start. Don’t worry if you’re not very technical, they are all pretty user friendly.

  1. Getting Started
    1. 1. Install Unity
    2. 2. Install Project Template
      1. Universal Project Template (URP)
      2. Desktop Project Template (HDRP)
      3. Adding the project to Unity Hub
    3. 3. Install Inkscape
      1. Setup the OGS Color Palette
    4. 4. Install Course Terrain Tool (optional)
    5. 5. Install Course Meshery

1. Install Unity

We use Unity as our 3D engine and simulator environment. The process for creating OpenGolfSim courses and games uses a specific version of Unity and custom tools to export your course as a Unity asset bundle.

To get started, downloaded and install Unity Editor version 6000.2.6f2. It needs to be that specific version of Unity, or the built course may not work correctly. You can Unity Hub to install specific versions, or directly using the link below.

Download Unity Editor 6000.2.6f2

Note: We are looking into upgrading to 6000.3 soon, now that Unity has dropped official support for 6000.2.

2. Install Project Template

Next, download the latest OpenGolfSim Unity Project Template from our github repository.

We have two project templates for each of our built-in simulator cores, one for both desktop and mobile devices using Unity’s Universal Render Pipeline and another for desktop-only devices using Unity’s High-Definition Render Pipeline.

Universal Project Template (URP)

We recommend starting with our universal template if you are new to course building, or want your course to be available on both mobile and desktop devices.

Create courses playable on:

  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Android
  • iOS

Universal Project Template (URP)

Desktop Project Template (HDRP)

For more advanced users that want to take advantage of additional GPU capabilities of desktop computers and forgo mobile support, we also provide an HDRP project template.

Create courses playable on:

  • Windows
  • MacOS

Desktop Project Template (HDRP)

Adding the project to Unity Hub

  1. Download the project template zip
  2. Extract files to a new folder on your computer with the name of your course/project

  3. Open Unity Hub and in the top-right select Add > Add project from disk

  4. Select the extracted project folder
  5. You should now be able to open the empty template project. The first time you launch it, it will take a minute to install the required packages and tools.

3. Install Inkscape

Inkscape is a free vector graphics editing program. We use it to layout the course using the pen tool to create vector paths that represent features like fairways, greens, tee boxes, etc.

Download Inkscape

Setup the OGS Color Palette

You’ll need the official OGS color palette installed in Inkscape so you can set shapes to the correct color codes.

  1. Download the latest OpenGolfSim color palette:

    Download OGS Color Palette.gpl
    Right-click the download button and select Save Link As…

    1. Save the file to your local machine with a name like OGS Color Palette.gpl

    2. Place the file into the user palettes folder, which can be found via Edit > Preferences > System > User Palettes

4. Install Course Terrain Tool (optional)

Course Terrain Tool is an open-source tool created by OpenGolfSim to source and process real-world lidar point-cloud data into usable terrain data for your golf course. It also downloads and processes satellite and hill-shade imagery to aid in course design.

Download Course Terrain Tool

5. Install Course Meshery

Course Meshery is an open-source tool created by OpenGolfSim to generate course meshes from SVG and raw terrain data files.

Download Course Meshery

You should now be ready to start building your dream course!

Next up: Course Building Guide