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Friday, 24 April 2015

SID MEIER'S SIMGOLF


The Sims became such a cultural phenomenon is the first decade of the new millennium that EA began to milk the brand for all it's worth. Very few of the cash cows were whole new games, let alone developed outside of Maxis, the company that birthed it. Sid Meier's SimGolf is such a game, and offers a whole different style of strategy to play with.

In a short-lived partnership, Maxis gave Firaxis Games - who are best known for the Civilization series - the opportunity to develop a game under the Sims brand. While we have yet to see Maxis develop much from their partner's lineup, they did develop a Sid Meier skin for the Sims.

Perhaps the closest game SimGolf resembles in play style is not from either company's back catalogue, but the likes of Theme Park and Theme Hospital. You place your courses on the 2D isometric landscape and garnish them with landmarks and foliage. There is also a fair amount of money management as you try to coax new golfers to your club.

What it does take from The Sims is not just it's interface and the SimSpeak language, but also the use of a single avatar under your wing - here it's a golfer. This character whose default name is Gary Golfer can be altered to your liking. He will even grow and improve the more he plays in a very minor but welcome RPG element.

All golfers have their own unique stats in three areas: length, accuracy and imagination. Length refers to how far they can hit the ball, accuracy is how straight their aim is and imagination is their ability to perform trick shots like curve balls and using the scenery to their advantage. How good your courses are are dependent on these three skills as well. If your customer base are fairly green to the sport, they will not much like difficult courses. They will tell you your thoughts through speech bubbles that appear over their head as they play, and if it's a particularly noteworthy event, Gary will make sure you know about it. Essentially they have to look hard, but play easy.

The main crux of the game is strategy, but you also have the ability to play your own courses. As a golf sim, SimGolf isn't exactly realistic. You don't have to worry about air speed, wind direction or angry ex wives, but you at least have some idea as to where your ball will land. It's quite satisfying to play your 18 hole course after you've spent hours designing and developing it.

When the game shipped in 2002, it gained decent review scores, but it initially came with a game-breaking bug. If your fairways were too big, the game would crash. A patch was released soon after but this coupled with the low resolution 2D graphics at a time when 3D polygons were king lead to slow sales. It would not be long until it would no longer be supported and in stark contrast to The Sims main series, no addons were released. It has yet to resurface on any of the digital stores, including EA's own Origin platform which is a huge shame.

Sid Meier's SimGolf is one of the most entertaining management strategy games that do not take place in a theme park (although you can add rides later on as an added landmark). It is also one of the most accessible with it's easy to pick up and understand yet not quite as difficult to master mechanics that separate this from other games of it's ilk. It's definitely worth a play.


To download the game, follow the link below. This is a custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber will run natively on modern systems. Manual included. Tested on Windows 10.
    04.01.2017 - Version 2 - Fixed savegame issue.
                                           Added PDF manual

File Size: 172 Mb.  Install Size: 270 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


Sid Meier's SimGolf is © Electronic Arts
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

Like this? Try These...

SimPark  SimAnt  Yoot Tower

45 comments:

  1. Is there a way to save games? I have created a few courses only to have to start from scratch each time I play. The "Load Saved Game" screed is blank.

    Thanks so much for this awesome game!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ok, I've just installed it again to see what's wrong and it appears the Saved Games folder is missing. Apologies for that. For saves to work, simple create a folder in the install directory called "Saved Games" and it wil work from now on.

      Delete
  2. Outstanding! Thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Outstanding! Thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have the CD-Rom version of the game I found in a desk drawer but it won't run on Win 10. Any ideas how to make it run?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This ran straight out of the box if I remember correctly. You may need to run as admin or in XP compatibility mode (both the CD's installer and the game). I used a NOCD patch that I found years ago for CD-less play. Can't remember where I got it from though.

      Have you tried my installer? Does that work for you?

      Delete
  5. Ive downloaded and installed the game on my windows 10 pc, but when im trying to launch it nothing happens, not even an error message. I installed the game as adminstrator, and im trying to launch the game as adminstrator. Would really love if there is a way to fix it, so i would be able to play this nostalgic game.
    Thank you very much for doing this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is one of those games where nothing much has been altered beyond a NOCD crack. It worked great on Windows 7, and I can play it on Windows 10 though it does tend to crash on occasion, partcularly when quitting (just did a quick test). Try some compatibility mode settings and/or install it outside of Program Files and see if that helps.

      Delete
  6. cannot download why

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The file is definitely there. Try following the steps regarding 4Shared in the FAQ

      http://collectionchamber.blogspot.co.uk/p/faq.html

      Delete
  7. Hi I have just downloaded and installed it I can get the screen where you choose a golf course and then it stops responding, any ideas? I'm on windows 10.

    Best,

    H

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, I've just done a quick test and was able to get past the course select screen. The only crashes I've had is when exiting the game, which I only got once I upgraded to Windows 10.

      Try changing the compaibility settings to see if that helps.

      Delete
    2. Changed the settings and working now thank you! I just need to add the saved games now(y)
      H

      Delete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What is rundll32.exe? this loads the processor by 50%. if you delete it in the task manager, the game does not stop.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello. Rundll is a windows program needed to run the .dll files which are used for many applications. See the link below for more info.

      https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-rundll32exe-and-why-is-it-running/

      Delete
  10. is this version running the 1.03 patch?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I never in my life thought that in 2019 I'd want to relive my child days of being a course designer and champion golfer. but here I am. and here u were with exactly what I needed. couldnt get it to work at first, but it was as simple as disconnecting my extra monitors while i play it. thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome! I think I may use DxWnd for the next release as that should solve the multi-screen issue. Don't know when I'll get to it though.

      Delete
  12. Why does windows defender find a malware installer in de file? Called win32/dratsmound?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm so sorry, i scanned my complete pc not just your file. It works and is amazing. I've been looking to get this game working for 10 years. Thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No worries. There is a note in the FAQ about false positives, which you may find interesting.

      Delete
    2. I played it all weekend. Cant wait to play it some more. So happy.

      Delete
  14. Is there a way to save a game you have started? Even if it is just a work around, please let me know!!! Otherwise, this is flawless.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Just saw comment above, is there a specific "install directory" I need to create the folder in? Or just somewhere in the files?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello. Program Files prevents a program from writing to it (like a save file) unless they're the admin. All othe folders don't, so I suggest 'C:\Games\Collection Chamber' or something like that. Any future installers will have that as the default folder.

      Also, I can't remember if I fixed it or not (and I don't have the files to hand), but if the installer doesn't install the "Saved Games" folder, just create it yourself.

      Delete
  16. That totally worked! Thanks so much, I have been thinking about this game for like the last 10 years haha so excited to have it back in my life

    ReplyDelete
  17. wow, I have been looking for a clean easy way to install this!!!! Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have CD version and it crashes on saving and exiting; what compatibility mode would you suggest?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IIRC I ran using Win XP. This isntaller is due for a another look at, perhaps using DxWnd which may improve such issues. Don't know when I'll get to it though.

      Delete
  19. About 30 seconds in to gameplay (can get to a course if I select quickly), the game stops responding. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is amazing! I really brings me back to my childhood. I was just wondering if/when there would be a release with DxWnd so it does mess up my screen resolution and can be played in windowed mode.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll most likely get back and polish the old installers at some point, but I don't know when. It takes a lot of time to do what I do as it is.

      Delete
  21. Does this download run on Windows 10?

    ReplyDelete
  22. I just downloaded the game.... Crashes before I can start and am prompted with "Game is not responding"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I ceated this installer when all I had was Windows 7. It's due for an update, but I don't know when I'll get to it.

      Delete
  23. This just keeps crashing once loaded, is there any fix?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Trying to run through Porting Kit on Mac Catalina. Installs fine but can't get passed the beginning intro with the clouds. The scene freezes on the EA logo every time. Anyone using Mac?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Being one of my earlier installers that's played through an old third-party patch the compatibility could shift and change depending on the setup. New Windows 10 updates may cause issues too. I've not tried it recently, but it is on my mind to look at it again at some point.

      Delete
  25. Thanks for making this available mate.. Like many other comments here, I get to the course selection panel and then it freezes, i.e does not let me proceed further.
    I appreciate that you are busy and this work takes time but here's hoping that one day it works on Win 10.
    Hope you are doing well though.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Update - managed to get past that barrier by ticking "compatibility mode" in the properties of the launcher.. game works like a charm now... thanks heaps for putting this up and sharing with us.. much appreciated :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Any idea on why the game keeps crashing when I attempt to play my courses?

    ReplyDelete