Everything OpenSGolf adds to Sid Meier's SimGolf: what each feature does, whether it is on when you first play, and exactly where to switch it on. The original game is always the default and always one click away.
With every option at its default, OpenSGolf plays like the 2002 game, apart from its fixes for the original's own bugs. Everything else on this page is something you choose. Most of it lives in one place: Preferences, opened in a game from the dock's System Functions button. Typing any letter while Preferences is open searches every option by name.
A screen before the title menu with five tabs: Game files (your SimGolf files or the free graphics), How to play (the presets below), Features (see below), Display & sound (window or full screen, Classic, Enhanced or HD graphics, text size, sound, language) and News & updates. Untick Show this at start to go straight to the title menu.
Every option on this page's reference in one scrolling list, grouped, each with what it does and its tick. The buttons on the left jump to each group. A click switches it on or off at once. Its Feature guide button opens this page.
Original: every extra off, Classic graphics. Original + helpers (recommended): every helper and look on, nothing that changes play. OpenSGolf: the helpers plus weather that matters, forward and middle tees, a second course, more staff and animals to buy. Custom: your own mix. Presets never touch your pauses, controls or the bug fixes. See which options each preset sets.
Mends glitches of the 2002 game itself, such as gaps at waterfalls, costs charged twice and the golfer list picking the wrong golfer. Untick it to play the bugs exactly as the original had them.
One box that finds any option by its words and says where it is. Show only changed lists what differs from the original, and Reset to original... puts it all back.
Start on a Large (74 x 74 tiles), Huge (98 x 98) or Giant (128 x 128) map instead of the original's 50 x 50. The view zooms further out and golfers and staff cover the whole map. Scenarios and championships keep their own size.
Save at any moment, not only between rounds. Quick save writes a quick save slot at once without the Save dialog; quick load brings it back.
Takes back the last click or drag with a building or terrain tool, and its money. Golfers, the clock and money earned since are left as they are.
Adds x2 and x4 speeds to the original's. Each key stops at the end instead of going round.
Plays in a window of any size or full screen, kept for the next start. In full screen, the pointer at the screen's edge scrolls as in the original (Edge scrolling, on).
Tap to click, drag to scroll, hold for a right click, pinch to zoom, twist two fingers to turn the view. To aim your pro or place a building, drag to set the spot, then tap Swing or the tick. On-screen buttons open holes, turn, change speed and undo.
Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and Steam Deck controls: the stick moves the pointer, A clicks, B puts the tool away. On the Deck the Linux AppImage starts full screen in Game Mode.
Give any action another key. Original controls and Modern controls presets switch between the original's mouse and keys and a modern set (WASD camera, zoom towards the pointer, drag to place, right-drag panning). Every key is listed below.
Zoom towards the pointer, right click puts the tool away, right-drag panning, and aim and swing your pro with the mouse as on a touch screen. Dragging with the middle button always moves the course. Details.
Four kept views of the course: where you were looking, the zoom and the turn.
Normal, 125% or 150% text in messages, boxes, tooltips, name tags, touch labels and OpenSGolf's own pages; the boxes grow with it and stay on screen.
The game's own text in any installed translation, with Central European letters drawn in the game's fonts. Longer translations shrink or wrap to fit.
Stops the game (and its sound) while its window is in the background, and pauses after a VIP visit, a tournament or a land offer so you never miss them.
The game stands still while your pro waits for your shot, in tournaments too, and goes on as you swing. Reference.
The game speed now goes up to eight times normal, as well as x2 and x4.
A phone or tablet held upright plays on the whole tall screen, with the dock, panels and money at its edges, instead of asking you to turn it sideways. Reference.
A shortcut that starts straight on the title menu with your display settings, skipping the launcher. From a
command line, --play does the same.
Keeps saves, settings and packs in a save folder beside the program, with your SimGolf folder
beside it as SimGolf or game: good for a USB stick.
Measures distances on the course in yards.
Paints a whole rectangle, or the whole connected region of one kind of ground, with the cost shown before you let go.
Drag to lay a row of benches, flower beds, ball washers, willows or bridges, with the row and its cost shown before you let go.
Build a course free of charge with the game's own tools, import a heightmap picture, choose the land owned at the start, the cash, the difficulty and the goals, and save it as a scenario to play and share.
Gives a hole a name of your own, kept with the save.
Tab with the Tees tool places a forward or middle tee. Less skilled golfers play from the front, strong golfers, pros and tournaments from the back. Reference.
Once your 18 holes are open, a Course A | Course B switch appears over the Build Course panel and you build holes B1 to B18 on the same land, with their own Course Report and Hole Stats. Reference.
Minus and plus buttons on Hole Stats set a hole's par from 2 to 6. Reference.
Tab turns a placed building or the clubhouse; paths in brick, gravel, dark stone or boardwalk, with lamp posts to place; every tree planted takes a random size and species. Looks only: play is unchanged. Details.
Shows every employee's work ring at once, and the fairways and greens no groundskeeper reaches.
The flyover adds a Fly over button to Hole Stats that flies the camera from the tee to the green and back. The showcase flies over the whole course hole by hole with the interface hidden.
All off for a new player, and all in Preferences › Game options, on the Gameplay and Sandbox pages. Each carries a tag saying how much it changes the game. The full list, with what each preset sets, is in the reference.
Rain and snow slow the ball and keep some golfers at home; desert heat waves make it run. Pairs well with Enhanced graphics' rain and seasons, which are looks only.
Touring pros and invented celebrities drop in, pay more, draw crowds and say what they thought. Moddable through
data/visitors.toml.
About one golfer in ten swings left-handed and curves the ball the other way. Your pro can be one too.
Hire up to 40 employees instead of 20, and buy pairs of the theme's animals from the landmark strip to cheer golfers up.
Higher wages, upkeep and land prices, more interest, lower fees, choosier golfers and at most 12 staff.
Saying No to the County commissioner's land offer keeps his approval, so you can buy land later from Information › Buy land.
Unlock every building and landmark, stop new dandelions, freeze golfer happiness, and run the calendar at half or quarter speed or stop it. Details.
Right-click (or long-press) a water tower, radio mast or oil pump on your land and pull it down for §10,000, freeing its tiles. Reference.
Right-click (or long-press) the clubhouse to pick it up and put it down anywhere on your land, for what a new clubhouse costs. Not during a tournament. Reference.
Fourteen landmarks the original shipped but never used join the landmark strip, as decoration only.
Add or take away money, force a VIP visit, buy all the land, and the sandbox switches. A game in which a cheat was used says so on the Load list, and its course record is no shared challenge.
Helpers that show you more and leave play exactly as it was. All are in Preferences › Game options › Info, off for a new player and on in both helper presets.
Every golfer and employee in a sortable list with profiles, a name tag under the pointer, and any golfer's round so far on the original's scorecard.
Where golfers' shots on each hole end up, with heat maps of where balls land, golfers wait and golfers complain, and each hole's most frequent comments this month, last month and this year.
The club's and each hole's months as line graphs, a page after the End of Year report comparing the year with the last, and tabs over the F1 to F10 reports to flip between them.
Every ticker message kept to read back, and a click on one takes the camera to the golfer or place it is about.
Whose it is, what it cost, what it sold for and what it is worth now.
Marks the paths that reach the clubhouse and the buildings they miss; a Show button finds a closed building.
Tints the land by how high it stands against the usual ground, so you can see slopes, hollows and ridges before you build. View only.
Clicking a building that is still locked says how many holes open it and how many the course has. Reference.
Information › Challenges offers six aims, from a perfect par 3 and a signature par 5 to a balanced eighteen and a cash turnaround, checked every month. Hole Stats' Mark before keeps a hole's figures to compare with play after you change it. Reference.
A golfer's profile lists their Rounds at your club. Hole Stats shows each hole's best score and its holes in one, and the ticker announces an ace. Course review is one page of what to look at next: buildings off the paths, tees far from a path, tiles no groundskeeper reaches, dull holes and each hole's top complaint.
Saves every five minutes of play and as the window goes to the background, keeping the last three.
Load Previous Game lists saves newest first with how long ago each was made, saving over a game keeps its last three versions as backups, and the title menu's Continue loads your newest save. Reference.
Load Previous Game draws a map of the selected save's course. Double-click (or double-tap) a save to load it.
Copies a course code to send a friend. They press Ctrl+V anywhere in OpenSGolf and your course joins their championship courses, with your course record as the score to beat.
Move games between the browser, a computer and a phone. A save file is complete on its own and loads on any version.
Saved games of the original come over as new games: course, holes, buildings, money, date, members, people and staff. The original's Top 10 Designers come too.
With both Enhanced and HD off you play in Classic, the original's own graphics, pixel for pixel. Both switches are in Preferences › Graphics and on the launcher, and they can be on together. None of them changes how the game plays.
F12 on the course puts you on the ground at a golfer's eye height, with 3D buildings for every theme, trees in the round and cartoon 3D golfers that swing, putt and cheer. W A S D walk, a drag looks round, G follows a golfer and their shot, F12 or Esc goes back. Reference.
Draws the same art for today's screens: sharp text and art at 4K, the interface at a wide screen's edges, smooth zoom and motion, and over fifty optional effects on five pages (Display, Effects, Atmosphere, Weather, Water): living water with ducks and reeds, shadows, time of day, rain, mist, wind, seasons, late-winter snow, lit windows and more. If the game runs slowly it eases off by itself. Every option.
An AI upscaler built into the game redraws your own SimGolf art sharper, on your own device, while you play, then switches HD on. Remove HD graphics... undoes it. Needs your own SimGolf files; not in browsers yet.
Scales the picture by whole numbers only, so every pixel of the art is the same size. Works with Classic too.
On a wide screen the dock, panels and money sit at the screen's edges instead of in a 4:3 box in the middle, with Classic graphics too.
Hide the interface, frame your course, add a look and a focus blur, and save a picture up to 4K. U hides the interface at any time and Shift+F6 takes a screenshot.
Cap the game at 30 to 240 frames a second to save battery, or leave it uncapped.
Packs change prices, buildings, terrain, golfers, text, art and sounds, add scenarios, and can be downloaded from inside the game. Switch each on or off and set their order. How to make one: MODDING.md.
A pack can bring hand-drawn pictures and sprite sheets at 2x or 4x the original's size, drawn sharp at any window
size. sgtool hd-kit makes a starter kit and sgtool pack-check checks it.
OpenSGolf's own art, sounds and text, with nothing from the original, so anyone can play. Your own SimGolf files (a folder, a .zip, the CD or an image of it) can be picked on the launcher at any time.
Pick your SimGolf folder, a .zip of it or the CD image: it is read in the browser and never uploaded.
The page installs like an app and, after the first visit, starts with no connection. Only one tab plays at a time, a phone saves files through its share sheet, and the game files can be a .7z as well as a .zip or CD image.
Saved games stay in this browser. Back them up as a .zip and restore them, or move them to the desktop version; screenshots and SimFotos download.
Follows your device's scheme, or stays light or dark.
Update now downloads the new version, checks its signature and installs it in place on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. Only GitHub is contacted, and only then. The browser version is always the newest.
Opens the bug report form filled in with your version and system, and keeps a copy of your game, a screenshot and an exact replay to attach. Nothing is sent until you submit the form.
This version's highlights, with a Try it button for new options, and the full changelog.
This part is made from the game itself, so it always matches the version on main: the
option names are the game's own words. Type to filter it.
In a game: System Functions › Preferences (the dock's System Functions button). The original's four ticks come first; these are OpenSGolf's own lines under them.
| Option | What it does | New player |
|---|---|---|
| Text sizePreferences | Bigger text in the boxes, messages and tooltips. Each click steps: normal, 125%, 150%. | normal |
| HD graphics (off: Classic)Preferences › Graphics | The game's art upscaled from an HD pack you make from your own copy (docs/HD.md); play is unchanged. | Off |
| Make HD graphics from my SimGolf files (beta)...Preferences › Graphics | Beta: an AI upscaler in the game redraws the art from your files, on this device, then turns HD on. With your own SimGolf files in use; not in browsers yet. | Opens |
| Remove HD graphics...Preferences › Graphics | Back to Classic graphics, and the HD pack deleted to free its space. You can make it again. Once you have made an HD pack. | Opens |
| Enhanced graphics (off: Classic)Preferences › Graphics | Sharp at any screen size and widescreen, with optional effects; play is unchanged. Off: Classic. | Off |
| Pixel-perfect scaling: whole sizes only (Classic too)Preferences › Graphics | Scales the picture by whole sizes only, so every pixel stays the same size; counts in Classic too. | Off |
| Enhanced graphics settings...Preferences › Graphics | What Enhanced graphics does, page by page: display, effects, atmosphere, weather and water. | Opens |
| Use my SimGolf files... / Use the free graphicsPreferences › Game files | Plays on your own copy of SimGolf's files instead of the free graphics (the game starts again). Not in the browser: there you choose the files on the start page. | Opens |
| Content packs...Preferences › Game files | Your content packs (mods): switch them on or off and set their order, from the next start. | Opens |
| LanguagePreferences › Game files | The game's language: each click steps to the next installed translation. When a translation is installed. | English |
| Fix the original game's bugsPreferences › More | Mends glitches of the original game itself (docs/FIXES.md); on at first. Off: the game as it was in 2002. | On |
| Check for updates when the game starts (online)Preferences › More | Looks online for a newer OpenSGolf when the game starts, and offers it only if there is one. | On |
| Check for updates now (online)Preferences › More | Asks GitHub now whether a newer OpenSGolf is out, as the title menu's button does. Not in the browser, which is always the newest version. | Opens |
| Search options...Preferences › More | Finds any option by its words, shows what differs from the original, or resets it all. | Opens |
| Report a problem...Preferences › More | Opens a filled-in bug report form and keeps a copy of this game to attach. Nothing is sent until you submit. | Opens |
| Launcher...Preferences › More | Shows the launcher again: your game files, how to play, display and sound, and what's new. | Opens |
| What's new...Preferences › More | What's new in this version, with Try it for its new options and a link to the full changelog. | Opens |
| Support OpenSGolf...Preferences › More | Buy Me a Coffee: OpenSGolf is built with paid AI tools, so a coffee helps future updates. | Opens |
| Count my play time (anonymous)Preferences › More | One count per 15 minutes played and one at start: only system and version, no names or saves. Offline counts are sent later. Not in store builds. | On |
Preferences › Game options. The first line steps through the presets: Original, Original + helpers, OpenSGolf and Custom. The same choice is the Game box on Select Difficulty and the launcher's How to play tab. Lines that change how the game plays carry a tag: Light touch, Noticeable, Big change or Experimental.
| Option | What it does | New player | Original + helpers | OpenSGolf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather that matters (rain, snow, heat, storms) Noticeable | Rain and snow slow the ball and keep some golfers at home; desert heat waves speed it up. Gentle over a year. | Off | Off | On |
| More visitors: touring pros and celebrities Noticeable | Touring pros and celebrities drop in now and then. They pay more, draw crowds and say what they thought of your course. | Off | Off | Off |
| Left-handed golfers Light touch | About one golfer in ten is left-handed: a mirrored swing, and the ball curves the other way. Your pro can be one too. | Off | Off | Off |
| Higher staff limits Noticeable | Your club may hire up to 40 employees instead of the original's 20. | Off | Off | On |
| Set par: change a hole's par on its Hole Stats Noticeable | Minus and plus buttons on Hole Stats change a hole's par (2 to 6), and golfers are scored against your par. | Off | Off | Off |
| Multiple tees: forward and middle tees Light touch | Tab with the Tees tool places a forward or middle tee in front of a hole's tee. Weaker golfers play the shorter tees; par, length and tournaments stay as they were. | Off | Off | On |
| Buyable animals Light touch | Buy pairs of the theme's animals from the landmark strip. They stay near where you set them down and cheer golfers up. | Off | Off | On |
| Second course: 18 more holes Big change | Once your 18 holes are open, build a Course B of 18 more on the same land. The A/B switch above the Build Course panel picks the course to build and report on. | Off | Off | On |
| Hardcore economy Big change | Tighter money and choosier golfers: higher wages, upkeep and land prices, more interest, lower fees and at most 12 staff. | Off | Off | Off |
| Cut content: unused landmarks (decoration only) Experimental | Experimental: decoration only, no landmark powers. Fourteen landmarks the original never used join the landmark strip; golfers enjoy the view. Listed only with your own SimGolf files. | Off | Off | Off |
| Option | What it does | New player | Original + helpers | OpenSGolf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandbox: unlock all buildings and landmarks Big change | Every building, home site and landmark of the theme is on the panels from the start, as in Sandbox Mode. | Off | Off | Off |
| Sandbox: no new dandelions Noticeable | Dandelions stop spreading and unhappy golfers no longer start them, so the course stays clear without groundskeepers. The ones already there stay until pulled. | Off | Off | Off |
| Sandbox: freeze golfer happiness Big change | Golfers' moods never drop. Good moments still cheer them up, and nobody leaves unhappy. | Off | Off | Off |
| Calendar Noticeable | Half or quarter speed: each year holds more golf while golfers, staff and bills keep their pace. Stopped: no month or year ever ends. | normal | normal | normal |
| Keep the land offer: buy land when you like Light touch | Saying No to the County commissioner's land offer keeps his approval: Information, Buy land opens the land for sale until you buy a tract. | Off | Off | Off |
| Eyesore demolition: pull down water towers and oil pumps Light touch | A right click (a long press) on an eyesore on your land offers to pull it down for §10,000, booked to Build course. | Off | Off | Off |
| Move the clubhouse Light touch | A right click (a long press) on the clubhouse offers to move it anywhere on your land, for what a new clubhouse costs. | Off | Off | Off |
| Option | What it does | New player | Original + helpers | OpenSGolf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interface at the screen's edges | On a wide screen the dock, panels and money sit at the screen's edges (on by default; off keeps them in the 4:3 middle). | On | Your choice | Your choice |
| Path styles and lamps | Draws every path in brick, gravel, dark stone or boardwalk, and adds lamp posts to the landmark strip. A click picks the style. | off | original paths | original paths |
| Random trees: each tree planted gets a random look | Every tree the woods, pine and palm brushes plant gets a random size (and pines a random species), and every scenic tree a random one of the seven, for a more natural course. The look under the pointer is the next one. | Off | On | On |
| Tab turns placed buildings and the clubhouse | Tab turns a placed building or the clubhouse a quarter, or steps through the designs of the item in hand. Only the picture turns. | Off | On | On |
| Home names only under the pointer | A celebrity's name shows over a home site only while the pointer is on it, instead of the names taking turns over every home. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Hole flyover: fly down a hole from its Hole Stats | Hole Stats gets a Fly over button: the camera flies from the tee down the hole to the green, then back. A key or a click ends it. | Off | On | On |
| Play upright on phones and tablets | A phone or tablet held upright plays on the whole tall screen, with the dock, panels and money at its edges, instead of asking you to turn it sideways. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| First-person view (F12 or `) | On a computer, F12 (or `, handy on a Mac) on the course walks it at a golfer's eye height in 3D: W A S D walk, a drag looks round, G follows a golfer's shot, F12, ` or Esc goes back. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Option | What it does | New player | Original + helpers | OpenSGolf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People screen, name tags and live scorecards | Every golfer and employee in a sortable list (Shift+G), a name tag under the pointer (Shift+H hides them) and the round so far under a golfer card. | Off | On | On |
| Extra reports: landing map, hole comments, graphs... | Landing map (Shift+D), comments by hole (Shift+I), history graphs (Shift+Y), the year in numbers after End of Year, and tabs over the F1 to F10 reports. | Off | On | On |
| Message history and clickable ticker (Shift+M) | Keeps every ticker message to read back (Shift+M); a click on a ticker message takes the camera to the golfer or place it is about. | Off | On | On |
| Home-site details (cost, sale and value under the pointer) | Point at a home site to see whose it is, what it cost, what it sold for and what it is worth now. | Off | On | On |
| Path help: path view (Shift+V) and Show buttons | Path view (Shift+V) marks paths that reach the clubhouse and buildings they miss; a Show button finds a closed building. | Off | On | On |
| What unlocks it: how many holes open a building | A locked building says how many holes open it and how many the course has, where the original only asks for more holes. | Off | On | On |
| Challenges and the design lab | Information > Challenges sets design and business aims to take on, and Hole Stats' Mark before keeps a hole's figures to compare after you change it. | Off | On | On |
| Option | What it does | New player | Original + helpers | OpenSGolf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autosave every five minutes (the last three kept) | Saves the game every five minutes of play and as its window goes to the background, keeping the last three, so a crash or a closed page loses little. | Off | On | On |
| Saves newest first, with dates and backups | Load Previous Game lists your saves newest first with when each was saved, and saving over a game keeps its last three versions as backups. | Off | On | On |
| Import and export saved games (buttons in Load Previous Game) | For moving your games to another device (computer, phone, tablet, browser): Load Previous Game gets Import a save file... and Export this save... | Off | On | On |
| Course sharing: course codes and challenges (Ctrl+V pastes one) | Copy a code for your course to send to a friend; paste one (Ctrl+V) to play theirs and try to beat their record. | Off | On | On |
| A map of the course beside each saved game | Load Previous Game shows a small map of each saved game's course. | Off | On | On |
| Option | What it does | New player | Original + helpers | OpenSGolf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom towards the pointer | The mouse wheel and a pinch zoom towards the spot you point at. Part of the Modern controls preset (Keyboard controls, Change keys). | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Right click puts the tool away | A right click (B on a controller) drops the brush or tool in hand, as Space does, instead of the original's undo. The elevation tools still lower the ground with a right click. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Drag to place rows of benches and the like | Drag with benches, flower beds and the like in hand to lay a straight row of them. Part of the Modern controls preset (Change keys). | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Right-drag moves the course | Drag with the right button to move the course; a right click still undoes, as in the original. Part of the Modern controls preset (Change keys). | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Edge scrolling | In full screen the pointer at the screen's edge scrolls the view, as in the original (on by default). | On | Your choice | Your choice |
| Aim and swing with the mouse as by touch | Aim your pro as on a touch screen: a click sets the target, a drag moves it or looks round, the round Swing button shoots. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Pause while the game's window is in the background | The game and its sound pause while its window is in the background, and go on when you come back. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Pause on big news: VIPs, challenges, offers, debt | The game pauses when a VIP arrives, a famous golfer challenges your pro, the SGA makes an offer or money runs short. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
| Pause while you aim your pro | The game stands still while your pro waits for your shot, in tournaments too, and goes on as you swing. | Off | Your choice | Your choice |
Preferences › Graphics › Enhanced graphics settings. Every page starts with the master switch, Enhanced graphics (off: Classic), which is off for a new player: with it off you play in Classic and none of these draw, except the three marked as counting with Classic too. The last column is what each option is set to once you switch Enhanced graphics on. Graphics only: play is never changed.
| Option | What it does | With Enhanced on |
|---|---|---|
| Sharp text at the screen's resolution | Draws text from the fonts at your screen's real resolution, so it stays sharp at any window size. Layouts stay the original's. | On |
| Smooth interface art at any size | Interface art, sprites and portraits scale smoothly, with clean edges and no shimmer when drawn small. | On |
| Widescreen: interface at the window's edges | On a wide window the course badge, dock, panels and buttons move out to the window's edges instead of sitting in a 4:3 box in the middle. | On |
| Sharper course textures | Anisotropic filtering keeps the course sharp towards the top of the screen. Desktop only. | On |
| Anti-aliasing | 4x multisampling smooths the edges of terrain, cliffs and lines. Desktop only. | On |
| Smooth camera: zoom, turns and panning | Continuous wheel and pinch zoom, animated quarter turns and gliding scrolls. The game's rules still use the original's three zoom levels. | On |
| Smooth motion between game ticks | Golfers, staff, carts, animals and balls move smoothly between the game's 11.5 ticks a second instead of jumping once a tick. Drawing only. | On |
| Photo mode (the C key or the camera button) | Lets the C key or the camera button open photo mode: hide the interface, frame the shot, add a look and a focus blur, and save a picture up to 4K. | On |
| Frame rate cap | The most frames a second the game draws: 30, 60, 120, 144, 240 or no cap. Counts with Classic graphics too. | Uncapped |
| V-sync (from the next start) | Waits for the display's refresh, so the picture never tears. Takes effect from the next start; always on in a browser. Counts with Classic graphics too. | On |
| Pixel-perfect scaling: whole sizes only (Classic too) | Scales the 800 x 600 picture by whole numbers only, so every art pixel is the same size, with bars round it. Also a line of Preferences > Graphics; counts with Classic graphics too. | Off |
| Option | What it does | With Enhanced on |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel-art scaling of sprites and pictures | Sprites and pictures drawn larger than their pixels go through a pixel-art scaler instead of a plain blur. | On |
| Pixel-art scaler | Which scaler: Sharp (crisp pixels), Edge-directed (smooths diagonals) or Smooth (follows the art's own edges; the strongest). | Smooth (strongest) |
| Animated water | Water gets moving waves, sky reflections, glints and foam along the shore, over the theme's own water art. | On |
| Terrain light, occlusion and shadows | Per-pixel light, ambient occlusion in valleys and soft shadows of the hills on the ground. | On |
| Soft sprite shadows | Softens the edges of the art's own shadows under buildings, trees and people. | On |
| Cast shadows from buildings and trees | Buildings, trees and people cast their own outline along the sun onto the ground. | On |
| Trail behind balls in flight | A soft trail fades out behind a ball in the air. | On |
| Sand, splash and grass where balls land | A puff of sand in a bunker, rings and drops on water, a flick of grass where a ball comes down. | On |
| Effects quality | Low, medium or high: the detail of the light map, the blurs and the shadows. Lower is quicker on slow machines. | Medium |
| Grass tufts in the rough | Tiny tufts of grass standing up from the rough and swaying in the wind, at the closest zoom. | On |
| Sharper art: contrast-adaptive sharpening | Contrast-adaptive sharpening brings out the art's own detail on big screens, without halos. Desktop only. | On |
| Crowds at tournaments and championships | Spectators round the greens and fairways of the holes in play during tournaments and championships, cheering now and then. | On |
| Birds, butterflies and falling leaves | Flocks of birds crossing the sky, butterflies over flower beds in summer, leaves falling in autumn. | On |
| Option | What it does | With Enhanced on |
|---|---|---|
| Sky beyond the map | A sky gradient beyond the property and below its cliff instead of the original's black. | On |
| Time of day: morning, sunset and dusk | Morning, midday, golden hour, sunset and a short blue dusk pass over the course. | Off |
| Day length | How long a day of light lasts with Time of day: short (one game month), normal (three) or long (six). | Normal (three months) |
| Lamps and fireflies at dusk | With Time of day: lamps with pools of light and fireflies at dusk. | On |
| Drifting cloud shadows | Soft cloud shadows drift over the course and dim what is under them. | On |
| Distance haze | The far part of the view pales towards the horizon's colour, more when zoomed out. | On |
| Reflections and sun glitter on the water | Trees, buildings and golfers mirrored in the water, rippling, with sun glitter. | On |
| Tilt-shift (miniature look) | Blurs the top and bottom of the screen for a miniature look. | Off |
| Colour grading and vignette | Gentle contrast, vibrance and a tint for each theme, with slightly darker corners. | On |
| Bloom | The brightest parts (sparkle, white sand, highlights) glow a little. | On |
| Warm light in the buildings' windows at night | With Time of day: a warm light in the buildings' windows at night. | On |
| Sprinklers on the fairways and greens at dawn | With Time of day: sprinklers watering the fairways and greens at first light. | On |
| Option | What it does | With Enhanced on |
|---|---|---|
| Rain on some days | Light rain on some days (the same days for a save), with greyer light and faint shadows. Looks only: see Weather that matters for rain that changes play. | Off |
| Wet ground, puddles and rainbows | With Rain: wet, glossy ground and puddles during and after a rainy day, and now and then a rainbow. | On |
| Lightning in heavy rain | Flashes and distant flicker in heavy rain where the climate is wet; never in the desert. | Off |
| Heat waves in the desert: bleached light, parched grass | On a desert course's hot summer days: bleached midday light, heat haze, and parched grass on the hottest days. | Off |
| Late-winter frost and snow in early March | The first days of March on parkland and links courses: morning frost, snow showers instead of rain, a light dusting some mornings. | On |
| Morning mist in low ground | Mist pooling in hollows and over water, thick at dawn and gone by late morning. | Off |
| Wind: trees, palms and flags sway | A wind for each day: trees, palms and grasses sway, flags fly downwind, and the rain and clouds follow it. | On |
| Seasons: blossom, autumn colours, dew | Blossom and fresh greens in spring, autumn colours in September and October, dew on the grass. | On |
| Frost on cold mornings, melting by late morning | Frost on cold spring and autumn mornings, melting by late morning. | On |
| Option | What it does | With Enhanced on |
|---|---|---|
| Truer water colour: light shallows, deep middle | Lighter, more turquoise shallows and a deeper blue in the middle, from the theme's own water colour. | On |
| Waves that follow the wind and the weather | Soft waves lying across the wind, drifting downwind: glassy at dawn and dusk, choppy in a storm. | On |
| Water lapping at the shore, a wet bank | Water lapping in and out along the shore, with a wet band on the bank. | On |
| Sunlight rippling on the bottom of shallows | Sunlight rippling in a web over the bottom of shallow water. | On |
| Raindrop rings on the water | With Rain: rings opening on the water where drops fall. | On |
| Reeds, lily pads, ducks, swans and fish | Reeds and lily pads at the edges of ponds, ducks and swans on the larger lakes, and now and then a jumping fish. | On |
| Ponds icing over in a late-winter cold snap | With Winter: small ponds ice over in the late-winter cold snap, and larger water gets a rim of ice. | On |
| Spray at fountains and waterfalls | Foam, drops and rings round fountains and at the foot of waterfalls. | On |
Each can be given another key on Preferences › Controls and keys › Change keys, which also has the Original and Modern controls presets and the WASD camera. F8 in a game lists them too.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Scroll up | Up WASD camera: also W |
| Scroll down | Down WASD camera: also S |
| Scroll left | Left WASD camera: also A |
| Scroll right | Right WASD camera: also D |
| Zoom in | Z |
| Zoom out | X |
| Turn the view | PageUp |
| Turn the view back | Home |
| Turn back / clubhouse | 0 |
| Photo mode | C |
| Hide the interface | U |
| Pause | Shift+P |
| Game speed: slower | [ |
| Game speed: faster | ] |
| Green / tee tool | G |
| Fairway tool | F |
| Rough tool | R |
| Sand trap tool | S WASD camera: K |
| Trees tool | T |
| Water tool | W WASD camera: Q |
| Ravine tool | V |
| Path tool | P |
| Bench tool | B |
| Home site tool | Shift+B |
| Elevation tools | E |
| Raise the ground | = |
| Lower the ground | - |
| Turn a building | Tab |
| Put the tool down | Space |
| Open the hole | H |
| Shot analysis | / |
| Last shot analysis | . |
| Trees off / on | Shift+T |
| Names off / on | Shift+N |
| Repeat the last message | ? |
| Music off / on | M |
| Aiming: straight shot While aiming your pro | S |
| Aiming: fade While aiming your pro | F |
| Aiming: draw While aiming your pro | D |
| Aiming: high shot While aiming your pro | H |
| Aiming: low shot While aiming your pro | L |
| Cancel the pro's round | N |
| Begin a tournament | Shift+J |
| Save the game | Shift+S |
| Load a game | Shift+L |
| Save a championship course | Shift+C |
| Screenshot | Shift+F6 |
| Routing Map | Shift+R |
| World Map | Shift+W |
| Course Report | F1 |
| Player Comments | F2 |
| Histograph | F3 |
| Financial Report | F4 |
| Routing Map | F5 |
| World Map (move the club) | F6 |
| SGA Evaluation | F7 |
| The original's Keyboard Shortcuts | F8 |
| Membership Roster | F9 |
| Professional Accomplishments | F10 |
| People screen | Shift+G |
| Message history | Shift+M |
| Name tags off / on | Shift+H |
| Path view off / on | Shift+V |
| Measuring tape | ' |
| Quick save | Shift+F5 |
| Quick load | Shift+F9 |
| Staff areas off / on | Shift+A |
| Landing map off / on | Shift+D |
| Height map off / on | Shift+K |
| Comments by hole | Shift+I |
| History graphs | Shift+Y |
| Camera bookmark 1 (Ctrl+key keeps it) | Shift+F1 |
| Camera bookmark 2 (Ctrl+key keeps it) | Shift+F2 |
| Camera bookmark 3 (Ctrl+key keeps it) | Shift+F3 |
| Camera bookmark 4 (Ctrl+key keeps it) | Shift+F4 |
| Course editor: scenario settings | Shift+E |
| Cheats box | Ctrl+Shift+C |
| Showcase: fly over the course hole by hole | Shift+O |
| Report a problem (opens the bug report form, asks first) | Shift+F8 |