Unlocking a golf course for editing

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migolfer
Posts: 189
Joined: October 21st, 2020, 2:40 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by migolfer »

Is it possible to copy a locked course and edit it in the APCD? I realize they're locked for a reason, but now that Microsoft Links is past its peak and development cycle, I'm thinking the original course owners probably don't really care anymore. Some evidence towards that claim, for example, may be found with the Mike Jones courses (which I paid for years ago) are now available for free.

The course that I have in mind is The Tribute at the Otsego Club, originally released by Microsoft with the 2003 version. I've played that course (the real one, you know, with real golf clubs, hehe) a few times and am considering updating the digital version with HD graphics and etcetera to the best my amateur APCD editor skills may allow.

-dh
pmgolf
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Location: near Richmond, VA

Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by pmgolf »

I would expect that Microsoft has done everything they could to protect their asset, like copyrighting it. But you can still create your own version. Find the course with Google Earth, save the image and use that as the framework for a version on the APCD. The APCD lessons from Lez Marwick are available and free and many other guys have done it with other courses. I'm working on a course in Virginia right now.

Pete
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Danny D
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Location: SE Missouri

Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by Danny D »

migolfer wrote: November 22nd, 2020, 3:58 pm Is it possible to copy a locked course and edit it in the APCD?
No. Once a course has been locked, it can NOT be unlocked for editing. None of the original Microsoft courses can be unlocked. Also, if a designer makes the decision to lock one of their courses, it cannot be unlocked. There are no secret codes that will unlock them. The only way you can edit any of the locked courses is to contact the original designer and have them send you a copy of his course BEFORE he locked it.

Hope that cleared up your question...

Dan
Completed Courses
Real Courses: The National Golf Club of Kansas City - Wakonda Club - Coeur d'Alene Resort Course
Fictitious Courses: Northern Lakes - Golfcom Tees
Southern Oaks - Hometown 9 hole real course with a fictitious back 9 added
woody4077
Posts: 148
Joined: May 12th, 2020, 5:42 am

Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by woody4077 »

migolfer wrote: November 22nd, 2020, 3:58 pm Is it possible to copy a locked course and edit it in the APCD? I realize they're locked for a reason, but now that Microsoft Links is past its peak and development cycle, I'm thinking the original course owners probably don't really care anymore. Some evidence towards that claim, for example, may be found with the Mike Jones courses (which I paid for years ago) are now available for free.

The course that I have in mind is The Tribute at the Otsego Club, originally released by Microsoft with the 2003 version. I've played that course (the real one, you know, with real golf clubs, hehe) a few times and am considering updating the digital version with HD graphics and etcetera to the best my amateur APCD editor skills may allow.

-dh
as the others have said the answer is NO
you are better off making you own version or
contacting some the designers on this forum and
seeing if they might be willing to do a 2020 version of this course
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Jimbo
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Location: Victoria-but a Raven at heart!

Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by Jimbo »

But can a designer unlock his/her own course if a final version?
And can the designer unlock the course for editing by another Linkster?
Who controls the use once it's posted?
gator
Posts: 178
Joined: August 26th, 2019, 9:30 pm

Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by gator »

From what I have gathered over the years and what others have stated above, there is NO unlock once a course is locked. Not even by the designer. You or the designer must resort to a version of a crz prior to the locking if any future editing of a "locked" crz is going to happen. I would presume that most designers who only distribute locked crzs make their final edits of a crz, do a validate & save, and then exit APCD. I believe they would then run a program called CourseLock.exe outside of the APCD thus locking their crz for distribution. Having never done this I don't know if the CourseLock.exe creates a new file with "_locked" appended to the filename or if it alters the crz file the CourseLock.exe is applied to. Either way it would behoove a designer to have a copy of their last V&S version of their crz prior to applying the locking. It is that copy one must obtain if any future editing is to be done. If I am incorrect on any of my statements, I sure someone will correct me.
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Danny D
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Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by Danny D »

Jimbo wrote: November 25th, 2020, 5:26 pm But can a designer unlock his/her own course if a final version?
And can the designer unlock the course for editing by another Linkster?
Who controls the use once it's posted?
Hi Jamesbo.

The courses are locked using a utility program called "CourseLock.exe". It's a very small executable program that works quite simple. It has no options that allow you do do anything other than to LOCK a course. There are no options for anything else. If you have a course that you don't want anyone to edit, you run the program, and it will place some type of a locking mechanism in the CRZ that cannot be undone or removed. Once locked, it's permanent.

The way a course designer must choose to use it is, if he doesn't want anyone to access his course in the APCD, or in the Links Extender, he must first make a copy, or copies of the CRZ before he runs the locking utility, and then store the unlocked copies in a safe place in case he wants to return to it later and do additional work to it. The wise thing to do would be to save multiple backup copies in case one of them gets damaged or corrupt. Any good course designer should know to always save multiple backups for that reason. Once backup copies have been saved, then he can run the locking utility on one of the copies of the course. He can then distribute the locked version and feel safe that no one will be able to edit it and make any changes to it. If he wants to make changes to it later, or allow someone else to make changes, he must give them one of the UNLOCKED backup copies that were saved. It's just that simple.

Hope that clears up any thoughts that you may have about locking courses.

:cheers1: Dan
Completed Courses
Real Courses: The National Golf Club of Kansas City - Wakonda Club - Coeur d'Alene Resort Course
Fictitious Courses: Northern Lakes - Golfcom Tees
Southern Oaks - Hometown 9 hole real course with a fictitious back 9 added
migolfer
Posts: 189
Joined: October 21st, 2020, 2:40 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by migolfer »

Hope that clears up any thoughts that you may have about locking courses.
Yes, and to everyone who responded, thank you.

This is definitely the answer I expected, but I thought that maybe someone who has access (?!) to the source code of the CourseLock.exe (or the APCD.exe or Links.exe) app might know how the locking is implemented. Does it encrypt the CRZ somehow? Then Links/APCD would decrypt the file when it loads it into memory. Or might the strategy be something as simple as writing some secret bytes into the header of the file which indicate that it is locked? I'll try a binary comparison of the .CRZ before/after running the course locker. I doubt it's that simple though.

All of this might be unethical to reveal anyway. In that case, the answer I liked best here was:
Find the course with Google Earth, save the image and use that as the framework for a version on the APCD.
and the Course design using Google Earth elevations tutorial. Thank you!

I started (never finished) a course years ago using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, but I kept no notes on how to do that. doh! Google Earth sounds better anyway.

-dh
migolfer
Posts: 189
Joined: October 21st, 2020, 2:40 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by migolfer »

FYI, I tried a binary compare of a locked vs. unlocked file and they are significantly different. It isn't simply tagging the file as locked, it must be encrypting it or something.
</curiosity-resolved> :tongue:

-dh



C:\>fc /B course.crz course_locked.crz
Comparing files course.crz and COURSE_LOCKED.CRZ
00000004: 0F CC <--- note that it does make a "simple" change to the header (bytes 4..14)
00000005: 85 5E
00000006: D7 D0
00000008: B4 B3
0000000C: 0F 0C
0000000D: 58 32
0000000E: D6 CF
01655455: 14 44 <--- but another large chunk of the file is different
01655456: DD 5C
01655457: 77 65
01655458: DC 58
.....many, many more (thousands of) lines snipped...
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Adelade
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Re: Unlocking a golf course for editing

Post by Adelade »

There have been many rumours about an exclusive group of designers having access to something that could unlock courses in the past... Something they were careful not to let escape into the public. I dont know if its true, I feel like we would have some evidence about it if it indeed existed, but on the other hand I know I've heard some people say they looked at Microsoft's version of Cambrian Ridge and saw how messy the mesh was, so that would suggest someone indeed had something to make it possible... Links Extender has a tab where it mentions extracting Microsoft Course Assets, I dont know if that has something to do with it but the way the rumours were told to me (second-hand) I think it was a separate program. Maybe it never existed, but I know .... aka Skill Linksing often spoke about how he wanted to give it a try to figure out a way to unlock courses in the future when he had more time for it. He always sounded so confident that its possible if given enough effort and that he would succeed if he found the time for it. I dont know what I think about it, it could certainly benefit the community a lot in many ways, but the ethical side is definitely one to consider, Im sure there would be plenty people who would abuse it if such a program did become public. I suppose one could argue that any use whatsoever of such a program is an abuse though. Unless having the designers permission, and I can think of several locked courses whose designers might very well not be opposed to having them unlocked, either because they lost their unlocked versions or because they never saved one, and no longer care to have them locked.
Finished Courses - Main: Amedal (fictional), Nine Bridges (real)
Other: Austin, Sheshan, Kauri Cliffs, Le Golf Nat. Updates: Whirlpool, Royal Lytham, Royal St George's, Chicago, Chambers Bay, Munchen Nord E
Working on: 2 fictional courses + a couple things...
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