Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Plotting on a Sim Build in Oregon

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Plotting on a Sim Build in Oregon

    Hello All,

    As with many Members, I have been lurking for quite sometime. There is so much information on this GS Forum that's it's almost daunting. However, I'm willing to dive in with some much needed assistance from you all.

    I have one major obstacle. My wife. We live in Oregon where it rains a lot from October through April. Probably similar to Scotland. I ran a price by her for a complete out-of-the-package purchase. She balked. Now I'm faced with reducing the price to satisfy her. Sound familiar? The plus is that over the past 4 years she has caught the golf bug and enjoys the game like I never figured that she would. I need to convince her that a SIM will be used year around, not just during the winter months.

    A little about myself: I am a soon to be 70 year old Vietnam Veteran who is in pretty darned good shape for my age. I served on Navy riverboats that ferried infantry troops around in the jungles of the Mekong Delta using small rivers and canals. I retired as a General Building Contractor so I have the skills for the construction portion of a SIM. Although I have been using a computer since 1988, I'm not as adept on the latest technology that I am reading about here on this site.

    1) After a lot of research I TEST ran the price of the TruGolf Vista 8 Pro package of $12K + past the wife. DING...! No go. Now I have to begin whittling down the pricing for re-submittal. The lower the better, but I do not want to sacrifice Quality.


    2) Here are the dimensions of the space that I am considering. It is a single bay garage. I am willing to remove the garage door tracks while leaving the door in place. It's easier than removing the door and framing/siding/painting the outside:

    - 12' wide
    - 10' high
    - 19' long
    - (1) 3' x 4' window on the right side
    - (2) doors that enter from either side at the rear away from the garage door
    - Concrete floor. I am plotting on a 2x4 deck with OSB plywood on top in the key area. Or could I do the rubber squares that lock together?

    What would be a good size SIM to fit in this area?

    3) I got excited about possibly having a laptop for iMac to run the project. After checking it does not look possible.

    - 2010 Dell Inspiron 1564 laptop. Found out that graphics are tied directly to motherboard so it is a no go.

    - Late 2011 Mac with 27" screen that River Rat buddy gave me when he purchased a new one. I am seeing that Macs are not supported much by the SIM softwares out there.

    It has an Intel Core i5 with 1 TB HDD. Appears that I would need an i7, but that upgrade is very iffy. More power and more ventilation needed. Plus it is tough to get into Macs to do the work. It has an AMD Radeon HD 6770M GPU - 512 VRAM

    - Late 2013 Mac with 27" screen that is my primary. It has i5 with 1 TB HDD - NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M - 1024 VRAM (All pretty much "Greek" to me) If I were to consider it then I would have to transfer all data over to the older iMac.

    4) We live in the country so cells are pretty weak. I checked the potential area and I have (2) bars out there most of the time. I have a NetGear Router. Would this be enough to run the system and play online? I have one Sprint Booster that has helped a little with the signal towards the back of the house. Perhaps another one out by my build would help? We have 10 Mpbs fiber optic cable to the house. Could I split that and run a cable out to the SIM area?

    5) Without hands-on experience all of the talk about SkyTrak, TruGolf E6 1.6, etc. has my head spinning. Note: I underwent not one, but two craniotomies in mid-2015, which hasn't helped matters. Fortunately I came out ok when 40-60% do not make it. It was a fall in my Shop while shooting baskets at my 10' hoop. My skull was no match for the concrete floor.

    Ok...this is a start. I'm sure with all of your coaching that I can come up with the pieces of the DIY Sim Build for much less cost. I want to THANK all of you in advance for your generous assistance!!! I've seen you help others here and know that I'm in good hands.

    Warm Regards,
    Mekongmike

  • #76
    Optoma HD29DARBEE

    If I am projecting from 13' and want a 4:3 ratio, will this projector work?

    Comment


    • #77
      Brettmacy18,

      I haven't set my SIM up yet or reviewed the potential of the projector so I cannot answer your question. Perhaps someone else can jump in here.

      Mekongmike

      Comment


      • #78
        It took me about a year, but I finally started assembling my SIM. I have the raw screen up and hit a 1/2 dozen shots into it. Very nice!

        I finished the cage today with EMT and pipe insulation over it.

        To refresh, my dimensions are:

        - 12' Wide x 10' High x 18' Long Room

        - 10' Wide x 8' 4" High finished screen. Diagonal measurement of screen inside the cage is 12' 6" or 150".

        - Cage top is 5' from screen.

        I purchased a BENQ TH-671ST projector.

        I do not have my hitting position determined yet as I figure that it will be determined by how the projector mounts. I purchased a ceiling mount and thought it might telescope downward. It doesn't.

        My concern is this: My ceiling is 10'. The top of my cage is 5' out from the screen and 8' 4" high. It seems like I will have to construct a box or something to mount on the ceiling to bring the projector down so the image will not hit the top of the cage.

        I am a complete rookie on the projector so any input would be greatly appreciated!

        Also I could use suggestions on how far my hitting area should be using the above information.

        Thanks in advance for your input!

        PS. The wife is in Cambodia until the 20th and I'm trying to get the SIM done to surprise her when she arrives back home.

        Mekongmike

        Comment


        • #79
          Originally posted by Mekongmike View Post
          PS. The wife is in Cambodia until the 20th and I'm trying to get the SIM done to surprise her when she arrives back home.

          Mekongmike
          Good surprise or bad surprise? My wife was surprised when she saw the impact screen in the playroom, but she didn’t thank me 🤔😳

          Comment


          • #80
            Hahaha...!

            Good surprise. She knows about it already. I just golfed outdoors too much this summer/fall to tackle the project. At least that was my excuse.

            Mekongmike

            Comment


            • #81
              Here's an image of what I have so far.

              Mekongmike

              Comment


              • #82
                I haven't posted here in a long time. Beat my head against the proverbial "wall" off and on for months trying to get the SkyTrak and TGC software talking to one another. Last week a ProTee tech worked on it remotely. I didn't talk to him/her, but I'm guessing that the original download on TGC was corrupt as I saw him/her loading it again. Then it worked for the first time!

                Today I booted up SkyTrak and was able to use the driving range. That got me excited.

                Then I ran into another problem. I can get the TGC software to load, but when I enter the Driving Range or bring up a course the SkyTrak red light is lit, but when I hit a ball nothing happens. Very frustrating.

                Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!?

                Mekongmike

                Comment


                • #83
                  UPDATE: Finally got it figured out. I had no idea that I had to subscribe to the annual Improvement Plan. Without it there was no ST license. Got it, but it still wouldn't work. Finally talked to a guy on ST Chat. He told me to end chat and then reenter and ask for a remote tech to take over my PC. When he did he found some glitches and finally got it working. Whew! It's only been months of struggling.

                  Mekongmike

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X