Problem using new Skytrak with TGC 2019

[KimOback]

So after weeks of research, most of it on this forum — thank you! — my husband and I pulled the trigger and began building our own simulator in a corner of our shop. Today was to be the day we played our first round using the Skytrak and TGC 2019. Alas, it was not to be. Although we have no issue connecting the Skytrak to the iPad and using the driving range software, TGC 2019 won’t register a shot. SKytrak shows three green lights, then the top one goes red after the shot. It does not return to green and nothing happens on the screen.

Here’s more information on the setup. We’re using a secondary network to extend the WiFi signal out to the shop. Speed is not amazing but still 10-20 down and 8-9 up with 10 ms ping. So far so good. Skytrak didn’t want to connect to the network — it was equipment inherited from our son and has a long name — so we added a second USB WiFi adapter to the sim PC and connected the Skytrak to the second NIC using direct connect.

While I fully admit we are rank newbies when it comes to games, we have used a simulator before. We get to the first tee and it says ready for shot, the aforementioned three green lights and laser dot are present, shot is executed and .... nothing.

Do I need to check for IP contention? Is there additional documentation on how to play? Do I have a defective Skytrak? My 30 days are up tomorrow so I’m a little worried. Thank you for any help you can provide and for all of the great ideas. We’ll send some pictures once it is actually up and running.

[htdumps]

Can you use the Skytrak range on your computer?

[simmb]

Did you connect to the skytrak using the TGC Skytrak interface first (see pic)? In TGC 1 you always went into the interface, connected box and then clicked play game. In TGC 2019 I know its quite easy to just start the game and miss the connection stage through the skytrak interface as there are now two ways to launch the game.

[Dan King]

Did you connect to the skytrak using the TGC Skytrak interface first (see pic)? In TGC 1 you always went into the interface, connected box and then clicked play game. In TGC 2019 I know its quite easy to just start the game and miss the connection stage through the skytrak interface as there are now two ways to launch the game.

Yes, this is key. If you're not able to "connect box" and then "play game" from this interface, TGC 2019 wouldn't register a shot.

[cmckelvmi]

Could it be the issue we ST users have with needing to toggle from driver to putter and back to driver in order for the shot to be read?

[KimOback]

Thanks so much for all the quick replies. I found the connection screen shown above and it was showing no connection or license so I re-added the license (I had done it directly in the simulator software). Getting connected to the Skytrak via USB was trickier but I found a sequence on another post that worked. At that point I had both green but the option to Play Game was still gray (or it just occurred to me that it is always gray?). So we’re getting closer but still not there yet. I also tried connecting in that screen when direct connected via WiFi to the second NIC but it didn’t work. Is it a requirement to be connected to USB to play? In reply to the other question I am able to connect to the Skytrak software without issue using direct connect. Should that be running or not when trying to use TGC?

[cmckelvmi]

I always close the SkyTrak app before going to TGC, I am not sure it matter though. My sequence is clicking on the 'connect box' button then opening up the TGC icon. It seems like the 'play game' button is always grayed out for me and I can only play by opening TGC by double clicking on the icon.

[wbond]

You must close the skytrak app before opening TGC.

[jrz]

There's a bug in the TGC-SkyTrak interface software in how they toggle whether or not that Play Game button is enabled. If you open the interface, connect to your ST, start the game and then for any reason go back to the interface the Play Game button is disabled. I have had to restart the interface app in order to be able to click that button.

[simmb]

So what I do is open the Protee simulator console (see new pic attached) then I open the skytrak connection interface and click connect box(the pic I posted earlier). Once box is connected and shows green go back to the Protee simulator console and start the game from there.

[KimOback]

Thank you all for the additional input. Between that and the an email from Protee support confirming the bug and that the Skytrak can be used with direct connect, we were able to get things up and running. We played our first round at Pebble Beach after work tonight!

[retired_18]

Did you connect to the skytrak using the TGC Skytrak interface first (see pic)? In TGC 1 you always went into the interface, connected box and then clicked play game. In TGC 2019 I know its quite easy to just start the game and miss the connection stage through the skytrak interface as there are now two ways to launch the game.

I'm new to this. TCG 2019 does not register shots with skytrak on with red laser dot. trying to go thru these posts but I do not see the skytrak interface screen where i'm supposed to connect the box and start game. skytrak features and software by itself work fine. Any help would be appreciated.

[retired_18]

I'm new to this. TCG 2019 does not register shots with skytrak on with red laser dot. trying to go thru these posts but I do not see the skytrak interface screen where i'm supposed to connect the box and start game. skytrak features and software by itself work fine. Any help would be appreciated.

Never Mind......i swear that icon was not on the desktop earlier

[calebm1001]

I had that issue one day as well. Something about Windows that annoys me are these types of odd things. I've noticed things disappear or just move around and find a new place on my desktop for no reason at all it seems.

[jessmanwagner]

I purchased TGC 2019 on 3/25/2020 and I tried to play today and it read 1 total shot out of about 25 swings. I've had my SkyTrak for 3 years and it's the exact same setup I've always used and rarely missed shots.

I updated ST to 3.4.1 on 3/26/2020 and hit about 15 shots and all were read ok. Then I tried TGC2019 for the 1st time. I went thru TGC2019 setup, put in the key, found the ST license, click Connect Box and it found the ST unit. I clicked Play Game and brought up a course. All lights are green on ST unit and ball placement is the same as it always has been. I hit the ball and all lights on ST stay green (normally top light turns red when a shot is hit, I think).

Any ideas on why 1 out of 25 shots would be recognized?

[jessmanwagner]

My issue was the ball placement is different between using SkyTrak and TGC2019. For 3 years, when using SkyTrak to practice I had to put the ball on the red dot to get the best reading. For TGC2019, the ball has to be placed about an inch behind the dot for a shot to be read. I'm surprised that there is a difference, but that seems to have been the issue.

[Morini]

The software you use will not have any impact on how the ST hardware behaves. The firmware hasn't changed in years. You swing, and the ST sends two pictures to your computer. I don't know this for a fact, I but suspect most no-reads occur at this stage.

Next the image processing engine on your device will process the images and create ball data. This step is also independent of the software you use. Again, I don't know this for a fact, but suspect that a few no reads occur here if the image processing engine doesn't like the images.

Next the ball data is sent to the sim software. This is where TGC and ST range diverge. They use different ball flight models. But if the process goes this far, there will be no no-reads, just slightly different ball flights.

The above is not entirely true. The recent update is not yet integrated into TGC2019, there is a very slight difference in image processing engine between TGC and ST range, but nothing that will cause no-read in one and not the other.

I have no idea why putting it behind the dot works better, but keep doing what works. Maybe there is something mysterious going on that I overlooked, but for the life of me, I don't know what it could be.

[GungHoGolf]

Agree with everything you said here Morini, except the SkyTrak unit does not process the images itself. It simply takes the images and sends them to the Rapsodo SDK (integrated in the SkyTrak app) on the PC or iOS device, where they are processed. I think I've mentioned this to you before, but want to make sure you know.