Simulation Partner Update

[SkyTrak_Seth]

Hey Everyone. I'm working on about 3 hours of sleep so bear with me here I want to address the most glaring point of frustration on the forum (as far as I can tell, at least). It has to do with our simulation partners. I know it's been terribly exasperating for all involved. There has certainly been no secret plan to hold anything back, so let me explain where we are.

First I'll start with WGT - I think overall, for what it is intended to be, WGT has been a great success. There are 2 things to keep in mind here: 1) WGT was never intended to be a full 3D simulation experience with local multiplayer. etc. The goal was simply to provide WGT fans a badass "joystick" to be able to play the game using their own balls and clubs. While it may not be a full-blown simulator in the traditional sense of the word, it's still a great game with fantastic graphics and courses. 2) The WGT ball flight model does have a driver distance issue which we are actively working with them on. We all realize the gravity of this discrepancy, so believe me, it's very high on the radar.

We do have additional partners in the pipeline, but I am going to stay with the outstanding "big 3". TruGolf, Perfect Golf, and TGC all had previously successfully integrated with us using a very bare SDK from us to make a ball fly in their software. In order to be able to launch in the market, we needed tighter security features in place on a lot of fronts. This effort was significant more work for our partners to implement. In full disclosure, we have pulled our development efforts off any major software updates for SkyTrak in order to devote personal attention to each of the sim partners. In most cases, we are actually working with their code to integrate our system for them. We all understand the urgency to get this stuff out there and it's the right thing to do.

I am going to try and be better through the end of the year of maintaining a more reliable presence on the forum. You guys deserve good communication and your feedback needs to be read and absorbed - it makes us better.

Thanks and looking forward to getting you guys up on the sim software of your choice as soon as humanly possible.

Thanks,
Seth

[SkyTrak_Seth]

The thing is that it's not really cut and dry and varies so much from player to player. There's no magical spot to place the ball for any given out-of-the-ordinary shot. All I'm giving is general common sense tips related to how the ball passes in front of the cameras. If you are hitting a super-slow high launch shot, it just makes sense to move the ball up a tad to help it get into the picture. In contrast, some of the long drive guys are teed up 4 inches behind the red dot because their ball speed is so fast that hitting from the red dot, the ball would be out of the picture by the time it was taken. I also tee up behind the red dot if I want to keep my white driver head out of the picture.

I've definitely captured shots that went through the ceiling too

[Stiggity]

SkyTrak_Seth, With upcoming holiday season of Christmas and New Years, are we now looking until Jan/ before any update for how the teams are progressing with finalizing the whole simulation partner fiasco?

[ryanoneill1]

SkyTrak_Seth are you able to confirm which sim software would be released next?

[Willymakit]

That's like asking Steve Harvey who won miss universe.

[avantix]

Best reply ever ↑↑↑

[luv2golf]

Willymakit, you might make it as a comedian. THAT'S HILARIOUS!!!!!!!

Hey, so who did win?

[SkyTrak_Seth]

LOL Willymakit , Really though, I cannot. And it's not because I'm not allowed to or don't want to...I really have no idea. It's up to each of the partners - we'll see who finishes first. All I can tell you is that we are working with each of them on the integration.

[Tekbud]

Has there been good progress @skytak?

[heisman32]

So if I understand your implication correctly at this point it is in the hands of each of the software providers. If this is accurate would love to hear an update from @Pro Tee United

First it was SkyTrak_Seth waiting on Protee, then it changed to Protee was ready just waiting on Skytrak. Now it is back to waiting on Protee? WTF?

[aja]

Pass the buck, 101

[Schlueter]

I am so confused of what to do .. I thought I made a good move buying the Skytrak from Golf Town for 20% off with hopes of having my garage as a simulator. I even have my wife now calling my garage the simulator but when she asks why aren't you using it as a simulator it's hard to explain it to her. I have until January to return the skytrak to Golf Town for a full refund.
Please Skytrak for the love of Christmas and all the men waiting for the release give us something to look forward to..if I can't look forward to a date soon I am sadly returning my unit and going with the GC2 or wait for ES16
Very sad I am

[avantix]

Golf Town in Canada is selling the Skytrak? Really? Whereabout are you located and if I may ask what are they selling it for?

[Bubba22]

Here you go avantix http://www.golftown.com/SkyTrak-Laun...3#.VnshS2t5mK0

[luv2golf]

I posted that link and it got moved. avantix, wait till boxing day, GT will have 20% off again. If your willing to wait for sim use at 20% off it works out to $1700 US. The price is right!!

[Schlueter]

Thanks Bubba for putting up the link.. it was the cyber Monday deal they had 20%off and free shipping
It was around $550 off which was nice..
It's just a huge bit of drama ..I would rather be told that we messed up but we are looking at this time frame to get it all fixed than going on this soap opera " as the skytrak turns"

[aja]

Just return it to GolfTown. That's the beauty of it. They'll have it on a special again.

[Schlueter]

The Canadian dollar is killing us... I hope Skytrak isn't playing a big joke on us..

[doublebogey]

A question for an expert like Bubba22 (sorry if this is a dumb question btw): Why do sim partners need ST's SDK to link their sim SW to ST but do not require the same SDK to link their SW to GC2? Is it because GC2 is an open system whereas ST is not? I remember davray666 mentioning before he can easily access shot data coming out of GC2 (but I think I also remember him saying he can also access info coming out of ST as well)? Or is it because GC2 spits out shot data whereas ST spits out images that need to be processed locally (I guess using their SDK) on the iPad or PC?

Reason I'm asking is an attempt to figure out what might be going on in this "As the SkyTrak Turns" soap opera. If E6 demo can be released linking to ST I'm sure all sim SW makers can release their SW linked to ST right now as well using the ST SDK. However they must have signed contract when they received ST SDK that ST has sole right to allow release of any sim SW linked to ST - ST only allowed E6 demo as most other sim makers don't have a demo version of their SW.

So now, although all the other sim SW makers already use some sort of security or physical key for their SW, ST wants the sim makers to add another security layer in their SW to check for appropriate license files in ST unit before allowing access of SW to ST. Sim makers might find this difficult as it involves creating another version of their SW specifically for ST w this license checking feature or add to their existing SW a feature that is irrelevant to their other customers using SW on other LMs - not to mention more work and $$$ by having to assign programming resources to this (and as many have said, to put together a hack-proof security overlay w/o using a physical key or something locally on the SW itself not as easy as it seems - look at how long it took ST to get their license-checking feature released). So now the sim makers might be balking at ST's request for this license-checking feature because they're weighting is it worth the cost to add this to their existing SW given there might not be that many ST users out there (and seems many are looking to jump anyways) and rather focus on integrating w something like ES16 that might not require this extra security layer (and extra time and $$$ to implement) - hence it is correctly stated that the ball is back in the sim makers' court???

[aja]

For anyone following the SkyTrak story, it has been clear long ago that marketing know-how, customer support, product development and corporate competence are terms that haven't come into play. Boondoggle, is perhaps more descriptive.

[Bubba22]

There's no magic here double. ST is well protected with its SDK requirements, better than the GC2. The security addition shouldn't be that difficult. It probably needs to be tied to the GIP required etc. There is no reason that it wasn't done months ago.

[doublebogey]

Ok if it's not the technology holding things back then it must be the $$$. ST probably seeking a piece of the sim SW $$$ pie either thru a piece of the revenues or asking for annuities on the SDK from the sim SW makers; and like most of us, the sim guys are probably taking a wait-and-see approach to see how ES16 plays out and if more ST users jump ship before deciding whether to succumb to ST's demands (can't really blame them though). So in the interim, it is the ST customers that loses out - but sadly it might be ST that loses out ultimately.

Well, anyways, it's the holidays. So can't be bothered to follow this soap during the holiday season. Wishing all a merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016!

[bennyg211]

I like pie. Sweet or savoury. Count me in for either.

[wilson]

I'll just leave this here:

Typical 90 Day exclusivity window:

October 27

http://www.skytrakgolf.com/press-release/wgtlaunch

January 26

http://www.pgashow.com

Math....

[luv2golf]

WOW, you think wilson. That would be pretty crappy if SkyTrak_Seth wouldn't of just said that. Who knows, seems everybody is in the dark.

[Sascha1818]

Merry christmas and a happy New year to all of you and your family. Let's hope 2017 will be a better year for the onces who are still holding on to there ST

[doublebogey]

2017 Sascha1818? Boy you really have low expectations of ST! Heard rumor by 2017 Ernest Sports will be launching the ES17 which will allow you to play 4D virtual reality sim w TGC's new virtual reality sim software - while we holding onto our STs will finally get an E6 demo version w putting that works...

[Sascha1818]

Hahahahaha 2016 of course hahahahaha

[keither5150]

It's going to be great when all of the ST players get TGC and join the tour. It seems that ST users outnumber the other users by a great margin. It would be awesome if eventually, you had to make the cut to continue to the final round. They tease you with gorgeous pictures of TGC. Gameplay is equally impressive. There is also a big multiplayer update coming any day now. Here is a video of actual gameplay. Make sure you watch it at 720/60 or better. Windows 7 users will have to use Chrome to get the 60FPS part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkF1oSIgyzo

I only had two misreads from my sim. ( balls laying in the FOV wrecks havoc with my GSA system) I was too busy watching the shot and not clearing a ball away that rolled into the FOV. TGC has a handy rewind ( mulligan) feature when this happens. ST users will love putting on TGC..... it is far better than E6.

Hope you guys all join the tour, it's a lot of fun.

[goodmatt78]

You know what Santa didn't bring me? A sim package for my ST.

[DougieMn]

It's going to be great when all of the ST players get TGC and join the tour. It seems that ST users outnumber the other users by a great margin. It would be awesome if eventually, you had to make the cut to continue to the final round. They tease you with gorgeous pictures of TGC. Gameplay is equally impressive. There is also a big multiplayer update coming any day now. Here is a video of actual gameplay. Make sure you watch it at 720/60 or better. Windows 7 users will have to use Chrome to get the 60FPS part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkF1oSIgyzo

I only had two misreads from my sim. ( balls laying in the FOV wrecks havoc with my GSA system) I was too busy watching the shot and not clearing a ball away that rolled into the FOV. TGC has a handy rewind ( mulligan) feature when this happens. ST users will love putting on TGC..... it is far better than E6.

Hope you guys all join the tour, it's a lot of fun.

First of all.....great round! I only watched 5-6 holes but holy cow. I found myself watching this video like I was sitting in front of the TV watching a PGA event and totally enjoying it! I hope this is what it's like when/if us SkyTrak owners have the ability to play TGC.

I have done both E6 and WGT but TGC looks like it's in a world of it's own. Love the commentary! The speed of video and the speed of moving from shot to shot looks pretty incredible. How much of that is dependent on computer speed? Hoping my system will render something close to that when "the day" arrives.