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3D Ultra MiniGolf Series

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Matt Jernigan edited this page Apr 27, 2023 · 42 revisions

This underrated game fills a niche shared by few other games: broad appeal (as in family-friendly), turn-based, multiplayer, and even networkable. With 1,833 audio clips, it has more production value and depth than most realize. It is deserving of finding the original 3D models and re-releasing the courses under a modern 3D game engine.

Regarding online play, v1.1 supported SIGS and v2.0 supported the later version of the same service, called WON. WON died after Valve reneged on their WON support and secretly built Steam on their own. A splinter group created WON2 but it only supports Half-Life and its mods thus far. NeuWon/NuWON sprung up for a while with much more support for more games, but that seems dead now. Thus, the only current option seems to be to set up your own VPN for online play (which I have succeeded at doing with MiniGolf -- and was my main motivation for fixing MiniGolf -- but which is also beyond the scope of this wiki). Well, that or kali.net might still work with MiniGolf.

3·D Ultra MiniGolf includes 18 holes; and Deluxe includes 27 holes.

3D Ultra MiniGolf icon 3·D Ultra MiniGolf

Includes the Family MegaHits print (English re-release by Encore Software).

Game Install

  • ℹ️ Current "abandonware" copies:
  • ⚠️ Do not run the installer on the CD.
  • ✔️ Copy the MINIGOLF folder from the CD to your hard drive.
    • ⚠️ Don't create a path with a space in it or else the MIDI music will not play (among other issues).
      • For example, this is my path: C:\Games\Sierra\MINIGOLF
  • 🔷 Optional. Download and run Sierra's v1.1 update (below) from any folder.
    • This adds the network play feature.
    • 🔷 Optional. MiniGolf v1.1 on Windows 10. Install DirectPlay for network gaming:
      • Hit the Windows key
      • Start typing "Turn Windows features on or off" and select it when the Start menu finds it
      • Enable these options:
        • Legacy Components
          • DirectPlay
  • 🔷 Optional. Set the compatibility mode for MINIGOLF.EXE to:
    • Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution
  • ✔️ Download and run the RBXIT Win7 Patch (below) from your MINIGOLF folder.

Sierra Updates

🔷 : v1.0 to v1.1, English and German: The Sierra Help Pages - 3-D Ultra Series Updates

❗❗❗ WANTED: The 🇫🇷French🇫🇷 update to v1.1 from Sierra, MGPAT11F.EXE. ❗❗❗

RBXIT Win7 Patches

✔️ v1.0 and v1.1, English: 3DUltraMiniGolf-English-10-11-Win7fix.r4.exe 🇺🇸

✔️ v1.0 and v1.1, German: 3DUltraMiniGolf-German-10-11-Win7fix.r4.exe 🇩🇪

✔️ v1.0 only! French: 3DUltraMiniGolf-French-10-Win7fix.r4.exe 🇫🇷

Outstanding Issues

  • Very few GFX on the Preferences screen work. Same on various other UI screens. More of a Sierra issue than a Windows issue, I believe.
  • If you turn the music off (or have a space in your path so that the music cannot play [or maybe running v1.0]), the intro screens to the holes are then skipped and the voice overs for them get piled on top of the putter announcement voice overs.
  • v1.1: If you lose the game screens while attempting to set up networking, hit Alt+Tab to bring hidden dialogs back to the front to regain control.
  • Other issues same as listed for MiniGolf Deluxe below. Get a copy of Deluxe if you can. It cleans up the above issues.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Timo Salmen for helping to get the German-language edition included in this patch.

Thank you to Cyril Martin for helping to get the French-language edition included in this patch, as well as for taking the time to learn the RBXIT tools to patch his own copy.

3D Ultra MiniGolf Deluxe icon 3·D Ultra MiniGolf Deluxe

a.k.a. 3D MiniGolf deLuxe (English re-release by Family Fun Software)
a.k.a. MaxiMiniGolf (German re-release by Big Fun Software)
a.k.a. MiniGolf Fantasy (French re-release by Family Fun Software)

Game Install

  • ℹ️ Current "abandonware" copies:
  • ⚠️ Do not run the installer on the CD.
  • ✔️ Copy the MiniGolf folder from the CD to your hard drive.
    • ⚠️ Don't create long paths or folder names (23 chars appears to be the max folder name length) or nearly all of the graphics will display as black.
      • For example, this is my path: C:\Games\Sierra\MINIGOLF
    • ⚠️ The re-releases by Family Fun and Big Fun include too many files in too many places when you copy the Minigolf folder from the CD. Therefor, delete the following files from your Minigolf folder after copying:
      • *.rbx (actually, it is just main.rbx -- the patcher patches DATA\main.rbx, not this copy)
      • *.mid
      • *.tap (the American copies don't have tape files ???)
  • 🔷 Optional. 👍 Copy the mp3play.exe program from the CD root to your MiniGolf folder if you want to hear the MP3 background music instead of the MIDI background music. (Same music but better rendered.)
    • ℹ️ The re-releases by Family Fun already have this in the right place. Remove it if you don't want it.
  • 🔷 Optional. Windows 10. Install DirectPlay for network gaming:
    • Hit the Windows key
    • Start typing "Turn Windows features on or off" and select it when the Start menu finds it
    • Enable these options:
      • Legacy Components
        • DirectPlay
  • 🔷 Optional. Set the compatibility mode for minigolf.exe to:
    • Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution
  • ✔️ Download and run the RBXIT Win7 Patch (below) from your MiniGolf folder.

RBXIT Win7 Patches

✔️ v2.0, English: 3DUltraMiniGolfDeluxe-English-20-Win7fix.r5.exe 🇺🇸🇬🇧

✔️ v2.0, German: 3DUltraMiniGolfDeluxe-German-20-Win7fix.r6.exe 🇩🇪

✔️ v2.0, French: 3DUltraMiniGolfDeluxe-French-20-Win7fix.r5.exe 🇫🇷

Outstanding Issues

  • Using a folder name of greater than 23 characters causes nearly all of the graphics to display as black.
  • The videos on the help menu don't play from the menu. You can find the AVI files in the DATA folder.
  • The help program may not load. See info on Windows Help.
  • MIDI music does not respond to the music volume settings. If your audio driver has a volume slider for FM Synth then you can control MIDI volume that way (this is becoming less common). For other options see info on MIDIVOL.
  • MP3 music is loud and does not quiet much with the volume settings. Volume for an MP3 file can be changed without rewriting the audio data. See info on MP3Gain. (I dropped my MiniGolf MP3 files by 6dB across the set. These files are unusually loud for today's codecs.)

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Max for helping to get the European, English-language edition by Family Fun included in this patch.

Thank you to lones710 for helping to get the German-language edition by Sierra included in this patch.

Thank you to Cyril Martin for helping to get the French-language edition by Family Fun included in this patch, as well as for taking the time to learn the RBXIT tools to patch his own copy.

Thank you to Joerg "Nafcom" Droege for helping to get the German-language edition by Big Fun included in this patch.

3D Ultra MiniGolf Deluxe Demo icon 3·D Ultra MiniGolf Deluxe Demo

Install Game

🔹 We have the original installer here if you really really want it: 3DUltraMiniGolfDeluxeDemo-original-installer.zip

3D Ultra MiniGolf icon 3D Ultra MiniGolf Deluxe icon MissionForce: CyberStorm icon

Please do not steal these game patches by hosting them on your own site :trollface:. Link here instead or, more preferably, to my blog post. If I can't determine how popular they might be by the traffic, then why should I make more?

Saying "Thanks!"

Check out the early-access release of my indie game, GRITS Racing, a crazy party game that involves something that looks a bit like auto racing... but can get more messy than race-like.

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