Installing the software
The above image shows the complete set of 4 DVDs for ProX and GSA Golf with 75 golf courses (10 GB),
the blue and green software activation keys and the USB to Serial adapter.
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GSA sensor and camera club and ball track systems can be run with three different types of golf simulation software: ProX, GSAGolf and E6
However, most systems are ordered with just the ProX and GSA Golf software.
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The supplied DVDs contain the GGSProXSetup, the GSAGolfSetup , the GSAGolfInterface Setups plus all the golf courses.
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Step 1. ProX install
Starting with the ProX DVD, insert the DVD into a drive on your PC to start the software installation process.
If the DVD doesn't auto start after 60 seconds when inserting the DVD into the PC then double click the GGSProXSetup on the DVD from the Windows Explorer.
The installer will also start the GSAGolfTrialSetup and the GSAGolfInterfaceSetup.
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Skipping the ProX installation
Note: If you have purchased the full version of GSA Golf software with 75 golf courses, you will probably only use this software and not the ProX software.
In this case you can skip this step ( as it takes at least half an hour to install).
If you skip the ProX installation then the GSA Control Panel Setup program must be manually started from the GSA Golf Disc 1 DVD. Use the Windows Explorer to locate and run this program.
Step 2. GSA Golf system install
If you have purchased the GSA Golf full version software, insert the GSA Golf Disc1 DVD into the PC to start the GSA Golf full version setup procedure.
After GSAGolf has finished installing itself, de-select the Launch Now check box before pressing the Finish button.
You should see 4 new icons on your desktop window. ProX, GSA Golf Control Panel and GSA Golf and GSA Golf Trial.
You can delete the GSA Golf Trial version if using GSA Golf full version software.
Step 3. GSA Golf courses
GSA Golf discs 2,3 and 4 contain the golf courses. These discs do not feature an installer program at present so the courses have to be manually copied to the GSA Golf / Courses folder.
GSA Disc 1 also contains courses. However, these files are contained in the seperate Courses folder.
Use the Windows Explorer program to select and copy the entire contents of these discs and paste to the GSA Golf / Courses folder.
GSA Golf is usually installed automatically in the Windows Program Files (x86) folder.
Step 4. GSA latest version update
Note: after 23rd May 2011 this step is no longer required
The latest GSA software version is on Disc 3.
Use the Windows Explorer to locate the GSAGolfSetup program on this disc and double click it to start the update install procedure.
Notes:
GSA Control Panel
GSA Control Panel is an interface program between game software and the club and ball tracking systems.
ProX has the interface to the tracking systems built into the software but GSAGolf and E6 software requires the
GSAGolf Control Panel program to run in parallel with it to communicate with GSA tracking systems.
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Windows UAC
If you are running under Windows Vista or Windows 7 you should switch off the windows user account control (UAC) protection after installation.
(See the Tech Help page on this web site for instructions on how to switch off UAC)
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USB dongles
If you have purchased the system before 1st July 2011 then the ProX & GSAGolf Control Panel requires that the supplied blue USB software copy protection
USB key be inserted into a USB port on your computer to run with sensor mat hardware. Without this key ProX and GSA Golf will only run in PC mouse game mode.
All products purchased after 1st July 2011 no longer require the blue USB key.
GSA Golf Full Version software requires the second (green) USB software key.
Step 5.
Club tracking Sensor Mat (PX or FX series ) USB adapter driver installation
Note: This step is no longer required if you have purchased the system after the 1st July 2011.
The USB drivers for all new systems are installed automatically for XP, Vista and W7.
All GSA sensor mats use a serial (RS232) connection to the PC however all new sensor mats now feature a built in serial to USB adapter.
The adapter requires the drivers to be installed which can be done automatically if your PC has a live internet connection.
The drivers will be automatically installed when first plugging the adapter into the PC.
If you don't have an internet connection on the PC then you must install the drivers manually.
Please go here for serial adapter installation instructions
If you haven't done already, you can now connect the Sensor Mat USB connector to the PC.
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Step 6.
Microsoft Serial BallPoint disable
Windows still has the annoying habit of automatically installing a Microsoft Serial BallPoint mouse when any Serial device is first connected to the PC.
The Microsoft Serial BallPoint mouse has to be disabled before you can use either the PX or FX sensor mats.
To do this open the Windows Device Manager before connecting your sensor mat to the PC and do not start either the GSA Control Panel or the ProX software.
(See instructions below to see how to get to the Device Manager. if you don't know how to do this)
Cover all the sensors on the mat with a book or magazine or other suitable object and connect the sensor mat to the PC.
You may find that the mouse cursor is moving occasionally during this procedure but as long as the sensors are covered it should still be possible to position the mouse cursor with your normal mouse.
You will see that the Device Manage has updated itself with the new devices after connecting the sensor mat.
Now go to the Mice and other pointing devices, right click on the Serial Ballpoint device and select Disable.
Ensure to select Disable and not uninstall otherwise Windows will automatically install another one the next time you reboot the PC.
Step 7.
ProX and GSA Control Panel configuration
From the Windows desktop, start (double click) either the GSA Control Panel or the ProX icon.
Please note: Only start one of these programs. Never both. So that either GSA Control Panel is running only or only ProX.
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Both ProX and GSA Golf Control Panel need to be configured to whatever sensor and/or camera systems you have connected.
GSA Golf Control Panel system setup window (setup shown is for a system consisting of a sensor mat, two cameras and a camera trigger array)
ProX system setup window. (setup shown is for a system consisting of a sensor mat only)
Go here to see Setup Examples
At present, GSA Control Panel and ProX have separate configuration files so the setup must be done on both systems.
Go to the Setup window and ensure that the settings correspond to the sensor systems you have.
Nearly all will have at least a club tracking Sensor Mat with Left Hand and Right Hand sensors so ensure that both LH/RH Pro Sensor Mat button indicators are lit red if you have a PX series mat
or that the FX pad is selected if you have an FX mat.
If you have a camera ball tracking system, ensure that the 4 camera buttons are set correspondingly otherwise they must all be set off.
Note: It is essential that you only activate the buttons in the setup window according to what sensor systems you are using.
So if you only have a sensor mat then only this should be activated and not cameras or ball tracks or any other product.
Step 8.
COM port setting
In order for the sensor systems to communicate with the host PC via the serial connection, the correct COM port must be selected in the Sensor Mat COM port window.
This COM port selected in this window must correspond to the COM port shown in the windows Device Manager
Go to the Windows Device Manager and click on the Ports (COM & LPT) item to see which COM Port windows has assigned the Serial Port to.
The above image shows that the PC has two PCI serial ports and one USB Serial Port.
How to get to the Windows Device Manager
In Windows Vista you get to the Windows Device Manager via the Windows Control Panel
In Windows 7 go first the the Control Panel
Click Hardware and Sound
Click Device Manager
Once you know which COM Port number to use, go back to the Sensor Mat COM port window, select the same port number and click the Connect to COM Port button.
You should see that the port has been successfully opened. (The button text will then change to Disconnect).
This procedure has only to be made once. From then on, the system will automatically connect to this port.
Step 9.
Overhead lamp
All GSA optical sensor systems are shadow based and require an overhead lamp to function.
The above image shows the complete recommended lighting setup for camera setups.
If only using the PX or FX sensor mat then you only require a single 50 watt halogen lamp.
The lamp should ideally be a narrow beam spot (8 to 30 degrees) and should be mounted directly above the sensor mat.
Step 10.
Testing the GSA Sensor mat
Restart the ProX or GSA Control Panel.
You should then see the Sensor Mat Detected message at the bottom left hand side of the screen
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Both the sensor mat and camera triggers and or sensor ball tracks require an overhead halogen spot lamp light source of between 50 and 70 watts to function
and there should not be too much ambient light in the room.
Ensure that the overhead light spot is directly above and pointing directly down on to the sensor mat.
Go to the Setup Window again and go to the Show Sensors window.
The above part screen shot shows the XD ball track banks 1 and 2 and the horizontal sensor mat sensors.
When passing a club over any one of the 3 reset sensors at the back of the sensor mat all sensor indicators in the window should go dark green except sensors 1 and 2.
You should also see that numbers will be changing in the timer windows.
When passing a club head over the sensor mat you should see that the corresponding sensor indicators in the window are being lit.
When making a swing you should see the Valid Swing Detected with the associated club head information (ie club head speed, path and club face angle).
If you are only using a GSA Sensor mat, you are now ready to play.
In ProX, you just select the course and the players in the flight and you are then ready to play.
GSA Control Panel
The GSA Control Panel is an application that monitors all GSA camera and optical sensor ball and club tracking systems
and should always be ran along side any of the 3 golf game programs (i.e. ProX, GSA Golf or E6).
All optical sensor serial I/O, camera image grabing and processing is performed by the GSA Control Panel.
Ball and club data captured by the GSA Control Panel are passed on to golf game that is currently running. (i.e. either ProX, GSA Golf or E6)
GSAGolf Control Panel is not normally visible during game play. It is a process that runs in the background.
The above screen shot shows the GSA Control Panel's main window.
When the control panel detects a valid shot from any of the ball or club tracking systems it passes the shot parameters via a shared memory area on the PC to the game applications.
These parameters, such as ball speed, launch angle, ball path, club speed, path and face angle etc, are shown in pink text.
When the game application receives these parameters it calculates the ball trajectory and launches the ball.
The white edit boxes can be used to manually set any of these parameters. Just set as required and right mouse click anywhere in the screen to send the parameters to the shared memory.
The game application will then launch the shot using these parameters to calculate the trajectory.
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When your system is connected to the PC you should see - depending on what system you have - that the sensor mat has been detected and the cameras are running. This information is shown at the bottom left of the screen.
You will notice a small green square box at the top left of the screen. This box indicates that the connected tracking systems are running and ready.
Should this box turn any other color then this indicates a system is not running correctly and that the system requires attention to resolve the fault.
This system indicator box is also visible in the game applications during play.
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Ordinarily the GSA Control Panel is not visible during game play. It must, however, be started before play can begin. After starting the Control Panel and you see the green box you should click the Send Back button.
This will minimize the window size so that you only see the above screen at the bottom left of the screen. You can then see your desktop and can start one of the game applications.
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GSA Control Panel main window buttons explained
1. ADC - shows the signal levels of the VX 16 channel Analog Digital Converter (only of interest if the VX or ADX system is being used)
2. Camera - opens the Camera control window (only of interest if cameras are being used)
3. Show Sensors - shows the status of the optical sensors (only of interest if an optical system is being used, i.e. sensor mat or ball track)
4. Setup - opens the setup window. Use this to configure the system with whatever optical sensor or cameras are being used.
5. Exit - closes the GSA Control Panel
6. Sys Admin Lock on/off - you can lock the control panel to prevent your settings being tampered with by others. To toggle the lock on or off hold the Ctrl and Shift keys down and click in the button.
7. GSA/ProX E6 radio buttons - if playing ProX or GSA Golf games, ensure this is selected. If playing E6, select E6.
8. Show Club Angles - shows the after shot swing analysis window
9. After Shot Win on/off - when set on a small window will be opened after every shot showing club speed, path and face angle and ball speed, path and launch angle
10. Full Analysis on/off - when set on, a larger graphic swing analysis window will be shown after every shot
11. Ad Campaign on/off - when set on, user defined advertising banners will be periodically shown during game play
12. Camera image on/off - when set on, the captured ball tracking camera images will be displayed after every shot
13. Game timer on/off - when set on, the game play time will be limited to whatever the administrator has set it to.
14. Carry adjust mode - when set on, carry distances can be adjusted for every club. (Note this function is now superceded by carry adjust features in the game application.
GSAGolf
GSAGolf requires the GSAGolf Control Panel program to run in parallel with it to communicate with GSASensor systems.
GSAGolf Control Panel is not normally visible during game play. It is a process that runs in the background.
GSA Golf Control Panel
GSA Golf Control Panel should be started before you launch GSAGolf. Once you have started GSA Golf Control Panel and the Setup is set correctly
and the sensor systems are connected and powered on, you should see a green cursor in the top left hand side of the screen.
This indicates that the system is running and communication with the GSA sensor systems is running correctly.
Click the Send Window Back pad button. This will reduce the size of the GSA Golf Control Panel and allow you to see your windows desktop.
Now start GSA Golf. (The GSA Control Panel will still be running in the backgound)
You are now ready to tee off.
Note the bright green cursor at the top left of the screen.
This indicates that all systems are running and the system is ready for the next shot.
This indicator will turn red briefly if any off the mat reset sensors are covered.
If the cursor remains red or is flickering then you need to investigate the cause by going back into the GSA Golf Control Panel.
Use the Alt/Tab keys on your PC keyboard to do this. Click the Send Window Back to get back to GSA Golf or use the Alt/Tab keys again.
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GSAGolf should be run in windowed mode in order to allow screen window overlays from the interface.
The window is frameless and when your screen resolution is also set to 1024 * 768 then it will look the same as full screen mode.
(for technical reasons it is not possible to run GSAGolf in Full Screen mode with screen overlays ).
Use the Alt/Tab keys or press the Send Window Back button in GSAGolf Control Panel to see the Windows Desktop in order to launch GSAGolf.
Use the Alt/Tab keys at any time during play to switch to the Interface and back to GSAGolf.
As with ProX, you need to setup the system correctly according to what sensor systems you have and what com port you are using.
For evaluation purposes you can also launch shots with the mouse via the Control Panel.
If you encounter a windows error message stating that it could not find d3dx9_30.dll copy the supplied d3dx9_30.dll to the windows\System32 folder.
With the sensor mat connected to the PC you should then see the sensor mat detected message. After this, all shots should be recognized and balls will be launched in the GSAGolf program.
The GSAGolf Demo program is a full functioning version of GSAGolf that can be used with any GSA sensor mat and ball tracking systems but is limited to just one golf course.
The full version of GSA Golf comes with 70 plus golf courses with many more coming later.
Starting GSAGolf Control Panel and GSAGolf with one desktop mouse click
GSA Golf Control Panel and GSA Golf are two processes that both need to be started before play.
Instead of manually starting both processes seperately you can start both with one desktop icon mouse click using a batch file.
To create a batch file open the windows Notepad utility program - a basic text editor - and copy and insert the following text:
cd /d "C:\ProgramFiles\GSAControlPanel"
start GSAControlPanel.exe
cd /d "C:\ProgramFiles\GSAGolf"
start GSAGolf.exe
Depending on where you have installed the GSAGolfInterface and GSAGolf, replace the path text (ie "C:\ProgramFiles") with the path where you have installed the programs.
You can determine the paths by right clicking on the desktop icons and selecting Open File Path of both GSAGolfInterface and GSAGolf.
Save the notepad file with the name "GSAGolf.bat" (or any other name of your choice.)
Using the Windows Explorer, locate the new note pad file you have created (ie GSAGolf.bat), right click and select Create Link.
Then drag the new link to your Windows desktop. Test the link by double clicking on the new desktop link.
You should see that both programes start.
Ensure that the Win Start Back option has been selected in GSAGolfInterface so that GSA Golf Interface always starts in the Sent Back mode.
Testing your PC's graphics capabilities
Both the ProX and GSA Golf applications require a PC with a good graphics card to function correctly.
If not using our PCs then you might want to test your PC's graphics capabilities with these utility programs.
Download the OpenGL test program here
(download the installer version)
Run the program and at the bottom of the window you will see test samples. Select the last one - Simple Mesh - and you should then see this:
