As a reference, these are all the courses which are available for Links LS 1998

1. Banff Springs
2. Barton Creek
3. Bighorn
4. Bountiful
5. Castle Pines
6. Cog Hill
7. Congressional
8. Devils Island
9. Dorado Beach
10. Firestone
11. Harbour Town
12. Innisbrook Copperhead
13. Kapalua Bay
14. Kapalua Plantation
15. Kapalua Village
16. Latrobe
17. Mauna Kea
18. Oakland Hills
19. Pebble Beach
20. Pelican Hill
21. Pinehurst No. 2
22. Pinehurst No. 8
23. Phoenix
24. Prairie Dunes
25. Riviera
26. Sea Island
27. The Belfry
28. Torrey Pines
29. Troon North
30. Valderrama
31. Valhalla

Hello PPFleury29!

What correlation is there with the official master-list from Microsoft's support?

MS master list of available LS courses

I compared your list with the official one from that link and with available box covers and descriptions of physical released versions (mobygames.com) and could not find Pinehurst No. 2 or No.8 (the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 3" lists only one course as "Pinehurst Resort & Country Club - Pinehurst, North Carolina") nor a confirmation of an updated LS release of "Pebble Beach", only the individual DOS-compatible "Championship Course" edition.


What information I could gather online is:

Links LS: 1998 (vanilla content) (June 1997)
- Kapalua Bay
- Kapalua Plantation
- Kapalua Village
- Latrobe Country Club (Summer)

Links 5-Course Library Volume 1 (expansion pack) (1996-1999)
- Mauna Kea (Island of Hawaii)
- Firestone Country Club (Akron, Ohio)
- Prairie Dunes Country Club (Hutchinsons, California)
- Innisbrook Copperhead Course (Tarpon Springs, Florida)
- Bighorn (Palm Desert, California)

Links 5-Course Library Volume 2 (expansion pack) (1996-1999)
- Banff Springs (Banff, Alberta, Canada)
- Troon North (Scottsdale, Arizona)
- Cog Hill Golf & Country Club (Chicago, Illinois)
- Devil's Island (Fantasy Course)
- The Belfry (Wishaw, North Warwickshire, England)

Links 5-Course Library Volume 3 (expansion pack) (1996-1999)
- Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Pinehurst, North Carolina)
- Riviera Country Club (Los Angeles, California)
- Harbour Town Golf Links (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina)
- Bountiful Golf Club (Bountiful, Utah)
- Barton Creek Country Club (Austin, Texas)

Links 5-Course Library Volume 4 (expansion pack) (1997-1999)
- Torrey Pines (La Jolla, California)
- Oakland Hills Country Club (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan)
- Hyatt Dorado Beach (Puerto Rico)
- Castle Pines Golf Club (Castle Rock, Colorado)
- Pelican Hill Golf Club (Newport Coast, California)

Links LS / Championship Course (individual courses)
= °Pelican Hill Golf Club Ocean Course (Newport Coast, California) (1996)
= Valhalla Golf Club (east of Louisville, Kentucky) (by Jack Nicklaus) (1996)
= °Oakland Hills Country Club (Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan) (1997)
= Valderrama Golf Club (Sotogrande, San Roque, Spain) (1997)
= Congressional Country Club (Bethesda, Maryland) (1997/1998)
= Sea Island Golf Club (Sea Island, Georgia) & Davis Love III (new golfer) (1997/1998) (Championship Course & Tour Player)
= Phoenix Country Club (Miyazaki, Kyushu island, Japan) (1999)
= Pebble Beach Golf Links (Monterey Peninsula, California) (?)
°(also available in "5-Course Library Vol.4")

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hi foxgog,

You can take my list of courses as being accurate as I have all these installed in LS 98. The Microsoft Master List is totally innacurate. Not sure who compiled it but there are masses of courses missing.

The Links 5-Course library did contain Pinehurst #2. Pinehurst #8 was available on a US Open add-on cd.

The other thing to be aware, there were multiple versions of some of the LS courses released. Some versions of the same course had improvements over previous versions of the course.
I've simply given the full list of the courses that can be played in Links LS 98 but have not given any details on the various versions a course may have had. Some courses did only have the one version available.

There were also more courses that were released after Links LS 98 for use in Links LS 99 and Links LS 2000 but those newer Links courses are not compatible with Links LS 98.

Hope this clears things up!

Hi there, how did you install the courses into LS 1998? I have the four-disc volumes. But when I try to add them in through the Install Addons menu item, it doesn't recognize the discs.

Hello vincehor!

So far, I got my hands on a used / second hand set of the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1" and "Links 5-Course Library Volume 2" discs.
The on-disc installation routines (and install program) seem to be for MS-DOS applications only, e.g. for using with "Links 386 Pro" or "Links 386 CD".

At first I tried to follow the instruction on the back of the CD's jewel case (start Links LS98, insert course library disc in disc drive, click on 'Install Addons' within the game's main menu,...), but the game refused to recognize any of the two addon discs! Maybe, this issue is caused by a copy protection or general incompatibility with WIndows 10--I do not know.

Then I gave the import function for the legacy courses from "Links 386 Pro" a shot, which I had bought here on GOG.com, as well. It was simply a matter of choosing the corresponding folder, to where I have installed "Links 386 Pro" previously. Everything worked fine with those. Only the graphical assets of these legacy courses are in a significantly lower resolution, and I decided to play those only directly in the DOS game "Links 386 Pro". Before removing them again from my "Links LS 1998" installation, I took a look at where exactly those files were installed (and compared them with the already existing files necessary for the conversion in the 'CRH' subfolder).

This reminded me of the comment by Kilg00re in the other thread, about copying the actual course files (*.CRX) ((!)not the pre-installed files for conversion in LS98's 'CRH' subfolder) into the "Links LS 1998" root or main folder, which worked for the extra courses from both of my "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1 & 2" CDs!
By doing so, the addon courses are perfectly playable, but do not provide any of the additional features of the original four courses, such as flyby or tour videos.


Here, this is what you need to do to make those addon courses available in the playable course list of "Links LS 1998":

1.) Open the "Links 5-Course Library Volume" CD in your file manager (e.g. explorer).

2.) Navigate to each subfolder of the five addon courses,

3.) and copy ONLY the respective .CRX file into the "Links LS 1998" main directory (the same where the game's .exe files and all GOG files are located).
The LS98 compatible course files start all with an 'A' in their file name and have the '.CRX' file ending! (The .CRH files are for the MS-DOS games of the "Links 386" series and should be compatible with "Links 386 Pro" from GOG.com.)

4.) Start the game "Links LS 1998", and choose the corresponding addon course in the game's 'Course Selection' menu. The new addon courses are recognized by the game automatically and are indicated by (LS) at the end of their course name.


I could successfully add and play the following courses (see, for example, the attached pictures).

From the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1" disc:
* AMAUNA_K.CRX - Mauna Kea
* AFIRESTO.CRX - Firestone Country Club
* APRAIRIE.CRX - Prairie Dunes Country Club
* AINNISBR.CRX - Innisbrook Copperhead Course
* ABIGHORN.CRX - Bighorn

From the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 2" disc:
* ABANFF_S.CRX - Banff Springs
* ATROON_N.CRX - Troon North
* ACOG_HIL.CRX - Cog Hill Golf & Country Club
* ADEVILS_.CRX - Devil's Island
* ATHE_BEL.CRX - The Belfry


Enjoy the additional golf courses!

Kind regards,
foxgog

There may be a little more to installing those courses than copying just the crx files across.
I'll have to check my CD's first but won't have time till the weekend.

i would be very interested in a run through of how to install the aditional courses. i still have my original Links LS 1998 edition box set . and several course boxes.
i think i will bite the bullet and buy the GOG version as trying to get the original CD's to load and work is too much of a headache.

Fond memories of this game back in the day .
I have Castle Pines golf club links championship course CD version . can i use this with Links LS 98 ?
I also have firestone msdos cd version and links ls championship course valhalla , are these usable?

Hello spud42!

As mentioned in my former post, until now I only have the two "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1" and "Volume 2" discs in my possession with extra courses compatible with "Links LS: 1998 Edition".
Since those addon discs (and I assume those of the "Links LS Championship course" CD-ROMs, as well) are MS-DOS applications (just like the initial "Links LS 1997" game) you would need to manually install or copy the necessary files by yourself!

The "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1" disc includes the "Firestone Country Club" golf course (Ohio), and it seem to work fine in "Links LS: 1998 Edition" from GOG.com after manually having copied the file AFIRESTO.CRX from the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1" disc into the main directory of my "Links LS: 1998 Edition" installation from GOG.com. Then the game autmatically recognized the added courses in the ingame menu for course selection.
For clarification, the game's main directory is the same one where you can find the game's main executable to launch the game ( linksls98.exe ), as well as the pletora of files added by GOG.com.

All extra courses from the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1 & 2" discs come with (at least) three files per golf course. According to the INSTALL.INI file, each of those should be compatible with different game versions of the Links series, for example:
- AFIRESTO.CRX (the course file for "Links LS" game series, including "Links LS: 1998")
- FIRESTON.CRH (the course file for "Links 386 CD" or "Links 386 Pro" game version--should be compatible with GOG.com's version of "Links 386 Pro")
- FIRESTON.CRS (the course file for "Links Challenge of Golf"--assumably compatible with the version available here from GOG.com)

Sofar, I have only tested the corresponding .CRX files for use with "Links LS: 1998 Edition"!


Regarding your other two addon CD courses:

- Castle Pines Golf Club (Colorado) (Links Championship Course CD)

There should be a "Links LS: 1998 Edition" compatible version available in the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 4" CD, which I unfortunately could not get a retail copy of, yet.
Hence, insert your Championship Course CD into your disc drive, open its directory (e.g. in file explorer) and search or look for a file similar to:
ACASTLE_.CRX or
CASTLE_P.CRX
(DOS file name convention allows for reading only 8 characters in each file name! Each addon course file in the .CRX format compatible with "Links LS: 1998" in my "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1 & 2" CDs starts with an A in its name.)
It is imperative, that the file extension is .CRX in order to work with "Links LS: 1998"!

- Valhalla Golf Club (Kentucky) (Links LS: Championship Course CD)

This Championship Course CD definitely should include the correpsonding .CRX file, because the "Links LS" compatibility is in the disc's title!
So, open the inserted disc with your file explorer and search or look for a file named either:
AVALHALL.CRX or
VALHALLA.CRX
and copy it to the game's main directory of your "Links LS: 1998 Edition" installation.
(Most likely there are additional files available, propably some video tour files, but I do not know, yet, how nor where to install them in order to make them usable ingame.)


Please, give us a small feedback here, whether you were able to get those additional courses playable, or not!
Thanky you!

Kind regards,
foxgog

well i just had a fun night.
got my old Acer aoa150 netbook out and installed winXP on it.
did all the drivers and then installed LinksLS 1998 from my CD's.

The 4 standard courses loaded fine. i then added Valhalla using the ad on option , of course this didnt work for the others .
I added the other two courses with the links 386 option all 7 courses show and seem playable.

had a crash so tried the game in Win 98 compatability mode. had to play around with the display settings as the netbook has a 1024 x 600 resolution. i could create a player but the player list was way off the left side of the screen.

Not sure what settings but i managed to get it going and played a few holes, badly, i'm very rusty in this game . Havent played it in over 20 years..lol

i did get a couple of crashes but the game resumed fine. I think i will find my copy of windows 98 and install that and try again....

But i didnt have to copy the courses manually so that was a win. trying to remember how winXP file system works was a bit of a laugh.

Just reread the requirements on the box and it says win 95 or win NT4.0. Maybe i might have more stable results with win 95?

It should run perfectly on Win 95 as long as you are also running it on period specific hardware. These old games will also run on Win XP fine for some people but can be trouble for others. I have Links 98, 99 and 2000 all running on Win XP.

Regarding courses, I haven't been able to check my 5 course libraries to see what they contain.
Be aware, the courses have a .CRX file extension but some courses will also have a second course file with an .ENV extension.
The .ENV files are environmental sounds for the course. Not all Links courses have an .ENV file but if you are pulling courses from 5 course CD's or anywhere else, make sure to check there is no .ENV file.
The .ENV file simply gets dropped in the main game directory like the .CRX file and everything will work.

I wish they would release Links 99 and 2000 as well. These old Links versions are fantastic games!

Hello PPFleury29!

Thank you for this important information regarding the .ENV file of (some) extra courses!
Placing those side-by-side next to their .CRX course files seems logical, because the four original courses which come with "Links LS: 1998 Edition" each have them accompanying their .CRX file albeit both are in a dedicated folder per course.
I am sure, as soon as I get my hands on further of those addon CD-ROMs, this information will become useful.

For now, I am on the save side, since all courses of both of the "Links 5-Course Library Volume 1 & 2" discs are free of any additional files--they only contain their respective course files (.CRX, .CRH, .CRS) for the different game versions of Links.

Are there any other files associated with certain individual extra courses that I should be aware of, besides the obvious .AVI video file containers for the corresponding golf course tour videos? Hello to you too, spud42!

And thank you for your feedback! I am glad you got the game and the courses up and running.
I am a 'first time' player of the Links Golf series since those three titles were re-released here on GOG.com recently, and I enjoy them a lot!

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello again PPFleury29!

Thank you for your response and explanation! Your information is as always really helpful.
Now, I know at least what to look for in case I still get one of the other course addon CDs.

Besides the remaining two "Links 5-Course Library Volumes 3 & 4" I would like to give especially the "Phoenix Country Club" (Kyushu island, in Japan, from 1999) a spin, if it is compatible with "Links LS: 1998 Edition", at all.
But first, I have to locate an affordable copy.

Kind regards,
foxgog

I have just re-checked my list in the opening post and found I missed Bountiful. There are 31 total courses. The list has been adjusted.

Did this ever get resolved?
Can I get help with how to install extra courses, if it is more than just copying files over?