Author: William Penn
Date: 06:55:03 12/15/00
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On December 14, 2000 at 22:35:02, John Merlino wrote: >The Chessmaster website (www.chessmaster.com) has had its FAQ updated yesterday, >and also an "XBoard Engine Notes" section was created at the same time. The FAQ >now covers just about every item that it should, given the recently most often >asked questions about CM8000. The "XBoard" section was added because the dev >team discovered that there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about importing an XBoard >engine ANYWHERE in the manual!!! Quite disturbing, and totally out of their >control, unfortunately.... > >If there's anything missing that you think should be there, let me know.... > >jm The new detailed FAQs on the Chessmaster website are good. Here are some Chessmaster 8000 notes I've made from time to time. My apology, but they're still in somewhat crude form. Alas I don't have the time to edit them further at present, but want to pass the ideas along... WP Gameroom: --All of my comments below relate to the Gameroom, which is the only room I use. Also, I always use infinite time control, because I only use CM to analyze positions (not to play). Startup: --provide a way to turn off the video movie at startup --provide a way to turn off or bypass the login requirement at startup --provide a way to go directly to a particular room at startup, automatically --Do not require that the CD be in the drive at startup. CM8000 seems to start and work fine without the CD in the drive at present, so there is no operational reason to require it. I also note that the CD is already copy-protected (cannot be copied). However if security paranoia runs rampant, then a startup requirement once every 30 days (or every 30 starts) should be mutually acceptable. Exit: --Whenever I try to exit CM8000, it always asks me "Exit Now?" That only makes me angry. Of course I want to exit! Either kill that inane popup, or somehow provide a way to exit CM8000 immediately!!! Moving pieces: --Allow moving pieces on the chessboard for non-humans. At present pieces can only be moved for humans. It should also be possible to move them for personalities, custom personalities, or Chessmaster in order to reach any desired position. Custom chessboard: --provide exact & detailed instructions how to use the graphic to change the custom chessboard (don't assume it is obvious) --either do away with the border around the custom chessboard, or provide a way to change its color. Because, for optimum legibility, it should not be the same color as the dark squares. --ideally, provide a way to change the size of the chess pieces as well as the chessboard. I only use the 2D custom board with black & white figurine pieces. Coach operation window: --edit the instructions, which fail to mention that the Coach window is in the Mentor menu in gameroom, and only mention its location in the kidsroom Visual Thinking window: --at present the Visual Thinking window apparently only shows the position resulting from analysis with the CM engine, but it should be able to show the position resulting from analysis with whichever engine is selected in the Thinking Lines window --precise and detailed instructions are needed for the Visual Thinking window (don't assume that anything is obvious!) Multiple engines: --I suggest a small graphic of some kind to show "engine lights, so when an engine is running its light is "on". At present up to 3 engines can be running in background without user's knowledge, greatly slowing down everything! Thinking Lines window: --It could probably be redesigned slightly to reduce/eliminate unused vertical space in that window. That's a problem when designing layouts, because it limits how large I can make the custom chessboard. I want to be able to view at least 8 lines of analysis data in the Thinking Lines window, while maximizing the chessboard size. --As already noted in your FAQs, the signs of scores appearing in this window is often wrong, and I trust all of those glitches have been fixed (in all possible permutations of checked boxes, the side on the move, and time controls such as infinite) --The lines of analyis and info in the Thinking Lines window is labile. It is unfortunately erased by various operations in an unpredictable manner so that data is often unintentionally lost. For example, simply minimizing the CM screen causes that information to be erased. It should be more permanent, and only erased intentionally. --Those lines of data should have a scrollbar on the right, so they can be scrolled up/down. However a scrollbar appears only if several lines of data have already been displayed then that window is manually decreased in size. --Sometimes there is a genuine glitch in that window as follows: Even though only one of the three boxes is checked, a horizontal white line appears across the thinking line window and cannot be removed except by resetting the software. This may happen after generating many lines of data, then loading a layout with an expanded (larger) Thinking Lines window. --The data is limited to the vertical space available in that window, and replaced on a FIFO basis. That's a significant problem. It should display and retain all prior analyzed lines, with scroll bars appearing automatically when the number of lines exceeds the available vertical space. --Like in CM6000, the Thinking Lines window should show some details of the lines of analysis in current progress, the current moves and variations under consideration as they are analyzed. At a minimum it should show the current move being analyzed. At present it only shows the number of Moves Left, which is helpful but insufficient. --Precise and detailed instructions are needed for the Visual Thinking window (don't assume that anything is obvious!). For example, explain exactly what happens when each of the three boxes is checked. A 2.1 billion positions limit? --That was mentioned as a bug previously, but I have not found it to be a problem. I have analyzed up to 3 billion positions and everything seemed to be working fine. The number of positions reverts to zeros in CM6000 when approaching 2.1-2.4 billions positions, but CM8000 continues to count positions OK (apparently). Font: --There is a problem with the font used to display data in the Thinking Lines window and the Game Status window. It is primitive, and some of the characters are roughly drawn. It looks like a font that was used 10-15 years ago on an old outdated computer. For example the diagonal line in the capital "N" character does not descend to the bottom on the rightside, as it should, and the "d" and "b" characters aren't perfectly clear. Also the descender in the "g" character causes a problem. In the Game Status window when the last move contains a "g" character, the descender is obscured by the box that is drawn around that move so it appears somewhat like an "a". [That could be fixed by using an arrow alongside the move, rather than a box drawn around the move, to designate the last move.] A modern, sharp, letter-quality (or better), fully-formed font based on a more highly populated matrix (more dots per inch) should be used, one which does not cause any difficulty in distinguishing between the various characters. Rightclick (context) menus: --CM6000 had an active rightclick menu for all windows on the screen, which is more convenient than using the dropdown menus at the top. CM8000 omits the rightclick menu for the Game Status window. Please put that feature back, to include items such as New Game, Load Game, Save Game, Load Layout, Save Layout, etc. -- i.e. probably the same rightclick menu as you now get by rightclicking on the screen background or the custom chessboard border in the gameroom. I also note that a few operations have been left out of the rightclick menus in gameroom, and suggest that they all be included somewhere. Pause operation: --Ctrl-E worked fine in CM6000 to pause everything, without killing prior analysis and hash. There should be a way to do that in CM8000 too, but apparently there isn't. That's a problem when multitasking or going online, where it may be desirable to reduce the processor usage temporarily. The current Pause operation pauses CM8000 OK, but not the king engine. Ctrl-G stops everything but kills prior hash tables and analysis. Retain prior analysis/hash tables: --After analyzing a position with a custom personality then pressing Ctrl-F to make the move on the chessboard, all prior analysis and hash tables are lost. It should retain the prior analysis and begin analyzing from the last analysis position reached. Compatibility with former CM versions: --It looks like CM8000 loads and manipulates CM6000 game files OK. That's good news. --However CM8000 won't recognize custom CM6000 personalities. They use different extensions (.cmx vs .cmp). That's not a problem, but it's necessary to be aware of the difference. That should be mentioned in the instructions or documentation.
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