Author: John Merlino
Date: 22:19:29 05/08/02
Go up one level in this thread
On May 08, 2002 at 23:26:46, Stephen A. Boak wrote: >On May 07, 2002 at 22:33:37, John Merlino wrote: > >>New Features for Chessmaster 9000 (in no particular order): > >>-- Endgame Database Support (de Koning format). Program ships with all 3-man and >>4-man, plus a few of the more important 5-man sets. Also includes utility to >>create the complete set of files. > >1. Approx how many 5 man sets included? At this time, there are 24 half-sets of 5-man files. Meaning, only the BTM files (which are smaller). This data totals about 166MB. We might add a few more (half-sets) if it turns out there is enough space on the CDs. >2. Approx how many 5 man sets not included? There are a total of 185 5-man sets. So all of the others are not included. The complete 5-man data totals about 5.6GB. >3. Approx how long to generate the *largest* missing 5 man set on a 1.0 GHz CPU? Not exactly sure, and this question is difficult to answer because some of the largest sets include pawns, and the sets that include pawns are dependent on other sets already existing. But the largest single set is KBNKP (about 144MB) and will probably take about 6-8 hours on a 1.0Ghz machine. >4. Approx how long to generate *all* the missing 5 man sets on a 1.0 GHz CPU? Johan has told me that building the ENTIRE 5-man set takes about 5 days on his 1.2Ghz AMD. >5. Will the missing sets be soon (or later) available for easy internet download (simpler than generating many large files) or by CD purchase? I don't know. We are looking into both of these possibilities, but there is nothing definite in place at this time. >6. What are the unique features of the de Koning endgame database format? >6A. What features may be new or better, relative to the Nalimov tablebases, for >example? -- Slightly smaller file size -- Much faster generation of files -- Much smaller free RAM requirement to build the files -- Generator can build any 6-man file set >>Learning Tools >>-- Blunder Alert, notifying users instantly when they make a "blunder" (a move >>which shows a loss of more than a pawn, although this minimum value can be >>changed by the user from between 0.5 to 3.0 pawns) > >7. Will Analyze Game still show three levels of comments: slightly better, >better, a lot better? > >I love being able to set my own thresholds. >7A. Will the thresholds for such comments still be settable by the user (in the >.ini file)? > >7B. I wish I could alter the comment words to go with different custom >thresholds, and have the ability to add more thresholds & comments as desired . >. . !!! > The Game Analysis feature has not changed from CM8000. >Great feature you recently pointed out, thanks! No problem. Quite honestly, I just discovered it myself! >>Personalities >>-- Style settings for personalities are now "mirrored", meaning that there is >>now MY King Safety and OPPONENT'S King Safety, MY Pawn Weakness and OPPONENT'S >>Pawn Weakness, etc. Five more personality settings to play with! > >8. Can we set one side to seek a draw, and the other side to avoid a draw, for >example, by simultaneously using different settings for the two sides? > >Superb non-symmetrical parameters feature, if so. You can certainly set one personality to have a maximum contempt for draw, and the other one to have a minimum and play them against each other. But there are no "global" personality settings. >>-- Increased Selective Search maximum to 16 > >9. How long, typically, to get to SS16 in a typical middlegame position on, say, >a 1.0 GHz CPU? This question is a bit too vague to properly answer. Give me a position and I can tell you how long it took on my PIII-600. >>Mentor Engine >>-- Mentor engine activity status messages >>-- Mentor engine settings dialog (Hash Table size and Blunder Alert threshhold) >>-- UNDOCUMENTED AND UNSUPPORTED! -- INI file setting to allow the user to change the mentor personality > >10. Can Game Analysis be done by one or two different user custom CM >personalities? >10. A. Or by one such personality with non-symmetrical user defined parameters >(example, draw seeking, draw avoiding settings)? If you change the mentor personality (via the INI file setting) then ALL mentor features (Game Analysis, Advice, Mentor Lines, Solve for Mate, Blunder Check, etc.) will be performed by that personality. >11. Can hash table size be modified in the following ways: >11A. Permanently, for default CM personality? No. You can create a copy of the CM personality with a different hash table size, though. >11B. Permanently, for user custom CM personalities? Yes, on a personality-by-personality basis. As mentioned above, there are no "global" personality settings. >11C. Permanently, for Game Analysis by default CM personality? Yes, since there is a mentor hash table setting (Ok, there is ONE "global" setting ;-). >11D. Permanently, for Game Analysis by user custom CM personality? Yes. >>-- Thinking Lines window available in Tournament Room (only if the current game >>is comp vs. comp -- otherwise this window will be blank) > >12. Can I show thinking lines during 'continuous' analysis, when I step through >the moves of an OTB game I played in my club, and later entered into a pgn or CM >file--which I wish to analyse by stepping through the moves one by one, while >watching the thinking lines for as long as I have the patience? Yes, this is what the Mentor Lines window (see below) is for. As long as you have it open, you have "continuous analysis". >12A. In the Game Room, as with CM8000? Or is Tournament Room better for this, >for some reason, or more restrictive, for some reason? The reason that the Thinking Lines window has been put in the Tournament room is that many users asked for it. They wanted to see what the engines were thinking during a comp vs. comp tournament. >>Support Windows >>-- New "Mentor Lines" window that shows either the N best moves overall or the >>single best move over time (i.e. the way CM8000 displayed its output in the >>Thinking Lines window). This window is available in the Game Room and also in >>the Library (for quick analysis of Classic Games or opening book lines) > >13. Is 'N best moves overall' feature available in the Analyze Game mode (for >unattended overnight analysis)? Nope, sorry. >>Game Analysis >>-- Time and Depth for each move of Game Analysis indicated in "Analysis" tab of >>Annotation window > >14. Does this mean both Time & Depth will show for each move on printouts of >Auto Annotation or Analysis? I hope so! This data will show up in the "Analysis" tab only. >Thanks in advance for your replies. I greatly appreciate the sincere effort you >put into listening to CM consumers and the passing of suggestions to the product >development team, etc. Your product is much the better because of this >wonderful rapport with the computer chess user community. Kudos! Many thanks....we try.... jm
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