questions on using cutechess

[ilari]

but...
I have changed engine to Matacz and it not works with this engine.

C:\Engines\cutechess-cli\cutechess-cli.exe -fcp name=Atak cmd=Atak.exe dir=C:\atak\release\ proto=xboard -scp cmd=Matacz dir=C:\Engines\Matacz\ proto=xboard -both tc=80/1 -games 2 -pgnout gamesM.pgn -debug

Started game 1 of 2
0 <Atak(0):
0 <Atak(0): ATAK 6.7
0 <Atak(0): (c) 2009 Mateusz Luksik
16 <Atak(0):
16 <XboardEngine(1):
16 <XboardEngine(1): feature done=0
16 <XboardEngine(1): feature setboard=1

Did cutechess-cli crash there? If not, it's probably waiting for "done=1". I'll try Matacz tomorrow...

[Mateusz]

Hi,
"Did cutechess-cli crash there?" - No.

Regards,
Mat

[Mateusz]

One more bug [Black "XboardEngine"] ?

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.11.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "AtakTEST"]
[Black "XboardEngine"]
[Result "0-1"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[TimeControl "80/5"]

[ilari]

One more bug [Black "XboardEngine"] ?

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.11.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "AtakTEST"]
[Black "XboardEngine"]
[Result "0-1"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[TimeControl "80/5"]

That's probably not a bug. I the engine doesn't use the "myname" feature, cutechess-cli will just call it "XboardEngine". You can define a name with the "name" command line argument:

Code: Select all

cutechess-cli -fcp cmd=matacz.exe name=Matacz

[Hart]

How practical would it be to add a switch that I could use to run all engines in "low priority" in Windows? For some reason my wireless adapter stalls when my processor is maxed out and I lose connection and of course my computer is less responsive in general.

[ilari]

How practical would it be to add a switch that I could use to run all engines in "low priority" in Windows? For some reason my wireless adapter stalls when my processor is maxed out and I lose connection and of course my computer is less responsive in general.

Adding such a switch would require platform-specific code, which is something we try to avoid.

Have you tried something like this?:

Code: Select all

cutechess-cli -both cmd="start /low /b engine.exe" tc=40/60

That should start engine.exe with low priority.

[Hart]

Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790]
(C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp.

Warning: Cannot start engine ""start /low /b engineA.exe""
Warning: QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::debugMessage(const QString&) to GameManager::debugMessage(const QString&)
Warning: Cannot start engine ""start /low /b engineB.exe""
Warning: QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::debugMessage(const QString&) to GameManager::debugMessage(const QString&)

start works at the command line, but for some reason it doesn't work when I use it in a batch file. I read that this might be an XP specific problem. Still looking into it.

[ilari]

Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790]
(C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp.

Warning: Cannot start engine ""start /low /b engineA.exe""
Warning: QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::debugMessage(const QString&) to GameManager::debugMessage(const QString&)
Warning: Cannot start engine ""start /low /b engineB.exe""
Warning: QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::debugMessage(const QString&) to GameManager::debugMessage(const QString&)

start works at the command line, but for some reason it doesn't work when I use it in a batch file. I read that this might be an XP specific problem. Still looking into it.

I didn't even try this, but this could be a Cute Chess bug. I'll test later today.

[ilari]

Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790]
(C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp.

Warning: Cannot start engine ""start /low /b engineA.exe""
Warning: QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::debugMessage(const QString&) to GameManager::debugMessage(const QString&)
Warning: Cannot start engine ""start /low /b engineB.exe""
Warning: QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::debugMessage(const QString&) to GameManager::debugMessage(const QString&)

start works at the command line, but for some reason it doesn't work when I use it in a batch file. I read that this might be an XP specific problem. Still looking into it.

I didn't even try this, but this could be a Cute Chess bug. I'll test later today.

I tested it, and it seems that cutechess-cli can't call "start" directly. However, if I create a batch file, say "startengine.bat", with the following content:

Code: Select all

start /b /low /wait engine.exe

...and then use cutechess-cli like this:

Code: Select all

cutechess-cli -both cmd=startengine.bat tc=40/60

...then it works.

This is of course clumsy, so I'll see what I can do to make it easier.

[ilari]

but...
I have changed engine to Matacz and it not works with this engine.

C:\Engines\cutechess-cli\cutechess-cli.exe -fcp name=Atak cmd=Atak.exe dir=C:\atak\release\ proto=xboard -scp cmd=Matacz dir=C:\Engines\Matacz\ proto=xboard -both tc=80/1 -games 2 -pgnout gamesM.pgn -debug

Started game 1 of 2
0 <Atak(0):
0 <Atak(0): ATAK 6.7
0 <Atak(0): (c) 2009 Mateusz Luksik
16 <Atak(0):
16 <XboardEngine(1):
16 <XboardEngine(1): feature done=0
16 <XboardEngine(1): feature setboard=1

Did cutechess-cli crash there? If not, it's probably waiting for "done=1". I'll try Matacz tomorrow...

As I thought, cutechess-cli was waiting for Matacz to send "done=1", which Matacz won't do until it has received "accepted done" or "accepted setboard". I commited a fix to our source code repository: http://repo.or.cz/w/sloppygui.git
I'll probably release a new binary package in the next few days when I get a couple more fixes done.