Minic version 3

[pohl4711]

Indeed, each new release comes with its 20 posts of "this is not working". So I guess including the net in the executable as many others are doing currently will be far more easier for users. I'll look at that for next release probably. Thanks for the feedback.

I just wanted to put out, that in Windows, the Path is written using Backslashes "\", so it is not a good idea to accept only "/" IMHO for a path in any program running in Windows. Confusing.

[xr_a_y]

Indeed, each new release comes with its 20 posts of "this is not working". So I guess including the net in the executable as many others are doing currently will be far more easier for users. I'll look at that for next release probably. Thanks for the feedback.

I just wanted to put out, that in Windows, the Path is written using Backslashes "\", so it is not a good idea to accept only "/" IMHO for a path in any program running in Windows. Confusing.

Totally true, but other issues may arise with space for instance. Putting the net inside the binary is a good solution and is really easy to do so I'll take a shot at that.

[pohl4711]

Indeed, each new release comes with its 20 posts of "this is not working". So I guess including the net in the executable as many others are doing currently will be far more easier for users. I'll look at that for next release probably. Thanks for the feedback.

I just wanted to put out, that in Windows, the Path is written using Backslashes "\", so it is not a good idea to accept only "/" IMHO for a path in any program running in Windows. Confusing.

Totally true, but other issues may arise with space for instance. Putting the net inside the binary is a good solution and is really easy to do so I'll take a shot at that.

I tried to test Minic 3.06, but the results were so worse, that it seems, the net is not found, when the engine is running in cutechess-cli.
option.NNUEFile=‪C:/Cutechess/nocturnal_nadir.bin seems not to work (in console mode: option name NNUEFile value ‪C:/Cutechess/nocturnal_nadir.bin works...)
I tried option.NNUEFile=‪"C:/Cutechess/nocturnal_nadir.bin" ,but this seems not to work, too.

So, I dont know, what to do. I did a lot of testruns of nnue-egines for my ratinglist, I had never such problems, setting a path to a net using engine UCI options in cutechess-cli.
Perhaps, I am to stupid, but I have to wait for a release with an included net or a proper working NNUEFile UCI-option until I can do the next Minic testrun.

[Modern Times]

Hi all,

I'm happy to announce here Minic 3.06 with a new net named "Nocturnal Nadir".

https://github.com/tryingsomestuff/Mini ... s/tag/3.06
https://github.com/tryingsomestuff/NNUE-Nets

This release introduces some bug fixes and some features.
The new net named "Nocturnal Nadir" is available here (see https://github.com/tryingsomestuff/NNUE-Nets) and plays at least +20Elo above "Noisy Notch".

Chess960 results so far are incredibly strong vs 3.04. What sort of gains were you expecting ?

[xr_a_y]

Indeed, each new release comes with its 20 posts of "this is not working". So I guess including the net in the executable as many others are doing currently will be far more easier for users. I'll look at that for next release probably. Thanks for the feedback.

I just wanted to put out, that in Windows, the Path is written using Backslashes "\", so it is not a good idea to accept only "/" IMHO for a path in any program running in Windows. Confusing.

Totally true, but other issues may arise with space for instance. Putting the net inside the binary is a good solution and is really easy to do so I'll take a shot at that.

I tried to test Minic 3.06, but the results were so worse, that it seems, the net is not found, when the engine is running in cutechess-cli.
option.NNUEFile=‪C:/Cutechess/nocturnal_nadir.bin seems not to work (in console mode: option name NNUEFile value ‪C:/Cutechess/nocturnal_nadir.bin works...)
I tried option.NNUEFile=‪"C:/Cutechess/nocturnal_nadir.bin" ,but this seems not to work, too.

So, I dont know, what to do. I did a lot of testruns of nnue-egines for my ratinglist, I had never such problems, setting a path to a net using engine UCI options in cutechess-cli.
Perhaps, I am to stupid, but I have to wait for a release with an included net or a proper working NNUEFile UCI-option until I can do the next Minic testrun.

That is worrying. I'll investigate that.

In the meantime you can try to use Minic CLI parameter (instead of UCI option) in cutechess-cli like this probably

Code: Select all

cmd=C:/path/to/MinicDir/minic.exe dir=C:/path/to/MinicDir/ arg=-uci arg=-NNUEFile arg=\"C:/path/to/NNUEFile/net.bin\""

I don't know if the "\".....\"" are important or not here depending on the special character in your path and your underlying bash.

If they are other windows, cutechess-cli users of Minic, maybe they can share their experience ?

[xr_a_y]

Hi all,

I'm happy to announce here Minic 3.06 with a new net named "Nocturnal Nadir".

https://github.com/tryingsomestuff/Mini ... s/tag/3.06
https://github.com/tryingsomestuff/NNUE-Nets

This release introduces some bug fixes and some features.
The new net named "Nocturnal Nadir" is available here (see https://github.com/tryingsomestuff/NNUE-Nets) and plays at least +20Elo above "Noisy Notch".

Chess960 results so far are incredibly strong vs 3.04. What sort of gains were you expecting ?

This net was trained using 25% FRC positions while noisy_notch have none, so maybe it explains that result. I didn't check FRC by myself for now.

[Modern Times]

This net was trained using 25% FRC positions while noisy_notch have none, so maybe it explains that result. I didn't check FRC by myself for now.

I thought I had chosen a good mix of opponents, weaker and stronger, but they are all weaker ! I'm going to have to add a quite a few more.

[Werner]

When I click on analyze inside Shredder GUI Minic analyzes the position.
But when I stop analyzing Shredder says: waiting for Minic. So the engine was crashed.
This is normally something with correct uci implementation.

22/33 0:15 +0.30 1.e4 c5 2.Sf3 e6 3.Sc3 Sc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Sxd4 Sf6 6.Sxc6 bxc6 7.e5 Sd5 8.Se4 Dc7 9.f4 Le7 10.c3 Lb7 11.c4 Lh4+ (7.185.217) 460
Warte auf Engine Minic 3.06NoNa x64 1CPU [0]...
Warte auf Engine Minic 3.06NoNa x64 1CPU [0]...
Warte auf Engine Minic 3.06NoNa x64 1CPU [0]...
Warte auf Engine Minic 3.06NoNa x64 1CPU [0]...
Warte auf Engine Minic 3.06NoNa x64 1CPU [0]...
This is Minic version 3.06 (NNUE available)
Info 2021-05-03 11:04:17-883: No NNUE net given (0)
Info 2021-05-03 11:04:17-884: Using standard evaluation instead
Info 2021-05-03 11:04:18-130: Loading NNUE net nocturnal_nadir.bin
Engine: Minic 3.06NoNa x64 1CPU (512 MB)
von Vivien Clauzon

[pohl4711]

That is worrying. I'll investigate that.

In the meantime you can try to use Minic CLI parameter (instead of UCI option) in cutechess-cli like this probably

Code: Select all

cmd=C:/path/to/MinicDir/minic.exe dir=C:/path/to/MinicDir/ arg=-uci arg=-NNUEFile arg=\"C:/path/to/NNUEFile/net.bin\""

I don't know if the "\".....\"" are important or not here depending on the special character in your path and your underlying bash.

No, thanks. The "special character in your path and your underlying bash" was not my idea. This is the name of the net, when I am downloading it from your github. Why did you choose such a filename, if it is not working? By the way, I heavenly doubt, that the name is the problem here.

I am testing Igel 3.0.5 now. I do testruns of AB-engines, NN-engines and Stockfish NNUE-nets. And I am working on my Anti-Draw openings. All on my own. I do not have time to be a Beta-tester for Minic, sorry.

If you fix the problem, I will try again a testrun.

[Modern Times]

It is running perfectly here in Cutechess GUI.

In UCI parameters I simply put the net name without a path. The engine looks for it in the same folder by default, so no need for the full path, that is right is it not ?


The bit from engines.json is:


"default" : "",
"name" : "NNUEFile",
"type" : "text",
"value" : "nocturnal_nadir.bin"