Why Does The AutoPlayer Not Work?

[Mincho Georgiev]

How about something like this one:
http://www.hw-group.com/products/hw_vsp/index_en.html
Do you think it could work?

Hi that looks interesting!

The best fix is for Chessbase to allow their software to be played engine vs. engine between computers on a port other than serial as modern laptop computers no longer have serial ports!

Seems strange that Chessbase never bothered?

Cordially,

Sean

Yes Sean, indeed. I intend to try this virtual port emulation later tonight, even further - with my WiFi between PC and laptop to see if it works.
But I didn't understand - doest F12 still supports the autoplayer, or the only thing that remains in it is the MessageBox "Autoplayer not supported" ?

[CRoberson]

You can use any software that will redirect the output through an internet connection then use the Engine-Engine match mode. Works for me regularly.

Since you are using two MS OS based machines, you might try this:
http://home.arcor.de/bernhard.wallner/netChess.html

I've tried it, it works and you use only a network connection on any normal network.

[Sean Evans]

How about something like this one:
http://www.hw-group.com/products/hw_vsp/index_en.html
Do you think it could work?

Hi that looks interesting!

The best fix is for Chessbase to allow their software to be played engine vs. engine between computers on a port other than serial as modern laptop computers no longer have serial ports!

Seems strange that Chessbase never bothered?

Cordially,

Sean

Yes Sean, indeed. I intend to try this virtual port emulation later tonight, even further - with my WiFi between PC and laptop to see if it works.
But I didn't understand - doest F12 still supports the autoplayer, or the only thing that remains in it is the MessageBox "Autoplayer not supported" ?

Yes, F12 support autoplayer, but it will not if you do not have a serial port. In the engines drop down screen you will see the autoplayer icon called "Two Computer Match" if it supports it, if not no icon. In addition, you can use the command "Ctrl + Alt + J" and this will tell you for sure whether your computer and chessbase software support autoplayer.

Let me know how it works out for you.

Cordially,

Sean

[Werner]

Hi Sean,
just looked into a new installed PC. Here I only had installed Deep Fritz 11. And here I did not find the file
Auto232.dev
in the folder \Chessbase\devices\

So of course no auto232 games are possible. I found this file on my other PC where I have had Fritz 10, Fritz 9 GUIs installed.

[Sean Evans]

Hi Sean,
just looked into a new installed PC. Here I only had installed Deep Fritz 11. And here I did not find the file
Auto232.dev
in the folder \Chessbase\devices\

So of course no auto232 games are possible. I found this file on my other PC where I have had Fritz 10, Fritz 9 GUIs installed.

Hmmm, so it looks like there is no autoplayer installed in the Fritz 12 GUI, whatsoever. My desktop must be using an old version of the autoplayer! What do you think?

Cordially,

Sean

[Don]

Does Arena support engine vs. engine on two separate computers?

What type of ports would I need to communicate between my two laptops?

Cordially,

Sean

Hi Sean,

I'm not sure, but if you can wait I'm going to be releasing an open source auto-player in about 2 months. It will sport these features:

1. play between programs on separate computers.
2. multiple simultaneous games on a single computer.
3. window and Linux - perhaps mac support too.
4. super fast - written in C and capable of playing game in 2 seconds for example.
5. non-graphical.
6. UCI and Winboard protocol
7. Independence of levels.
8. Fischer time control, fixed depth, repeating normal time controls.
9. good reporting.
10. PGN records
11. multi round robin, swiss
12. family designations.
13. others I cannot remember

non-graphical is a feature. However, I am going to build in some kind of protocol to make it possible to build GUI front ends so that games can be observed. Of course the PGN record of games will always be available for off-line observation.

I want this to basically be a complete solution for chess program developers - so flexibility is going to be more important that cosmetics and fancy features. But usability will also be high on the list - I don't like the process of setting up tests to be ridiculously difficult so I'll try to make that easy.

Point 7 is fairly important, as it makes it possible for a developer to play with handicaps. For example if you have a 2500 strength chess program you can still play against Rybka by giving git 10x less thinking time, for example.

family designation is something I now use in my current tester - each program is given a family designation and the tester can be configured to never play matches against players in the same family.

Early versions of this may not have every feature in the above list, but I intend to make it as complete as possible with respect to what is absolutely necessary and useful for a developer.

I'll make an announcement when this is ready and where to get it.

Don

[Mincho Georgiev]

Hi Sean,
just looked into a new installed PC. Here I only had installed Deep Fritz 11. And here I did not find the file
Auto232.dev
in the folder \Chessbase\devices\

So of course no auto232 games are possible. I found this file on my other PC where I have had Fritz 10, Fritz 9 GUIs installed.

Hmmm, so it looks like there is no autoplayer installed in the Fritz 12 GUI, whatsoever. My desktop must be using an old version of the autoplayer! What do you think?

Cordially,

Sean

I was able to turn on the virtual port in listening mode, but i guess F12 and F11 doesn't support auto232. I can't find the file either, I have only these two versions. I'll keep trying though.

[mhurd]

Taken from the gui12 help screen


Autoplayer via network
It is possible to play two computers against each other using a network connection. For this you require Windows NT, Windows 2000 or higher. In the Auto232 driver, enter a dot (period) as the "Server name", as shown above. It is not necessary to enter an address on the host computer, but you must enter the the IP address of the host on the slave computer.


Regards

Mike

[Sean Evans]

Taken from the gui12 help screen


Autoplayer via network
It is possible to play two computers against each other using a network connection. For this you require Windows NT, Windows 2000 or higher. In the Auto232 driver, enter a dot (period) as the "Server name", as shown above. It is not necessary to enter an address on the host computer, but you must enter the the IP address of the host on the slave computer.


Regards

Mike

How do you get to the Help screen? I don't see a help function in Chessbase Chessprogram 12.

[Sean Evans]

Does Arena support engine vs. engine on two separate computers?

What type of ports would I need to communicate between my two laptops?

Cordially,

Sean

Hi Sean,

I'm not sure, but if you can wait I'm going to be releasing an open source auto-player in about 2 months. It will sport these features:

1. play between programs on separate computers.
2. multiple simultaneous games on a single computer.
3. window and Linux - perhaps mac support too.
4. super fast - written in C and capable of playing game in 2 seconds for example.
5. non-graphical.
6. UCI and Winboard protocol
7. Independence of levels.
8. Fischer time control, fixed depth, repeating normal time controls.
9. good reporting.
10. PGN records
11. multi round robin, swiss
12. family designations.
13. others I cannot remember

non-graphical is a feature. However, I am going to build in some kind of protocol to make it possible to build GUI front ends so that games can be observed. Of course the PGN record of games will always be available for off-line observation.

I want this to basically be a complete solution for chess program developers - so flexibility is going to be more important that cosmetics and fancy features. But usability will also be high on the list - I don't like the process of setting up tests to be ridiculously difficult so I'll try to make that easy.

Point 7 is fairly important, as it makes it possible for a developer to play with handicaps. For example if you have a 2500 strength chess program you can still play against Rybka by giving git 10x less thinking time, for example.

family designation is something I now use in my current tester - each program is given a family designation and the tester can be configured to never play matches against players in the same family.

Early versions of this may not have every feature in the above list, but I intend to make it as complete as possible with respect to what is absolutely necessary and useful for a developer.

I'll make an announcement when this is ready and where to get it.

Don

Hi, it would be nice if you could give/sell/license your work to Chessbase, so they have it built right into their software, like they use to!

Why the heck would Chessbase not offer an easy engine vs. engine on two separate computers function?? It really boggles the mind!!

Cordially,

Sean