I believe your claim is quite possible. I have certainly run into odd behavior by my engine, including odd moves, start up problems, and sometime even crashes, when people use certain GUIs that I never experience in my regular testing (on Arena and Winboard). Nevertheless, other people seem to get things working fine on GUIs such as ChessGUI, so it is likely I and perhaps you (and possibly a few others) have some bug that does not get triggered in our own testing environments but does get triggered in some of the CCRL testing platforms. That does not mean the GUIs are necessarily to blame (and certainly not CCRL for testing on the platform of their choice) just that its annoying that if folks like us really care about our engines performing on lots of platforms, we have to test regularly on lots of platforms (including ChessGUI, Shredder, Chessbase stuff, Polyglot with Winboard, Arena, etc.). If we were willing to spend the time (and money) doing that our programs (or the GUIs if they are at fault since some of those are still under active development) would overcome compatibility issues and all would be good. On the other-hand, if you are like me and cannot stand spending your limited free time debugging gui compatibility issues instead of working more entertaining aspects of your engine, you are doomed to some degree of frustration. At least be heartened to know you are not alone in your frustration.
-Sam
Hi Sam,
if I suspected a problem with ChessGUI, then I wouldn't use it. As far as I'm concerned, it is perfectly fine.
Cheers,
Graham.
Indeed. I did not notice any unusual behaviour in this tournament, or any of the others that preceded it. I've also run thousands of chess960 games with this GUI and as far as I'm concerned it is absolutely fine. More than fine actually, I think it is brilliant.
if I suspected a problem with ChessGUI, then I wouldn't use it. As far as I'm concerned, it is perfectly fine.
Cheers,
Graham.
Indeed. What I meant to imply was I thought the problem was with my program (and perhaps Mike's) not with the ChessGUI.
Such issues naturally arise when developers and testers are working on different platforms. The only real solution is for me (and perhaps Mike) to actually test on lots of platforms to make sure things work.
if I suspected a problem with ChessGUI, then I wouldn't use it. As far as I'm concerned, it is perfectly fine.
Cheers,
Graham.
Indeed. What I meant to imply was I thought the problem was with my program (and perhaps Mike's) not with the ChessGUI.
Such issues naturally arise when developers and testers are working on different platforms. The only real solution is for me (and perhaps Mike) to actually test on lots of platforms to make sure things work.
-Sam
Hi Sam,
ChessGUI has many pgn options that you can set to investigate engine behaviour in pgn files.
The debug files of ChessGUI also are fairly detailed.
Run your engine in ChessGUI under CCRL conditions against opponents of similar strength and you will find out if ChessGUI is messing things up.
Well, since the author is here to help me, I guess I will . Last time I tried using it I failed to even get other people's engines installed right, but that was sometime ago. I will download your newest version and try it tonight. If it fails, I may start a new thread to bug you for help .
BubbaTough wrote:Well, since the author is here to help me, I guess I will . Last time I tried using it I failed to even get other people's engines installed right, but that was sometime ago. I will download your newest version and try it tonight. If it fails, I may start a new thread to bug you for help .
-Sam
There is an engine list in the readme file that should help with engine installation options.
. Last time I tried using it I failed to even get other people's engines installed right, but that was sometime ago. I will download your newest version and try it tonight. If it fails, I may start a new thread to bug you for help