Chessbase compatible engines continued

-
I am about to release a next version of Chess for Android that recognizes engines in the Chessbase compatible format discussed in the previous blog posting. The new version is available as direct download or from Google Play.

With this release, all engines installed in this format (either the engines that ship with the Chessbase for Android application itself, or engines installed in this format, such as my own Engines.apk package) are available for direct import in Chess for Android as well as in the latest Chessbase for Android.

Together with sharing capabilities, this greatly enhances the 'chess ecosystem' on Android, since chess GUIs can now be used interchangeably in a much simpler manner.

As before, engines authors that want to be included in the package can drop me an email.



Comments

Anonymous said…
I ASK YOU IF YOU SHOULD BUILD A CHECKERS GAME NUMBERS.FROM O TO 9
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GREAT KNOWLEDGE AND GODBLESS YOU
July 6, 2013 at 8:29 PM
Aart Bik said…
Thanks for your comment (on checkers). Can you please explain what you mean by checkers game numbers?
July 8, 2013 at 10:53 AM
Anonymous said…
Aart, I think there is an issue with the new release. I can't import any new uci or xboard engine. This happens using two different devices and different os versions. The previously imported engines seem to work properly.
July 12, 2013 at 3:02 AM
Anonymous said…
Hi, i imported criter uci engine on samsung galaxy s2 but Limit elo function is not working (i can see the numbers 1200 to 2500, but nothing can be selected. Let me know how to activate this function. Bye Ivan
July 12, 2013 at 5:26 AM
Aart Bik said…
Anonymous,
Can you please provide details. What does not work exactly? I am able to import engines (both old style through SD as well as new style with Chessbase compatible engines).

Ivan,
If an engine does not support a feature, the UCI option is grayed out. Not too many engines support the limit elo function.
July 12, 2013 at 9:16 AM
Anonymous said…
Ok Aart, I will try to explain it better. The problem rises at the very first step, when one loads a new engine into the internal memory (install engine from SD). When I try to import the installed engine (import engine) the program doesn't show the usual "first time" prompt with the uci parameters. And if I try to play a game the gui apperently loads it but soon declares "unstarted" and then goes with the default engine.

On the contrary, I can still use the xboard and uci engines installed from SD a few months ago, before upgrading. I have the same issue with my smartphone, android 2.2, and a tablet, android 4.0.4.

cheers from Italy
July 12, 2013 at 3:08 PM
Aart Bik said…
The problem you report usually indicates an engine issue, not a GUI issue, but it is strange you see it for all engines.

Starting with android 4.2, there was an issue that required recompilation of all binaries and I updated the engines on my website accordingly.

Would you mind uninstalling the old engines, download some from my website and try again?
July 12, 2013 at 3:48 PM
Anonymous said…
Hello again, I realized that it was a trivial issue: I changed the original name of a few engines and the program just fails to import binaries with a space in its name!
I'm not feeling as stupid as those who underrate the app because "I always lose from the program" but I'm on the way...
:-)
Thank you for paying me attention.

One request for the next release: I think that the best approximation of human style of play is a strong engine with fixed (5 to 8) ply depth: this way it's still positionally strong but not a tactical monster. So a level setting with fixed depth would be great.
The last thing, the italian translation is somewhat weird (automatic, isn't it? ).
July 13, 2013 at 2:02 PM
Aart Bik said…
Thanks for letting me know it works, and also thanks for noting how frustrating those bad reviews can be :-)

Better level controls are still on my TODO list, so please stay tuned.

Note that the app itself has been localized into many languages (if you switch language on the phone all text should read normal), but the promotion text on the Android Market is translated automatically.
July 13, 2013 at 11:55 PM
Anonymous said…
I meant the app localization: when not checked by a native user the options menu can easily sound funny. It would be not a bad idea to switch the unchecked localizations back to english.

Thanks for your effort.
July 14, 2013 at 1:22 AM
Aart Bik said…
That's interesting, since all translations for Chess for Android were kindly done by native speakers that volunteered their time. If you have suggestions for improving translations, feel free to drop me an offline email on this!
July 14, 2013 at 2:40 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Checkers Move Generation

-
I was able to make a small improvement in the checkers move generator (written in Java for the Android SDK). The following table shows run times of several perft depths before and after optimization when run on the emulator (which should mimic actual run times on the phone quite well). DEPTH #LEAF NODES ORIGINAL OPTIMIZED TIME TIME ==================================== 7 179740 2.9s 1.9s 8 845931 14.2s 9.7s 9 3963680 66.3s 45.6s 10 18391564 294.6s 208.7s P.S. Runtimes for a C++ checkers move generator on a 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo are given at my checkers page .
Read more

Connecting Chess for Android to a Remote Server

-
Image
I have received several questions on how to connect Chess for Android running on an Android device (e.g. a phone) as client to a remote chess server (e.g. a powerful desktop), so I decided to write a small document with detailed instructions. What you will need: The server software from Bernhard Wallner's chess utilities , suited for your server's operating system (if, say, your desktop runs Windows, you will need to download the Windows version). You do not need to download the client software in this case. The network enabled version of Chess for Android . On the server, start the engine server software, and construct a new row for every engine you want to run remotely. Assign a name, port number, and select the full path to each engine binary (an executable that runs on the server). You can also supply command line options for starting the engine. Check the active checkboxes and click start when done. This yields something similar to the screenshots below. Here, I have s...
Read more

Connecting with the DGT Board

-
Image
After all the fun I had connecting Chess for Android with the Millennium  over Bluetooth, I was curious if I could provide similar support for the DGT electronic chess boards. Some of these have Bluetooth capabilities, most use USB connections, and some older models, like the one I have, still use the RS-232 connector. To my pleasant surprise, by combining the original serial cable of DGT with a USB-to-serial cable and a female-USB-to-USB-C cable, I was able to get an actually working connection between my DGT board and my tablet or phone. Next was implementing support in Chess for Android. Luckily, DGT kindly shared the protocol documentation with me, and after a fun weekend of hacking, Chess for Android now proudly supports DGT electronic chess boards as well.
Read more