Light ROM 1/LIGHT-ROM 1 (Amiga Library Services)(1994).iso/ffdisks/d976.lha/UChess/UChess.doc

Text File | 1994-04-03 | 7KB | 180 lines

UChess versions which end in L are optimized for the 68040 processor,
require 10M or MORE of FAST RAM, and play stronger than the non L versions.
Versions which do not end in L require 4M of FAST RAM, and are
optimized for 68030 processors, and play slightly weaker than the L versions.

Source code for Gnuchess 4p64 which is what this pgm is based on
is available  via ftp.  There are several enhancements/changes
made to the 4pl64 code.


This program is freely distributable.


UChess is a powerful version of the program GnuChess version 4 for
the Amiga, code has been re-written and data structures re-organized
for optimal efficiency on 32 bit 68020 and better Amiga systems.
The program fully multitasks, automatically detects and supports
640X480X256 color AGA mode machines, and does not at any
time BUSY wait.

In head to head competition with Checkmate, on the same
machine, UChess has a record of 9 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw.

Program requires:

A 68020/030/040 based Amiga computer system
AmigaDOS version 37 (2.04) or later
4 Megabytes or more of RAM, 3.5M of FREE FAST RAM.
(L version requires 8.5M of FREE fast RAM)

Program auto-detects AGA capable machines, and will try and use
a 640X480X256 color VGA_PRODUCTIVITY screen, if not it defaults
to using a 16 color 640X400 HIRES LACE screen.

The 16 color screen is not very attractive, the pgm is designed
to be run on a 31Khz monitor (multisync or VGA) on an AGA machine.

Use of the 640X480X256 color mode (best mode) requires AGA Based Amiga
MultiSync Monitor/or Monitor capable of displaying VGA_PRODUCTIVITY mode
The Correct monitor type in devs:Monitors on your WB disk

To Install UCHESS:

Copy the library lh.library to your libs: directory.

If you are using an AGA machine, you should make sure that
the MULTISYNC monitor is in your devs:monitors directory,
if you have a multisync or VGA monitor.

In your startup sequence, you should put an ASSIGN UCHESS: <yourdir>,
but you do not have to.  The program will do the Assign for
you as the default directory when you boot up.

Make a directory and copy all files (except lh.library, which goes
in libs:) to this new directory, using the CLI copy command.

You can run this program from the CLI or WorkBench, if run from
the workbench.  The only CLI argument you can use is "16", this
will force the program to open a 16 color screen, regardless
of hardware.


Using the Program.

Startup Options:

You can run UChess from the CLI or workbench, from the
CLI you can enter 2 optional arguments, one is the priority
you want foreground thinking to run at (0-4) the other
is if you want to force a 16 color display, you type in 16.
So you can type UChess 16 0 to force a 16 color display
and a priority of 0.  You can also enter 2 TOOLTYPES into
the UChess icon, one is PRI=<pnum> and other is COLORS=16|256
They are the same as the CLI equivalents.


<<NOTE: The program writes a MoveList text file for each game
        to the t: directory., you need to have t: assigned somewhere,
        or the pgm will ask for it.  The default workbench Startup-
        Sequence assigns t: for you >>

You can enter moves in algebraic or reduced algebraic notation using
the keyboard, or you can use the Mouse to click and HOLD onto the
piece you want, let go of the mouse button after you have moved
the piece over the square you want it to occupy.

You can enter the word "beep" at the move prompt to toggle
the beep after computer moves feature.

The following is a brief of the menus and choices in the program,

File Menu -
 About - shows a brief description of the program
 New Game - Starts a new game from scratch
 Load Game - Load a previously saved game
 Save Game - Save the current game to disk
 List Game - List the moves of current game to a file
 Quit - return to AmigaDOS

View Menu -
 2-D - Only View Available

 Edit Board - Edit current board.  To edit the board you enter
the piece character, followed by the square you want it on.
Valid piece chars are ' ' for none, 'p', 'n', 'b', 'q', 'k', 'r'.
For example pa8 puts a pawn at a8, <space>a8 clears square a8.
You can clear the entire board, and color of the piece is determined
by the WHITE/BLACK Boolean Gadget.

 Reverse - Not Implemented

Control Menu -
 Swap Sides - Change Sides with Computer (black <=> white)
 AutoPlay - Computer Plays Itself
 Move Now - Implemented when computers avg move is 1 min or more.
 forces computer to make its move immediately.
 Undo - Undo Last 1/2 move

 Thinking - Toggle computer thinking on your time,
  With this mode on, (checked), the computer will think about
  its next move while it is your turn, like a person would.
  When this is on, you will find the computer may be sluggish
  to respond to your first mouse/keypress, but it will interrupt
  itself and respond within a second.  Be aware of this fact,
  when you type a key, or press the mouse button, you stop
  the computers thinking on your time, and it will not
  resume until next turn.  IT MAY TAKE A SECOND OR SO TO
  PROCESS YOUR KEYPRESS/MENU SELECTION WHEN THIS OPTION IS ON.

ShwThnk - Shows computers thinking process, in Depth, Score and move.
100 pts = 1 pawn in this thinking process.

Book Control - Turns on/off opening book

Supervisor mode - Allows 2 humans to play each other with computer
as sort of a supervisor.

Special Menu -
 Hint - Computer gives advise as to your next move.
 Test - Test processor speed.  This speed of lookup depends
        on currect board config, so for comparison
        purposes between machines, test the speed with
        the exact same board layout, for black and white!
        An Amiga 4000 gets about 80,000 movelist nodes/sec
        and 3700 eval nodes/sec on a new board.  Sometimes
        a bit more.
 Rate pgm - this option attempts to approx the USCF rating of the
        pgm running on your machine.  Based on the fact that the
        gnuchess 4pl60 core plays at approx 23000 USCF on an
        IBM RS/6000 and each doubling of processor speed nets
        75 USCF points.  An Amiga 4000 rates at about 2200 USCF
        using the L version of the pgm.
 Set Time - Brings up a window for you to set time constraints
            for the computer.  It is in the form XX moves in XX minutes.
            For Tournament conditions people often use 40 moves/120 mins
            Default is 60 moves in 10 minutes (approx 10 secs/move)
 Set Depth - alternative to timed play, this tells the computer
             to search until the end of the specified ply, then
             make its move, regardless of time spent.


Notes on running vs other chess PGMS on the same machine:

1) Make sure thinking on opponents time is DISABLED for each pgm.
2) make sure UChess is at a high priority, UChess DOES NOT BUSY WAIT
   so it will always make 100% of the processor available to the
   opposing pgm when it is not UChess's turn.  Other chess pgms
   are not as well written, and will hog 100% of the CPU even
   when it is NOT their turn and thinking is off.  For this
   reason you should always have UChess running at a higher
   priority than its opponent, Uchess WILL NEVER steal CPU
   cycles from an opposing pgm if thinking in UChess is off.
3) Make sure both pgms have suffucient FAST RAM available to them!


Please report any problems to me, Roger Uzun
at
[e-mail]
or on bix as ruzun.