what's wrong with my polyglot.ini file?

[sshendric]

Hi,

I am trying to set up the whole winboard/polyglot/YaYp deal.

So far i've managed to get engines uploaded to winboard (with a bit of pain as it requires /zippyPlay=true to be added in winboard.ini every time )

Problems I have are:

opening books and table databases are not being picked up (yes, i've specifed paths to those in both winbard gui and polyglot.ini)
can't find a way to disable "permanent brain" for chess engines .. its when they "think" 100% of the time instead of only when its their move

here's my polyglot.ini file with houdini chess engine as an example:

[Polyglot]

EngineName = Houdini 2.0c x64 pro
EngineDir = D:\Houdini 2 Chess
EngineCommand = Houdini_20_Pro_x64.exe
Book=true
BookFile=D:\chessdb\Testsets\Hiarcs13dBook.ctg
Log=false
LogFile=Rybka2.log
Resign=false
ResignMoves=3
UCIVersion=1
ShowPonder=true
CanPonder=true
SyncStop=false
PromoteWorkAround=false
KibitzMove=false
KibitzPV=false
KibitzCommand=tellall
KibitzDelay=5

[Engine]
Hash=8192
Max CPUs=6
NalimovPath=D:\chessdb\Testsets
NalimovCache=256
Tablebase Usage = Everywhere


where did I go wrong? please help

[Waldemar]

Polyglot will not use ctg book, only bin book. And try rename your Nalimov folder to EGTB:

NalimovPath=D:\EGTB
NalimovCache=256
NalimovUsage=Rarely

[matematiko]

"Permanent brain" is probably a Chessbase term, everywhere else is called ponder. Set ponder to off(probably CanPonder= False) if you do not want the engine to think when is not your turn.

It is the first time I hear about Zippyplay and if you have to make changes to a Winboard.ini every time is probably because you might be using one of the newest Winboard releases instead of the one bundled with YaYp. Or maybe because you are not using the zippy argument when launching WinBoard.

Note: Using WinBoard versions newest than the one bundled with YaY and YaYp will not make your engine play any better, neither any faster. The intricacies of making newest versions of Winboard work flawlessly with YaY are not easy to overcome by newbies. Stick to the bundled version and move to a new one later.

Regards,

[sshendric]

"Permanent brain" is probably a Chessbase term, everywhere else is called ponder. Set ponder to off(probably CanPonder= False) if you do not want the engine to think when is not your turn.

It is the first time I hear about Zippyplay and if you have to make changes to a Winboard.ini every time is probably because you might be using one of the newest Winboard releases instead of the one bundled with YaYp. Or maybe because you are not using the zippy argument when launching WinBoard.

Note: Using WinBoard versions newest than the one bundled with YaY and YaYp will not make your engine play any better, neither any faster. The intricacies of making newest versions of Winboard work flawlessly with YaY are not easy to overcome by newbies. Stick to the bundled version and move to a new one later.

Regards,

Hi,
Do you think I wanted to use newer or older versions? I HAD to use it because:
in the version that comes with the boundle I can't load any engines ... winboard is just using the default one.
So I had to download winboard separetly where there's an actual button "load engine" and "engine settings" and then replace winboard that came with a bundle with new one.

With regards to zippyplay, i found this "workaround" on the forum. I dont use any arguments because "userguide" is fairly straight forward .. click yayp.exe then click winboard_with_polyglot

So the problem is the same .. how to use normal books and tablebases instead of .bin ones ... "engine settings" in winboard are being overritten by polyglot and polyglot doesn't like books

[matematiko]

Yes, with the bundle comes an engine, but is not Winboard that is loading it, is polyglot. If you want to change the default bundle engine, the simplest method is to put the engine you want to use in the same folder where the default engine is, then edit polyglot.ini accordingly. Do this, make it work then you worry about ponder, books and tablebases. Do one thing at a time.

I myself use the default bundled Winboard, newest versions have new stuff unrelated to YaY and YaYp and these versions create more problems, not because they are defective but because the tutorials and the bundled winboard.ini and shortcuts are not tailored for these new versions.

The included Winboard_with_polyglot shortcut already has a /zp argument and addiing zippyplay to a winboard is totally unnecessary and a waste of time. Many of us spent years ago many hours figuring things out and more hours writing it down and sharing it with new users via this forum and the tutorials included in the distribution, if you want to re-invent the wheel then knock your socks off.

Regards,

[sshendric]

Hi,

Got the engines working and such, the only problem remains is the books.

.bin openning books are so small they valid for like 5 maybe 6 moves at best while .ctg books are good for like 20+ moves

I would run fritz 12 or 13 and forget about this .bin deal but i can't find auto232 anywhere ... i can see it in my old hiarcs8 gui but its probably integrated somewhere because i can't find a stand alone file.
I would run hiarcs 8 but that soft is old .. it only allowes good engines to utilise ~3.5GB hash while fritz12 allocates 12.5GB, fritz up to 30GB on some engines
and with the egtb and the .ctg books the difference is clear
even when i move pieces manually in 1min games (simulating fritz) vs my friend who's doing polyglot thingie, i win almost every time.

does anyone have a link to auto232 to download? i found some links on this forum but password's for archive dont work

[matematiko]

There is no need to find Auto-232 in other places, it is already included in your installation CD/DVD. Uninstall your chessbase program and re-install, be sure to select "Custom Installation" or whatever is called, then somewhere in there find and check mark "Auto-232".

There are plenty of links to free bin books here and in other forums, or you can learn how to make them.

Another option is Aquarium Book Adapter, there is plenty of information about it in these forums, it offers the speed of polyglot and the advantage of long ctg books but I recommend to try this only after you are more comfortable with YaY or YaYp.

Other than new practice games/problems and new tutorials, old chessbase software is as good as the new ones, I never understood why people is so eager to have the latest Fritz or Hiarcs when theys not bring anything new/better to the table. 1 GB hash is more than enough for 40/0 games, 128 or 64 MB is the best for 1/0 games, I do not see the need for 12.5 GB of hash.

Regards,