Crafty ...

Does anyone know how to install Crafty chess engine to work with Chesspad? Thanks so much! 🙄

Originally posted by choux
Does anyone know how to install Crafty chess engine to work with Chesspad? Thanks so much! 🙄

Which versions? I have Crafty 20.14 set up to run with both Chesspad 1.0.10 and 2.0.1.

You need this in a text (not Word!) file in the Chesspad directory:

[Info]
Name=Crafty 20.14
DefExeName=<path to where you put crafty>crafty-20.14.exe
InitString=xboard
NickName=crafty
ExtraUndo=1

Then you need all Crafty files, including its opening books, in another directory (or even the same as Chesspad, but that's messy).

Then you need to install and load the engine in Chesspad's preferences. How to do this differs between versions, hence my first question.

And then it's just a question of getting it analysing. Pressing Ctrl-W will do that in either version.

Do note that on my computer, it sometimes won't run first time. I don't know whether that's a Crafty problem, a Chesspad one, a combination of both, or my old computer not being up to the job all the time; so I don't know whether that's a problem for you. It's not a major problem; I just occasionally need to quit and restart Chesspad to get the engine running. Once it runs, it's all right.

Richard

It's the latest 23.4 in win 64.

I've downloaded the books - although they won't open -
I think because I haven't filled out the box that opens up on
the videoclient - and at the bottom there's a box "queue, play, stream,
convert.

I'm having trouble getting Crafty into Chesspad's preferences -
the engine configuration.
I know this will be very helpful if I can just get it done!
Thank you!

Originally posted by choux
I've downloaded the books - although they won't open -
I think because I haven't filled out the box that opens up on
the videoclient - and at the bottom there's a box "queue, play, stream,
convert.

Then you're doing something wildly wrong. You shouldn't be getting anywhere near any video client. That's like opening a PGN in Photoshop. It doesn't make any sense.

What you need to do is get Crafty-<numbers>.exe and book.bin (plus books.bin and bookc.bin, if you have them) in one directory. Do not open them in any other program. If you have opened them in another program, just to make sure, download them again - they may have got corrupted. Just put these files in their own directory. That's all. No using other programs on them.

I'm having trouble getting Crafty into Chesspad's preferences -
the engine configuration.

For that, I still need to know which version of Chesspad you're using. You should be able to find it in the About box.

Richard

The version of Crafty was 23.4 but I've deleted it. Still have chesspad, but ...

There are all of these (valters) links for Crafty and none of them will open - I'm getting soooo confused!

Originally posted by choux
There are all of these (valters) links for Crafty and none of them will open - I'm getting soooo confused!

Maybe you're using an old link. Have you tried this one?

http://h1.ripway.com/valters/crafty/gui.php


Regarding Crafty 23.4, the only negative I've noticed is that it sometimes (often?) oversteps the clock and loses on time on the low skill levels. (The lower the level, the more likely to lose on time.) But you can somewhat sidestep the problem in this program by making sure to untick the "On" box in the Crafty main control panel, which disables the option "whether exceeding time control will equal loss".

Hi. I get the same message:

"Oops! Firefox could not find valters-and.co.cc

Try reloading: valters-­and.­co.­cc/­crafty/­gui.­php"

I don't get it 😕

Originally posted by choux
Hi. I get the same message:

"Oops! Firefox could not find valters-and.co.cc

Try reloading: valters-­and.­co.­cc/­crafty/­gui.­php"

I don't get it 😕

The "http://h1.ripway.com/valters/crafty/gui.php" link works for me. Try refreshing or closing and reopening your browser?

I deleted everything, chesspad, crafty, ran cc, again and again, valters still won't open.
I just don't get it.

Originally posted by choux
I deleted everything, chesspad, crafty, ran cc, again and again, valters still won't open.
I just don't get it.

Hi choux,
Sorry to see you're having such problems. If you copy-and-paste this URL:

http://h1.ripway.com/valters/crafty/gui.php

into your Firefox browser's location bar and press the enter key, you should reach a web site titled "Crafty Chess interface version 6.1", complete with a screenshot of the program and working download links. If you don't get this web page, then something is wrong with your PC, or possibly the web site is being blocked to your PC.

If you do get to that web site, the easiest thing to do is to download the 7-zip SFX archive "crafty_gui_6.1.exe", then double-click on the "crafty_gui_6.1.exe" file to decompress the crafty files. Once decompressed, no further installation is required. Just double-click on the crafty.exe file, and the program will start.

Good luck!

Thanks so much. Everything is downloaded and unzipped. However Windows won't open the crafty files. And I don't know where someone got the screenshot of "unblock" on the security page of Windows for the properties of Crafty that I found on-line. Chesspad is downloaded and the pieces I'm using move ... does it really need to be this bloody difficult??😠

Originally posted by choux
Thanks so much. Everything is downloaded and unzipped. However Windows won't open the crafty files. And I don't know where someone got the screenshot of "unblock" on the security page of Windows for the properties of Crafty that I found on-line. Chesspad is downloaded and the pieces I'm using move ... does it really need to be this bloody difficult??😠

That's odd. Once unzipped, you should be able to double-click on the file named "crafty.exe", and the program should start right up. (I just downloaded from the site and started the program up. It does work.)

Regarding ChessPad2, if it makes you feel any better, I actually had problems with it. I was only temporarily able to make Stockfish work, but not on a consistent basis. I wasn't able to get Crafty 23.4 working at all in ChessPad2, despite understanding Shallow Blue's posts and being fairly proficient with installing engines in the Arena GUI. I'm not sure whether it was operator error, a Crafty version problem, or a Windows 7 problem. At any rate, I decided it wasn't worth beating my head against a wall, especially since I have Crafty 23.4 working in Arena.

Edit: I just now got Crafty 20.14 working in ChessPad2, although I haven't tried using a book yet. I might futz with ver 23.4 in the next few days to see if I can get it to work also.

Edit2: I spoke too soon. The 2nd time I tried to run ver 20.14, it didn't run. The engine config window seems to be substituting a virtual "$appdir$" path, which may be screwing up the running of the engine.

Only somehow crafty.exe didn't download and now the book files won't delete
. On one of the chesspad pages there was a note that said "Oops this shouldn't
have happened" with a link. We've had a couple of emails.

Thanks, I'll be back.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
That's odd. Once unzipped, you should be able to double-click on the file named "crafty.exe", and the program should start right up. (I just downloaded from the site and started the program up. It does work.)

Regarding ChessPad2, if it makes you feel any better, I actually had problems with it. I was only temporarily able to make Stockfish work, but not ...[text shortened]... tuting a virtual "$appdir$" path, which may be screwing up the running of the engine.

Hi again, choux,

I saw a thread in the ChessPad forum that said you have to install the engine folders outside of the Program Files folder for the newer OS's. However, I tried this - Still no luck. (The author said he'd fix the problem in a future version.)

Now I give up!

My recommendation: If you have a recent OS (Win XP or later, maybe even Vista?, I'm not sure), don't bother trying to run engines in ChessPad2. Wait for the next version.

And, no, these ChessPad problems shouldn't be this hard. 😞