finally I found some time to work a bit on Roce to provide a new version. A lot of things were changed, mostly cosmetic stuff. The playing strength should have improved a tiny little bit as well though. The pondering problem still remains. Engine-Engine games with pondering on only work with the Fritz GUI or with Polyglot 1.4 but not under Shredder Classic and Polyglot 1.3 and versions before. This is a design issue and therefore not that easy to fix.
change list:
-output under the console more readable now
-bugs in the movegenerator fixed (despite all the testruns there were still well hidden bugs)
-several things regarding the search changed
Roce plays now a bit better vs weak computer opponents while it still plays about on the same level vs human opponents. As Roce is still pretty weak, I consider it a good opponent for players who would like to win or draw a game vs an engine playing at its full strength from time to time.
Some things to observe:
-don't use pondering when playing engine-engine matches with the Shredder Classic GUI or with Polyglot versions below 1.4
-make sure Roce.cfg is in the same folder as the binary (otherwise an error might occur as roce sends a message to the gui)
-if Roce is used or has to be used under Polyglot, pleasy use version 1.4 instead of 1.3
-have fun!
Cheers
Roman
direct link to the binary:
http://mypage.bluewin.ch/romanhartmann/roce345.zip
PS: Please let me know if you encounter any problems with the binary as I used some rather aggressive compiler settings. Losing every game is considered to be a feature not a bug though
