Few small bugs on version 4.4.3

[H.G.Muller]

Indeed, this is horrible. Older Windows versions did not have that problem. I don't now if there is any warped MicroSoft logic behind this, or if it is simply a bug. It make the @-sign a very awkward choice for this pupose. Perhaps I should define an equivalent for it in future WinBoard versions, because it is utterly confusing.

[Nguyen Pham]

What are command lines of Xiangq engines (say, ElephantEye which comes with WB)?

After setting and running "winboard /ini=xq.ini /variant=xiangqi" all Xiangqi engines can't run normally (perhaps WB thinks their games are Western chess). Thus I want to learn how to set command line for a Xiangq engine and to fix the current problem.

Thank you all again for your helps.

[H.G.Muller]

The xq.ini originally included with the distribution contained:

Code: Select all

/firstChessProgramNames={MaxQi /fd="..\Fairy-Max" /firstXBook
HaQiKiD /fd="../HaQi" /firstXBook
"UCCI2WB QH\eleeye.ini" /firstLogo="../EleEye/logo.bmp"
}
/secondChessProgramNames={MaxQi /sd="..\Fairy-Max" /secondXBook
HaQiKiD /sd="../HaQi" /secondXBook
"UCCI2WB QH\eleeye.ini" /secondLogo="../EleEye/logo.bmp"
}


UCCI2WB.exe needs to be in the same folder as winboard.exe. (Otherwise you would need an /fd or /sd argument.)
For this to work for other UCCI engines, there must be an ini file for that engine in the QH folder, specifying name and location of the engine. The logo stuff is optional.

If you already have a /variant=xiangqi on the WB comman line, there is no need to put it with the engines, and WB should know it is playing XQ (and tell it to the engines).

[Nguyen Pham]

I mean that what do you put in ElephantEye shortcut? Again, I see the target of that shortcut is "C:\WinBoard\WinBoard\winboard.exe" only so I don't know how to fix the shortcut nor to learn to create myself one for my engine. Thanks.

[H.G.Muller]

OK, sorry I misunderstood. I had to look it up in the installer script, as Windows f course also does not show it to me when I peek inside the shortcut. The line is:

$INSTDIR\WinBoard\winboard.exe @xq -cp -fcp "UCCI2WB QH\eleeye.ini" -firstLogo ..\EleEye\logo.bmp -scp "UCCI2WB QH\eleeye.ini" -secondLogo ..\EleEye\logo.bmp

(Well, this is what it should be. It seems that the way it is actually distributed there has a quote in the wrong place, making the -secondLogo ineffective. )

So it uses indirection to the xq.ini to set all parameters to the defaults for XQ, and then continues to specify WB should be run in chess-program mode (-cp), and specifies Elephant Eye both as first and as second engine. The logo options could again be left out. They are needed here for people that want to see logos because /autoLogo=true does not work when WinBoard is not aware of the engine folder. (Only UCCI2WB is, as it is specified in the eleeye.ini file.) And this is where it would look for a logo file (logo.bmp) for the engine.