#61414 - Tobin - Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:38 pm
DSChess is a *surprise* chess game for the Nintendo DS and my first DS homebrew. It uses a very strong engine called Fruit. You can download a first alpha release on my page:
http://www.vonloesch.de/dschess
Beware that this is an alpha version and there could be a bunch of bugs inside.
Please leave your comments or suggestions here or write me an email.
Have fun,
Tobin
#61417 - TheChuckster - Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:53 pm
I don't run untrusted binaries.
#61421 - 0xtob - Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:52 pm
Hey, this is quite cool! And from what I can tell, the CPU is quite strong. Is the difficulty level of this engine adjustable? For chees-newbies like me, it would be better to have a weaker CPU player who responds faster. The drag-n-drop interface work really well, but you should include a menu or something that integrates better into the graphics than the current menu. But I guess since this is an alpha, it's not time for this type of suggestions yet.
Anyway, thumbs up and keep going!
Tob
#61423 - Mr. Picklesworth - Sat Nov 19, 2005 11:10 pm
Really nice!
I've been waiting for a simple chess game ever since Microsoft removed it from standard Windows installations... and I was too lazy to ever search for one :D
Now I'm excited for your next release.
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#61430 - tepples - Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:03 am
| Mr. Picklesworth wrote: |
| I've been waiting for a simple chess game ever since Microsoft removed it from standard Windows installations... and I was too lazy to ever search for one :D |
Like Winboard with the GNU Chess engine?
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#61431 - natrium42 - Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:06 am
Awesome! What I have been waiting for :)
Now you only need to add BattleChess animations ;)
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#61438 - Dudu.exe - Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:58 am
Very impressive!!!!!! =]
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#61441 - alangerow - Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:50 am
Sweet. I was holding out 'til Ultimate Brain Games came out ... but this will do nicely. :)
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#61442 - DiscoBoy - Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:53 am
Dunno if why yo should trust me but I'd just like to say confirm that this is NOT a bricker.
A quicker, less powerful AI would be a nice feature for me. Of course a sleep/save feature is something that would be great too.
Other than that, this is something I really have been looking forward too.
Thank you Tobin!
#61446 - tssf - Sun Nov 20, 2005 9:37 am
| TheChuckster wrote: |
| I don't run untrusted binaries. |
You people need to cool it with the stupidity.
Anyway Tobin, looking good.
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#61447 - Tobin - Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:54 am
Great to hear from all of you that you like it.
| 0xtob wrote: |
| Hey, this is quite cool! And from what I can tell, the CPU is quite strong. Is the difficulty level of this engine adjustable? For chees-newbies like me, it would be better to have a weaker CPU player who responds faster. The drag-n-drop interface work really well, but you should include a menu or something that integrates better into the graphics than the current menu. But I guess since this is an alpha, it's not time for this type of suggestions yet. |
Maybe I have choosen a bad start configuration (too hard), but you can change the strength of the computer. Enter the main menu with START, then choose "New Game" and there go into the submenu "Time Settings". Here you can choose e.g. "Movetime <5s>", this means the cpu has max. five seconds to plan his next move. Another possibility is to choose a fixed depth to which the cpu calculates (Depth <5> should be quite fast). Leave the sub menu with B. Now you can start a new game with "Start game!".
The menu is all in all not a perfect solution, but it does not have prime priority. I have written a small general menu class for text menus, if someone is interested to port this (including touchscreen support)...
| natrium42 wrote: |
| Now you only need to add BattleChess animations ;) |
I am currently creating it ;-).
#61467 - Ilomoga - Sun Nov 20, 2005 3:51 pm
Wow, cool :)
I will try to play a match, but I'm not very good in chess :D
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#61474 - Dudu.exe - Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:13 pm
| Tobin wrote: |
Great to hear from all of you that you like it.
| 0xtob wrote: | | Hey, this is quite cool! And from what I can tell, the CPU is quite strong. Is the difficulty level of this engine adjustable? For chees-newbies like me, it would be better to have a weaker CPU player who responds faster. The drag-n-drop interface work really well, but you should include a menu or something that integrates better into the graphics than the current menu. But I guess since this is an alpha, it's not time for this type of suggestions yet. |
Maybe I have choosen a bad start configuration (too hard), but you can change the strength of the computer. Enter the main menu with START, then choose "New Game" and there go into the submenu "Time Settings". Here you can choose e.g. "Movetime <5s>", this means the cpu has max. five seconds to plan his next move. Another possibility is to choose a fixed depth to which the cpu calculates (Depth <5> should be quite fast). Leave the sub menu with B. Now you can start a new game with "Start game!".
The menu is all in all not a perfect solution, but it does not have prime priority. I have written a small general menu class for text menus, if someone is interested to port this (including touchscreen support)...
| natrium42 wrote: | | Now you only need to add BattleChess animations ;) |
I am currently creating it ;-). |
good tips...
im get bored with the slow cpu player!
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#61484 - Mr Snowflake - Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:03 pm
Nice work, I'd also love to see battleChess like animations. Damn that was a cool game :)
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#61492 - MaHe - Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:03 pm
| TheChuckster wrote: |
| I don't run untrusted binaries. |
I just remove the GBAmp and run them via WMB... So there's no harm done whatsoever. ;)
BTW, a great game, keep improving it.
#61497 - Mr Snowflake - Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:21 pm
| MaHe wrote: |
| TheChuckster wrote: | | I don't run untrusted binaries. |
I just remove the GBAmp and run them via WMB... So there's no harm done whatsoever. ;)
BTW, a great game, keep improving it. |
It could still write to your firmware. But if you have, like you, FlashMe, then you can always reflash.
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#61514 - xbay - Mon Nov 21, 2005 3:23 am
the new flashme fits in the protected area anyway, so it can't be overwritten unless SL1 is shorted again. As far as the DS goes, it should be safe
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#61593 - Ilomoga - Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:15 pm
What? The new flashme completely fits into the first 64KB?
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#61601 - Mr Snowflake - Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:05 am
I think he means that the new firmware fits in the part the old firmware fitted in.
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#61603 - TheChuckster - Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:14 am
Stupidity? I call it cautiousness. Since I ironically have some sense to be aware of real threatening problems, I was one of the many that have malware free DSes.
When I see "buggy" binaries that don't have any source code along side them, I have reason to not trust them. You can't argue with me or the other people that had a preexisting trust in others but ended up being screwed over because of it. It's a reality.
I will laugh when your DS gets bricked because I will have had the sense not to fall for the same trap.
As for the other suggestion directed at me, I hope you weren't serious. Running binaries on WMB produces the exact same results as running them on GBAMP.
EDIT: Oh, and I don't have a GBA flash cartridge -- just a wireless card. So if my flashed DS firmware gets overwritten, I am out of luck. Better to err on the safe side of things.
#61606 - Mr. Picklesworth - Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:37 am
| TheChuckster wrote: |
| I will laugh when your DS gets bricked because I will have had the sense not to fall for the same trap. |
Actually, I think it's best to not try to change their mind, since it's for our own good if someone tries it first without fear so that others know that it's safe to continue.
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#61657 - Mr Snowflake - Tue Nov 22, 2005 10:45 am
And the ones with FlashMe and a flashcard (m3 also??) are always able to recover, so no real harm done.
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#61769 - xbay - Wed Nov 23, 2005 4:32 am
| Ilomoga wrote: |
| What? The new flashme completely fits into the first 64KB? |
I think it does. Here's a link to where they were discussing it.
http://boards.pocketheaven.com/viewtopic.php?t=2947&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
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#61802 - Ilomoga - Wed Nov 23, 2005 7:04 pm
If it really does fit in the protected area no bricker would brick the DS, would it? (if it's Flashme'd with fw5 of course)
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#61808 - Dark Knight ez - Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:11 pm
// warning, speculation here:
Actually, I thought that they concluded this out of a quick, not too informative statement by loopy, in which loopy said that the new flashme (v5) fits entirely in the first part of firmware (or something along those lines).
I myself concluded that he ment that this new flashme is only as big as the first found firmwares (which were bigger than just the first 64 KB) and thus will not be overwritten by official games just to store information... not that it fits entirely into the 64 KB.
I'm not sure about this, since loopy's comment could go either way. But I don't think loopy compressed it all the way to fit in the first 64 KB (which was what? only 4 percent of the entire flashing with the first flashme?).
// end of speculation
#61809 - tepples - Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:22 pm
| Dark Knight ez wrote: |
But I don't think loopy compressed it all the way to fit in the first 64 KB (which was what? only 4 percent of the entire flashing with the first flashme?).
// end of speculation |
For one thing, if I recall correctly, firmware is 256 KB (or 512 KB for iQue DS). For another, perhaps the stuff needed for the main menu and DS Download Play is in the first 64 KB and stuff needed for the other parts (Pictochat and options screen) are in the rest; that seems rawther plausible.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#61816 - Ilomoga - Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:31 pm
If Pictochat and/or the settings would be missing - would the DS be able to boot up?
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#61824 - tepples - Thu Nov 24, 2005 1:57 am
| Ilomoga wrote: |
| If Pictochat and/or the settings would be missing - would the DS be able to boot up? |
Possibly. Remember that the settings and Pictochat require a power cycle in order to exit.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#63305 - Tobin - Sun Dec 11, 2005 6:43 pm
I have zipped up the latest build and called it version 0.2. There are many improvements and less bugs. Here some things I can remember:
Many improvements to the UI (move animation, nicer fonts, ...)
Load opening book from compact flash or sd card
Button support
Nearly one million bugs fixed :-D
You can download the newest version and an opening book here.
In the zip file is also one build for Dualis, this is because lib_fat is not compatible with it.
On the page is a small poll, please enter your opinion. I am also happy about every comment or suggestion.
Have fun,
Tobin
#63308 - nuatilus - Sun Dec 11, 2005 7:59 pm
Tobin, thank you for Dschess, I have been getting a whole lot of use out of it.
Unfortunately the top screen stays pure white while playing, never displaying any information. Also, when you press start to access the menu, the menu is never displayed. It still works you just can not see it. Tested with a gbamp v2 with all of the latest updates.
#63310 - Mr. Picklesworth - Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:57 pm
| nuatilus wrote: |
Tobin, thank you for Dschess, I have been getting a whole lot of use out of it.
Unfortunately the top screen stays pure white while playing, never displaying any information. Also, when you press start to access the menu, the menu is never displayed. It still works you just can not see it. Tested with a gbamp v2 with all of the latest updates. |
I can confirm that. Text does not display on GBAMP.
Nice additions to the chess board, though!
I can't wait to see the menu :)
Oh, hooray! All that white helped me find a stuck pixel. Now I can definietly get the screen replaced... the guy at the repair place had better do a good job.
Edit: Actually... this is curious. It appears that there is a black spot at the top right of the screen. A quick check of the startup screen tells me that this only occurs in DSChess. A strange bug, if it is one. Does anybody else get this?
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#63312 - Tobin - Sun Dec 11, 2005 10:09 pm
| Mr. Picklesworth wrote: |
I can confirm that. Text does not display on GBAMP.
Nice additions to the chess board, though!
I can't wait to see the menu :)
|
Hmm, strange, I will have a look at it, hope to fix this soon.
Update: Found and killed! Please download the newest version here.
#63321 - Mr. Picklesworth - Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:05 am
It works!!
Very very nice. Thanks :)
I like the new menus.
I still have a black spot though...
It's on you're screenshot too, actually, so presumably you know about it. Either that or I'm going completely crazy!
Suggest Move appears to suggest impossible moves when one uses it for the very first turn when playing white...
Is it just me, or is the engine running faster?
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#63362 - Tobin - Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:06 am
| Mr. Picklesworth wrote: |
It works!!
Very very nice. Thanks :)
I like the new menus.
I still have a black spot though...
It's on you're screenshot too, actually, so presumably you know about it. Either that or I'm going completely crazy!
|
Yes, I know about it. I think it was some sort of test I have made. In the next version I will remove this "stuck" pixel.
| Mr. Picklesworth wrote: |
Suggest Move appears to suggest impossible moves when one uses it for the very first turn when playing white...
Is it just me, or is the engine running faster? |
This is a bug which occurs if you start a new game, the suggest routine then suggests you a move from the last game...
The engine is not running faster, but I changed the starting timesetting, now the computer has max. 10 seconds to make his move.
By the way, I corrected the poll, so everybody can finally vote now...