Evert wrote:Are you sure the working directory is the one that holds variants.txt? I remember his being tricky when starting programs in Windows.
Sure. I started it from the command line, in the directory where everything is:
C:\WinBoard-4.8.0\SjaakIIc>dir
Volume in drive C is OS
Volume Serial Number is C4E8-1103
Directory of C:\WinBoard-4.8.0\SjaakIIc
12/12/2016 09:29 PM <DIR> .
12/12/2016 09:29 PM <DIR> ..
11/19/2014 05:43 PM 35,147 COPYING
12/12/2016 09:29 PM <DIR> misc
01/29/2015 09:05 AM 4,160 README
11/29/2016 05:03 PM 1,549,824 SjaakII_win32_MS.exe
11/29/2016 05:03 PM 1,564,160 SjaakII_win64_MS.exe
11/21/2016 05:13 PM 82,902 variants.txt
5 File(s) 3,236,193 bytes
3 Dir(s) 32,313,782,272 bytes free
C:\WinBoard-4.8.0\SjaakIIc>SjaakII_win64_MS.exe
Sjaak II version 1.4.1 (x86_64)
Type 'help' for a list of commands and help topics
8r n b q k b n r
7p p p p p p p p
6
5
4
3
2P P P P P P P P
1R N B Q K B N R *
a b c d e f g h
#[Chess] 0w>xboard
protover 2
feature setboard=1 time=1 sigint=0 colors=0 highlight=1 ping=1 memory=1 analyze=
1 pause=1 nps=1 sjef=1 myname="Sjaak II 1.4.1" myversion="[1.4.1 (x86_64)]" vari
ants="seirawan,shatar,makruk,shatranj,sittuyin,crazyhouse,chessgi,asean,ai-wok,s
uper,spartan,pocketknight,kingofthehill,knightmate,berolina,losalamos,micro,capa
blanca,gothic,embassy,greatshatranj,courier,grand,opulent,omega,minishogi,shosho
gi,shogi,torishogi,xiangqi,chess960,fischerandom,fischerrandom,nocastle,wildcast
le,great,caparandom,minisho,5x5+5_shogi,tori,7x7+6_shogi,sho,9x9+0_shogi,king-of
-the-hill,fairy,8x8+0_fairy,8x8+6_fairy,8x8+1_fairy,6x6+0_fairy,5x5+0_fairy,10x8
+0_fairy,12x8+0_fairy,10x10+0_fairy,12x12+0_fairy,5x5+5_fairy,9x9+0_fairy,9x9+8_
fairy,7x7+6_fairy,9x10+0_fairy,normal"
feature option="Variant fairy selects -combo chess (8x8+0) /// seirawan (8x8+0)
/// shatar (8x8+0) /// makruk (8x8+0) /// shatranj (8x8+0) /// sittuyin (8x8+6)
/// crazyhouse (8x8+6) /// chessgi (8x8+6) /// asean (8x8+0) /// ai-wok (8x8+0)
/// super (8x8+0) /// spartan (8x8+0) /// pocketknight (8x8+1) /// kingofthehill
(8x8+0) /// knightmate (8x8+0) /// berolina (8x8+0) /// losalamos (6x6+0) /// m
icro (5x5+0) /// capablanca (10x8+0) /// gothic (10x8+0) /// embassy (10x8+0) //
/ greatshatranj (10x8+0) /// courier (12x8+0) /// grand (10x10+0) /// opulent (1
0x10+0) /// omega (12x12+0) /// minishogi (5x5+5) /// shoshogi (9x9+0) /// shogi
(9x9+8) /// torishogi (7x7+6) /// xiangqi (9x10+0) /// chess960 (= chess) /// f
ischerandom (= chess) /// fischerrandom (= chess) /// nocastle (= chess) /// wil
dcastle (= chess) /// great (= greatshatranj) /// caparandom (= capablanca) ///
minisho (= minishogi) /// 5x5+5_shogi (= minishogi) /// tori (= torishogi) /// 7
x7+6_shogi (= torishogi) /// sho (= shoshogi) /// 9x9+0_shogi (= shoshogi) /// k
ing-of-the-hill (= kingofthehill)"
feature option="Mate search -combo Disabled /// *Enabled for drop games /// Enab
led"
feature option="Level -combo Clueless /// Random /// Static /// *Normal"
feature option="MultiPV -spin 1 1 256"
feature option="Draw offer threshold -spin 0 0 1000"
feature option="Moves before draw offer (0 to disable) -spin 0 0 1000"
feature option="Resign threshold -spin 500 100 16000"
feature option="Moves before resigning (0 to disable) -spin 0 0 1000"
feature option="Randomise opening moves -spin 10 0 40"
feature option="Random amplitude (0 to disable) -spin 20 0 100"
feature option="Send 'piece' descriptions -check 1"
feature option="Mark holes in board -check 1"
feature option="List user-defined variants before buildin variants -check 1"
feature option="Report fail low -check 0"
feature option="Report fail high -check 0"
feature option="Claim repetitions -check 1"
feature option="Send O-O/O-O-O for castling -check 1"
feature option="Remember evaluation parameter file -check 0"
feature option="Variant 'normal' is -string chess"
feature option="Set variant alias -string "
feature option="Variant configuration file -file "
feature option="Evaluation parameter file -file "
feature done=1
I think this is by design; does XBoard allow quotes and spaces as part of the variant name? I guess I assumed that it didn't.
I think it would allow everything except commas and double quotes. I guess the more general problem is whether some form of standardization is desirable for the sytax of engine-defined variant names. Sjaak and Stockfish use, fe, "kingofthehill" without spaces, hyphens or underscores. Sjaak likewise uses "minishogi". I wonder if the mention of "shogi" in the variant name should best be omitted. I did that in the WB Alien Edition, where some of the Shogi variants are standard variants (tenjiku, dai,tai). Shokidoki now announces "mini,judkin,tori", in addition to the NxM+H_ systematic names. OTOH it says "euroshogi", so it is not very consistent. (And Judkins lost an 's'...) I suppose "mini" could become overloaded; there probably also exist many kinds of mini-Chess. "judkins" is probably unique enough. In CrazyWa I now use "minishogi,judkinshogi,crazywa". I suppose all this is not very important, because Sjaak has a "variant alias" option. (How do I use that anyway?)
Tell me about it.
I haven't found a king safety term that works well across variants. I suppose a plain "king should not be ahead of any pawns" might be adequate as a middle-game term (I don't advance game phase in drop variants).
That would certainly be a good idea: Kings should have a very large preferece to stay behind the initial Pawn rank. In CrazyWa I have a King PST that gives 90cP penalty for being inside the Pawn rank, and 210cP for being between the Pawn ranks. In addition the Evaluation gives another 100cP for getting in range of being checked by Pawns on their starting rank. I also add points (virtual attacks) to the non-linear king-seige term, for being in the Pawn rank, before it, or in enemy range. The only variant dependence here is that the number of virtual attacks doubles on boards >= 8x8, but I am pretty sure this could also be made implicit as a condition of the total material value in the game. As there also is a term of the form 'attacked empty squares adjacent to King times total hand value', and venturing out in the open usually means lots of adjacent empty squares, king strolls are really quite heavily discouraged. I top off King (un)safety only at 900cP.