It's hard to say what you should do with those three Chessmaster options, since I don't know if you're using a crafty.rc file. The crafty.rc file can handle the settings for all three Chessmaster options that you mentioned, plus many more.jewelmind wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:55 am Thanks for all these great replies. I've already installed Crafty and played a game (though I notice another thread saying that a new version is being released). Got Crafty to play one 5 min game with CMX, resulting in a rather thrilling 186 move draw, ending with Crafty having a queen and CMX a rook, bishop and pawn it couldn't queen. So obviously wonderfully competitive with CMX, though Crafty's official rating should perhaps have it being a little more dominant? Hard to tell after one game of course, but I'm wondering about the way I've got it set up.
I won't go into the version of Crafty I've got or where I've got it from, as hopefully the new version will still be Winboard compatible and I'll be able to replace my current installation, but I would appreciate some advice on the Chessmaster installation options. No need for a Chessmaster opening book as Crafty was obviously using its own book in the lightning fast opening. But what should I do with:
Pondering
Endgame Database
Command Line Parameters
I left all of these off and blank. I wouldn't even know what to put in Command Line Parameters. Anyone with definite knowledge of what to enter in these fields that would allow Crafty to play as well as it can?
Crafty might already be pondering (thinking on the opponent's time), but you won't know for sure unless you look inside the crafty.rc file or open the Windows Task Manager. If Crafty isn't currently pondering, turning on its ponder setting will help the strength a bit. The Chessmaster engine normally ponders, so activating the Crafty ponder setting would be helping to level the playing field, so to speak.
Crafty probably isn't using endgame databases unless you've already installed Nalimov or Syzygy tablebases in your PC. The bad news is that Crafty can't use the Chessmaster endgame database files, so activating this setting for Crafty will not do any good. The good news is that this feature probably doesn't change the strength of Crafty much at all.
Until you gain enough knowledge to edit the crafty.rc file, it's probably best to just activate the pondering setting and leave the other two settings alone.