Chessmaster 9000???

[jb60606]

I want to buy this game, but the few reviews i've found are ancient and mention trouble (read: 'incompatibility') with Leopard (and even Tiger). Does anyone have this working on Leopard 10.5.2?

If not, do you know of any reputable alternative chess software with excellent graphics?

Thanks

 

[merc669]

I read reviews of ChessMaster 9000 but its only for OSX 10.4 not 10.5 that I can find. I have played around with a good version of "Sigma Chess" which can use HIARCS engine for harder play. I am an amateur and found that the chess Engine that Sigma uses is enough for me. It costs $20 to upgrade from the Lite Version to the full version. Here is the link for the site if you wish to try it out;

http://www.sigmachess.com/


Bill......

 

[jb60606]

thanks - i'll check it out.

 

[Everythingisnt]

Of course there's the included chess engine in OSX... Now 64bit with 10.5

 

[jb60606]

yeah, and, I've been playing it; but I'd like something a little more feature rich. Sigma looks nice.

 

[weev]

I have been using Chessmaster since version 6000. I have 9000 which I enjoy but haven't used it since going to Leopard.

It has some good tutorials on it (carried over from 6000) and the graphics are pretty. It's opening book is excellent.

The way I use it is I take a game I have played against a human opponent, either online or in a torny, enter the game into the computer. Then go the spot where the game started turning south for me, and then get the computer to come up with some moves.

Often it highlights a good combination I missed.

However, its always been a tad flakey at times. When it analyses moves ahead (and speaks it out to you) some of them seem poor and silly choices.

And the developers seem to ignore the problems. I wonder if it's ever going to get bug fixed or majorly overhauled.

There is a real opening, imho, for great mac chess software. Chessmaster 9000 is merely 'good'.

 

[edddeduck]

I want to buy this game, but the few reviews i've found are ancient and mention trouble (read: 'incompatibility') with Leopard (and even Tiger). Does anyone have this working on Leopard 10.5.2?

The game is fully compatible with 10.5. We have a UA patch in the works, users on MacBooks can contact us and get a beta of this patch as the current boxed version will crash on these machines. All other machines the game will run using version 1.0.2 of the game however we hope to release the 1.1 patch which brings full native support for Intel shortly.

However, its always been a tad flakey at times. When it analyses moves ahead (and speaks it out to you) some of them seem poor and silly choices.

And the developers seem to ignore the problems. I wonder if it's ever going to get bug fixed or majorly overhauled.

If you think you have any issues with the game contact our support team and we will log your issues and if possible fix them. We have made numerous fixes since the original 1.0 version of this game and we are continuing with this by creating a brand new UA patch for the game.

However some things that look like bugs are in fact the way the Chess engine works and in many cases what looks like a poor move was either poor because the computer has not enough time to think or more often the move has an early sacrifice for long term gain. This is not to say that bugs don't exist! Either way if you think you have a genuine Mac only bug I recommend you contact us about it as it is easier for us to look at potential issues when we get the in support than finding out about them on forums!

Edwin

Feral Interactive

 

[jb60606]

The game is fully compatible with 10.5. We have a UA patch in the works, users on MacBooks can contact us and get a beta of this patch as the current boxed version will crash on these machines. All other machines the game will run using version 1.0.2 of the game however we hope to release the 1.1 patch which brings full native support for Intel shortly.

Edwin

Feral Interactive

Excellent - thank you.

 

[jb60606]

Any ETA on the 1.1 patch? I received Chessmaster 9000 today (1.0.2) today.

It's an impressive program, but locks up often (for brief periods of time) and generally seems a little rough around the edges.

Thanks

 

[edddeduck]

Should be very soon (I hope within a week), we just need to find time to do the final tests and package it up on the servers.

Edwin
Feral Interactive

 

[pkbrennan]

i'm chime in too... any upate? i just received the program, updated to 1.0.2, and the programming crashes continually upon opening. i can't even manage to get into the program.

 

[edddeduck]

i'm chime in too... any upate? i just received the program, updated to 1.0.2, and the programming crashes continually upon opening. i can't even manage to get into the program.

Send an email to our support address (you can get this from the manual or Read Me) and we will contact you with more information. The game crash only happens on MacBook machines with the new X3100 card.

We planned to release the patch but we had one customer who has claimed he still get crashes with our patch so we are giving it a little more testing before going live to find out if the crash is down to the patch or his macbook having something wrong with it.

However if you email support you can be given the beta (it's almost final).

Edwin

 

[pkbrennan]

cool thank you. i sent an email... am eagerly awaiting the patch.

 

[edddeduck]

Patch is released

The Universal patch for Chessmaster 9000 is out and released.

Click Here to load the support page

The patch fixes a crash on MacBooks and also makes the game fully native on Intel and PPC. This new patch supports both 10.4 and 10.5.

Edwin