Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition

Version 1.0
Table of Contents:
I. General Information
II. Late Breaking Changes to the Documentation
III. What Problems Still Exist?
IV. Where to find the Chessmaster FAQ
V. Technical and Customer Support
=====================================================================
I. *** General Information ***
1. The minimum system requirements for running Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition ar
e:
Supported OS: Windows XP/ Vista
Processor: Pentium III 1 GHz or AMD K6 III
RAM: 256 MB
Video Card: 32Mb, DirectX 9.0c-compliant video card
Minimum Screen Resolution: 1024x768 (lower resolutions not supported, even if mo
st of the game modes should work)
Sound Card: optional but recommended
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)
DVD-ROM: 4x DVD-ROM
Hard Drive Space: 1000 MB
Multiplayer: 56 Kbps or faster for Internet or LAN play
2. The recommended system requirements for running Chessmaster Grandmaster Editio
n are:
Supported OS: Windows XP/ Vista
Processor: 2 GHz Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon or more recent
RAM: 512MB
Video Card: 128 MB recommended, see suported list*
Screen Resolution: 1280x1024
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)
DVD-ROM: 4x DVD-ROM
Hard Drive Space: 2300 MB, allowing a full install
Multiplayer: broadband
*Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:
PCI-E Cards: Radeon HD 2900 XT, Radeon HD 2600 XT, Radeon HD 2600 Pro, Radeon HD
2400 XT, Radeon HD 2400 Pro, Radeon X1950XTX, Radeon X1950 Pro, Radeon X1950XTX
, Radeon X1900XT, Radeon X1900 AIW, Radeon X1800XTX, Radeon X1800XL, Radeon X180
0XTX, Radeon X1600, Radeon X1300, Radeon X850XT, Radeon X800XT, Radeon X800Pro,
Radeon X700Pro, Radeon X600XT, Radeon X300SE, GeForce 8800 Ultra, GeForce 8800GT
S, GeForce 8800 GTX, GeForce 8800GT, GeForce 8600GT, GeForce 8500GT, GeForce 795
0GT, GeForce 7950GX2, GeForce 7900GTX, GeForce 7900GS, GeForce 7800GTX, GeForce
7600GT, GeForce 7300LE, GeForce 7300GT, GeForce 7300GS, GeForce 6800Ultra, GeFor
ce 6800, GeForce 6600GT, GeForce 6200TC, GeForce 5900, Quadro NVS 285 64mb, Quad
ro NVS 285 128mb, S3 Graphics Chrome S27,
AGP Cards: Radeon X1950 Pro, Radeon X1650 Pro, Radeon X1600, Radeon X850Pro, Rad
eon X800Pro, Radeon 9800 XT, Radeon 9800 Pro, Radeon 9700 Pro, Radeon 9600XT, Ra
deon 9600 Pro, Radeon 9500 Pro, Radeon 9200, Radeon 9000 Pro, Radeon 8500, Radeo
n 7500, GeForce 7600GS, GeForce 6800 GT, GeForce 6800 128mb, GeForce FX 5950 Ult
ra, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, GeForce FX 5800, GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, GeForce FX 57
00, GeForce FX 5600, GeForce FX 5200, GeForce 4 Ti 4600 Ultra,
GeForce 4 Ti 4600, GeForce 4 Ti 4400, GeForce 4 Ti 4200, GeForce4 MX 460, GeForc
e4 MX 440, GeForce 3 Ti 500, GeForce 3.
Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported. For the most up-t
o-date minimum requirement listings, please visit the FAQ for this game on our s
upport website at: http://support.ubi.com.
3. Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition uses Miles Sound System. Copyright 1991-2007 b
y RAD Game Tools, Inc.
Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition uses Bink Video. Copyright (C) 1997-2007 by RAD G
ame Tools, Inc.
4. Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition needs up to 20 MB of free hard drive space to
run smoothly, due to audio requirements. Along with the needs of other Windows a
pplications that may be running, along with the requirements of Windows' swap fi
le, we recommend having at least 30 MB free hard drive space on the drive where
you installed Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition before launching the program.
5. We strongly recommend to not install Chessmaster into your system's "Windows"
folder or in any partition's root (ex: directly on C: or D:).
6. To install Chessmaster, you must have administrator privileges on your comput
er system. Otherwise, the installation will fail.
7. If you're using the minimal installation, Chessmaster will usually ask you to
insert the DVD for needed files. If your DVD-ROM is low speed, please wait for
the drive to initialize before clicking on the Retry button.
8. For low performance computers, we strongly recommend to set up your desktop o
n the 800x600 resolution, 16 bits and to select "Low resources engine" in the Eng
ine Settings window (or the "Preferences>Engine Settings" menu).
9. The Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition DVD contain an electronic version of the C
hessmaster Grandmaster Edition manual in PDF format, in the "Manual" folder of th
e DVD. This file was also copied to your hard drive, in the target folder that y
ou selected for installing Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition. This file's format ca
n be read by the Adobe Acrobat Reader program, and the installation for the Acro
bat Reader program is also contained in the "Manual" folder of the DVD. Assuming
that you have installed the Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can access the online man
ual from within Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition at any time by pressing F1.
10. Compatibility Issues
Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition was tested on a wide range of CPUs, as well as ov
er different 75 video cards and 19 different sound cards. No incompatibilities w
ere experienced.
11. Drivers
To avoid any compatibility problems, always update your graphic card drivers to
the most recently available versions.
For GeForce cards, go to www.nvidia.com <http://www.nvidia.com>.
For Radeon cards, go to www.atitech.com <http://http://ati.amd.com>.
=====================================================================
II. *** Late Breaking Changes to the Documentation ***
The following features were omitted from the Chessmaster manual. They are explai
ned here in detail.
1. The actual rating of the AI personalities (displayed in the Select Personalit
y window) is affected by the power of your CPU, so differences might exist.
2. In Tournament mode, games can't be saved individually. After the tournament e
nds, all the games in that tournament can be saved as a big PGN file.
3. The BMP format recognized by the Wallpaper feature is 256 colors or more. Als
o, the preview pane of the "File Open" window will display only a part of the la
rger bitmap wallpapers.
4. Assisted mode
If you are completely new to chess, you will start the game in the Assisted mode
, where you'll get familiar with the game of chess while completing a tutorial (
learning about pieces, moves and all the chess rules). During the Assisted mode,
all the other Chessmaster features are locked.
After completing the first lesson, you will be able to leave the Assisted mode (
and experience all the other rooms of Chessmaster) or to continue the tutorials.
In order to leave the Assisted mode, just close the window that proposes you a
new tutorial or choose in the menu "Game>Assisted Mode", or press Ctrl+K (after
you complete at least the first tutorial).
You may finish your tutorials re-entering in the Assisted Mode from the "Game>As
siste Mode" menu or using the Ctrl+K shortcut.
5. Engine settings
In the Engine Settings window (or the "Preferences>Engine Settings" menu) you will
find the Chess Engine Used setting.
Here you'll be able to choose which engine Chessmaster will use:
- Low resources engine: the Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition engine,
but without the multithread and multicore options;
- Medium resources engine: the Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition engin
e, but without the multithread option;
- High resources engine: the Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition engine,
with the multithread option;

6. Chess Variants:
Chessmaster features 16 chess variants, available in online play.
- Balanced Bishops Shuffle:
- Chess variant with random pieces but mirrored opening set-up.
Balanced bishops condition.
The rules for play are the same as standard chess, with the fo
llowing exception: there is no castling.
- Balanced Marseillais:
- Chess variant where each turn, a player makes two moves instea
d of one (on his first turn, White only makes a single move).
- Classic Marseillais:
- Chess variant where each turn, a player makes two moves instea
d of one.
- Crazyhouse:
- Chess variant where when a player captures, he receives a piec
e of that type (but of his color)
that he can put on the board anytime afterwards, instead of ma
king a move.
- Fischer Random Chess:
- Chess variant where the starting position must meet the follow
ing rules: white pawns are placed on their orthodox home squares;
all remaining white pieces are placed on the first rank; the w
hite king is placed somewhere between the two white rooks;
the white bishops are placed on opposite-colored squares; the
black pieces are placed equal-and-opposite to the white pieces.
- Kriegspiel:
- Blindfold chess variant where the location of the opponents' p
ieces is given by the referee.
- Limited Shuffle:
- Chess variant where the starting position is randomly generate
d from the following constraints:
- the pawns and rooks are placed as in a normal set-up;
- the white king starts on d1 or e1 and the black king s
tarts on d8 or e8b;
- bishops are always on opposite colors.
- Pieces Shuffle:
- Chess variant where all the white pieces are randomly placed o
n the first two ranks and the black pieces mirror the white set-up.
No castling.
- Pocket Knight (2 Knights):
- Chess variant where each player removes at the beginning one o
f his knights (from B or G column) and is able to put it
on any free square on the board, instead of making a normal mo
ve. After this, the knight moves as an usual knight.
There are no restrictions to the square where the knight is pl
aced, as long as this square is empty.
- Pocket Knight (3 Knights):
- Chess variant where each player is able (only once during the
game) to put an extra knight on any free square on the board,
instead of making a normal move. After this, the knight moves
as an usual knight.
There are no restrictions to the square where the knight is pl
aced, as long as this square is empty.
- Progressive (English):
- Chess variant where the players alternately make a sequence of
moves of increasing number
(white makes 1 move, black makes 2 moves, white makes 3 moves,
and so on).
Each sequence of moves must be completed. Inability to complet
e a sequence counts as a 'progressive stalemate'
(provided one's King is not in check).
A check can be given at any move of a sequence; however, givin
g a check ends prematurely the sequence.
A check can be nullified only in the first move of a sequence;
if the king cant escape from check, its checkmate and the game is over.
If a check cannot be nullified without checking the enemy King
, the game is lost by a 'progressive checkmate'.
If neither a Pawn is moved nor a piece is captured in 10 succe
ssive sequences, and neither player can show an impending mate,
the game is a draw. No piece can move twice in a sequence unti
l all other pieces have moved at least once,
cant move thrice until all other pieces have moved twice etc.
The movement counter resets at the beginning of every sequence
.
The king can not be exposed to check during a sequence of move
s, even if the check is just temporary.
En passant capture is not allowed. If the player moves into a
stalemate position before completing his turn, the game is a draw.
- Progressive (Italian):
- Chess variant where the players alternately make a sequence of
moves of increasing number
(white makes 1 move, black makes 2 moves, white makes 3 moves,
and so on). Each sequence of moves must be completed.
Inability to complete a sequence counts as a 'progressive stal
emate' (provided one's King is not in check).
A check can be given only on the last move of a completed sequ
ence. A check can be nullified only in the first move of a sequence;
if the king cant escape from check, its checkmate and the game i
s over. If a check cannot be nullified without checking the enemy King,
the game is lost by a 'progressive checkmate'. En passant capt
ure is permitted on the first move of a sequence only.
If neither a Pawn is moved nor a piece is captured in 10 succe
ssive sequences, and neither player can show an impending mate,
the game is a draw.
- Progressive (Scottish):
- Chess variant where the players alternately make a sequence of
moves of increasing number
(white makes 1 move, black makes 2 moves, white makes 3 moves,
and so on). Each sequence of moves must be completed.
Inability to complete a sequence counts as a 'progressive stal
emate' (provided one's King is not in check).
A check can be given at any move of a sequence; however, givin
g a check ends prematurely the sequence.
A check can be nullified only in the first move of a sequence;
if the king cant escape from check, its checkmate and the game is over.
If a check cannot be nullified without checking the enemy King
, the game is lost by a 'progressive checkmate'.
En passant capture is permitted on the first move of a sequenc
e only.
If neither a Pawn is moved nor a piece is captured in 10 succe
ssive sequences, and neither player can show an impending mate,
the game is a draw.
- Replacement
- Chess variant where when a player captures, he immediately put
s the captured piece back on an empty square on the board
(Bishops are placed on a square of the same color the Bishop was
on when it was captured; Pawns are not placed on the first or last row.
Pawns that are placed on the second row regain the ability to ma
ke a double step with their first movement).
- Shuffle:
- Chess variant where the white pawns are placed on their usual
squares and all the other white pieces are placed at random positions
on the first rank. The black pieces mirror the white set-up. No
castling.
- Three checks:
- Chess variant where the first player to check the other three
times wins (simultaneous double check counts as one check).
7. Load avatar:
When creating a new profile, you may load a picture created by yourself. The pic
ture has to be 76x97 pixels and 24b color.
Useful information:
1. While the Chessmaster Development and Quality Assurance teams have done their
outmost to ensure that Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition is as free of bugs as pos
sible, there is a statistical likelihood that some bugs have made it through all
rigorous testing procedures only to be found by YOU.
Unfortunately, every once in a while a bug can cause a program to "crash", shu
tting it down immediately. Because Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition uses the Winbo
ard protocol for all of its chess engines, these engines are actually SEPARATE p
rograms that constantly communicate with the Chessmaster main program. While Che
ssmaster automatically closes all the King instances upon crashing, there are st
ill very rare instances when these engine processes may still be running "in the
background," and may still be churning away on the current game, taking up your
computer's memory and CPU time. The only way to shut these engines down is to a
ccess the Windows Task Manager (usually by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL) and looking fo
r the name of the chess engine program that is still running. Chessmaster Grandma
ster Edition's engine is called "TheKing". You would then highlight any entry in
the program list that is called "TheKing", and press the "End Task" button.
Also, if you happen to close Chessmaster by using the Windows Task Manager, be
aware that the King's engine will NOT be removed automatically. You have to loo
k for any entry in the program list that is called "TheKing", and press the "End
Task" button.
2. If you are concerned about optimizing the performance of the Chessmaster engi
ne, be sure to follow these guidelines:
-- Run as few other programs as possible while you are running Chessmaster.
-- Use as few child windows as possible. Some of these windows (most notably Che
ss Coach, Mentor Lines, Thinking Lines and Visual Thinking) can take up a decent
amount of CPU time due to either their visual updates or because they might cau
se a mentor engine instance to be launched.
-- Do not activate the Blunder Alert feature in the Training Mode. This feature
will also launch a mentor engine instance to watch your game.
-- Do not switch to other game modes, or access other game features or dialogs w
hile running a game, and try to avoid adjusting game settings (such as the playe
rs or the time control) in the middle of a game. Some of these features/dialogs
will actually restart any chess engines that may be associated with the current
game, causing any memory that these engines has allocated (used to "look ahead,"
among other things) to be destroyed. This, of course, will lower the quality of
play.
-- In the "Piece Movement" tab of the Sound dialog, select "No Sounds." This wil
l prevent the program from taking up a significant portion of time queuing up an
d playing piece movement sounds.
-- Be wary when modifying the default engine values in the Engine Settings windo
w. The default values are: XP/ Vista - Engine 1, Blunder 2.
3. If you are concerned about optimizing the frame-rate for the 3D chess sets, w
e suggest the following:
-- Go to "Preferences -> Board Settings" and turn off reflections, shadows, tran
sitions, bump mapping, antialiasing and glare. Realistic shadows cause the bigge
st dip in performance, followed by complex shadows, reflections, glare, simple s
hadows and then bump mapping. Antialiasing also eats a lot of your processor's r
esources.
-- Run Windows in a 16-bit display mode instead of a 32-bit mode. For significan
tly older cards, this could cause a very noticeable performance increase.
4. Chessmaster automatically considers your graphic card's performance and alter
s the default settings accordingly. The default values are: Shadows - Complex, R
eflections - OFF, Bump Mapping - ON, Transitions - ON. If you want to change any
of these settings, just go to "Preferences -> Board Settings".
5. Chessmaster uses a third engine instance (called the "Mentor" engine) for all
"mentor" features, such as Advice, Game Analysis, Hint and Solve for Mate (as w
ell as providing data for the Post Game Analysis, Mentor Lines and Visual Thinki
ng windows). Unfortunately, starting up any of these features will restart the M
entor engine and any analysis data that is currently in the Mentor Lines or Visu
al Thinking windows will be lost.
6. You may notice that computer players sometimes make their moves very quickly
(usually during the opening moves of a game), and that other audio/visual aspect
s of the program (such as piece movement audio and the updating of the board and
child windows) seem to lag behind or even get lost in the speed of the consecut
ive moves. This is because the actual moves themselves are given the highest pri
ority in Chessmaster. The engine, in a nutshell, gets to do what it wants, WHEN
it wants. For example, making the engine wait to move so that the audio for the
previous move can finish playing could possibly cause the engine to lose a game
by running out of time when it normally would not have done so.
So, let's assume that you are watching a game between two computer players. If
this game starts with a flurry of opening book moves on both sides, you may not
hear or see anything, other than the moves being made on the board, until all o
f the moves have been made and one of the engines starts thinking (out of openin
g book). After a short time, all of the windows will be updated with the current
data, but much of the piece movement audio may be lost.
7. If you experience choppy audio in Tutorials or Natural Language Advice/Analys
is, it could be caused by one of several problems:
-- You might need to update your drivers for your sound card and/or DVD-ROM driv
e. Chessmaster "streams" its audio and sometimes requires several megabytes of c
ompressed audio data, assuming that the DVD-ROM will be ready to retrieve the da
ta when asked. If your DVD-ROM is lagging behind (either because it is too slow,
needs updated drivers, or Windows is generally slow), then you may hear the aud
io skip and jump.
-- Another possible cause is not having enough free hard drive space. Chessmaste
r sometimes uses your hard drive as temporary storage for large quantities of au
dio. If your hard drive is full, and it cannot accommodate the space requirement
, then Chessmaster has to search for other means of storing the data. This can c
ause the audio to stop and start. Freeing up hard drive space is the way to solv
e this cause of the problem.
-- Your machine speed is just too slow to successfully pull all of the audio fro
m the DVD, for any of several reasons. The best way to solve this problem is to
install everything (including the large audio files) to your hard drive. This wi
ll maximize the speed at which the audio can be handled, but does require an add
itional 770 megabytes of hard drive space for all three large data files.
8. Although you can play Rated Games against user-created personalities and impo
rted Winboard engines, we recommend that you refrain from doing so. It is very d
ifficult to accurately determine the rating of a personality that you create, or
to accurately calculate how well an imported engine will play on your computer.
Therefore, although you may play Rated Games against these types of personaliti
es, it is possible, and perhaps quite easy, to make your overall rating less acc
urate when you do so. The ratings for the personalities in Chessmaster were test
ed over many thousands of games, a large portion of which were played against ra
ted human players. The ratings for these personalities is believed to be accurat
e to within 50 points of their "real world" equivalent. Only playing Rated Games
against these personalities will keep your rating as accurate as possible.
9. Using the LAN game mode requires that your computer have the IPX protocol ins
talled.
10. For the Online game mode to function properly, the ports that need to be ope
ned are:
TCP: 6668, 40000 - 42999
UDP: 41006, 44000, 45000, 45001
for the ubi.com matchmaking services and
UDP: 17110
for the game communication. The game was designed to facilitate connectivity eve
n if the computer is connected through a NAT to the internet (but keep in mind t
hat not all router/NAT combinations work). If you can't connect to the matchmaki
ng services or to a game server, please contact your network administrator and p
rovide him this information.
11. During Online play, the ladders, tournaments and simul games are not rated.
12. During ladders, tournaments and simul games, every victory is worth one poin
t and every draw is worth 0.5 points.
13. To be able to create tournaments, simul games or ladders, a player must have
played at least 50 rated games.
14. Players can play a scheduled tournament game even before the scheduled time,
if both of them agree upon this and join the game. However, there is a time lim
it - you can join a scheduled game with at most 3 hours before the scheduled hou
r. This can speed up tournaments, if all players are present and willing to play
this way.
15.
The Global Reward System
The Online play contains a hidden reward system based on the GRP - the global re
ward points. To put it simply, each game offer players reward points; new game m
odes or add-ons to the personal profile are unlocked according to the number of
points gained.
The amount of reward points gained by playing is as follows:
Unrated Games
- defeat: 1 point
- draw against a weaker player, rating difference >200: 1 point
- draw against a weaker player, rating difference (50,200): 1 point
- draw against a weaker player, rating difference (0,50): 1 points
- draw against a stronger player, rating difference (0,50): 1 points
- draw against a stronger player, rating difference (50,200): 2 points
- draw against a stronger player, rating difference >200: 2 points
- victory against a weaker player, rating difference >200: 2 points
- victory against a weaker player, rating difference (50,200): 3 points
- victory against a weaker player, rating difference (0,50): 3 points
- victory against a stronger player, rating difference (0,50): 4 points
- victory against a stronger player, rating difference (50,200): 5 points
- victory against a stronger player, rating difference >200: 7 points
Rated Games:
- defeat: 1 point
- draw against a weaker player, rating difference >200: 1 point
- draw against a weaker player, rating difference (50,200): 1 point
- draw against a weaker player, rating difference (0,50): 3 points
- draw against a stronger player, rating difference (0,50): 3 points
- draw against a stronger player, rating difference (50,200): 5 points
- draw against a stronger player, rating difference >200: 7 points
- victory against a weaker player, rating difference >200: 5 points
- victory against a weaker player, rating difference (50,200): 7 points
- victory against a weaker player, rating difference (0,50): 9 points
- victory against a stronger player, rating difference (0,50): 10 points
- victory against a stronger player, rating difference (50,200): 12 points
- victory against a stronger player, rating difference >200: 15 points
Simultaneous Exhibitions:
The games are considered rated and the host receives a double reward for each dr
aw or victory.
Clan Membership:
Joining a clan gives 5 reward points.
Being the clan founder gives 5 reward points.
Being the clan champion (best player) gives 2 reward points at any time (if a pl
ayer falls back then returns to the top it gets the 2 points again)
To prevent cheating, a player can't create more than one clan every week.
The amount of points needed to advance a star (there are four star shapes and th
ree colors for each shape; the stars are visible in the Player List, next to the
player's name):
20 points initial increment increasing by 15 for each level (so you can get a st
ar at 20, 55, 105, 160, 225, 300, etc)
The amount of points needed to increase in title (titles are visible in the play
er's profile):
10 points initial increment increasing by 10 for each level (so you can get a ti
tle at 10, 30, 60, 100, 150, 210, 280, 360, 450, 550, etc). Max title obtained a
t 2320 points.
16. When watching a Simultaneous Game, you'll be sent to the first game in the s
imul. If that game is finished, the board is inactive. Use the Simltaneous Game
window to switch between games.
17. If you disconnect FOR ANY REASON (or just simply close Chessmaster Grandmaste
r Edition) while playing a Rated Game in Online mode, you will automatically res
ign the game.
18. During the Openings game mode, when trying to build a new Opening Book, you
can't promote your pawns to any other piece except the queen.
19. The Switch Sides function, located in the Training Mode, will rotate the boa
rd 180 degrees and also switch players (i.e. the player who was playing the Whit
e pieces will now be playing Black, and vice versa). Note, however, that the Whi
te and Black players will NOT switch clocks and time controls.
20. When editing a personality that is currently participating in a game, the pe
rsonality's new settings will not take effect until a new game is begun with tha
t personality.
21. If you find that, for some reason, the chessboard seems to have "disappeared
" from the game (either due to a change in screen resolution or in window positi
on/size), don't panic. You can always safely get the board back by going to "Pre
ferences -> Chess Set" and selecting a new board and/or piece set. If you find t
hat other windows are also not appearing when and/or where they should, then you
can restore all windows back to their default position and visibility settings
by loading one of the default layouts that came with Chessmaster Grandmaster Edit
ion. Of course, that's possible only if you haven't overwritten the default layo
uts files with a badly-saved layout of your own ...
22. Depending on the speed of your system, you may not see the introductory vide
o. Chessmaster makes a determination of your computer's speed to see if your mac
hine can play the videos without audio or video distortion, and then plays the v
ideos if your machine passes the test.
23. Certain video cards may cause Chessmaster to have visual problems if you hav
e "Large Fonts" selected in your video properties. If text in menus and dialogs
appears "wrong" to you, or some text or buttons appears to extend past the bound
aries of a window, you might check to see if you have "Large Fonts" selected, an
d change it to the Windows default setting, which is "Small Fonts". You can chec
k this setting by going to "Control Panel -> Display -> Settings Tab" and pressi
ng the "Advanced" button. There will be a combobox entitled "Font Size", where y
ou can see your system's current setting.
24. If you play MP3 audio files on your computer, you may find that Chessmaster G
randmaster Edition and programs that play these types of files (such as WinAmp a
nd Windows Media Player) will not work properly with each other. This is because
BOTH programs try to "take control" of the MP3 audio drivers, and this causes a
conflict in your computer's sound card. Usually, this problem only occurs with
older sound cards, the most popular of these being the Soundblaster AWE64. Some
people, though, have reported that starting up Chessmaster FIRST, and THEN start
ing up the MP3 player, will allow both programs to work fairly well (as long as
Chessmaster does not try to play any audio).
So, if you enjoy MP3 music on your computer and you don't mind running Chessma
ster with no sounds, then this procedure should allow you to do both. Just don't
try to access advice, game analysis, tutorials or Josh Waitzkin Annotated Games
, because the audio for these features is also in MP3 format.
=====================================================================
III. *** What Problems Still Exist? ***
The other bugs that have been reported, but are either not fixed or not confirme
d, are:
1. On older/weaker computers, using the 3D animated chess set may lead to tempor
ary "freezing" of the animations during the time when the AI opponent is thinkin
g.
2. A very rare bug in the Fun/Learn section leads to Chessmaster quitting to the
desktop.
3. When a modal window is opened and the user switches to another application us
ing the Alt+Tab key combination, the Chessmaster icon will no longer appear in t
he task selection window until the modal window is clicked on.
=====================================================================
IV. *** Where to Find the Chessmaster FAQ ***
The Chessmaster FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is regularly updated with answe
rs to many of the most popular questions that users ask when they are troublesho
oting. You can find a FAQ dedicated to each version of Chessmaster at our websit
e:
www.chessmaster.com
=====================================================================
V. *** Technical and Customer Support ***
Technical Support
Before contacting Ubisofts Technical Support Department, please first read throug
h this file and the game's manual (the printed version and/or the electronic ver
sion available on the game DVD). Also browse through our FAQ listings or search
our support database at our website, http://support.ubi.com. Here you will find
the most recently updated information since the games release.
Also please make sure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements,
as our support representatives will be unable to assist customers whose computer
s do not meet these criteria.
Whenever you contact the Technical Support Department, please include the follow
ing information or have it available if you are calling:
Complete product title (including version number).
Exact error message reported (if applicable) and a brief description of the prob
lem youre encountering.
Processor speed and manufacturer.
Amount of RAM.
Operating system.
Video card that you are using and amount of RAM it has.
Maker and speed of your DVD-ROM drive.
Type of sound card you are using.
Support Over the Internet
This is the best way to find answers to common issues seen with our games. Our F
requently Asked Questions list is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and co
ntains the most up-to-date Technical Support information available, including pa
tches that can be downloaded free of charge. We update the Support pages on a da
ily basis, so please check here first for solutions to your problems: http://sup
port.ubi.com/.
Contact Us by Webmail
Due to high volumes of spam, viruses, and other non-support-related contacts, we
no longer offer support via standard email. However, we do provide something be
tter, webmail. By taking your questions directly through our website, we have co
mpletely eliminated all spam contacts. As a result, we are able to respond to yo
ur questions much quicker than we could through standard email. To send us a web
mail simply log into our site at http://support.ubi.com/.
>From this site, you will be able to enter the Ubisoft Solution Center, where yo
u can browse through our lists of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), search our d
atabase of known problems and solutions, and send in a request for personal assi
stance from a Technical Support representative by using the Ask a Question featu
re on the Frequently Asked Questions page.
Most webmail contacts are responded to within two business days.
Contact Us by Phone
You can also contact us by phone by calling (919) 460-9778 (For our customers in
Quebec, we provide French language support at (866) 824-6515). Please note that
this number is for technical assistance only. No gameplay hints or tips are giv
en over the Technical Support line. When calling our Technical Support line, ple
ase make sure you are in front of your computer and have all of the necessary in
formation listed above at hand.
Be advised that our Technical Support representatives are available to help you
Monday through Friday from 9 am- 9 pm Eastern Time (French language support avai
lable from 7 am- 4 pm EST).
While we do not charge for technical support, normal long distance charges apply
. To avoid long distance charges, or to contact a support representative directl
y after these hours, please feel free to browse our Frequently Asked Questions l
ists or to send us a webmail. Webmail questions usually receive a response withi
n two business days.
Contact Us by Standard Mail
If all else fails, you can write to us at:
Ubisoft Technical Support
3200 Gateway Center Blvd
Suite 100
Morrisville, NC 27560
Return Policy
Please do not send any game returns directly to Ubisoft before contacting Techni
cal Support. It is our policy that game returns must be dealt with by the retail
er or online site where you purchased the product. If you have a damaged or scra
tched DVD, please visit the FAQ listing for your game and get the latest replace
ment policy and pricing. We will not accept unsolicited returns/exchanges withou
t prior approval and an RMA (Return Materials Authorization) number from a suppo
rt representative.
(c) 2007 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Chessmaster is a registered
trademark and Ubisoft, ubi.com, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft
Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. Uses Miles Sound System and Bi
nk Video Technology. Copyright (c) 1997-2007 by RAD Game Tools, Inc.