To save time and forum clutter, here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Anyone who has noticed a commonly asked question can post it here along with the answer, thus saving time for both the people asking the question and the people who would answer it. Please read this entire post before you ask a question.


I. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS / UPDATES

Q: What are the system requirements for Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition?
A: You can read about key features and system requirements here.

Q: What updates are available for Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition?
A: Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition has an automatic update feature, so you shouldn't have to manually install updates. However, some users have reported problems. In this case, you will need to manually install the updates:

1.01 Update
1.02 Update

Q: Why would I want to install the updates?
A: These updates fix some of the problems and add new features. Also, they are required for playing online!

Q: How do I know what version I have?
A: Go to the Help menu, and select 'About Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition'. You'll see the version number on the right-hand side of the screen, near the bottom.

Q: I get an error when trying to install one of the updates.
A: There are two reasons why this might happen:

• You already have the update installed.
  
• If you are using Windows Vista, run the update as Administrator (right-click on the update file and select this option).
  

Q: I downloaded Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition from Ubisoft's Download Store, and I'm having problems extracting files.
A: Some archival programs don't read special characters (such as ®) in filenames. You can solve this by using WinZip 11.

Q: I'm using a non-English version of Windows, and I'm having a problem running/updating Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition.
A: Is your user acount name is in a language with special (non-Unicode) characters for your language? If so, that is the problem. Also, other languages cannot translate some special characters (such as ®) in the filenames.

Here's how to work around this:

• Un-install Chessmaster.
  
• Create a new user account, using English characters only (under Control Panel\User Account).
  
• Restart Windows, and log in with your new account.
  
• Install Chessmaster.
  
• Change your OS language to English (under Control Panel\Language and Time\Advanced).
  
• Restart Windows, and log in with your new account.
  
• Start Chessmaster, and install updates.
  

You should be able to run Chessmaster under all user accounts. However, DO NOT DELETE YOUR NEW USER ACCOUNT! You'll need it in order to install future updates.


II. ONLINE PLAY

Q: Is it possible to play online with people who have other versions of Chessmaster?
A: No. Due to the use of different protocols, you can only play against others who are using Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition.

Q: I have problems connecting to online play. What should I do?
A: Make sure you have the latest update installed and that you have all the needed ports opened:

TCP: 668, 40000–42999 and UDP: 41006, 44000, 45000, 45001 (these are for the ubi.com matchmaking services)
UDP: 17110 (for the game communication)

Q: I have the latest update installed and I opened the required ports, but still can't connect!
A: Try temporarily disabling any firewall/anti-virus software, as this is most likely the problem. If that doesn't work, then please contact Ubisoft Technical Support.


III. GAME QUESTIONS / ISSUES

Q: When I try to run Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition, I get the following error: 'There was an error while trying to Initialize the Game.'
A: There are three reasons why this might happen:

• You are using a program called D3DOverrider. Chessmaster will not work while this is running.
  
• Direct3D Acceleration has been disabled...enable Direct3D via the Display Settings in your Control Panel.
  
• Color quality on your video card is set too high. Go to the Display Settins in your Control Panel, and change the color quality from Highest 24 bit to Medium 16 bit.
  

Q: What music is played during the introduction movie?
A: 'Pieces en Concert for Cello & Strings - 2. Sicilienne' by Francois Couperin.

Q: Game.exe always uses 100% CPU, even when I'm just at the Main Menu. Is this normal?
A: While it does seem excessive, it is normal. If the program causes your computer to freeze frequently, this isn't the reason, but you can find the solution in the next question.

Q: Why does TheKing.exe keep running after I close the program?
A: Nobody knows.... Seriously, there's no known solution to this problem it's unlikely that there ever will be. You'll have to close the process manually if it's eating up too much processor power.

Q: My computer is very slow and/or freezes when playing a game. How do I fix this?
A: Try the following suggestions:

• Make sure you run as few programs as possible while playing Chessmaster. The more background programs you have loaded in Windows, the less processing power your system will have to make moves within the game.
  
• Use as few child windows as possible. Some of the windows that open within the game can take up a decent amount of CPU time due to either their visual updates or because they might cause 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 while running a game, and try to avoid adjusting game settings in the middle of the game. Some of these features/dialogs will actually restart any chess engines that may be associated with the current game, causing that memory that these engines has allocated to be destroyed.
  
• In the "Piece Movement" tab of the Sound dialog, select "No Sounds." This will prevent the program from taking up a significant portion of time queuing up and playing piece movement sounds.
  
• Change the priority of the engine. Go to the Preferences menu and select 'Engine'. From there you can adjust the resources of the Chess Engine and Blunder Alert Threshold, as well as set the priority of the Chess Engine and Blunder Alert.
  

If that still doesn't work, try the following:

• After starting Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition, right-click on the Windows taskbar and click 'Task Manager'.
  
• Go to the Processes tab, and right-click on 'game.exe'.
  
• Click on 'Set Priority'
  
• Click on 'High'.
  

If you don't want to bother with the Task Manager, you can use the Run command (from the Start Menu) and type the following:

C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe /c start "runhigh" /high "C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition\game.exe"

NOTE: If you start Chessmaster this way, it will not check for updates.

Q: I'm having problems running Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition on a multi-core processor. How can I correct this?
A: Chessmaster was tested on dual-core processors only; not multi-core processors. You can limit the number of processors used by modifying the ini file. Go to C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition\Data\Users\YourName\YourName.ini, and set threads_count=2.

If that doesn't work, go into the Task Manager and set the Affinity for Game.exe and TheKing350.exe to 0.

Q: How do I disable the introduction movie?
A: You have to edit the INI file. It resides in C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition\cm.ini. There is a line that reads 'IntroMovie=1'. Change this to 'IntroMovie=0'.

Q: How can I resize the boards in Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition?
A: Click on the board and turn the wheel on your mouse or press Page Up/Down buttons on your keyboard.

Q: How do I unlock all the chess sets?
A: To unlock all chess sets without having to win rated games, you can do this:

• Open up 'My Computer', and select 'Local Disk (C)'.
  
• Go to Program Files\Ubisoft\Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition\Data\Users.
  
• Select the folder for your user.
  
• Open the .INI file for your user.
  
• Under [settings], add the following line: unlockstuff=1.
  
• Save the INI file.
  

Q: How can I add my own picture to Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition?
A: To add your own picture to the game, replace one of the bitmaps in the Data/Avatars folder. Make sure your picture is in bitmap format, 76x97 pixels, in 24-bit depth, and has the same name as the bitmap you’re replacing.

Q: I can't see the menus. What's wrong?
A: Lower your DPI settings (in the Control Panel\Display\Settings), or click on the empty space where the drop down menus like File, Edit, etc. are supposed to be and they will appear.

Q: My avatar is not being displayed -- all I see is a silhouette.
A: Increase the size of the Game Status window. Please note that when in online mode, you will not be able to view your opponent's avatar.

Q: I'm using the Aero interface with Windows Vista, and I can't see the name of the opening on the bottom of the Main window. How do I correct this?
A: Unfortunately, the only way around this is to turn off Vista's Aero interface.

Q: How can I view my games played on Yahoo server in Chessmaster?
A: Use this utility to convert games into standard format that all programs can read.
Alternative site

Q: Where are the chess variants?
A: There are currently 16 chess variants. These are:

• Balance Bishops Shuffle
  
• Balanced M****illais
  
• Classic M****illais
  
• Crazyhouse
  
• Fischer Random Chess
  
• Kriegspiel
  
• Limited Shuffle
  
• Pieces Shuffle
  
• Pocket Knight (2 and 3 Knights)
  
• Progressive (English, Italian, and Scottish)
  
• Replacement
  
• Shuffle
  
• Three Checks
  

These are only available when you create an online game.


IV. PERSONALITIES / RATINGS

Q: How accurate are the ratings for the personalities?
A: The ratings are mathematically precise, but they are mostly based on computer vs. computer games. While the human vs. computer games added much more "real-world" accuracy to the ratings, many of the Chessmaster personalities have quirks in their playing styles that a human will be able to exploit but a computer opponent will not be able to "see". Discovering and then taking advantage of these weaknesses is part of the fun of Chessmaster, but you might find yourself able to defeat certain personalities that you don't think you should be able to based on their ratings.

Q: How does Chessmaster calculate my rating?
A: Please refer to this chart:




V. OTHER QUESTIONS

Q: How do I create my own chess set?
A: You can create your own chess set by modifying an existing set using a graphic editor. To do so, you will first need the CM Dat Texture Extractor. Just follow the included instructions.

Q: How do I back up my game statistics, tutorial history, etc.?
A: Back up all files in the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition\Data\Users\<Your User Name>.


VI. COMMENTS / SUGGESTIONS

Q: I've discovered a bug! Who do I contact?
A: If you've discovered a bug, you can post to this forum; that way other users will know about it. However, as this is a user forum, you will also need to contact Ubisoft Technical Support, so Ubisoft developers can begin fixing the issue.

Q: I have a suggestion for this version or the next version of Chessmaster. Where do I post it?
A: You can post your suggestions here.


For questions/updates for previous versions of Chessmaster, please read the Chessmaster 10th Edition FAQ.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KHollister,

There have been many posts questioning the use of Chessmaster; i.e., how many computers can I install it on (the answer is One), or if it's okay to distribute a modified .exe (the answer is No), along with several other questions.

As many of you may not have read the End-User's Licence Agreement (EULA) when installing Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition, it is as follows:


LICENCE TO USE THE MULTIMEDIA PRODUCT

Please read this Licence carefully before installing the game ("Multimedia Product").

This Licence is an agreement between you, the "User", and Ubisoft Entertainment and/or its licensors and/or its beneficiaries ("Ubisoft"), which grants the User the non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use the Multimedia Product.

This Licence is valid in the United States of America.

By installing the Multimedia Product, the User undertakes to respect the terms and conditions of the Licence.

1 - The Licence

Ubisoft grants the User a non-exclusive and non-transferable Licence to use the Multimedia Product, but remains the owner of all the rights relating thereto.

Any rights not specifically transferred by this Licence remain the property of Ubisoft.

The Multimedia Product is licensed and not sold to the User, for private use.

The Licence does not confer any right or title to the Multimedia Product and cannot be understood as a transfer of intellectual property rights to the Multimedia Product.

2 - Ownership of the Multimedia Product

The User recognises that all of the rights associated with the Multimedia Product and its components (in particular the titles, computer codes, themes, characters, character names, plots, stories, dialogues, places, concepts, images, photographs, animation, videos, music and text contained in the Multimedia Product), as well as the rights relating to the trademark, royalties and copyrights, are the property of Ubisoft and are protected by French regulations or other Laws, Treaties and international agreements concerning intellectual property.

3 - Use of the Multimedia Product

The User is authorised to use the Multimedia Product in accordance with the instructions provided in the manual or on the packaging of the Multimedia Product.

The Licence is granted solely for private use.

It is not permitted:

• To make copies of the Multimedia Product,
  
• To operate the Multimedia Product commercially,
  
• To use it contrary to morality or the laws in force,
  
• To modify the Multimedia Product or create any derived work,
  
• To transmit the Multimedia Product via a telephone network or any other electronic means, except during multi-player games on authorised networks,
  
• To create or distribute unauthorised levels and/or scenarios,
  
• To decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble the Multimedia Product.
  

The User cannot sell, sublicense or lease the Multimedia Product to a third party.

The User can only transfer the Multimedia Product if the recipient agrees to the terms and conditions of the Licence. In this event, the User undertakes to transfer all components and documentation relating to the Multimedia Product. He also undertakes to delete any copy of the Multimedia Product from his computer. In this event, this Licence is automatically and immediately terminated.

4 - Termination of the Licence

The Licence is effective from the first time the Multimedia Product is used.

It is terminated automatically by Ubisoft without notice if the User fails to adhere to the terms and conditions of the Licence.

5 - Warrantee

Ubisoft warrants to the original purchaser of its products (the "User") that the products will be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. Ubisoft products are sold "as is", without any expressed or implied warranties of any kind, and Ubisoft is not liable for any losses or damages of any kind resulting from use of its products. Ubisoft agrees for a period of ninety (90) days (or any other longer warranty period provided by applicable legislation) to either replace defective product free of charge provided you return the defective item with dated proof of purchase to the store from which the product was originally purchased or repair or replace the defective product at its option free of charge, when accompanied with a proof of purchase and sent to our offices postage prepaid. This warranty is not applicable to normal wear and tear, and shall be void if the defect in the product is found to be as a result of abuse, unreasonable use, mistreatment or neglect of the product.

Ubisoft offers a technical support service which details are indicated in the manual of the Multimedia Product.

To obtain an exchange for a defective Multimedia Product, the User shall contact Ubisoft technical support and expose the problem and be as specific as possible about the problem the User is experiencing and have the below details available:

• The name of the manufacturer of the computer system
  
• The brand and speed of the processor
  
• The quantity of RAM the computer system has
  
• The version number of windows (right-click on the my computer icon on the desktop and select "properties")
  
• The name of the manufacturer and the model number of the video card, modem, and sound card.
  

Once confirmed, arrangements will be taken with the Ubisoft technical support so the User can proceed to exchange the Multimedia Product (disc only), either by means of mail or in person at the User’s convenience. (Warning: it is mandatory to go through Ubisoft’s technical support to validate the exchange beforehand).

6 - Warrantee Limitation

The User recognises expressly that he uses the Multimedia Product at his own risk.

The Multimedia Product is provided as is. The User is responsible for any costs of repairing and/or correcting the Multimedia Product.

To the extent of what is laid down by the Law, Ubisoft rejects any warrantee relating to the market value of the Multimedia Product, the User’s satisfaction or its capacity to perform a specific use.

The User is responsible for all risks connected with lost profit, lost data, errors and lost business or other information as a result of owning or using the Multimedia Product.

The User is responsible to ascertain that his/her computer system meets the requirements as described on the Multimedia Product’s packaging.

As some legislations do not allow for the aforementioned warrantee limitation, it is possible that it does not apply to the User.

7 - Liability

In no event can Ubisoft be held liable for any direct, consequential, accidental, special, ancillary or other damages arising out of the use or inability to use the Multimedia Product, as well as out of the ownership or poor functioning thereof, even if Ubisoft has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

In particular, Ubisoft accepts no liability regarding use of the Multimedia Product contrary to the precautions for use set out in the manual and on the packaging.

As some legislations do not allow exemption from liability in the event of direct or incidental damages, it is possible that the aforementioned exclusion does not apply to the User.

This Licence to use the Multimedia Product grants specific rights to the User and he may have other rights depending on the laws in his State.