Hi guys,
I really like chessmaster series..it's was my first chess software..I even got it b4 I get a PC!

My first version was 4000 which I have its CD till now..and I really would like to play it on Windows XP if possible..I tried the compatiability options in Windows XP..and I even tried using VMware to install Windows95 & 98..but with no sucess..it wont run at all..

For those who remember Chessmaster 4000 I loved the Karpov on Karpov section where he annotates some of his game..

So I hope someone here has a clue on this..

Just curious. Are the games annotated with sounds or text?

quote:

I tried the compatiability options in Windows XP

You mean the thing that says "run this program in compatibility mode for..." right? Make sure you did this for ALL the .exe files. And if it still doesn't work, there's a good chance that there's some other problem, because someone a while back got it (I think it was CM 4000 too, actually) to work. I'll look for the post to show you.

quote:

4000 I loved the Karpov on Karpov section where he annotates some of his game..

I Wonder what possessed them to take something like that out? or are they still there in CMX? Anyway, if they aren't do you think you could post them here?

Is there anyone who can help with Chessmaster 4000 on XP? I got SO CLOSE to using it on mine.

I have read the above posts, but if you go to this website:

http://www.trida.nasweb.cz/main_navigation_panel/download.htm

...and download the CM4000 file, and then click it, you actually get PAST the title screen and ON TO the actual game interface. There then pops up a box saying, "CM4000 caused a Not Present Fault in module CW.DLL at 0003:07D1.
Choose close. CM4000 will close."

Can anyone try downloading this file and seeing what they can do? Thanks...

Here’s my commentary on Chessmaster Versions 2000, 2100, 3000, 4000, 4000 Turbo, and 5000 (Tenth Anniversary Edition) and their respective compatibilities for Windows XP.

It’s actually a very good thing that Chessmaster 2000 and 2100 are abandonware on the internet. Now I’m only commenting on the 2000 and 2100 versions as abandonware, which I assume to be different (cosmetically in the very least) from the “CD” versions, which I assume will not work on Windows XP. So the abandonware versions were made by old-school game diehards who tried to make these programs happily married with XP. So they should be applauded.

And there’s actually a huge pro to running the DOS-based 2000 and 2100 on XP. Remember that some DOS games will speed up in the (rare) instance that they actually work on XP. So what happens is, let’s just say that you play the Chessmaster 2000 at 30 seconds per move. If you peek at its thinking after 30 seconds, you’ll notice that the computer has already raced through over thirty to fifty million positions! (A look at the thinking of Chessmaster 5000 will reveal far less positions analyzed in that time.) Now I’m not going to enter a debate about whether computers play better if they see more positions, but to see more positions has to be a plus.

But there is really little hope that the computer can sustain this pace for long. It doesn’t slow down, but it will freeze or crash. And weird things (short-term, fortunately) have happened to my computer after 2000 and 2100 crashed, i.e. my Norton Anti-Virus became temporarily disabled. Now it’s working OK, but I’d hate to open up my 2000 or 2100 programs again. If you really want to slug it out with these programs, your best bet is to give the program a fixed time (seconds per move) to think, as opposed to a moves-in-minutes or minutes-in-game format.

Now we go to Chessmaster 3000, and by Chessmaster 3000, I mean the version included in a Software Toolworks CD that also includes Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and the Chessmaster 2100, alongside one other program that I can’t remember. I think it’s important that everyone who wants to use Chessmaster 3000 use particularly this version of the CD. I haven’t tested the abandonware of 3000 that exists on the internet (and why would I, if I already have the CD?).

But with Chessmaster 3000 (at least my version), what a different animal we find! It works perfectly! What I did was to simply copy the contents of my CD (related to CM3000) and then paste them onto my C drive. You’ll never have to use your original CD again after that, although you should keep it if you wish to play CM3000 on another XP computer; my “C Drive copies,” when burned on a CD-RW, didn’t work on another computer.

I once left the Analysis function on at something absurd, i.e. 500 seconds per move, on some game, and left my terminal for ten hours or so. By the time I came back, my screen saver had long kicked in, and the monitor had blackened. These things basically doomed CM2000 and CM2100, but a simple CTRL+ART+DELETE (and then clicking on “Task Manager” or “Cancel”) woke up my computer. The analysis was still purring perfectly! As a matter of fact, to my knowledge, the ONLY thing that doomed the Analysis function was when the Antivirus kicked in. When that happened, the Analysis started repeating itself line for line (i.e. 71 h4-g5 71 h4-g5 71 h4-g5 71 h4-g5…) but the CM3000 never crashed; it was still functioning.

One final word about CM3000 is that it shows analysis in progress, and that you can pause, save, and resume it anytime you wish. In CM5000, you basically see a “47%, 48% complete” sign that really doesn’t help you. So in this respect, CM5000 is a regression of CM3000.

The even cooler part about CM3000 is that, unlike the CM2100 or 2000, which force you to literally leave your Windows XP desktop to a full screen game, it comes up as a normal window, which can be maximized or minimized. You CAN EVEN DO OTHER activities on your computer, like listening to music or typing a report, and the program still purrs on! Now, of course, these other activities are slow to move but they will never freeze.

So it seems that CM3000 is better than CM5000, which I’ll describe later. But CM3000 also is a regression of CM2100 and CM2000 in that there is no “randomness” function to the personalities. They will play the same thing over and over in a given position without variation, which takes away some fun. Oddly enough, CM2000 and CM2100 have the randomness feature, as does CM4000.

And I want to respond to another user who said that Karpov annotated some of his games on CM4000. That’s very interesting. I also saw something about Karpov annotating games in the Help manual for CM3000, and that I could hear his voice if I loaded them. The funnier thing is that, after an exhaustive search of my CM3000, I never found Karpov’s games.

Oh, and by the way, in at least my version of CM3000, you can enable voice annotation and voicing of the moves. It does not hinder the computer at all and you will not get a crash!

I’ve heard all the heartache about the failed CM4000 on XP and would prefer not to comment. But I will say this. If there’s any DOS/WIN 95 program that programmers or computer experts can successfully revive without bugs or annoying crashes, CM4000 might be that hope, because it essentially has all the features of CM9000 (minus many memory-sucking flourishes and gratuities). It is, after all, the first “real” Chessmaster program. The few disappointments and regressions indicated above for CM3000 sink it in my eyes, albeit I’d use a functioning CM3000 over a faltering CM4000 any day.

Now I have CM5000 Tenth Anniversary Edition via a CD that was a copy of the original. I did the same thing with this CD as I did with my CM3000 CD; I copied its contents into my C Drive. There might be some technical problems when you load it, but I think the major one is a lack of ODBC components that you can easily get online. This is what I recall.

Now CM5000, like its descendants, is the first REAL memory sucker of the class. If you leave it for a long analysis, you had better not be online or opening any other activities. Turning off any sounds and music might prevent a crash. I oddly found out that if you leave the program whirring alongside a playing song for Windows Media Player that repeats over and over (which you can set on the Player) prevents a screen saver from coming, which would doom CM5000. This greatly minimizes the crash possibility, although it does not completely remove it. Otherwise the program works fine, and of course, you can put in PGN games easily; the earlier versions of Chessmaster use weird game-recording formats that most of us wouldn’t know.

Good luck on reviving your old Chessmaster. SOMEONE PLEASE FIGURE OUT A WAY TO REVIVE CHESSMASTER 4K!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (PLEASE? *tear*)

I'm getting the same problem:

"CM4000 caused a Not Present Fault in module CW.DLL at 0003:07D1.
Choose close. CM4000 will close."

I've set compatability mode on ALL the .EXE files - can't make it go. Anybody got CM4000 to work on XP?

cm4000

Ebutaljib,
I tried what is in the link you put there and it works but now the problem I have is that when i make a move that is not in the opening book it does not move. I wait sometimes more than 15 minutes for a move and it does not move.Then I tried to move and it says is not your turn.Why is this?

The time controls are set to 10 seconds per move
you can check it with the keybord (Ctrl+1) I also check the thinking window (Ctrl+4 and Ctrl+5)but they are in zero and the clock of cm4000 is running??

I can't seem to get CM4000 to run on XP either, but I do have to disagree with some of what has been said here. The link that was posted which states CM4000 came on floppies and CM4000 Turbo on a CD is not correct.

CM4000 Turbo may have come on a CD at some point, but it originally came out on floppies and I still have my copy.

CM4000 Windows 95 Edition, came out on CD some 2 years, give or take, after CM4000 Turbo.

As far as I can tell, there were 13 versions of CM to this point:

2000
2100
3000 DOS
3000 Win
4000 Turbo
4000 Win 95
5000
5500
6000
7000
8000
9000
10th edition

3000 DOS came out almost a year before 3000 Win.

If someone has an actual original copy of CM4000, no Turbo or Win95 on it, I would be very interested in hearing about it.

Just my two cents on the version history.

Matt

3000 works perfectly for me, but I get that same fault error everyone else gets on 4000 turbo regardless of the compatibility settings. It's a shame too, because it had blindfold chess, and I can't seem to find that feature in CMX.

Thanks. Much better.

My version is Chess Master 6000, and I want to know how update or patch it to play with Win XP, I will be grateful if I have an answerback by email: cmmoreira17@yahoo.com, I prefer in spanish

I don't know if I can get in trouble for bumping an old post, but you can play CM4K on XP. Before I bought the 10th Edition I was playing 4K.

First of all you have to D/L Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 from MS for free.

You also need a VALID copy of Windows 95 or Windows 98.

Once you install the virtual PC and get Win 95/98 installed you can install CM2004 under the 95/98 Virtual PC session and play until your heart is content.

I have many many games from the mid to late 90s that no longer work on XP, but I can still play them using MS VPC 2004.

Hi there,
Sorry for reviving an old topic - I just happened to get to this forum while searching on google.
Maybe I can help you with running CM4000 on Win XP (the crash while accessing menus) - you just have to click the mouse button in the area right from the help menu where the pointer changes to a standard one (not a hand), before attempting to access the menu and upon changing the game interface (like starting a new game, changing layout...) Hope it helps. PS: CM4000 is great!

I remember i got chessmaster 4000 to work on my xp, but it would crash if you moved the mouse on the above toolbar. it works but you have to keep the mouse away from the above toolbar, just by remembering the keys you can start a game and play for ages.