OK, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but here's a copy of a support question I just submitted.

______________________________
I just got Chessmaster 10, and it crashes constantly. The crashes seem to be the most frequent in Training mode, but also occur frequently in tournament mode. I have a P4 2.4 with 512 MB Ram, and I have installed the latest patch. System requirements and patches seem to be the most common answer to questions about crashes in the forums, so don't bother suggesting either. Is this just a matter of incredibly poor software?
If so, do you have any suggestions? I'm very dissapointed with my purchase, which I was quite excited about before I got it. If you have no suggestings other than "wait for the next version of CM to come out, drop another wad of cash on that, and hope it actually doesn't suck," then I will have to go with one of the competition's offerings. Also, how is it that you now have 10 editions of this software out, and still have bugs this blatant, rediculous, and obvious?
Thank you.
______________________________

Seriously though. The day I installed this game it already was barely working. Does anyone have any suggestions? This is really dissapointing, and how does Ubisoft expect I'm gonna come back and buy any more of their software when I see them produce something this incredibly unstable. Also, nodody bother suggesting I must have a bunch of spyware, etc on my computer, because I just recently spent about a week thoroughly cleaning, the whole HackThis process and all.

I'm assuming you have Windows XP? If not, that's your problem, as XP is the only officially supported windows version. Other than that... hmm... All I can think of is to try reinstalling, or maybe there's some weird driver conflict or hardware error or something.

What kind of hardware do you have (video, audio, cd/dvd-roms, laptop or not, did you mess around with the no-cd patch, do you have the UK or usa version, does it mostly crash when it is the cpu's turn to play etc...

We have seen pretty much every possible scenario so far on here, i'M sure we can help you out.

Hey guys, thanks for the help. Hoping I can figure this out. I'll give as many details as I can.

Hardware:
Dell Inspiron 1100
P4 2.4
512 MB Ram
Intel 82845GM Graphics Controller
Sound Card: ?? On-board of some sort

Game installation:
Complete installation (1.7 GB)
Patched to 1.02
No CD Patch

Windows:
Windows XP Home
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

I do actually own a copy of this, and have all the CDs on hand so I can do a reinstall if necessary. I have the no CD patch because putting the CD in every time is just irritating. I don't think a reinstall is likely to help because it's a fairly fresh install anyway (2 weeks), and I've had these problems from the start in training mode.

I can't say for sure that the crashes occur most often in any particular area of the game, as I've only had a couple weeks. I did the whole Josh Waitzkin course, with the default 2-D board, and has no crashes during that. Now I'm playing a lot of training mode, also with the 2-D board, and crashes seem random.

For instance, just now, I was playing training on a 2-D board, and 11 moves in, Black captured a Bishop of mine, then instead of giving me the little hand mouse-pointer so I could move, it stayed at the small Arrow/ Chess-Board pointer so I couldn't move for ages. I don't think any of these crashes are actually permanent, they seem more like long hangs. This one was long enough for me to get pissed off, open IE, log in to this site, and write about half of what you see here before it unfroze and let me move. Also, after unfreezing, my clock will sometimes count down very quickly as if to cover the time it was frozen.

Hope this helps. Ask if you need any more details. I got a response from Ubisoft basically saying that most crashes are video-card related, and to update drivers or upgrade my card. I'll do the first soon, but the second is not much of an option for a laptop.

Thanks again.

Allright, Let's try to narrow it down here.
Did you install the no cd patch before or after you installed the 1.02 patch ?

Describe the crash/bug a bit. Sometimes, is the sound distorded or does the spoken move commentary skip like an old record and keep repeting itself ?

Try to lower the engine priority by a notch or 2 in settings (yeah the cpu won't be as good and will only consider 3 million possibilities instead of 4 but then again i don't think that you are a GM). Turn off any graphical tweak as well (anti aliasing, lighting effects etc...) and see if that helps. If CMX still behaves bad after downsizing the eye candy and everything that you don't need then try reinstalling (make sure you apply the 1.02 patch first before installing ANY no-cd patch). If that doesn't work then you prolly have a hardware problem.

I did 1.02 patch before No CD. And yes, I'm a beginner here, so I'll try knocking the CPU down a bit.

I've never noticed any sounds skipping or slowing, but there are not that many sounds to pay attention to. CM itself just freezes quite cleanly so to speak. I can still move the mouse around on the CM window, but cannot click anything. If I go to another window, I cannot then get back to the CM window until the freeze passes. This sometimes takes as little as 1-2 minutes, sometimes upwards of 5 minutes.

When this is happening, everything else on my computers slows down incredibly as well.

OK, my engine priority was already at the second lowest setting, so I just put it on the lowest setting. I don't know much about what kind of resources chess engines need, but will this make the computer play like an idiot?
Keep in mind I just started, so it doesn't have to be particularly skilled. I'm at the point right now where I'm sort of maintaining a 900-1000 ELO in the game, and playing 1100-1300s, and finding them quite challenging.

Anyway, here are all my engine settings:
Blunder alert threshold: 1.4
Mentor Memory: 2 MB
Chess Engine Priority: Lowest
Blunder Alert Priority: Normal

The graphical setting appear to be as low as they can be, and I am only using 2-D boards.

My guess is that it the engine priority and stuff isn't the problem. Here's something else that might be it: are you using OpenGL or DirectX? Make sure you have the latest versions of each. I think OpenGL is supposed to work better when you're having problems, but try both.

I have the exact same problem with the computer hanging forever in training mode. I have not tried the other modes yet. I just installed this 2 days ago... do not have any no-CD patch installed and it is still using 99% of the computer resources between 2 programs. The main one is game.exe and sometimes I will also see TheKing.exe.

I am using Win XP Home with everything 100% up to date. I have a Geforce 6800 Pro 128M of vid RAM. I have a Sound Blaster Audigy sound card and all hardware is using latest official drivers. I have 1 Gig of RAM for the system and am using an Athalon 2800 CPU.

There is no reason for a program like this to be sucking up all of the system resources and bringing the entire computer to one long hang. The hang time lasts several minutes and then the computer will finally act normal again until the computer moves again. I have noticed the hang several times right after the computer takes my piece.

I have the 1.02 Patch installed but this same thing happened before and after the patch.

Has anyone figured out how to prevent this from happening?

quote:

Originally posted by Lucifuge752:
I have the exact same problem with the computer hanging forever in training mode. I have not tried the other modes yet. I just installed this 2 days ago... do not have any no-CD patch installed and it is still using 99% of the computer resources between 2 programs. The main one is game.exe and sometimes I will also see TheKing.exe.

I am using Win XP Home with everything 100% up to date. I have a Geforce 6800 Pro 128M of vid RAM. I have a Sound Blaster Audigy sound card and all hardware is using latest official drivers. I have 1 Gig of RAM for the system and am using an Athalon 2800 CPU.

There is no reason for a program like this to be sucking up all of the system resources and bringing the entire computer to one long hang. The hang time lasts several minutes and then the computer will finally act normal again until the computer moves again. I have noticed the hang several times right after the computer takes my piece.

I have the 1.02 Patch installed but this same thing happened before and after the patch.

Has anyone figured out how to prevent this from happening?

As stated in the FAQ (which you should have read first if you had followed the directions ) It's perfectly normal for the program to use 100% of the CPU. As for your problem with the computer hanging forever, umm... maybe try closing out some other processes.

quote:

Originally posted by c1arinetboy:

As stated in the FAQ (which you should have read first if you had followed the directions ) It's perfectly normal for the program to use 100% of the CPU. As for your problem with the computer hanging forever, umm... maybe try closing out some other processes.

Has it ever occurred to you that you are wasting everyone's time with a post like this? If you have nothing useful to say or that might help, do everyone a favor and do not waste your time.

Chess programs have been forever and have been fully capable of porforming everything this program does with about 1% of the resources. There is no reason for a program like this to use any computer's complete memory such that the entire machine is practically locked up while it is "thinking". The programming on this Chessmaster sucks.

Back to the question that was asked... has anyone experienced this problem and figured out how to prevent it from continuing? If you have not, please do not respond unless you actually have a clue what you are talking about.

quote:

Has it ever occurred to you that you are wasting everyone's time with a post like this? If you have nothing useful to say or that might help, do everyone a favor and do not waste your time.

Chess programs have been forever and have been fully capable of porforming everything this program does with about 1% of the resources. There is no reason for a program like this to use any computer's complete memory such that the entire machine is practically locked up while it is "thinking". The programming on this Chessmaster sucks.

I'll keep that in mind when I hijack the source code for the next version of The King and try to pass it off to Ubisoft as the original thing ...

quote:

Back to the question that was asked... has anyone experienced this problem and figured out how to prevent it from continuing? If you have not, please do not respond unless you actually have a clue what you are talking about.

You know, every once in a while, we give the answer we give because it's correct! Who are you to say we're wrong, just because you don't like the answer? Unless you know better (which you clearly don't), I'd be careful about accusing the only people available for help of not knowing anything.

The problem is that you did not submit any form of answer beyond "maybe try closing out some other processes" which is a relatively useless suggestion. It did not fix the problem. The FAQ's did not address the problem which was why I posted the question. I did the search which is how I came to this particular forum post.

I am sure everyone appreciates what you have done creating the FAQ's but, as they do not apply, do not get offended that someone asks a question looking for a solution.

If you do not have a solution, STFU and stay out of the conversation so that someone who has come upon a solution can post rather than coming to a hostile board.

Clarinetboy is supposed to be a board moderator but instead is attacking those posting real and reasonable questions like a troll. If this is the way you handle "helping" others, you should do yourself, Ubisoft and everyone else a favor and not respond.

I'm not even going to respond to that...

well well well.
I understand your frustration, Lucifuge752. I had this problem and I've sent many times trying to fix it. FAQs and ubisoft doesn't help at all.
It's very difficult to play a game till the end! So that's a cause to get angry. No ?

But yes, our kind moderators are right. This problem has been posted many times. May be it's because Ubisoft don't care about it.

Why to not create a sticky post for that ? That's only a sugestion. The FAQ (but good ones) doesnt answer.

I try to help :
1. READ the Faqs before to eliminate the most current cause
2. it seems that process utilization depends on engine priority set in its configuration (by menu).
3. on my computer (I dont know on others, i've just one computer), CM10 DOESN't use 100% CPU time whatever the engine priority. So, despite the clarinetboy's opinion, all the computers don't run CM10 (and any application) the same way. And it's not sane a process uses always 100% cpu time on windows, Unix (every unix) and so on.
4. on my computer, when CM10 freezes, CPU utilization of game.exe is 100% . I don't say this CPU consuming is the cause. I think it's the consequence.
5. it seems changing (low or high) engine priority (and so process priority) could decrease the problem frequency. That what i've done and the problem is less frequently.

hope this helps.

Thank you very much jcbb92. I hope that they someone at UBI actually looks at this and puts out a patch for it. As it is, I regret spending the money on it and will probably not put any money out on another Chessmaster from them when this one still has this problem on each of the 3 different computers at my house after this long that the program has been out.

I wanted a good program to help teach my kids chess. If anyone can suggest one that works as a good tutor and is very stable, I would love to get it.

look up at the FAQ,s. Recently, A new patch has been made available that seems to be made for you.

how about this explanation: this game is totally combustable, unusable, and a lot of glitches. It is all normal so don't worry about it. It didnt say in the manual or anywhere inside the game package because ubisoft wants u to buy it. Just ignore those glitches and you'll be fine.

Now seriously. This product IS bugged and Ubisoft doesn't even try to fix them...
Miraculously, my version of the game works 100%.
Yup - no crashes, no errors, not even the comon online bugs, so I don't really have that much of a clue why it crashes, but my guess is that some process that are currently running on your computer causes the engine to slow down and finally when the processor just cannot manage the data streams, the King just shuts down. Or that when too much data streams are going at once can create a disturbance that in turn causes the King to malfunction - like if you put a piece of junk in the sink, it will clot up the pipes.

One more advice: get the latest graphics driver. Try to get a GeForce or ATI graphics card for they are the only 100% compatable video cards available for CMX.

hope this helps

PS get fritz 9 that is much better

I know this is well past the date of the original post, but I have the same issue. I had reinstalled my sys and installed a new sound blaster card and ati 1600 video card. The stuttering freezing issue in my case appears to be related to the updated sound blaster driver 2.15.6. When I turn sound off in the cm setup program all stuttering stops. Fritz works fine, orange box hl2, hlep1, quake 4, bf2, bf2142 all work fine. I have Fritz so I am not losing too much sleep.

Well, I know there were some issues related to old SoundBlaster cards (especially if you try playing music with WinAmp or Media Player while using CM), but I haven't heard about problems with the newer versions...

At any rate, it's a moot point now, as CM 10 won't get any more fixes.

It's not a CM issue...the new driver for the Creative SB X-FI is unstable on some games-probably past issues were sound driver related also I suspect. I'll be getting the new CM anyway...been following the series since CM2. My daughter really likes it also. I also expect there will be no issues with the new incarnation of CM. My system is getting a little old also, so it won't be long till I replace it.

Well I bought the new ver and it does the same thing. I had to turn sound off in the initial configuration screen on CM10 to get rid of the freezing. In CM10 you could run the setup program from the CM10 directory, but I can't seem to find it in CM11. It is perplexing and I suspect that the creative xfi control console is in conflict with cm. So why would that be the case when games such as quake4, half-life2/episodes, and even portal have no issues? Well I will continue to tinker...

To the mod, sorry to be a pest, but why would this freezing and stuttering not happen when the computer plays itself? If it was a sound card conlict it seems like it would happen independently of opponent selection. A very odd, but not unheard of glitch...I ran across a review on another site from a person having the same issue and noted this for both CM10 and 11.

I can't speak about any other games... but if you suspect the problem is with the Creative XFI Control Console, can you turn it off? That would be a sure way of pinpointing what is (and isn't) the issue.

In CM 11, you can enable/disable sounds by going to the Preferences menu and selecting 'Sounds'.

As far as freezing is concerned, have you tried the suggestions in the Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition FAQ?

I know this post is a bit of a mixed bag, but please confine future CM 11 questions to the appropriate forum.

No problem...I found the answer in the CM11 forum. It is not a permanent fix but count me as one that also has to set the game.exe priority to a higher level than the default (I set it to high snd it works fine...just have to set it each time I play. You already added it to the faq so you can delete all my pesky posts...thanks for the patience!