CHESSBD 2.2 ICS RELATED PROBLEMS AND BUGS
=========================================
November 1995

This file contains information about bugs and deficiencies in CHESSBD,
as well as some problems you might have.  There are some outright
bugs, and there are some anomalies i don't understand yet.  If in your
usage of CHESSBD you encounter anomalous behavior that is repeatable,
please drop me a line (dfong@igc.apc.org).  The program also has
deficiencies.  I welcome constructive criticism and suggestions.
To report bugs, please use the bug report form bugform.txt in the
distribution.

In no particular order:

Q: My opponent's moves don't show up on the board,
   all i get is a bunch of ascii stuff in the Telnet window.

A: You probably neglected to tell ICS to use style 12.  Try this:
   right after you login to ICS, enter "style 12" in the Telnet window.
   Thereafter, your opponent's moves should appear automatically in
   the board diagram.

Q: I lost on time when CHESSBD showed i had over a minute left!
   And my opponent's clock was running to boot!

A: This happens due to "lag".  Communication between the server and your PC
   can incur arbitrarily long delays.  TMSTAMP (or TMSEAL on FICS) partially
   compensates for the problem.  Use it if you can.

Q: I am trying to use TMSTAMP, but it just tries 3 times to connect and
   i never get through.

A: This means that CHESSBD was unable to execute the TMSTAMP program.
   Make sure you have put the tmstamp.exe in the same directory as SLICS.

Q: I was observing a blitz game, and it kept coming back after i killed
   the window.

A: This happens because when you kill the window, CHESSBD tells the server
   to "unobserve" the game.  However, the command to "observe" and "unobserve"
   is the same.  Sometimes when the moves are coming fast, the server thinks
   you are trying to "re-observe" the game instead of "unobserve".  The fix
   is to just keep killing the window until it stays dead.  Or, you can
   reliably unobserve the game by clicking the "obs" arena button again,
   and only then killing the window.  

Q: I ran TMSTAMP and logged in to the server just fine, but it says i'm
   not running a timestamp client!

A: You probably forgot to connect to "localhost" instead of "chess.lm.com".
   With version 2.2a or higher, this won't happen anymore. (:-)

Q: The text is too tiny to be readable!

A: You can change the font using the Options dialog from the main window
   menu bar.  (NOT the ICS menu bar.)

Q: Why doesn't CHESSBD have a builtin command for XYZ?

A: ICS has too many commands, and there is too little documentation about
   them, for me to provide GUI support for them all.  And they're
   constantly adding new ones.  So instead of providing wired-in
   support for my own favorite commands, CHESSBD provides a bank of 16
   programmable buttons in the Arena dialog.  You can setup a button to
   execute any ICS command.  You can also program up to 50 menu items
   in the ICS User menu.

Q: How can i save my games to a file?

A: CHESSBD automatically saves your games to the file "icsgames.pgn",
   as you play them.  See also the online help for the "icssave" option
   variable.

Q: The gamesfile is called "icsgames.pgn" but it isn't in PGN format.

A: That's true.  If you really want PGN, you can quit ICS mode and
   read the file back in using the viewer features of CHESSBD.
   Or, you can turn on logging and use the ICS oldmoves command,
   then use one of the public domain converters on the logfile.

Q: I can't stand the click-and-drag way of moving pieces.

A: Try setting the undocumented option variable dragmove=0
   in your "chessbd.ini" file.  Or try dragmove=-1 if you don't want
   the moved piece to track the mouse.

Q: I hope you can find better looking pieces someday.

A: I already did, thanks to Nico Koolsbergen (nicok.ini), Eric Churchill
   (ericch.ini), and Harry J. Toups (toups.ini).  If you don't like my
   "minimalist" pieces, go to the program manager and change the SLICS
   command line (for the SLICS icon).  Change it to "chessbd toups.ini"
   for "classic chess assistant like" pieces.  Try "chessbd nicok.ini"
   for "baroque" pieces; or "chessbd ericch.ini" for "staunton like"
   pieces.  Or design your own.

   See any of the above piece files for an example of how to do this.
   Each piece type corresponds to an option variable, the value of
   which is a polygon which is drawn and filled to represent that piece
   in the board diagram.  Eg, PawnOutline is the variable for a pawn.
   A polygon is represented as a list of pairs deltax,deltay drawn
   clockwise from the lower left corner.  The last (closing) segment
   does not have to be specified.  Eg,
	PawnOutline=0,10 10,0 0,-10
   makes the pawn graphic a 10x10 square.  You also need to set the
   variable "squaresize=XXxYY" to the nominal square size for your
   piece set.  Eg, "squaresize=48x48" if your pieces are designed to
   match squares of dimension 48x48.  This is needed so your pieces can
   be correctly scaled.

   To test your piece designs, put your piece definitions in a separate
   FILE.ini, then run "%prof FILE.ini" and "%grchange" in the main textport.

   Caveat: the above information is strictly FYI, and is subject to change
   without notice.  

Q: The board is too tiny.  The dialogs are too big.  Etc.

A: In the latest version, almost everything is scalable.
   If it doesn't scale, please send me a report, using bugform.txt .

Q: Can i use SLICS through a raw serial connection?

A: Yes, the latest version has experimental support for raw serial
   connections.  You can fill in the Com port number and parameters
   in the ConnectInfo dialog.  Click the "Modem" radio button.
   Then you need to enter the modem commands to initialize the modem
   and dial your service provider.  It's best to create a script to
   do this.  See the example login script "dial_ics.rc" .

Q: Can i use ICC timestamp?  Timeseal?

A: Yes.  See the online help, "Using ICC Timestamp".
   Also read the file tmstamp.txt .

Q: Can i login thru a firewall?

A: Yes, see the online help.

Q: How do i create a login script?

A: See the online help.  Look at the example login script "ex_ics.rc" .

Q: Why does SLICS cause GPF's?

A: Because users don't report bugs!  SLICS should not ever GPF.
   And it does not GPF on my system.  If you find a way to make
   it GPF repeatedly, please send me email.  Use the form in bugform.txt .

Q: Why does all the documentation call the program CHESSBD instead of SLICS?

A: The earlier version (before adding the ICS features) was called CHESSBD,
   and i'm too lazy to change the documentation.

Q: How can i program the ICS User menu and the ICS Arena buttons?

A: Look in the chessbd.ini file.  See ics_luNN (for arena button NN)
   and ics_mNN (for menu item NN).  Do thou likewise.  See the online help
   for further details.

Q: Can i use the SLICS as a NETSCAPE or MOSAIC helper?  Yes.  If you pass
   SLICS a filename on the command line, it will automatically treat it as
   a games file and "open" it for you.  (Unless the filename has the
   extension ".ini", in which case SLICS will treat it like a .ini file.)
   See the NETSCAPE or MOSAIC documentation for info on how to set it up.

Q: The helpfile sucks.

A: Sorry, i don't have time to write a good one.

Q: I already registered the beta release, SLICS20c.  Do i have to
   re-register SLICS21a?

A: No, if you already sent me $$ for SLICS2?[a-z], you are entitled
   to free upgrades as long as i keep calling it SLICS2?.

Q: How do i get and use TMSTAMP? or TMSEAL?

A: Please read the file tmstamp.txt .

Q: Why can't i use TMSTAMP and TMSEAL with NETCOM.

A: There is a bug in NETCOM's implementation of Winsock.
   If you use NETCOM, you must use a 3rd party Winsock in order
   to succesfully use TMSTAMP or TMSEAL.  Please read the file netcom.txt .

Q: How do i register SLICS?

A: Send your check to the address given in Help|About . (:-)