-------------------------------------------------------- README for SmartBridge Version 3.0 7 - March - 1999 -------------------------------------------------------- SMARTBRIDGE - A new bridge program for Windows. This document contains only a brief description of the product and its features, along with instructions for its installation. Quite detailed documentation is included in the archive, and can be read after installation. -------- CONTENTS -------- INTRODUCTION INSTALLATION HARDWARE/SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS SHAREWARE vs. REGISTERED VERSION LIST OF SMARTBRIDGE NEEDED FILES WHAT'S NEW SOME TIPS REGISTRATION and PAYMENT TERMS ---------- INTRODUCTION ============ Here is a new version of SmartBridge for Windows! The program had a good success, so I decided to spend some more time on it... What can you do now ? Some examples: You can play rubber, duplicate or pairs (10 tables) against computer, exercise your bid with more than 40 conventions, play duplicate against champions (game loaded from a Portable Bridge Notation file) or just view the stored games (1200 games from 13th Cap Gemini WTT 1999 are zipped with the program). Computer gives hints, warns when the bid is not recommended, and plays automatically, when requested. Suit division probabilities can be shown when playing from declarer. Do you want to exercise your bid ? You have now more than 40 conventions (5 Card Major, Canapè, Roman Clubs, Forcing 2 over 1, Forcing 1NT, Rever, Jacobi 2NT, Gambling 3NT, Michael cue-bids, Unusual 2NT, Quantitative 4NT, Inverted Minors, Splinters, Weak Jump Overcall, Intermediate Jump Overcall, Strong Jump Overcall, Weak 1NT, Strong 1NT, Variable 1NT, Basic Stayman, Extended Stayman, Forcing Stayman, Jacobi Transfer, Texas Transfer, Minor Suit Stayman, Minor Suit Transfer, Weak-2 openings, Pre-empt bids, Strong 2C, Roman 2D, Crodo 2C, Flannery 2D, Astro, Landy, Lebensohl, Gerber, DOPI, Grand Slam Force, Cue-bids, Blackwood, Roman Key Card Blackwood, Takeout double, Negative double). Do you want to play against champions ? Select Options: Play: Duplicate, and then Load a game from a .pbn file (I have more than 10.000 games from top level tournaments available; others will come) and ReDeal it; bid and play, and get a score (computer compares your open room result with the champions result, from the file, used as closed room). Rebid, replay, analyse, find your errors. Or you can just view (Set: Viewer) the stored games. Do you want to store your games ? You can store your games or games from tournaments in a .PBN file, using a powerful editor, generate deals (random or special distributions, balanced and unbalanced, singletons or voids, fit or misfit, any high-card points) and print them. Edit the deal, then bid and play manually (Set: Human All), eventually save the game in a .pbn file. If you're a skilled Bridge player, you might enjoy analyzing difficult deals, so SmartBridge provides an interface to GIB (Options: Play: GIB); give it some minutes, and wait for the result. The look is up to Windows Solitaire standards, and if you have a sound card, you'll enjoy the voice comments and MIDI-based music. Several appearance and behavior settings can be adjusted, and an extremely detailed Help file is included. New version has a new bidding system (new hand evaluation, new conventions) and new features (attitude and suit preference carding, takebacks, pairs). It has been tested against Richard Pavlicek (http://www.gate.net/~pavlicek/bidprac1.txt) basic auctions deals (deals are included in the rp_test.pbn file), with the following results: 1F17(beginner review I): 120/120 (100%) 1N17(beginner review II): 120/120 (100%) 2U17(intermediate review I): 114/120 (95%) 2V17(intermediate review II): 113/120 (94%) And it's faster and more comfortable (try to use the spacebar, and the keyboard !). SmartBridge is compliant with PBN 1.0 standard. PBN stands for "Portable Bridge Notation" (PBN). PBN is based on "Portable Game Notation" (PGN), a standard for the representation of chess games. PBN has been designed with several pretty criteria in mind. PBN is an open, portable standard. It is publicly available for users and software developers. PBN is not subject to any copyrights. The PBN notation is straightforward and comprehensible. A human is able to read and write the PBN notation easily. The PBN standard is based on textual files, instead of binary files. A lot of PBN data, including comment, are text strings. PBN Contact information: Tis Veugen, Schubertlaan 2, 5583 XW Waalre The Netherlands. Homepage: http://www.IAEhv.nl/users/veugent (you can find here also links to .pbn archives) Email: veugent@IAEhv.nl Telephone: +31.40.2218210 With SmartBridge it's possible to observe bridge games, stored in .pbn files, for both the bidding and the playing phases, going ahead step-by-step, or automatically. Most of the game related info (player names, teams, result, scores etc.) are shown, and can be edited when saving a new game. The loaded game can be either simply viewed, or you can bid and play, as for a randomly generated game. Moreover, all the games played using SmartBridge are saved in a <.pbn> file, and can be recalled later. INSTALLATION ============ The program is packaged as a SMARTBRI.ZIP archive, containing: - README.TXT (this file) - FILE_ID.DIZ (short description) - EXTRACT.EX_ (compressed self-extracting archive) - EXTRACT.PIF - SETUP.EXE (setup program) Run SETUP.EXE. You will be asked to enter a folder to install from (e.g. A:\ if you install from floppy disk, otherwise the folder where you unzipped the downloaded archive), and a folder to install to (default is C:\SBRIDGE3). Please note that: 1. All the needed programs are expanded in the SmartBridge directory, nothing is written outside ! (I don't want to risk crippling other applications) 2. So, you don't need an unistall function: simply delete the directory 3. *** YOU NEED VBRUN300.DLL *** I don't distribute it. It is often present in the Windows directory. If not, you can download it from the Web. For instance: 4. If you want to use GIB, you have to download it from the Web, and copy it to the SmartBridge directory. Let me know if you have problems. 5. Check your MS-DOS icon properties (C:\WINDOWS\_default.pif), and verify that MS-DOS program run is enabled when iconized. 6. Help file may have problem with Windows-NT. Let me know, I will send you an older Help file, compatible with NT. Should the setup program fail, you can install manually: - make a directory (e.g. C:\SBRIDGE3) - copy all the unzipped files in that directory - rename EXTRACT.EX_ to EXTRACT.EXE - execute EXTRACT.EXE - the program EXTRACT.EXE will autoexpand (see below for the list) - close the DOS application "extract" (when finished !) - now you can run SMBRIDGE.EXE and/or read SMART.HLP - if all is OK, delete EXTRACT.EXE - if you want, you can create shortcuts etc. And now, I hope you enjoy the program. HARDWARE/SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ============================== The program needs at least a 486/33 MHz processor with 8 MB RAM. The required disk space is around 5 MB. The program was developed and tested on Windows'95. SHAREWARE vs. REGISTERED VERSION ================================ If you are using the unregistered version of SmartBridge, I have granted you a limited license to try out the software to determine its appropriateness for your needs. This evaluation (or demo) version includes all features of the program, and is not crippled in any way. There is practically only one major limit: evaluation version allows for 20 different random hands and 2 conditioned hands only (for each type of bias). Registered version will allow you to generate up to 20000 different hands (10000 random + 10000 conditioned) for each registration code. I will send you as many codes as you need. Other differences: - no more displaying that you are evalauting the software - registered version shows the registered user name in the opening screen - GIB thinking time is limited to 10 seconds - demo version allows only one "Edit hand" for run - demo version allows only one "Modify hand" for run - demo version allows only one "Load <.pbn> game" for run - some <.pbn> tags are overwritten using the demo version Once registered, you will receive a personalized code, to be stored in the file code.dat, that will remove the shareware messages and unlock the program. The code will make all future 3.xx versions fully functional. After registration, all you have to do is download the latest version from the Web. Please note that the above list is the comprehensive set of limitations associated with the shareware version of the product. I have not included bugs or poor performance in the shareware version as an incentive for you to register. I will do my best to improve the product with further releases that will hopefully overcome these limitations. LIST OF SMARTBRIDGE NEEDED FILES ================================ SmartBridge directory must contain the following 72 files: SMBRIDGE EXE 2.048.218 07/03/99 13.26 smbridge.exe SMART HLP 203.343 27/02/99 10.52 Smart.hlp SMART_IN CNT 3.828 23/02/99 7.42 smart_in.cnt REGISTER EXE 128.962 21/02/99 11.50 register.exe ROUND15 PBN 38.124 03/03/99 8.13 ROUND15.PBN ROUND14 PBN 38.030 03/03/99 8.13 ROUND14.PBN ROUND13 PBN 38.938 03/03/99 8.31 ROUND13.PBN ROUND12 PBN 38.362 03/03/99 8.13 ROUND12.PBN ROUND11 PBN 37.646 03/03/99 8.12 ROUND11.PBN ROUND10 PBN 38.850 03/03/99 8.12 ROUND10.PBN ROUND9 PBN 38.210 03/03/99 18.56 ROUND9.PBN ROUND8 PBN 38.166 03/03/99 8.14 ROUND8.PBN ROUND7 PBN 38.611 03/03/99 8.14 ROUND7.PBN ROUND6 PBN 38.252 03/03/99 8.14 ROUND6.PBN ROUND5 PBN 37.353 03/03/99 8.14 ROUND5.PBN ROUND4 PBN 37.661 03/03/99 8.14 ROUND4.PBN ROUND3 PBN 37.815 03/03/99 8.14 ROUND3.PBN ROUND2 PBN 37.213 03/03/99 19.26 ROUND2.PBN ROUND1 PBN 38.812 03/03/99 8.13 ROUND1.PBN RP_TEST PBN 16.179 21/02/99 11.28 rp_test.pbn CODE DAT 1 22/04/98 19.39 Code.dat DOWN WAV 5.260 13/04/98 19.39 down.wav OTRICKS WAV 8.690 13/04/98 19.21 otricks.wav OTRICK WAV 8.514 13/04/98 19.21 otrick.wav WITH WAV 4.600 13/04/98 19.20 with.wav MADE WAV 14.762 13/04/98 19.17 made.wav WEST WAV 5.786 13/04/98 19.16 west.wav TOPSCORE WAV 8.908 13/04/98 19.15 topscore.wav SS4 WAV 5.324 13/04/98 19.14 ss4.wav SS3 WAV 7.136 13/04/98 19.14 ss3.wav SS2 WAV 5.078 13/04/98 19.13 ss2.wav SS1 WAV 6.812 13/04/98 19.13 ss1.wav SOUTH WAV 6.082 13/04/98 19.12 south.wav SIGIOCA WAV 5.208 13/04/98 19.12 sigioca.wav S4 WAV 5.820 13/04/98 19.10 S4.wav S3 WAV 6.922 13/04/98 19.10 S3.wav S2 WAV 6.084 13/04/98 19.09 S2.wav S1 WAV 6.802 13/04/98 19.09 S1.wav S0 WAV 8.922 13/04/98 19.09 S0.wav REDOUBLE WAV 6.282 13/04/98 19.08 redouble.wav REDOUBLD WAV 10.072 13/04/98 19.08 redoubld.wav PASSO WAV 4.982 13/04/98 19.06 passo.wav PASSED WAV 7.662 13/04/98 19.05 passed.wav NORTH WAV 5.202 13/04/98 19.05 north.wav MORTO WAV 7.158 13/04/98 19.04 morto.wav LEADER WAV 6.474 13/04/98 19.04 leader.wav ILCONTR WAV 10.648 13/04/98 19.03 ilcontr.wav GRAZIE WAV 14.206 13/04/98 19.02 grazie.wav GIOCAVA WAV 10.590 13/04/98 19.02 giocava.wav EAST WAV 5.342 13/04/98 19.01 east.wav DOUBLED WAV 5.520 13/04/98 19.00 doubled.wav DOUBLE WAV 4.812 13/04/98 19.00 double.wav DEVIRISP WAV 12.304 13/04/98 18.59 devirisp.wav DECLARER WAV 9.644 13/04/98 18.58 declarer.wav DEALER WAV 7.652 13/04/98 18.58 dealer.wav 7 WAV 6.510 13/04/98 18.57 7.wav 6 WAV 5.594 13/04/98 18.57 6.wav 5 WAV 5.864 13/04/98 18.56 5.wav 4 WAV 5.670 13/04/98 18.56 4.wav 3 WAV 5.522 13/04/98 18.55 3.wav 2 WAV 3.960 13/04/98 18.54 2.wav 1 WAV 4.510 13/04/98 18.54 1.wav WELCOME WAV 24.446 03/01/98 13.21 welcome.wav SB MID 10.177 05/12/97 20.18 sb.mid COMMDLG DLL 89.248 15/02/97 12.54 COMMDLG.DLL REGISTER HLP 16.454 16/01/97 15.39 register.hlp THREED VBX 64.432 16/07/93 0.00 THREED.VBX MCI VBX 30.112 28/04/93 0.00 MCI.VBX CMDIALOG VBX 18.688 28/04/93 0.00 CMDIALOG.VBX PICCLIP VBX 15.840 28/04/93 0.00 PICCLIP.VBX WHAT'S NEW ========== 1.0 First released BETA version. 1.01 Bidding errors corrected. Play of the hand errors corrected. Modified help. 1.02 Bidding errors corrected. Modified Summary message. Atout suit now is on the left. 1.03 Display errors corrected. Scoring errors corrected: scores were always computed as vulnerable. (reported by francesco_zek@rocketmail.com) Bid errors corrected: it was possible to redouble partner; it was not always possible to double opponents. (reported by francesco_zek@rocketmail.com) Cue-bids have been introduced. Rubber summary window improved. Play summary window introduced. Estimate window introduced. If only one card remains in a suit, it is played automatically (hint by mario.cucci@iol.it) 1.04 New graphic functions (several decks, desktop colors). Takeback during play. New .mid file 1.1 First market released version. Automatic Setup program. Uncompressed program information (readme.txt, file_id.diz). Option window splits into 3 windows, and provides help. It's possible to define up to 3 convention systems. It's possible to associate convention systems and play styles to any line (2 lines for rubber, 4 lines for duplicate). Much stronger card play with GIB (see TIPS). Floating windows. New .wav files (different voice, six more files). 2.0 Bug fixed: V1.1 didn't work with more than 64K colors Bug fixed: V1.1 didn't find file Many improvements to the bid, the play and the look and feel. An improved Editor allows to input (and/or Modify) a given hand. It's possible to bid and play manually a game from all positions (Human player = All). All the played games are saved in the file. It's possible to save a game in a user defined <.pbn> file. It's possible to load a game from a <.pbn> file, and bid and play it. It's possible to view a game loaded from a <.pbn> file. Option window modified. New Vulnerable sequence for duplicate (according to usual marking of boards). 2.1 Many 2.0 bugs fixed: -gives an overflow after dealing hand n.330 -redoubled undertricks score -does not write ScoreIMP and Competition tags in PBN output -duplicates Vulnerable tags (second one should be Declarer) -force bid (Set) does not work when forcing NT -takeback with Viewer leaves some covered decks on the table -load PBN allows only 2 characters for the Board field (4 needed) -several bid and play bugs New features: -it is possible to set the risk when forcing the bid (Set) -suit division probabilities can be shown when playing from declarer (odds are automatically updated during play) -play summary can be invoked during play to remind already played cards -viewer game list automatically positioned on the next game -new layout for high resolution screen (1024 x 768 or higher) (thanks to Francesco Zecchini and Tis Veugen for bug reports and tips) 3.0 Solved a problem with Win-NT ("out of stack" after some Deal's or ReDeal's) New features: - New bidding system, with more than 40 conventions - New hand evaluation - Pairs tournament with 10 tables - Duplicate against champions - Attitude and suit preference carding - Current deal number can be selected at the startup - Card selection by keyboard (PageUp-Down + Enter) - New Help file TIPS ==== The program needs at least a 486 processor with 8 MB RAM. With slow processors/less RAM, starting requires to be patient (windows loading). Some graphics (card redrawing) can also be slow. Best results with Pentium, 16 MB RAM, 64K colors and at least 800 x 600 resolution. With less resolution large cards should be used (Options - Large cards). The play result is saved in a smart.pbn file, which is always growing. You may need to rename it or delete, when too big. Also, loading too big pbn files can be slow, and saturate the memory; keep the files to be loaded small. Several windows are opened and are floating on top of the main window. They are automatically positioned, but they can be moved not to hide cards. With higher resolution, windows can be arranged in a way to be all visible. Make sure that .wav and .mid channels are active: .wav files must be necessarily present, .mid files are optional. The program plays in sequence .mid files found in the directory. Activate Options: Print to print the deal. Current deal is always stored in hand.hnd file, and the played game in the smart.pbn file. In case of errors, please send me the error report together with the smart.pbn file. Smart.pbn file will grow; you may need to rename it (or delete) after a certain time. GIB is a program developed by Matthew L. Ginsberg and uses techniques from artificial intelligence to build the world's first expert-level computer bridge player. GIB has successfully solved more deals than other competitors, providing evidence that its card play is at a level far superior to that of any other program. SmartBridge uses GIB.exe, version 1.2.10, released 3/27/97; it is approximately 40% as fast as the production version. To play reasonably well, GIB requires a 100 MHz Pentium and at least 16MB of memory. In this configuration, GIB plays very well given at least 30 seconds per play. Since GIB takes time, you may want to stop it: if you press Claim, GIB ends its move (you must wait), then the hand is quickly completed (moves made by SmartBridge); if you press Deal or ReDeal, the hand is interrupted, and restarted with new or old deal (you must bid again). GIB COPYRIGHT: Copyright in the GIB programs is by Just Write, Inc. Just Write retains all rights to the programs themselves. Permission is granted for use BUT NOT REDISTRIBUTION. Therefore SmartBridge only provides the interface. You must download the program from the Web, and put it into the SmartBridge directory. If the program is not present, SmartBridge plays according to own algorithms. REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT TERMS ============================== SmartBridge is not a free program, but rather is distributed as Shareware for purposes of evaluation. This gives you the opportunity to evaluate SmartBridge as long as you need; if you like the product, want to use the full functions, and encourage further development, you should register it. Registration is $25. Registration can be done in the following ways: I accept postal money orders, personal checks, bank checks, cash directly in the mail, for the following currencies and prices: (but such payments are at the sender's risk, I don't guarantee in case of loss): program diskettes ITL,italian lire 40.000 10.000 USD,US dollars 25 6 GBP,british pounds 15 5 EUR,european EURO 25 5 FRF,french francs 160 40 DEM,deutch marks 50 10 (prices have been rounded to banknote values; for other currencies please refer to official exchange rates, e.g.: , and round to the banknote higher value). Print out the order form, fill it with all the required data, include it with your check or cash wrapped in paper to make it less obvious and send it to me. If you have no time to go to bank, post office etc., or you don't live in Italy, the best way is to use Kagi Shareware Payment Processing Service. This service handles the processing of the shareware fee. It accepts many different payment methods such as: US Check, Money Order, Cash (in many different currencies: Australian AUD, Austrian ATS, Belgian BEF, Canadian CAD, Danish DKK, French FRF, German DEM, Greek GRD, HongKong HKD, Irish IEP, Italian ITL, Japanese JPY, Dutch NLG, Norwegian NOK, Singaporean SGD, Spanish ESP, Swedish SEK, Swiss CHF, British GBP and American USD), credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diner's Club, Discover), First Virtual payments, and Invoice. Sensitive information, like credit card numbers, is encoded for better security. Please use the REGISTER program packaged with the product, and follow the instructions in register.hlp. REGISTER program can also be run from SmartBridge starting window. For more information go to on the WEB, or send email to . In all the cases, I send the registration code after the transaction has been successfully completed (by e-mail this can require less than 3 days). If you want floppy disks, I can ship them by mail, with additional 6$ fee for expenses. If you have an e-mail address and you provide it with your order, then I will automatically send you notification on the availability of major new releases of SmartBridge, as they become available. If it is a version 3.xx upgrade, then your current registration will be accepted by the new software. In any case, please fill in the following informations: First name: Last name: Street: Street number: City: [State:] [Postal code:] Country: [Phone:] [Fax:] [e-mail:] [x] standard price $25 [ ] additional charge for floppy disks $6 My address: Francesco Barcio Viale Abruzzo 154 66013 Chieti (CH) Italy My e-mail: pes136k1@pe.nettuno.it francesco@kagi.com Another program from the author: SmartPBNViewer, a powerful program to read ".pbn" (Portable Bridge Notation) files. (see for details about the format) No warranty is offered with the software. This software and documentation are provided for evaluation only, on an "as is" basis. The author disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether expressed or implied, including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantabilitiy or fitness for a particular purpose. The author shall have no liabilty for any indirect, consequential, or incidental damage resulting from the use of the software.