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once installed on my system this program disapears and unable to find it to activate will stick with my playstation versian.

It is very irritating that black and white squares are swapped (white king on black square and vice versa should display). I can't find support of PGN-files (portable game notation), a standard format for exchange of chess notations.
The already mentioned necessity to enable a super-outdated codec, the opening of the server's window in background, the difficulty to convince the program to move a piece to the squre where the mouse points to (in 3d-mode) are other annoyances.

I think I'll delete this variation of a well known board game and stay with Arena (http://www.playwitharena.com) which allows to play with chess engines supporting winboard- and UCI-protocol.

Thank you anyway.


..........................Moderator comment..............

Thank you for your feedback Peter. I will check out the link you provided. :)

Continually get a "failed to launch the program" popup box when trying to install. Has happened quiet often over the past few weekends. Running windows 7 professional.

.........................Moderator comment......................

It may be your security software thats causing the problem due to the new security included with the giveaway, which some av software sees as a threat.

Had this before. Chess can be fun as long as the AI is decent.

I agree about the fact, you should be able to easily put it into "window mode".

Thanks Fly Games and GGOTD for the game.

Good luck, Wabbit finding a new hutch.

On my PC, enabling the "Speech Sounds - CD Only" option will nonetheless announce (in Russian ?) the name of each piece as it is played.
Entering the "Load Game" sub-menu will allow you to set up in-game Chess Compositions, which you can attempt to solve:
Individually click on the Chess piece of your choice from the menu and place it in its new location on the board by clicking again. When all the pieces are in place, click the Start button to play.

.................................Moderator Comment.........................

Thank you for your feedback :)

I stink at chess, the game seems ok to me

No problems with the video, but with the levels. I can't change it and the only level I can play is no challenge.

What a buggy game.
Intro movie not found when first opened.
Game crashes when I click "Network".




............................Moderator Comment..................................

Check the comments just above. Compatability mode in XP will fix the video problem and may allow you to play the game without crashes.

No valid W32 application - no installation on Windows 2000 professional

:-((





............................Moderator Comment..................................

Have you tried playing it in compatibility mode?

In Windows 7, set today's game to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP, and video playback will be re-enabled. [Thanks to comment #11, Ceb65, for the clue].
Adjust your monitor to 800x600 pixels, and the game will display in (pseudo) full-screen mode (but first ensure that you can easily revert to your standard resolution later).




............................Moderator Comment..................................

Ahh cool, thankyou for your useful fix.

I downloaded this last time it was offered: the 300Mb version...

I'll make a comment about the ability of this program, since I have in the past played chess at a "near-masters" level.

It is a tremendous program. Very well done. The way it plays the game is excellent.

Be sure you start playing against the computer at the very lowest level, or you will get discouraged very rapidly. If you are beating it, go up to the next level. Oh - while you are doing this, make sure to find the option to "turn off the opening book" --- the list of "master game" moves that the computer will otherwise automatically use. Find a level at which the computer is winning about 2/3 of the time - that is the level where you will learn how to play the game better. There is NO ONE reading this now who will not find such a level - the game engine IS that good.

Two additions: Be sure to alternate your play of black and white. Second, if you find yourself behind, and would like to continue the game anyway, consider "switching sides" with the computer and continue the game and study the way the computer handles the position. Again, I caution: be sure that you are playing against the computer at a level at which it is usually beating you - you want it to be playing at a higher level of ability if you are trying to learn from it. This is a great teaching tool if used properly. Also, don't be shy about asking the computer for suggestions of move AFTER you have decided what you are going to play, especially when it is playing at the higher levels. . If its suggestion is different take note, but unless you then see yours is a complete blunder, don't take its suggestion - you will have a more enjoyable game. When you are doing better at a lower level, move up to the next level.

I remember that I was routinely able to beat chess programs, even when they were allowed to take a half hour of "thinking time" per move. No longer, and that is not only due to the speed of the processors now, but due to the competency of the game engines.

Enjoy.




............................Moderator Comment..................................

Thank you very much for your excellent feedback. Glad to know you think its a challenging game even for near masters. :)

Hi WR & GGOTD Team,

Thanks for listening and getting some Board Games up.

Also, the Q from Poster #8 and the Response was Very Helpful to me, since I am in the same boat as that person.

BTW, whatever happened to Like, Don't Like Thumbs for the Posters!?!?

G!:)

........................Moderator Comment....................


The thumbs up/down for poster comments was never added to this side of the project.

I like this game - except for the avi that won't play due to a missing codec. One way to eliminate that problem is to simply tap the Esc key when the error pops up, and the game will begin immediately. Saves the 12 seconds or so while waiting for Windows to dismiss the codec error and begin on its' own. (At least that works on mine)

The game itself is designed well, and the moves are what I think would be called classic moves - not very original, but well enough played - I am NOT a chess master by any means, but have played most of my life, so have at least SOME feel for a good-vs-bad game.

The ability to change skins, etc, on the fly is a very good feature, but the lack of a resizeable board - as mentioned previously - is a definite lack, especially on any of the larger screens or higher resolutions. OTOH, cramming so much play into this MUCH smaller file allowed me to install this version on my laptop w/o worrying about how much disk space it consumes; I only put the last version on my desktop, which has scads of storage. (And then didn't play it much)

All in all, I'd give this game a qualified 8 of 10 rating, mostly for the mechanics of play and visual appearance, minus the codec problem and menu fails. Yes, it lacks some features I would like, but the smaller footprint makes it more appealing when space is a little tight, and the basics are all there. This is a keeper for me.

(Stephen, I hope your housing search goes well; I know what you mean - we have steep stairs and I have a bad back, never a good combination. At least I haven't fallen on them - yet. Take care and good hunting! John)


........................Moderator comment...................

Thank you for your feedback John. We've been looking at bungalows for a few years and so far this comes the closest to what we were looking for. Is vacant possession as the old lady who lived there passed away six months ago, she was 95 years old The house at the moment is like a time capsule going back to the 1950's. We'd have to completely redo the interior but that's not a problem as we are keeping our present house to rent out once we move.

Unfortunately the game just crashed. Black's final move locked the game, leaving white no possible move to make, but not checked. This should have been a draw, but the game crashed and Windows wanted to send an error report to Microsoft.




............................Moderator Comment..................................

Hi Peter, did you check what he error report said? May have been useful to see what was reported.

I would play chess while while waiting for by example a download to complete. But in full screen, I couldn't see what's going on on my pc. Like said, a windowed mode would be great!
I also don't care for any intro movies. I wouldn't start chess to play it for several hours, so I would like to get started faster.



............................Moderator Comment..................................

Thank you for your feedback.

There's a strange bug with game.

Clicking on Preferences lead to preferences menu. Ok, this is fine. But, clicking on Visual FX leads also to preferences menu, but with different settings set on.

Like there are two sets of preferences (don't know which are active). And yes, there's no Visual FX menu. Sound SFX menu works though.

Win7 64bit.




.......................Moderator comment......................




I think some of the non essential content has been removed. The last time this was given away it was over 300MB in size.

I got the error message cand find vids:iv50compressor. The program still ran and functioned but the intro was trashed. Will continue to test it; it looks very nice and fully-functional otherwise.




.......................Moderator comment......................


Please read pevious comments

Is anyone else getting the error "Video not available, cannot find 'vids:iv50' decompressor? I am getting this error when starting up. I installed the game to the programs (x86) folder if that makes any difference.

....................Moderator Comment...................

I did say this would happen and thta the game will work if you leave it for a moment. That said, read the comments above. Two community members have commented on the issue. It seems it a missing codec. The member directly above you has posted details. :)

The intro video is not removed (see moderator comment to posting 2. - if this video was meant), but using a quite old codec which has been taken down by Microsoft already from Windows XP(but can be viewed using VLC player). See

http://ligos.com/index.php/home/support/indeosupport/

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-pictures/vidsiv50-decompressor/906fc917-6244-46ff-9d17-3b6f7e6854b7




.......................Moderator comment......................




Hi Ceb65, yeah, I realize that now after a previous commenter said. I just assumed it was the video that had been removed due to the massive change in installation size. Thanks for your feedback and link.

When running Setup.exe I got the following boxed message:

"MCI-error
There is a problem with the driver routine.
Contact the manufacturer in order to rreceive a new driver routine."

Then, after waiting and clicking the mouse, the program started after a long time, and made it possible for me to click Exit.


I would like to receive a new driver routine.




.......................Moderator comment......................


Hello Ingvar,

We don't contact community members over such issues. The games are given as seen. If you are getting a problem, its 'probably' something to do with your computer. Try updating your graphic drivers.

To find out what your graphics card/chip is, type dxdiag in the search box. This opens up the Direct X diagnostics pane. Click on the first display tab. You should see the name of your graphics card or the chip if its an onboard graphics chip. They are usually NVIDIA or ATI (now known as AMD since AMD purchased ATI). Go to whichever chip manufacturer your graphics card is and click on the driver link then fill in the details to get the correct driver. you'll need to know your graphics card model and the operating system you are using.


NVIDIA Drivers:

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk


ATI/AMD Drivers

http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desktop/graphics/Pages/desktop-graphics.aspx (hover your mouse over where it says 'Find a Driver' its to the top left in grey lettering)

I have v3 of this game and like it. With the customization features you can set the game to suit your mood of the moment. The undo function is a great learning tool if, like me, you don't see 20 moves ahead. To me this is a good chess game and has been a keeper since the 1st version I had.




.......................Moderator comment......................


Thanks for the feedback Keith.

If i have Grand Master Chess III from Feb. this year, are there any point downloading this version?



.......................Moderator comment......................


Unless you want the earlier version that's got a different (messier) layout, no there isn't as the core game is the same.

Hi Whiterabbit,

Thanks for the info. this morning. Always wanted to learn to play chess but so far I'm not seeing a tutorial with this one - just a "See Manual" when you ask for help with Rules. No matter for now as I can sorta remember the basic moves, ha ha. The game looks great visually though and I only wish there was more time to play with it right now, but errands to run. >.<

Great to hear you might be moving house. I'm half-moved away from my family recently and still in flux but it's so worth it. Really hope it works out for you. :)




.......................Moderator comment......................

Hi Dana,

Unfortunately the manual has been removed to reduce the download size. you'll find loads of Chess sites that cater for beginners. The game has a lot of versatility with respect to choosing chess piece styles and different colored boards. The game remains the same as any other computer chess game. I can't comment on how good the A.I. is because I'm not a chess buff. hopefully someone more qualified than I will give an opinion on the various difficulty settings later.

Thant you for clarifications, moderator.

Definitely needs a windowed mode. The game looks lost in the middle of a 24" monitor.

There was an error at startup because my computer obviously doesn't have the correct CODEC to play the intro.avi. VLC plays it OK. The game starts up after a few seconds on the error screen, or double click the error to start straight away.

If you don't want all the skins or the intro, you can reduce the installation to about 5mb, though with the size of today's HDD's it's not worth the messing about, just me being inquisitive. :)

Click on help and it tells you to see the manual, which doesn't exist.

The aboive niggles aside, it looks like it plays well enough, though it's nigh on 50 years since I last played chess seriously. Maybe I'll get to like playing it again.


.......................Moderator comment......................

Thanks for the feeeback

There is no installation routine with this offering. Instead you unzip the game to a folder of your choice. The folder size when unzipped is 34.2 MB. The game play has not changed much but it is a good one. I am not a chess expert by any means but I enjoy an occasional game. I found the game to be a challenge and would recommend this to anyone that has an interest in chess. Thank you GGAOTD and to Fly Games.


..........................Moderator comment.......................

Thanks for your feedback. (I was updating my review as you posted yours, so you wouldn't have seen my updated info on file sizes)

Allways Free ???? And here is given an old version ? Please clafiry !


http://www.myplaycity.com/fr/grand_master_chess_3/


..........................Moderator Comment6......................

Hello NYB,

Technically the version you can get from MyPlayCity isn't free, you are paying for it via being redirected to MPC's site where they get revenue for you visiting. The games are paid for by MPC. They give an annual fee to the developers (I think based on the number of downloads of the game) for being allowed to give the game away. The difference between the game giveaway version (apart from the removal of the video to reduce the size significantly) is that you run the risk of installing toolbars and getting your home page changed everytime you start the game up if you use the MPC version. I know which version I'd rather have. The game is free standing so if you need to uninstall just delete the installed folder. there should be no other 'orphan files scattered around the computer.

Looking at the version numbers I wasn't sure at first because Grand Master Chess III doesn't necessarily mean version 3. However I still had the previous version and could just make out in the bottom right of the main scree a version number that said v3. I also checked the dates of the files inside the installed folder and found that todays executable is dated 2003 wheras the one we got last February was dated 2007, so its obvious that todays game is an earlier version. The basic game play remains unchanged as does the skins, board views etc, what has changed is the layout of the main menus.

In BriefL>


We got the original from Fly games back in 2008, from the look of this game, the basics are still the same, but they have improved the skins and added more functions. You can read the old comments HERE then it was given away again earlier this yar with a name change to Grand Master Chess III, you can see comments HERE. I'm not sure whether todays version is an upgrade from the previous version, or a previous version that was released in between the original and version 3. If you look to the bottom right corner of the version we got back in February it said version 3, so it looks like todays version is an earlier one.


I'll play the game later to see whats different, but I suspect its mainly textures/skins that are different plus the layout of the game menus. I'll update the review accordingly if I'm able though basically the game is the same apart from some graphical changes. (I'm off to look at a nice bungalow with a very large garden this afternoon with a view to moving. I need a bungalow as I have already fallen part way down the stairs a couple of times since the accident due to my legs collapsing from under me occassionaly), so we've for safety reasons we've decided to move from this 2 storey house to a single story. :)


I need to go back to bed. I spent too many hours earlier this morning (till 4am) deciding what I was going to purchase from the Steam sale. (Already bought over 45 items, lol ;-)

Grandmaster Chess v2.5L>



The game downloads to a 35.3Mb zipped file containing a read me, the setup.gcd security file (that may give your AV software a run for its money, but any positive results will be false positives) and a dual activation and setup module. To newcomers this means just click on the wrapped set up file and select your installation path (if you wish the game to go to somewhere other than the default path). Once installed the game is automatically registered. You can then delete all of the files originally downloaded.

The installed games footprint is 34.3Mb in size (this is around 413MB smaller than the last time we got this program. They have removed the archive folder that had a 363MB file called chess.mdb plus a couple of other files). Basically this contained the introduction to the game, which was in the form of a video; so, when you start the game up it will appear to give an error, saying video missing. Just give the game time to load, it takes several seconds to load then the main menu comes up, which I've taken a screen shot of below. (The first image).

It installs to:

C:\Games\Grand Master Chess25


The game plays okay on XP Pro with SP3 32 Bit, Vista Home Basic 64 bit and Win 7 Pro 64 bit, though I've only installed and opened up the game, not actually played the game.

No shortcut is installed to the desktop or the start men programs folder nor is there an uninstaller installed so to uninstall you just have to delete the installed folder.




IntroductionL>

Grand Master Chess III will help to improve your chess skills and become a better tournament or casual player. You can either have friendly competitions against friends and family members or try solo mode against the computer. Listen to your own music as you play! An incredible level of detail and realistic chess figurines add to the gameplay experience. With a sophisticated hint system that shows several possible moves to help you learn, Grand Master Chess is an enjoyable experience for any chess player.

Reference accessed HERE 3rd March 2012

The GameL>

I'm not going to write a full review today, just describe what the game offers . We all know what Chess is; I'm no expert on chess so really can't tell you whether the Grand Master mode lives up to it's name. You'd need someone that's at that level to confirm this. I've never really played chess regularily. I used to play with some friends many years ago (over 20), but we were all average players. The game looks well constructed with a load of board and pieces skins that enable you to change the look to a style you like. The game seems to be a reasonable chess game with six levels of difficulty ranging from Grandmaster down through hard, medium, easy adult, child and monkey modes. There is actually another one that's user defined which allows you to define the number of moves forward, the amount of time you are allowed to move and a fixed time for the game.

You can also toggle off several visual effects such as shadows, reflections, buttons fade, moves animation etc, ad you can also toggle between full screen and windowed from the visual effects section.

As for audio, you can include any MP3's you have stored on your computer. Just click on the sound Effects link and then the MP3 folder to browse for your music collection. You can also toggle off sound bites (pieces and the soundtrack if you wish). There is a speech mode available, but only via the CD version of this game. It looks like they have removed the speech to cut down on the already large size of this game

You can play the game in 2D or 3D and rotate the board from white to black etc. There are 17 board skins and 34 piece types to choose from.

You can choose to play Fischer rules if you wish.

There's a preferences button that enables you to toggle the following:

!) ... Think when Idle

... Randomize moves

... Use Quick Start

... Show Quick Tips

... Show intro

... Use Quick Save Slots

...Select Skill on new game.

There's also a network option, with input for server IP, so i'm assuming this is a true online game not just local area networking. Which is very cool.


As with most computer based chess games you can undo moves if you want to cheat :lol:

FeaturesL>



1) ... Standard, Fisher Style and Blind game rules to choose from;
2) ... Easy to use interface that includes highlights and button hints;
3) ... Includes a collection of chess problems as well as a Problem Solver and a built in Problem Editor;
4) ... More than 100 high quality chess piece/board skins;
5) ... Includes a built-in mp3 player so you can play your own music while playing;
6) ... Network mode lets you play with your friends.



ControlsL>


• Mouse

System RequirementsL>

- Windows 98/XP/Vista- 300 MHz CPU- 512 MB RAM- 700 MB Hard disk space- 1024x768 graphics card- DirectX compatible sound card




ConclusionL>

I'll leave the conclusions to the players who profess to know more about chess. I've only ever been a casual player so cannot in all honesty give a true statement as to whether this game is good or not. To me it seems a decent game. I played the original on Grand Master and Hard and easily lost (but then I really didn't think through the moves because I was really just trying to get a feel for the game). I seem to be able to hold my own when the difficulty is set to medium (that is, I'm holding my own), but I've not played this version yet, only the original.

(As is usual at the moment I didn't get a copy of the game until very early this morning and I was more concerned at choosing games from the Steam sale, so didn't get time to even check the game for updates from last February's version.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More Gamesl>



If today's game doesn't take your fancy then check out the game discussion forums and the free games synopsis. We’ve posted a couple of thousand free games over the last four years, many of which are excellent alternatives to their commercial cousins.

The Steam Thanksgiving sale is on until Monday, with 48hr sales, flash sales that last around 10 hours plus loads more on sale. Well worth checking out. You can find the sale HERE.

Check out Gamersgates offers. They are having great reductions on four games every day until January. you can find the Gamersgate site HERE and Desura





I've also posted several links to sites where you'll find loads of decent game deals. Just look in the Game Discussion sticky section for the thread.

This months Alawar game is still The Curse of Montezuma (despite being on for six weeks - hopefully they will change it for another soon). for those that are new to the game giveaway project you will need Alawar's free game box to be able to download their free monthly game. this months is an excellent match three. You can download the game box HERE.




Oh yeah, nearly forgot, you can see all of the live indie bundles that are available HERE . They don't update it every day (Indie Gala X is showing as still live, but that ended a few days ago), still it'll give you an idea as to whats still available. alternatively you can visit the giveawayoftheday Game discussion forums as all bundles are detailed there as well.

Also check out the latest game available on IndieGame stand HERE. You can pay as much as you want but no less than $1. The present game has just changed to Aztaka, which is an RPG. There are several $5 bundles available from the Indie bundle site HERE, each bundle has three games. There's quite a few decent deals over on Desura HERE



You'll find details of all the bundles still available over in the first two pages of the game discussion forums as well as several of the main game distributors that seem to have permanent sales HERE

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Problems:

If you have any problems with the game, either installation issues or getting the game to work check out the FAQ's section over in the Game discussion forums. you can find it HERE






If you are posting requests for help late in the day I would suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game Game Discussion . If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed). It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them as well.




Request for Help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you’ve checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen