Android engines discussion etc.

Greek · Post by **Greek** » 25/12/2022, 0:45

For those that celebrate Christmas ..I just wanted to wish everyone a Great Christmas Day and all the Best for the New Year!

Lotus340 · Post by **Lotus340** » 28/06/2023, 9:12

I recently downloaded Clover 5.0 from Archimedes.

I set it up in Chess for Android to play a tournament. But there seems to be a bug in it. In every game, whether playing Black or White, it resigns within 12 moves at the latest. Sometimes it resigns after just four or five moves, even though the position is equal. Example:

1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 c6 3. e4 d6 4. Bd3 Nf6 0-1

Has anyone else had this problem? I don't know if it's a problem with the Android build or with Chess for Android, or with the original engine code.

Any thoughts welcome.

Archimedes · Post by **Archimedes** » 29/06/2023, 8:12

Lotus340 wrote: ↑28/06/2023, 9:12 I recently downloaded Clover 5.0 from Archimedes.

I set it up in Chess for Android to play a tournament. But there seems to be a bug in it. In every game, whether playing Black or White, it resigns within 12 moves at the latest. Sometimes it resigns after just four or five moves, even though the position is equal. Example:

1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 c6 3. e4 d6 4. Bd3 Nf6 0-1

Has anyone else had this problem? I don't know if it's a problem with the Android build or with Chess for Android, or with the original engine code.

Any thoughts welcome.

There have been some bug fixes in the meantime. Just try the latest version.

Version 5.0 seems to have been really buggy. Under DroidFish, Clover stopped making moves after a while (but did not crash). In the latest version this seems to be no longer the case.

Lotus340 · Post by **Lotus340** » 29/06/2023, 11:39

Ok, thanks. I'll give the latest version a try.

These days it's one of the strongest free engines, so it's worth having.

AlexanderSanteramo · Post by **AlexanderSanteramo** » 01/07/2023, 6:34

For me all your engines work fine.

AlexanderSanteramo · Post by **AlexanderSanteramo** » 01/07/2023, 6:52

Except Rice and Elephant Gambit. Both have the same problem as in Rice 5.0

Lotus340 · Post by **Lotus340** » 06/07/2023, 0:34

Engines that don't work, in my experience:

1. Rice 7.0 doesn't work in Droidfish. But it does work in Chess for Android (CFA).

2. Engines which don't work in CFA: Koivisto (this is since forever), Mayhem and Fire (at least the versions I've got).

Archimedes · Post by **Archimedes** » 06/07/2023, 7:51

Lotus340 wrote: ↑06/07/2023, 0:34 Engines that don't work, in my experience:

1. Rice 7.0 doesn't work in Droidfish. But it does work in Chess for Android (CFA).

2. Engines which don't work in CFA: Koivisto (this is since forever), Mayhem and Fire (at least the versions I've got).

I only test new chess engines under DroidFish. And that only very briefly (short analysis in the start position and a short play with a few moves). However, I don't do that anymore for subsequent versions.

Rice 7.0.0 works for me under DroidFish (apparently it has no analysis mode, but makes moves). It is actually a "standard compilation" with Android NDK (API level 21 and 19). Probably the error is buried in the source code.

Lotus340 · Post by **Lotus340** » 06/12/2023, 7:22

I see there's a new Stockfish NPS version for Android out this week which makes use of TWO nets. One is the latest default net, the other (small one 6.53 mb) I don't recognise.

Does anyone know what the thinking is behind this dual-net approach and what strength gains, if any, are expected? Can a phone handle two nets, and how/when does it switch between them? Will it be used in the mainline Stockfish development?

I downloaded the dual-net manual compile and the required two nets but it doesn't work in Droidfish. I just get "Engine terminated" notices. Can anyone get this setup to work?

Brief announcement and downloads are here:

https://github.com/Joachim26/StockfishNPS/releases/tag/Win_modern_and_armv8_dev_release

LittleJoe · Post by **LittleJoe** » 07/12/2023, 15:15

Lotus340 wrote: ↑06/12/2023, 7:22 I see there's a new Stockfish NPS version for Android out this week which makes use of TWO nets. One is the latest default net, the other (small one 6.53 mb) I don't recognise.

Does anyone know what the thinking is behind this dual-net approach and what strength gains, if any, are expected? Can a phone handle two nets, and how/when does it switch between them? Will it be used in the mainline Stockfish development?

I downloaded the dual-net manual compile and the required two nets but it doesn't work in Droidfish. I just get "Engine terminated" notices. Can anyone get this setup to work?

Brief announcement and downloads are here:

https://github.com/Joachim26/StockfishNPS/releases/tag/Win_modern_and_armv8_dev_release

For Droidfish the "working directory" is not "/uci" (were the engine is) but "/uci/logs", or with full path "/storage/emulated/0/Droidfish/uci/logs"!
So copy both nets to "/uci/logs" and reset the uci-settings so that only the names of the two nets are displayed. Then try to start the Dual-Net SF again. I hope this resolves your problem, John

.

Lotus340 · Post by **Lotus340** » 07/12/2023, 20:10

Thanks for the tip, LittleJoe, it works now. Cheers.

It's funny, because usually a net doesn't seem to mind where it goes, as long as the path to it is entered into the engine options. That's my usual experience anyway.

And then something like this comes along, which only works if the nets are in one specific folder. Such are the quirks of engines.

Outskirts CheSS ForuM

Outskirts CheSS ForuM