[Bug-gnubg] Re: GNU Backgammon bugs

[Øystein Johansen]

MST wrote:
> Dear Øystein Johansen!
> 
> I´m sorry, if my message sounded a little angry, but I really have
> been searching very long for somebody to get in a contact.
> 
>> Question:
>>> So, how do I get this 3D mode working, please?
>> 
>> Settings->Appearence (and then the general flag)
>> 
> Unfortunatly, that´s excactly what doesn´t work. Please remember, I´m
> on WinXP, not Linux. The area which should display the 3D board,
> remains empty, but I don´t see why.

This sounds strange. Is your computer really old? Can it be your
graphics card is not capable to render the board? It should work exactly
the same on Windows as on Linux.

> Now I tried it again, and I got a 3D board (Wood1), but it is very 
> unstable. After closing the appearance window, the left area of this 
> window remains visible and the rest of the area which should display
> the 3D board, is actually displaying my desktop, almost as if this
> area was transparent.

Yes, sounds like you have an old computer with a cheap graphics card
without any kind of hardware acceleration. How many frames pr. second do
you get then you press the "Test performance" button in the "General" tab?

(Maybe we should have stated the requirements for the 3D board somewhere?)

> Storing these new settings is possible, but when I start GNU
> Backgammon the next time (now in 3D mode), my desktop is there again,
> like mentioned before. No matter what I´m trying, the only working
> mode seems to be 2D.

Hmmm....

> About the "cheating dices (or not)" topic: I really believe you, but
> I don´t understand, why the game is always dicing numbers which kick
> out my checkers when they are alone on a field?

Really always? Have you ever won a game?

> BTW: I tried "Mersenne" and "ANSI".

Both these pseudo random number generators should give fairly random
numbers. The numbers generated are only depending on the generator and
the seed. For any practical purpose the dice are random. "Mersenne
Twister" is considered the fastest and best of these. ANSI is the random
generator built into the C programming language. If you do a net search
you'll find more about these random number generators.

> I tried "Manual dice", too, but the "Manual dice" feature doesn´t
> offer random numbers and unfortunately its window covers what´s
> happening on the board (i.e. that´s invisible then).

With manual dice, you can get your own physical pair of dice, roll them,
and click them in to the game.

About the size of this window. I think this size is hard coded into the
program, I can make the standard size less?

>> if there were two very fast counters (from 1 to 6)
>> 
>> If you think this helps.... ?
>> 
> I don´t know! It was just an idea, which I thought may be interesting
> somehow.

Maybe, I'll keep this idea in mind.

>> Have you tried the mailing list? Have you tried GammOnLine or 
>> rec.games.backgammon?
>> 
> Sorry, the first site is too expensive to subscribe and the second
> one is blocked by my Proxomitron (probably for some spam or popup
> reasons).

I usually recommend GammOnLine to serious students of the game. The
price is $36 for a life time membership. That will give you access to a
discussion forum with the worlds best players around. You also get
access to good articles about backgammon, and you can participate in the
on line match against Kit Woolsey. Actually this is a bargain.

rec.games.backgammon is public (and free) and can be reached through
your mail reader or through google.

The GNU Backgammon mailing list is also free. You have to subscribe. You
can do so here:
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-gnubg

> About the mailing list topic: I don´t like mailing lists, because I´d
> get many, many e-mails but none of them is actually useful for me.
> I´ve already experienced something like this with OpenOffice. I´d
> really appreciate the existence of an ordinary support forum.

I believe you can subscribe to the list, without getting all the emails.
That will make it possible for you to mail the developers and other
subscribers, and get an answer. You can also browse the mail archive
here: http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnubg

We've thought about a forum, but we didn't fins it necessary. Anyone:
Has this changed?

> Let me add this, please: I don´t want to malign your game, I just
> want to give you a feedback that may be useful for you and the game´s
> further development.

Thanks. To improve, we need feedback.

> Best regards, Markus Streifler

-Øystein
cc: mailing list.

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