~vcs-imports-ii/gnubg/trunk

GNU Backgammon NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.  15 Jan

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.14.4

** add functions for importing and exporting board designs.

** coloring of blunders, lucky rolls etc in the game list (controlled by styles

in gnubg.gtkrc)

** improved chequer movement in GUI (dragging with pick'n'pass)

** right-click context menu with entries for undo move and score sheet

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.14.3

** fix "bug" in Zadeh match equity table

** Add built-in support for Claes Tornberg's mec 

** Russian translation started

** Interface to relational databases using Python

** New utility program bearoffdump to dump information about databases.

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.14.2

** Translations

*** added Czech

*** several languages updates. See README for status.

** 3D boards

*** new quick draw option for computers without accelerated drivers

** Several bug fixes

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.14.1

** Rollouts

*** extendable rollouts

** Bearoff

*** support for Hugh Sconyers' 15x15 full bearoff database

** 3D boards

** Time controls

** Translations to

*** English (US) (complete)

*** German (95% finished)

*** Italian (90% finished)

*** Japanese (60% finished)

*** French (60% finished)

*** Islandic (25% finished)

*** Tyrkish (25% finished)

*** Danish (20% finished)

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.14

** general

*** improved support for Jacoby rule and variants (Nackgammon, Hypergammon, 

   and cubeless)

*** new program to generate databases for Hypergammon.

** New dice generator:

*** read dice from file (similar to Jellyfish)

*** dice manipulation, e.g., roll the best roll for computer player

** Import

*** import position files in Snowie .txt format

   (illegal moves will be imported correctly)

** Export

*** export positions in Snowie .txt format

** Analysis

*** option to analyse one side only 

   (e.g., skip analysis of GNU Backgammons moves)

*** Sho Sengoku temperature map

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.13

** swap players

*** new command "swap players" (also available from the menu Game->Swap Players)

   that swaps the players. Useful when your match imported from, e.g., 

   GamesGrid is "upside-down".

** analysis

*** new command "analyse move" (Analyse->Analyse Move)

*** analysis of resignations

*** tutor mode added

** match equity tables are now read from XML files. Allows the user to specify

   her own favorite MET. 

** Support for "skewed" METs, for example, tables from Jacobs and Trice's

   fish book.

   Also, a new command "set invert met on|off" to specify whether the table

   should be used as entered, or used inverted. For example, the supplied METs

   from Jacobs and Trice's book are entered with player 0 being the 

   stronger player.  If the table should be used with player 1 being the 

   stronger player use: "set invert met on".

** Rollouts:

*** rollout positions as initial position (i.e., no doubles on first roll).

*** quasi-random dice added.

*** simple variance reduction for cubeful rollouts.

*** statistics (e.g, number of times closed out, cube efficiency etc).

*** fixed bug in calculations of standard errors.

*** standard errors are now shown in equity or mwc according to user

   settings.

** Evaluations

*** "crashed" neural net added.

*** much more flexible rollout databases added.

*** movefilter commands added, to allow user customisation of move pruning.

*** hint dialog improved.

** Save, Load, Export, and Import

*** it is now possible to set-up default paths for saving, loading, 

   export, and import of matches and games.

** A set of predefined settings for evaluations.

** Introduction of a Match ID for simple and convinient exchange of positions.

** Import from BKG and TMG formats.

** Export in PDF, (Encapsulated) PostScript, LaTeX, HTML, plain text and PNG.

*** export settings dialog available from Settings->Export

   (warning: only html export uses some of the options).

** New dice generators:

*** random.org

*** Blum, Blum and Shub

** Manual browser added (requires GTK+ 2.0 or newer).

** Message window added.

** Sounds added.

** Board designs added.

** Player records added.

** Internationali[sz]ation.

** Distribution of rolls

** Chequer movement: click bearoff tray for gready bearoff or for showing

   forced move.

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.12

** Various bug fixes.

** Cubeful rollouts added.

** Revised chequer moving interface (both while playing and in edit mode).

** Added chequer animation option.

** gnubg now offers resignations when its position is hopeless.

** "eq2mwc" and "mwc2eq" commands added.

** Importing of .mat, .sgg and FIBS "oldmoves" files added.

** Exporting to LaTeX, PostScript and PDF format added.

** Add a variant rule which forbids more than 5 chequers on a point.

** Added command line options `-c' (--command) and `-s' (--script).

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.11

** Various bug fixes.

** Reduced 2-ply searching improved.

** Support matches up to length 64, for all match equity tables.

** Annotation (analysis, commentary and statistics) features added.

** Various buttons (take, drop, double, roll, etc.) added to the GTK+ board.

** New Guile primitives: classify-position, evaluate-position-cubeful,

game-state, menu-bar.

** Optional point number labels added to the GTK+ board.

** Random number seeds for rollouts may now be specified.

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.10

** Man page added.

** Import and export of position databases added.

** "set output" and "set training" commands added.

** External players (where moves are read from a socket to another process)

added.

** Importing of JF ".pos" position files added.

** Added Guile support, if Guile is available.

** Allow "=n" notation for moves (e.g. "eval =1" evaluates the position

after gnubg's first choice move is played; "rollout =1 =3" rolls out the

best and 3rd best moves).

** Generate an in-memory heuristic bearoff database if it can't be read

from the filesystem.

** .SGF format support for loading and saving added.

** Added game and match navigation: use `next' and `previous' commands,

or equivalent buttons in game window.

** Cubeful evaluation added.

** You can now load and save settings, and specify startup commands in a

~/.gnubgrc file.

** Added GTK+ port, and many associated features.

** MD5 dice generation added.

** Added command line options `-d' (--datadir), `-b' (--no-bearoff),

`-r' (--no-rc) and `-w' (--window-system-only).

** Reduced searches added.

** "!" shell escapes added.

** Allow finer grained "set evaluation" commands (rollouts, each player,

and "eval"/"hint" use separate settings).

** Added Nackgammon option.

** Clicking on the cube in the board window is equivalent to the command

"double".

** The board window now gives better feedback about any move (if the move

is a partial or complete legal move, it is displayed, otherwise "Illegal move"

is shown).  Chequers may be moved around without restriction, and all legal

moves will be recognised.

** The player names now default to the user's login name and "gnubg".

** Added --no-weights option to disable reading weights files.  Generate

and use binary weight files if available.

** Optional automatic bearoffs in non-contact positions ("set autobearoff").

** Match and session play has been added, along with support for the

Crawford and Jacoby rules, and automatic doubles.

** The position ID is now displayed in board window.

** Allow alternate style of moving chequers in board window with mouse

buttons 2 and 3.

** Added support for other dice generators ("set rng").

** Many miscellaneous commands implemented.

** More bug fixes.

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.02

** Bug fixes (10225, 10227).

** Added --tty option to disable X operation, and made

everything fall back to TTY if X fails.

** Now reads weights and bearoff database from $pkgdatadir (defaults to

/usr/local/share/gnubg/) if not found in current directory.

** Started implementation of supervised training (only enabled if gdbm is

available).  See "help database".

* Changes in GNU Backgammon 0.01

** Bug fixes (100110, 100113, 100114, 100115, 100118, 100122, 100150).

** Rudimentary X window system support.

* GNU Backgammon 0.0

** Initial release.

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