# Welcome to Chessmaster 9000 ## This ReadMe file accompanies version 1.0.2 Chessmaster 9000 Developed by: UbiSoft Ported to the Macintosh by: Zonic Published for the Macintosh by: Feral ## Contents Latest information and updates Technical Support System Requirements Installation Chessmaster as a Background Application Getting Started What are the keyboard shortcuts for Chessmaster 9000? Uninstalling Copy Protection Video drivers General Performance issues Chessmaster 9000 Performance Tips Release Notes
1. Latest information and updates For news, hints, and community visit the following sites on the web: Feral UbiSoft Back To Top
2. Technical Support Every effort has been made to make Chessmaster 9000 as compatible with current hardware as possible. However, if you are experiencing problems when running Chessmaster 9000, please read on. The quickest and easiest way to solve problems and get questions answered is to visit the websites listed above. Feral deals specifically with Macintosh issues and is probably the best place to start should you need more information or have a problem. Before contacting us for technical support, please make sure that you have read the manual and/or checked the FAQs for Chessmaster 9000. The latest version of the FAQs can be found by clicking on the "View FAQs" button in the Support tab of the Chessmaster 9000 Options window (this is the window that opens when you first start the game), or by going straight to the Feral website: http://www.feralinteractive.com/ You should also make sure that you have the latest version of the game. Do this by clicking the Updates tab in the Options window, and clicking on "Check for Updates". You can also go to the Chessmaster 9000 area of the Feral website and click on the "Patches" link. If the FAQs and/or updates do not solve your problem, then please feel free to contact us. Follow the procedure outlined below, as this makes helping you much easier for us and consequently much quicker for you. The following information MUST be obtained BEFORE contacting Feral Technical Support: The error message displayed when the problem occurred (if any). A Chessmaster 9000 Report.txt file. This contains: An Apple System Profiler Report of your Mac. Any Crash logs that exist for Chessmaster 9000. List of all the files in the Chessmaster 9000 game folder. All the information required can be obtained by opening Chessmaster 9000 and clicking on the Support tab in the Chessmaster 9000 Options window. In the Support tab, click on the "Generate Report" button; this will grey out and a progress wheel and status message will appear below it. Once the report is generated it will appear as a file on your desktop. Now click on the send e-mail button. Remember to attach the report called "Chessmaster 9000 Report.txt" to your e-mail. In your e-mail, please include a brief description of the problem you have experienced with Chessmaster 9000. Back To Top
3. System Requirements Minimum System Requirements (Macintosh) Mac OS 10.2 PowerPC G3/G4 700 MHz 256 MB RAM Hardware accelerated 3D Graphics Card with 16 MB VRAM DVD Drive 1.3 GB free hard disk space. Mouse and Keyboard QuickTime 6 Recommended System Requirements (Macintosh) Mac OS 10.3 or later PowerPC G4 1 GHz 512 MB RAM Hardware accelerated 3D Graphics Card with 16 MB VRAM 1.3 GB free hard disk space. Mouse and Keyboard Back To Top
4. Installation Ensure that Chessmaster 9000 has already been updated to 1.0.1. This is only necessary with the English language version of the game. The 1.0.1 updater is available here Double click on the "Chessmaster 9000 Update" icon to open it. Follow the on-screen instructions to update the game on your hard disk. Once the update is complete, Chessmaster 9000 will have been updated to 1.0.2. This is a one-time process that will only take a few minutes. Back To Top
5. Chessmaster as a Background Application Chessmaster 9000 version 1.0.2 includes an extra option in the pre-game window which allows the program to save processing power when in the background. The option is a tick box found in the Advanced tab and is labelled "Use less CPU when in background". By default this is turned on which means moving out of Chessmaster into another application will freeze all running Chessmaster processes except for the chess engine. This means that game will continue to process the next move, but the windows and all other features will be disabled. Once in the background the only way to make Chessmaster 9000 the front most application is to either click on it's icon in the dock or tab back in. Clicking on the window will not bring Chessmaster back to the front. Disabling this option will make Chessmaster 9000 use full processing power even when in the background. In this mode clicking the window will bring Chessmaster back to the front. Back To Top
6. Getting Started When Chessmaster is started for the first time, a Log In screen will appear that allows the player to choose a name and the initial level of play. After logging in, the Lobby screen will appear. From here, the different game rooms can be accessed by pressing the associated button. These rooms are:- The Library - View 800+ classic historical games, study opening moves and countermoves and create an Opening book from scratch. The Classroom - Find tutorials on everything from basic moves to intricate structures and attacks. The Tournament Room - Set up competitions and play Rated games that affect your overall chess rating. The Game Room - Play Unrated games for fun, to hone your skills and to improve the different aspects of your game. The Database Room - Search and analyze over 500,000 historical chess games; create your own database to view and store detailed game information. The Kids' Room - One-stop area where kids of all ages can play chess and sample a variety of Chessmaster's features, without needing to enter any other room. The CM Live Room - Play chess and chat with other Chessmaster users over the Internet or LAN. To gain a deeper knowledge of chess theory, go to either the Library or the Classroom. To dive straight in, select the Game Room and click the Quickstart button in the Shortcuts window. To discover the history of chess, select About Chessmaster from the Chessmaster 9000 menu and click the History button. Back To Top
7. What are the keyboard shortcuts for Chessmaster 9000? When playing Chessmaster 9000, the game is controlled through a windowed interface. Most of Chessmaster's interactive elements are menus and buttons, which can be selected by using a mouse. Like the Finder, keyboard shortcuts can be used to access many menu commands. The shortcuts for Chessmaster 9000 include :
Window Shortcuts
Shortcuts | ⌘1 |
Game Status | ⌘2 |
Annotation | ⌘3 |
Captured Pieces | ⌘4 |
Visual Thinking | ⌘5 |
Thinking Lines | ⌘6 |
Player Profile | ⌘7 |
Toggle Windows | ⌥ ⇥ |
Gameplay Shortcuts
New Game | ⌘N |
Takeback Move | ⌘T |
Replay Move | ⌘R |
Playback Move | ⌘Y |
Switch Sides | ⌘D |
Force Move | ⌘F |
Flip Board | ⌘B |
Viewing Angles | F2 to F7 |
Symbol Guide
Command | ⌘ |
Option | ⌥ |
Tab | ⇥ |
NOTE: - A quick guide to the control keys can also be found on the back of the manual Back To Top
8. Uninstalling If, for whatever reason, you should wish to uninstall Chessmaster 9000, simply drag the folder called "Chessmaster 9000" from your hard drive and drop it in the Trash, then empty the Trash. Remember also to remove the Chessmaster 9000 preferences, which are stored in a folder called "Ubisoft" in your computer's ~/Library/Preferences folder (where the "~" symbol refers to your home directory). IMPORTANT: If you have more than one game from UbiSoft installed, remember to check inside the folder so that you do not delete other UbiSoft game preferences. Back To Top
9. Copy Protection When you launch the game, a dialog will appear asking you to insert the original Chessmaster 9000 DVD then click the "OK" button. When you insert the DVD, the operating system may take a few seconds to notice! If you click "OK" before it has noticed, the dialog will not go away. Simply wait a few seconds and then click the "OK" button again. Back To Top
10. Video drivers If you are experiencing video problems with Chessmaster 9000, then the most likely cause is outdated video drivers. If your Macintosh computer came fitted with a video card, which you have not changed or upgraded, then you will find the latest drivers on Apple's website at http://www.apple.com/updates The latest drivers for ATI cards are available at their website:http://www.ati.com The latest drivers for nVidia cards are available via Software Update. Back To Top
11. General Performance issues The most important factors in determining how smoothly Chessmaster 9000 plays are your CPU speed, the amount of built-in RAM your computer has and the in-game settings you select. Chessmaster 9000 is playable with the minimum specifications listed above, but it is memory hungry and plays more smoothly on faster computers with more RAM. However, if you are dissatisfied with the performance of the game on your computer, there are a couple of things you can do that are likely to improve performance: Close all other applications: You are strongly encouraged to quit all other applications before launching Chessmaster 9000 - other applications drain resources and slow the overall system performance. Clear disk space: Ensure that your main hard disk has a lot of spare disk space. Back To Top
12. Chessmaster 9000 Performance Tips In addition to the general Mac actions listed above, there are some specific in-game settings you can select to speed up the game. These are listed below in order of performance improvement (greatest improvement first). Work through the list, implementing the recommended changes until you find settings that give you both good performance and acceptable graphics. Bump Mapping - Gives chess pieces a textured appearance On - Slower Off - Fastest Shadows - Gives chess pieces complex 3D shadows On - Slower Off - Fastest Reflections - Gives reflections for the pieces on the chessboard On - Slower Off - Fastest Visual Quality - Number of colours in which the game plays Millions (32bit) - Slower Thousands (16bit) - Fastest Back To Top
13. Release Notes Chessmaster 9000 v1.0.2 If you are running 1.0 you will need to download the Chessmaster 1.0.1 Patch from here before installing the 1.0.2 patch. This release of Chessmaster fixes the following issues over previous releases: Resolved incompatibilities with Mac OS X Tiger, allowing personalities to be loaded. Fixed the calculation of time spent on game analysis. Resolved issues with invalid FSAA settings. Clipped windows and dialogs have been fixed. Chessmaster 9000 will suspend operation when in the background. Added tick-box to toggle less CPU usage when in background. Back To Top