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GNU Backgammon Portable PRERELEASE (Testers needed)

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October 5, 2007 - 9:09am
#1
BuddhaChu
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GNU Backgammon Portable PRERELEASE (Testers needed)

About: GNU Backgammon is software for playing and analysing backgammon positions, games, and matches.

Download:
GNU_Backgammon_Portable_0.15-PRERELEASE2.paf.exe (internal build for alpha testers...never publicly released)
GNU_Backgammon_Portable_0.15-PRERELEASE2.paf.exe

Installed Size: 22.5MB

Thanks:
Ryan McCue for being the sole alpha tester (besides me 'natch :)) and letting me know I needed to move the config files into the \Data dir for backup purposes to conform to the PAF standard.

Notes:

  • The default board is U-G-L-Y! Why they picked that as the default I'll never know. To spruce the look up, do "Settings" -> "Appearance" -> "General" and change to a 3d board. On the "Designs" tab try "Irish Gold" or "Wood 1" for a better-looking board. Remember to do "Settings" -> "Save Settings" so your config is saved for next time. You'll need to do this if you make any changes under the "Settings" tab (changes are not auto-saved). Stick with a 2d board if your machine can't handle the 3d graphics.

  • GNU Backgammon "quirk": If you extract the app out to the usual path of .\PortableApps\ or to a path with no spaces in it you won't see the quirk. If you extract the app to a path that has a space in it, you'll receive a dialog box notifying you the application saved the config files out to the correct directory. Just hit "yes" on the dialog box. This quirk is internal to GNU Backgammon and has nothing to do with making it portable.
  • The default level for the game "out of the box" is "Expert". You may want to dumb that down. Do that under "Settings" -> "Players"
  • The program files were UPXed from 33MB down to 22MB...a nice space saver! (used NRV2E)
  • Use the links in the help.html file in the root dir of the portable app if you need help with GNU Backgammon or playing backgammon in general.

TODO:

  • Replace temp splash with a *real* splash screen (no comments from the peanut gallery about the current splash. My MSPaint skillz > yours :D)

  • Replace the NSIS arrow.bmp used to fill in for wizard.bmp - this should happen when John releases the "community helper pack" (the name I just made up for it...not the official name)
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October 5, 2007 - 9:22am
BuddhaChu
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Question

What are the "rules" for removing unused files from an app? Technically, the app is "modified", but the end user won't even know the difference.

Example:

GNU Backagmmon created two "uninstall" files that will never get used when installed portably and probably won't work right anyways so I deleted them.

There's a commandline client included, but not used. I'd like to delete it. Can I?

How about .c or .h files...code that will never get used by the end user (GNU Backgammon has one header file included for some reason.)

Removing all these files doesn't affect functionality, lowers the space used, and the end user can still extract a new version over the top of the \App\[program_name] directory and it'll work fine (barring any major code changes) like how it works with FirefoxPortable .

So what's the official dealie-o on removing files?

Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!

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October 5, 2007 - 9:46am
(Reply to #2)
Ryan McCue
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Drop it

Just drop them. They aren't needed and if a user needs it, they just have to download it again.
*/me sings Drop it like it's hot* Blum

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

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October 5, 2007 - 10:06am
(Reply to #3)
BuddhaChu
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Files dropped

I also discovered .pyd files can be compressed with UPX so that was done too (along with checking to make sure the app still ran fine :)).

New file uploaded with the same name.

Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!

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October 5, 2007 - 11:17am
BuddhaChu
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Hmmm

Seems that the latest devel release (0.16-devel) fixes the quirk listed above and the user doesn't get prompted at all now no matter if there are spaces or not in the path to the GNU Backgammon install dir.

Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!

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October 5, 2007 - 9:42pm
Espreon
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Backgammon, huh?

I think when this is ready (does not sound quite like it) I would love to add it to my games edition of my suites.

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October 5, 2007 - 9:48pm
(Reply to #6)
BuddhaChu
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needs "bling"

Not ready for "public" consumption quite yet. Functionally it's good but it needs some visual "bling" and that's it.

Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!

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October 7, 2007 - 5:19pm
(Reply to #7)
Espreon
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It needs a Pimpzilla styled board....

" "

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October 7, 2007 - 5:58pm
(Reply to #8)
BuddhaChu
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How about "no"

I mean the wizard.bmp and splash need to be switched out.

Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!

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October 7, 2007 - 7:02pm
(Reply to #9)
Espreon
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Oh

I thought you were referring to the app

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October 10, 2007 - 7:29pm
TStodden
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Good on XP... no go on Pre-XP systems

While Backgammon isn't my favorite game, it's working just fine for me... once I figured out how program ran.

On Windows ME, it refused to run... but it might be a programming issue & not a portable issue... I'm picking up the standard version to check it out.

Update: It's a programming issue for pre-XP systems.

~TStodden
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November 22, 2007 - 6:35am
Klan
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Bug?

Hi there

First I'll just say I am gratefull that you have taken the time to make gnu-bg portable. As a player in national and international tournaments, I use this program. Making it portable saves me the trouble of installing it on the computers I pass, either at work or in tournaments.

Bitching about its ugly ;-). No it isnt, this is the way its supposed to be, and the 3D boards are no good when analyzing your games, they dont give the same quick overview.
I always change the board to Espana, though, I prefer its looks.

Now, the bug? After you have moved your checkers, when hinting, what you have moved show up marked as red, so you can see what you have moved, compared to the correct move. In this version, it doesnt?
Now, I cant remember if that was a bug in this build of gnu-bg, but it have been there in all others.

Just a minor thing, and I'll easily survive your splashscreen Buddha...

EDIT:
Oh, and dont put the level down from expert, crank it up if your computer has the power to run it, or you'll never get better at playing the game.
Minimum is world class, and for the evaluation of your games, put it to grandmaster

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November 23, 2007 - 1:28am
(Reply to #12)
BuddhaChu
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Anything like what you

Anything like what you describe is a bug with the program itself and not the fact that it's portable. If it's a real bug, post it on the gnubg site.

The default board is ugly. There are others that look nice.

Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!

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December 5, 2015 - 6:00am
Das Plum
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Question

Any chance for update? On developer's site is already version 1.05.000.

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December 6, 2015 - 5:28pm
(Reply to #14)
Ken Herbert
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Not likely to happen, sorry

This thread is over 8 years old, and the dev hasn't been seen in 2 years, so an update is unlikely to happen unless a different dev decides to pick it up.

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December 8, 2015 - 8:03am
Das Plum
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OK. Thank you.

OK. Thank you.

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