Shortly after your payment to purchase HIARCS is received you will be sent
an email with your personal license key to activate HIARCS and the download
details including a link to the download. Simply click on this link and save
your download (please note where you save the downloaded installer). Please
make sure you only use the installer on your computers and only those you
intend to use HIARCS 11 UCI. The reason for this is that the license key is
for your personal use only and displayed within the product. Once downloaded
and ready to install please locate and run the installer, e.g.
SetUpHIARCS11.2SPUCI
Once the installer is running please follow the straight forward
instructions to install the chess engine.
Once the installer has finished you will find the HIARCS 11.2 UCI engine, book, license and readme files will
then be automatically installed on your machine.
Once the engine is installed you will need to create/add the HIARCS 11.2 UCI engine into your
favourite GUI so you can use it. Please see the other question/answers below on this
page for how to do this.
You will then be sent by email a personal license key to activate the
product.
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After you purchase of HIARCS 11 UCI we will generate a personalised license name and key which will be emailed
to you.
First download the product and install it on your computer.
Now there is two main ways to activate the engine:
1) Activation before adding into a chess GUI - This is probably the
simplest way to activate the HIARCS engine. Open the folder in which HIARCS
11.2 is installed. To do this open a file browser and navigate to the folder containing the HIARCS
11.2 UCI chess engine you want.
The default installation location for HIARCS 11.2 UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11.2 SP UCI
The default installation location for HIARCS 11.2 MP UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11.2 MP UCI
Please note on Winx64 "Program Files (x86)" will be used instead of "Program
Files".
Once you reach the installed Hiarcs 11.2 folder you will see the following:
Double click on the ACTIVATE-H11-2SP batch file to pre activate the HIARCS
engine by entering you license information in the following dialog.
alternatively you can activate using this method...
2) Activation when adding into chess GUI - Add/create the HIARCS UCI
engine in your chosen Chess GUI. When you load the engine in your chosen GUI
for the first time you will be presented with a dialog in which to enter your
license name and key.
Please note some chess GUIs have a very short time out when Adding chess
engines and this can make entering the key difficult. In that case either
select to Activate Later and enter the license key when loading the engine in
the GUI after it is created or use option 1 above.
Once your key is correctly entered (or copy/pasted) HIARCS 11.2 UCI will be
activated.
HIARCS 11.2 UCI contains a number of enhancements and supersedes HIARCS 11
and 11.1. The main enhancements are as follows:
HIARCS 11.2 UCI contains a new protection mechanism which is highly
flexible for the customer and makes activation very straightforward.
With Arena 1.1 running select the Engines menu and select the "New Engine"
menu item as below:
You will then see a UCI/Windboard dialog box, select UCI and click OK
Now in the file browser navigate to the folder containing the HIARCS UCI
engine you want.
The default installation location for HIARCS 11 UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11 UCI
The default installation location for HIARCS 11 MP UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11 MP UCI
Please note on Winx64 "Program Files (x86)" will be used instead of "Program
Files".
Select the HIARCS 11 UCI (or HIARCS 11 MP UCI) engine and you will see a
key reminder dialog. If you have the key available please enter it. If not
please press OK - you will be able to enter your key later.
The engine will now be available in the Engine
Management screen. You can now start the HIARCS 11 UCI from the Engines menu
as follows:
Once the engine is first started you will be given registration/activation
information you will need to complete the activation of the engine. Once you
have received your license key you need to enter it to activate
HIARCS 11 UCI and HIARCS 11 MP UCI
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With Fritz/Hiarcs running select the Engine menu and choose the "Create UCI
Engine" menu item.
In the SetUp UCI Engine dialog that appears select browse
Now navigate to the folder containing the HIARCS 11 UCI engine you want.
The default installation location for HIARCS 11 UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11 UCI
The default installation location for HIARCS 11 MP UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11 MP UCI
Please note on Winx64 "Program Files (x86)" will be used instead of "Program
Files".
Select the HIARCS 11 UCI (or HIARCS 11 MP UCI) engine and you will see a
key reminder dialog. If you have the key available please enter it. If not
please press OK - you will be able to enter your key later. The HIARCS 11 UCI engine will then be populated in the Setup UCI Engine dialog.
You can now select "Change Main Engine" from the Engine menu and then
choose the HIARCS 11 UCI engine from the Load Engine dialog.
Once the engine is first started you will be given registration/activation
information you will need to complete the activation of the engine. Once you
have received your license key you need to enter it to activate
HIARCS 11 UCI and HIARCS 11 MP UCI
With Chessbase9 running open a Board window and select the Engine menu and choose the "Create UCI
Engine" menu item.
In the SetUp UCI Engine dialog that appears select browse
Now navigate to the folder containing the HIARCS 11 UCI engine you want.
The default installation location for HIARCS 11 UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11 UCI
The default installation location for HIARCS 11 MP UCI is
C:\Program Files\HIARCS Chess\HIARCS 11 MP UCI
Please note on Winx64 "Program Files (x86)" will be used instead of "Program
Files".
Select the HIARCS 11 UCI (or HIARCS 11 MP UCI) engine and you will see a
key reminder dialog. If you have the key available please enter it. If not
please press OK - you will be able to enter your key later. The HIARCS 11 UCI engine will then be populated in the Setup UCI Engine dialog.
You can now select "Add Kibitzer..." from the Engine menu and then
choose the HIARCS 11 UCI engine from the Load Engine dialog.
Once the engine is first started you will be given registration/activation
information you will need to complete the activation of the engine. Once you
have received your license key you need to enter it to activate
HIARCS 11 UCI and HIARCS 11 MP UCI
Yes, HIARCS 11 is licensed for use on up to three of your personal computers simultaneously
provided they are your computers and HIARCS is only used for your personal
use.
Each HIARCS 11 UCI has its own personally identifiable license name and
key. Please keep this key private as you will need it to run free updates when
available.
No, both the SP and MP versions now have a flexible license key which is
not affected when you change your hardware or computer. So you can have peace
of mind that you can always use your HIARCS 11 purchase.
I certainly hope to provide some free updates. If progress is made with the
HIARCS 11 UCI series it is my intention to release updates to HIARCS 11 UCI
customers. For example if the 64 bit version of HIARCS 11 shows a significant
increase in chess strength I will release this version to HIARCS 11
customers.
However for obvious reasons I would not release a new HIARCS 12 engine for
free.
The default settings are believed to be the strongest although it is very
true to say we did not have time to test all the settings to be absolutely
sure. The changes from default settings which are most likely to have the
potential to be stronger than HIARCS 11 UCI default are
- the Hypermodern setting ON as this has previously sometimes been shown
to be stronger especially against some opponents.
- Forward Pruning 11
- The other setting worth experimentation is the Combinations ON setting
as extra work has been done in HIARCS 11 on this.
- Against most programs that are weaker using the Hiarcs Draw value
(anti-contempt factor) can give even better results. The value of this
Hiarcs Draw value tells HIARCS to either prefer draws (positive values) or
avoid them (negative values). Against weaker programs a Hiarcs Draw Value of
-15 can be quite effective.
Please let us know your results and if you have found a better default for
HIARCS even if it is only against certain rivals.
You can find a full list of the settings and options on our
HIARCS UCI options page here.
This is a very difficult question to answer accurately because the strength
improvement varies depending on the opponent HIARCS faces and the time control
being used. It also requires literally thousands of games against various
opponents under strictly controlled conditions to determine the Elo
improvement.
My personal view based on our limited test results with the final HIARCS 11
UCI version is that it has improved by bout 40-80 Elo. Only time will tell if
I am right. However I am confident to say that it is significantly stronger
than HIARCS 10 and is a definite upgrade.
The multiprocessor version of HIARCS 11 UCI when running on multiprocessors
(of course!) gains a good speed up factor. The engine seems to scale quite
well and on two processors is about a factor of x1.8 times faster and on four
processors (the current maximum) it is about x3 times faster than its single
processor little brother.
In terms of Elo strength improvement I would imagine that on a dual
core/processor system it would be roughly about 40-50 Elo stronger and on a 4
processor system 70-90 Elo stronger.
If you do any comparisons please let us know the results!
The current maximum number of CPUs supported is 4 but we hope to raise this
to 8 CPUs once it has been verified.
Yes, absolutely. The HIARCS 11 MP version can run on a single processor
system as well as the single processor version of HIARCS 11 UCI. With HIARCS
11 MP you have the flexibility that if you upgrade your computer to a
multiprocessor version in the future you are safe in the knowledge HIARCS 11
MP will utilise your new computer's CPU hardware to the full.
Even if you have a multiprocessor or multicore (e.g. Dual Core) system you
can instruct HIARCS 11 MP to use one or more processors up to a max of 4 CPUs.
We hope to raise this to 8 CPUs once it has been verified.
HIARCS UCI offers set Elo strength play with customised
opponents from beginner at 1250 Elo to Super Grandmaster at 2800+ Elo.
Depending on the GUI the way this Limited Strength option is employed varies.
The Ownbook engine parameter is on by default. This means HIARCS UCI will
access its own book and even learn good and bad openings if the book learning
option is on. However, you MUST turn the GUI book off or load an empty book so
that Hiarcs will be able to play from its own book. Otherwise the GUI will
play the book moves from another GUI book and not ask the Hiarcs engine for a
move in the opening.
Unfortunately the engine book cannot be displayed in a GUI because the UCI
protocol does not allow for it. Although we have requested a change to allow
this it seems the UCI protocol author does not want book functions to be
available through the UCI interface.
To provide the HIARCS opening book so each GUI can read and display it, it
would require that we produce the book in numerous different and contrasting
formats which would be very time consuming. However, we will look to make a
Chessbase CTG format HIARCS book available to customers if there is demand for
this.
HIARCS 11.1 is a free update version for HIARCS 11 customers. It contains
the following enhancements:
- Solution of issues with learning - new format to learning now used
- A minor issue affecting copy protection on Vista was resolved
- Improvements to evaluation and search
- Solution of problems with MP version especially on 4 CPU machines
- Improved opening book and book learning
- New default settings are now used:
a) The Threat Depth setting has been adjusted to 5 (previously 3)
b) Hypermodern is now ON by default
c) Forward pruning has been adjusted but the default is still 10.
This is the same version that won the CCT9 blitz championship for the
second year running and came second in the main tournament. We think it is
stronger than HIARCS 11. Performance on MP systems should be especially
improved and more reliable.
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