F.A.Q.

Page last update: 8/13/2004

The list below is a compilation from the support questions we have received.

• When I try to start the program, I get a message: "Error loading chess engine", when I continue the program crashes ?
• I like to play on-line with a friend using ChessPartner, can you help me ?
• When I start the program I get a message: The CP4.EXE file is linked to missing export OLEAUT32.DLL:417, what is wrong ?
• The installation hangs halfway while installing Std.ttf. This is on Windows 2000 and also on XP, what's up?
• Can ChessPartner make use of the timeseal program ?
• Since I have upgraded to Windows XP, connecting to chessclub.com seems erratic. how come ?
• Does the Novag Universal Chessboard work with ChessPartner or ERT ?
• I like to know a bit more about the way book learning works ?
• I want to connect Chesspartner to chess.net. How do I make it work with accuclock to compensate for lag?
• How can I change the sounds ?
• What is the difference between timeseal and timestamp programs, and how can I use these on ICC or on FICS ?
• I have installed CP on Windows 2000, when I try to start ChessPartner I get a error loading engine. Whats wrong ?
• How can I use Crafty as engine ?
• After installing ChessPartner 4.1 I get the error: The CP4.EXE program is linked to missing export MFC42.DLL:6907 sometimes followed by: A device attached to the system is not functioning. ?
• The chessboard has disappeared, how can I make it visible again ?
• Does ChessPartner 4.0 support a Mephisto Kasparov PC Auto Chessboard ?
• The time limit on the version I downloaded has now run out and I'd like to know how to get the regular version ?
• If I select 'Options' from the Extra menu, the program crashes ?
• When you are playing, how do you interpret what score means? (i.e. when is says that the score is: -6,42 what does that mean?)
• The program used to work fine, but now it crashes when I try to start it?
• When I try to start the program, it crashes, what's wrong ?
• On freechess.org I log into the server as guest and it kicks off and on.
• How can I use the DGT board with ChessPartner ?

When I try to start the program, I get a message: "Error loading chess engine", when I continue the program crashes ?
This is caused by a system file not present during the installation. The file in question is COMCAT.DLL which resides in the windows\system directory. To fix this you have to download and install the ccdist.exe file. Then un-install ChessPartner, reboot, and re-install ChessPartner.
We have seen one occasion where a customer had a corrupt version of this file on his PC, in this case recover by renaming the COMCAT.DLL to COMCAT.OLD and repeating the whole procedure.

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I like to play on-line with a friend using ChessPartner, can you help me ?
There is a updated help file available which gives a description on how to do this, checkout the downloads section.

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When I start the program I get a message: The CP4.EXE file is linked to missing export OLEAUT32.DLL:417, what is wrong ?
You probably have old or corrupt versions of some of you system files. You can obtain updated versions from the Microsoft website. Search for knowledge base article: Q164529 ....... (28-jan-99) argh!!!! Microsoft removed the article, just download and install dcom95.exe from the downloads page !

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The installation hangs halfway while installing Std.ttf. This is on Windows 2000 and also on XP, what's up?
There appears to be a problem with the installer. Workaround is to reboot, then delete the Traveler Standard font using the font applet from the control panel, then reboot and reinstall.

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Can ChessPartner make use of the timeseal program ?
Yes, but you need at least ChessPartner 4.1  In version 4.0 it is also possible to use timeseal, but not automatic, you have to start the timeseal program manually, using some command line parameters to tell it which server to connect to.

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Since I have upgraded to Windows XP, connecting to chessclub.com seems erratic. how come ?
This is caused by the universal plug and play service. This service is enabled by default and is using port 5000. Workaround is to disable the UPNP service or use port 5001 to connect to chessclub.com. On freechess.org port 23 seems to work. For more background information and instruction how to disable UPNP see here...

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Does the Novag Universal Chessboard work with ChessPartner or ERT ?
 

We received the following tips from a customer:

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I like to know a bit more about the way book learning works ?
Check out this article.

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I want to connect Chesspartner to chess.net. How do I make it work with accuclock to compensate for lag?
Download the program accuclck from ChessNet's website. Then place the files in your install directory.
Open your chessnet console that you use to login with.
Right click on the window, left click on properties.
Left click on Network Lag Control. Setup.
In the path. Type in the location of the accuclck file.
In parameters type; -p %2
Then save the console and logon.

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How can I change the sounds ?
 

All the sounds are simple .wav files which are stored in the sounds folder. You can simply replace the .wav files for the ones you like. The meaning of the .wav files are as follows:

attention.wav - General attention sound.
check.wav - Computer gives check.
checkmate.wav - Guess what ?
draw.wav - And this one ?
welcomnl.wav - Welcome sound.
ping.wav - Used to signal errors.
quit.wav - Played when program exits.
gamestart.wav - ICC/FICS game start.  (4.3)
gamestop.wav - ICC/FICS game ended. (4.3)
shout.wav - ICC/FICS shout received. (4.3)
sshout.wav - ICC/FICS c-shout received. (4.3)
tell.wav - ICC/FICS tell or say received. (4.3)
kibitz.wav ICC/FICS kibitz received. (4.3)
challenge.wav - ICC/FICS challenge received. (4.3)

Further the sounds directory contains subdirectories for each spoken voice.

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What is the difference between timeseal and timestamp programs, and how can I use these on ICC or on FICS ?
 

The timeseal program is for use with FICS or some of the other free Chess servers. Timestamp is to be used with the ICC server. To use timeseal, open the properties page of the internet console window, check the 'use timeseal' box. Click on the 'Setup..' button, if you installed ChessPartner 4.2 you can in principle leave all the fields empty. To use the timestamp program you have to fill it's program name explicitly in. Fill in the full pathname in the path field. e.g.

"C:\Program Files\Lokasoft\ChessPartner4.2\timeseal\timestamp.exe"

Then in the parameters field fill in: %1 %2 -p %2

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I have installed CP on Windows 2000, when I try to start ChessPartner I get a error loading engine. Whats wrong ?
There is a small bug in the installation program that only affects use on W2000, download this registry script that will fix the problem.

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How can I use Crafty as engine ?
Here some step by step instructions to use crafty.

- You need to have ChessParner 4.1
- Make sure you have crafty installed and working, e.g have it installed in some directory c:\crafty
- Start ChessPartner
- From the Extra menu select 'Options' Then on the 'Chess Engine' tab Click the 'Engine...' button.
- In the dropdown list select 'Winboard Adapter'
- If you get a error message 'Error loading engine, do you want to edit the profile' Select Yes.
- In the dialog you get click on the 'Edit profile' button
- This opens notepad with the ENGINEEXT.INI file loaded.
- Find the section that starts with [Crafty]
- Change the following lines to contain the name and directory where you have installed crafty. e.g.
  EngineDir="c:\crafty"
  EnginePath="c:\crafty\wcrafty-15_14.exe"
- Save the file and exit notepad
- Go back to the dialog where you clicked the 'Edit profile' button and make sure CRAFTY is selected in the dropdown list.
- Click OK now, crafty should load, its output is displayed in a separate window, you have to switch back to the CP window and close the options dialog.
- From the 'Extra menu' select 'Save settings' this makes your selection permanent.
- You can now change engine any time by just using the engine selection page.

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After installing ChessPartner 4.1 I get the error: The CP4.EXE program is linked to missing export MFC42.DLL:6907 sometimes followed by: A device attached to the system is not functioning. ?
This happens when the installation program did not update the MFC42.DLL file. To check the version of this file, right click on it, select properties, then the version tab, the version must be 6.00.8267.0 or higher. To fix the problem rename the existing MFC42.DLL file, then re-install ChessPartner 4.1. You can find the MFC42.DLL eighter in the windows\system directory or in the windows\system32 directory.

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The chessboard has disappeared, how can I make it visible again ?
You probably have clicked the X in the right top corner of the chess board window. To restore; from the Windows menu, select 1. White... The same is true for most of the other windows as well.

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Does ChessPartner 4.0 support a Mephisto Kasparov PC Auto Chessboard ?
ChessPartner 4.0 has no specific support for an auto chessboard. However with the latest update we have added support for the auto232 player, and although we have not tested it, some boards may be compatible with the auto232 interface. Wether the Mephisto board is compatible, we don't know, you may be able to find out. Check the newsgroups. If there is a specification available and more people are interested we maybe willing to add such interface.

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The time limit on the version I downloaded has now run out and I'd like to know how to get the regular version ?
There is no 'regular' version, to continue using ChessPartner you have to register. After registration a unlock code is e-mailed which enables you to use ChessPartner beyond the evaluation period. To register visit the on-line ordering page.

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If I select 'Options' from the Extra menu, the program crashes ?
You probably have an old version of a system file called: comctl32.dll You can download a updated comctl32.dll from our website, the url is:
http://www.lokasoft.nl/downloads/40comupd.exe You can also search the Microsoft site for an update.

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When you are playing, how do you interpret what score means? (i.e. when is says that the score is: -6,42 what does that mean?)
This means the computer thinks he is down more then 6 pawns. e.g 0,00 is equal, 1,00 is one pawn ahead etc. One more note: The comma is used as a decimal separator.

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The program used to work fine, but now it crashes when I try to start it?
Your last game probably had more then 400 halve moves in it. When you exit ChessPartner, your current game is automatically saved in a file called: LCHSLASTGAME.GME. After starting CP4 it loads the last game from this file. If this file contains more then 400 moves it causes the crash. To recover, just search for this file and delete it. The file is normally stored in your TEMP directory. A final fix will be provided in a future update. (Fixed in 4.1)

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When I try to start the program, it crashes, what's wrong ?
This error is generally caused by some wrong version of system files, there are two files known to give problems; the COMCAT.DLL and the MFC42.DLL file. These two files are normally installed by chesspartner but some applications install incompatible versions of these files. To fix the problem you can download a file called ccdist.exe from our website.
Step 1 - Uninstall chesspartner.
Step 2 - install the ccdist.exe (this updates the COMCAT.DLL file)
Step 3 - You may have to reboot.
Step 4 - Reinstall chesspartner.
Did this fix the problem ? If not, the cause is the other file. Download update 3 from our website (this includes new version of MFC42.DLL) Install this update. If this does not fix the problem please let us know.
NOTE: No longer true when you have downloaded ChessPartner 4.1

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On freechess.org I log into the server as guest and it kicks off and on.
We tested it here and there appears to be a problem with freechess.org. We tried the Internet Chess Club with a guest account and that worked fine. After further investigation we learned freechess.org does no longer accept guest accounts except via javaboard. So to use ChessPartner on freechess.org you first need to registed an account via www.freechess.org, click on the register link.

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How can I use the DGT board with ChessPartner ?

Start ChessPartner

1 - Extra -> Options - Select the devices tab
2 - Make sure the "DGT Electronics chessboard driver 1.03 is enabled.
3 - With the line selected click on the settings button.
4 - Select the correct port, you need to know the com port number you connected the dgt board on.
5 - Extra -> Save Settings.
6 - Exit the program, and restart.

The board should now be active. Important is to have the same position on the board as in ChessPartner, best is to start with a new game and the start position.

With the new USB DGT boards there may be a potential problem with the port number, de 1.03 driver can handle only com1 to com4.

We have a 1.04 driver which can handle upto com9 but we have not yet tested it. Once it is tested we make it available for download.

For now there is a workaround for the 1.03 driver to set it on a different port, in that case you have to edit the cpdgtboard.ini file. This file can be found under:

c:\Program Files\Lokasoft\ChessPartner5.3\devices

Open the file with notepad, your will see something like:

[cpdgtboard]
port=com2

Just change the port=com2 line to read the port the dgt board.

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