Messages

1

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: November 15, 2006, 10:17 AM »

I will post a working version for the italian version of MineSweeper.

If You want I can send You some different Italian versions to test You program with.
You can however get board's bitmaps from my project, too.

2

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: November 15, 2006, 10:14 AM »

testing with Windows Vista would be interesting too.

I agree.

I developed the algorithm mainly on my own (it is quite similar), doing a bit more about the theoretical stuff. I think I am the only one calculating the correct probabilites for a mine

It's possible: I hate probabilities 
However I think the current version is quite good at it.
I'd like to see how You assign probs for some examples,
may be I can try to improve my calculation.

It is good to get some feedback. 

True.

3

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: November 14, 2006, 02:02 AM »

...

After pausing one year I improved my solver and fixed some bugs. It does now 36.4% of expert games.
You can try it out: http://www.wsdh.org/?minesweeper

Mathias

-mm267709 (November 12, 2006, 12:34 AM)

Well, if Your program is The world's best MineSweeper solver,
can i claim mine to be the world's coolest ? 

Gianni

4

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: November 14, 2006, 01:59 AM »

two minesweeper solvers!!!

now i know for sure that this world is just a dream world inside the matrix.

-mouser (November 12, 2006, 01:20 AM)

I sometimes have this same suspect, too !

Well, when I decided to partecipate to the contest I was thinking to have something really original, but it seems like somebody other had the same idea, that's really incredible !

Gianni

5

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: November 14, 2006, 01:52 AM »

Hi Gianni,

-mm267709 (November 12, 2006, 12:34 AM)

Hi Mathias

can you measure the odds of your solving algorithm?

-mm267709 (November 12, 2006, 12:34 AM)

No, I haven't added such a feature.

After pausing one year I improved my solver and fixed some bugs. It does now 36.4% of expert games.
You can try it out: http://www.wsdh.org/?minesweeper

-mm267709 (November 12, 2006, 12:34 AM)

I downloaded the program, but when I try to let it solve a configuration it runs an instance
of minesweeper (here in Italy is called Campo fiorito (flowers instead of mines)) and then it
shows an error saying 'Could not find application winmine.exe'.
My OS is Win2k with service pack 4 if I remember well.
I will try it at home with Win XP.

P.S: I think I found and error within this board (having 10 bombs). The sum of all bomb probabilites should be 10 - but isn't:

-mm267709 (November 12, 2006, 12:34 AM)

I don't understand it for now, but I guess I will understand when I will see Your program in action.
Also did You find the html file on which I detail some techniques used to solve the game ?
Do You use some different ones ?

Gianni

6

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: September 28, 2006, 07:28 AM »

Well,

this is the current version of Demine  !
It includes 2 new techniques ( explained in the techniques.html file included  ).

I think now the program has everything I can think about so
if there will not be feedback, ideas, bugs and so on ...
this will be the last version for a while ...

There is also a new version of DemineExercizer.

As always have fun !

Gianni Luciani

7

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Introducing SkyIDE - a free integrated devlopment environment written on BCB 6

« on: September 13, 2006, 06:14 AM »

>> Do You plan to add something similar to ClassExplorer ?

Believe me I tried a few times. [...]

-alexk (September 13, 2006, 05:56 AM)

Yes it should be a very difficult feature to implement, some time ago I started thinking to implement it but never tried, during the research for tools that helps doing so I found ANTLR (www.antlr.org)
a parser builder, and the source code of GCC, but probabily trying to implement a parser is overkill for this feature ...

>> Do You plan to add functionality similar to 'Understand for C++' ?

I don't think I've heard of this before, can you please clarify?

-alexk (September 13, 2006, 05:56 AM)

Yes,
it's a tool to better understand programs.
It parses a project and put all classes, macros, files, functions etc.. etc...
in a DB so a user can reach them with a click or as their developers say

ANSI C, C++ and K&R C reverse engineering, code navigation, and metrics tool.

The link is www.scitools.com

However SkyIDE is really a good entry and such features can be added in a future ...

Ciao.

8

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: September 13, 2006, 03:15 AM »

Just got an idea:

Wouldn't it be nice to have tiles with Cody ? 
So numbers count how many Cody there are around.
If someone graphic-oriented could provide such tiles: 16 tiles (16x16 pixels) .bmp format
same sequence as MineSweeper tiles then
I could add them to the Draw As menu of Demina & Demine Exercizer;
Also if proper sounds are found I can add them to DemineExercizer. 


Ciao.

9

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Introducing SkyIDE - a free integrated devlopment environment written on BCB 6

« on: September 13, 2006, 02:29 AM »

Very good entry ! 

Do You plan to add something similar to ClassExplorer ?
Do You plan to add functionality similar to 'Understand for C++' ?

10

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: August 24, 2006, 02:20 AM »

Hallo,
while waiting for contest winners (by the way best wishes to everybody) I want to post an update to my program Demine.

There are some bug-fixes, some improvements, but the most important new feature is the ability to parse and solve a special Minesweeper clone I have coded; I called it DemineExercizer.
With DemineExercizer it is possible to play a configuration again and again (in a sense it can be considered the dynamic counterpart to .min files) and also to create configurations to exercise Demine by hand. With this helper it is possible to debug and improve Demine much more easily. 
I have already used it to improve Demine.

as usual enjoy them.


Gianni

P.S. Suggestions, ideas and so on are welcome.

Good luck to everybody 

11

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: August 03, 2006, 02:33 AM »

Hi,
Just before going on holydays I want to post a version of the program with a little improvement, some bug-fixes and some new ideas.
The improved part is the final phase.
DemineBDS2006_improved.zip contains some configs: the previous version gives out probs requiring a random click from the user, while this new version can sort things out correctly.

The improvement come from a suggestion made by TPReal 

The help.html file with the prog. details all changes and a new version of the Techniques.html file describes the final-phase tecnique just added and another trick previously not explained.

Gianni

As usual enjoy it !

... and good luck to everybody !!! 

12

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: How to compile a program to not need any external dll and bpl files

« on: July 27, 2006, 02:48 AM »

Also remember to verify You have been successful with
Dependency walker for example:

http://www.dependencywalker.com/

Gianni

13

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: TPCube - test your 3D imagination!

« on: July 26, 2006, 05:42 AM »

... i got Unable to locate component CG32.DLL warning ...

-martyjn (July 25, 2006, 08:06 PM)

I had the same problem while testing my prog Demina on a fresh machine ...
It has to do with CodeGuard ... I had disabled it before compiling the release version, but somehow it was still required. 
At the very end I don't remember if I had to manually edit the project file or if I simply changed some other configs and build again !

Gianni

14

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: July 26, 2006, 02:49 AM »

Here is the source code and an html file explaining some techniques used by the program (the techniques.html file in the techniques directory).

enjoy it !

Gianni

P.S. The program evolved over some attempts and some different (sometimes also wrong) techniques so if the code doesn't seem to cut corners and go straight to the point ... well it's possible. 

As always bugs, suggestions, ideas and so on are welcome ! 

15

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: July 25, 2006, 04:07 AM »

Yeah, now I can say i like the program

-TPReal (July 25, 2006, 03:18 AM)

Thanks 

I'd add an option that allows the program to choose one of the fields with least probability of being mined, if nothing is obvious, so that all board can (might) be solved just by pressing Ctrl+Space. And then I'd add an option for auto pressing Ctrl+Space as fast as possible...

-TPReal (July 25, 2006, 03:18 AM)

Well this is a possibility, but it has been coded to be an helper not a 'solve Saper as fast as possible' tool, for example it also remember all possible configurations it has found and some other information. I like to use it when I'm not able to move forward and then try to understand the moves it suggests.
However I can share the source code, so everyone can even add the features she likes most.

Also, after making a move, the capture engine could just check those fields that might have changed, if that would make the process faster.

-TPReal (July 25, 2006, 03:18 AM)

The capture phase is already quite fast, but obviously it can be improved. This can be an improvement.

Let's imagine situation where you have just made the first move, and the number 5 was revealed. Then, the rest of the board has much less probability of not being mined ...

-TPReal (July 25, 2006, 03:18 AM)

Good point !  Really !

Nice work.

-TPReal (July 25, 2006, 03:18 AM)

Many thanks again.

Gianni

16

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: July 25, 2006, 02:21 AM »

Hi. I like the idea of this program, but it doesn't work on my computer! No matter what I set in the Prefer menu, when I try to capture, it says:
Using Direct Capturing Algo
Problems finding game or errors

The minesweeper on my computer is named winmine.exe, and it is Polish version of the program, so the caption of the window is 'Saper'. Is it what makes troubles?

-TPReal (July 24, 2006, 12:37 PM)

Yes, as explained in the html help You have to add a line like the following:
Saper  Saper
to the .gam file in the .exe directory
Also Saper must already be running.

By the way - when you make the Demine window large, you can see Panel2 caption on it... it isn't deliberate I guess

-TPReal (July 24, 2006, 12:37 PM)

Gotcha ! :-)

17

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: July 17, 2006, 08:11 AM »

I have to say the concept and images do not do this tool justice -
it is quite amazing to see it in action.

-mouser (July 17, 2006, 06:16 AM)

Many Thanks for the kind words mouser. 

Gianni

18

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Demina: a Minesweeper Solver/Helper

« on: July 17, 2006, 05:20 AM »

This is my submission: a program that can help in solving Minesweeper game.


The zip files includes the program and a help file in htm:


There are also some snapshots/screenshots of the program in acton:

SomeStepsAfterS.png (49.72 kB. 363x235 - viewed 19894 times.)

Enjoy it.

19

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: Calling all BCB Contest Entrants - Post a Hello On This Thread

« on: July 17, 2006, 02:26 AM »

Hello, it's Gianni from Italy. I'm a programmer and I have entered a Minesweeper helper program.
I like C++Builder and I'm using it starting from version 4.