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Referenced by KGSTheKiseidoGoSe...
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KGS User's Guide
Keywords: Clubs & Places
Since KGS is a rapidly developing server, the documentation seems to lag well behind the supported features. This page is here so that KGS users have a place to share tips and information about the client.
Rankings (Ratings)
- Hu: For a solid rating (no "?") you must win about two Rated games and lose about two Rated games against solidly rated players very close to your actual rank (accounting for handicaps, if any). To get a useful graph, be sure to play your first Rated game near your own rank. You can find your level by playing Free games.
- Hu: Q? I won a game and lost a rank. What happened? A: Ranks are computed as fractions or real numbers and reported as integers, and your previous opponent's new results are factored into the rank calculations, so a borderline rank might easily get bumped over the line and it might seem as if you had lost a rank when it was actually just a fractional change.
- Ranks are continually recalculated. Rank graphs are computed once a day at about midnight UCT (GMT).
Pictures
- To upload a picture to KGS, it must be a 141-pixel (width) by 200-pixel (height) JPEG-format or GIF-format image which fits in 7kB (seven kilobytes) or less. An animated GIF will be accepted, but only the first frame will be used (credit to Phelan for this tip).
- Fhayashi: But one need not worry about the exact pixel dimensions - during the upload attempt, CGoban2 will crop the file, and show you what it would look like if you accept the automated cropping. It's been very good for the handful of pictures I've uploaded. Also, in order to upload a picture, you must be using the separate client program, not the browser-based client.
- Hu: The server will mangle pictures for you if they don't meet the specifications. Users have different standards but I have had superior results by preprocessing the image myself, in particular using a little sharpening at the end with
GIMP (Graphics Image Manipulation Program).
- falstaff: PNG also works although wms said it wasn't officially supported. Also -- pictures don't appear immediately. Apparently one of the admins has to look at it and OK it first.
Clock (Timer)
- glibber: As of several versions earlier than CGoban 2.4.61 (Kiseido Go Server Client), if your opponent has run out of time and has not yet tried to make another move, then you may optionally add time for your opponent, which will restart the game. (See game board "Options" menu, second button down in the row of buttons near the top right). If your opponent has already tried to make another move, then this possibility will not be allowed, and the game will be permanently finished. (Credit to Thing for helping to figure this out).
- aussiemate: If, however, your opponent has claimed a win then the option for more time is gone.
- Thing: It seems to me that the honourable thing to do, when you run out of time, is to play another move straight away.
- JasonD: If you agree to an absolute timer, it's fair game to win by time. Both players are capable of managing their remaining time.
- Hu: Absolute time only makes sense with known opponents you can trust. Otherwise, we suggest Yahoo as the place to play absolute time.
Tips for the Board Window
- When reviewing, editing, or observing a game, if you hold in Shift and click on a stone or empty point it will bring you to the point when that stone was played (first occurence, searching backwards for stone, forwards for point). If the game record includes variations, only the current variation is searched. Ctrl and left (or right) arrow key takes you to the previous (or next) comment made by observers. You first have to click on one of the control buttons or in the board to make sure the focus is there (PC and Mac).
- If you press Ctrl-L during a game you can turn the lettering around the board on and off. When the lettering is off, the board becomes slightly larger.
- Holding in Ctrl and clicking on an intersection pastes the coordinates of that intersection into your chat box.
Observing Players Games
- If you see a player waiting for an opponent and you want to watch the game they play, bring up the game request window and just wait. Do not propose a game to the player, if you simply want to observe. Once that player does start a game with someone you will join the game as an observer automatically.
- Please respect the players by keeping remarks confined to the play on the board as much as possible. Other remarks and conversations can be best handled in the chat rooms and private chat. All remarks in games are recorded with the game.
Tips for All Windows
- Warp: If you click on the text of a chat window, an invisible cursor is put there and it will work as text fields normally with regard to selecting text. For example if you want to select all, press ctrl-a. Also press shift and then cursor keys for selecting (eg. shift+ctrl+right selects the next word). Ctrl-c copies the text to the clipboard. Ctrl-v will paste copied text.
- Naturally you can also select text with the mouse.
Player Courtesy
- glibber: An intentional escaper almost invariably will suddenly disappear, but a player who has been simply disconnected (whether or not by design rather than accident) will appear to "hang" and do nothing, after which the nickname for that player may eventually grey out before disappearing. One should not be too quick to call out the bloodhounds. Many people live in countries with poorly run ISP's (Internet Service Providers), or suffer from bad connections on overloaded trans-Atlantic cables.
- A computer crash may also cause such a sudden disappearance, so it is best to extend the benefit of the doubt, especially in the absence of odd timing such as just having lost a major group.
- A common courtesy is to add more time if and when a disconnected player returns after five to ten minutes, so that he or she will not suffer from hasty play. (See the "Options" menu in a game board, second button from the top in the row near the top right). If the missing player doesn't return within ten minutes, then one may with a clear conscience close the game board for later continuation.
- The server will automatically save nearly all unfinished and finished games up to six months old for easy viewing within the client, and permanently archives nearly all unfinished and finished games at
http://kgs.kiseido.com/en_US/archives.html.
- glibber: "The Wiggley" is really a "tilde" which is "~". It looks like a worm! It looks funny! But it is sad. It means that player is mean to weaker or new players, by not playing them very much. A funny equation is used. If games played against weaker or new players times three, plus five, is less than the total of finished games, then it's "Wiggley Time"! Ahhh!!!
- Please note that it's counterproductive and silly to refuse to play a player who has been given "The Wiggley" if he or she is of higher rank than yourself.
- lavalyn: Math terms: "~" if ( 2 * #games of equal rank or "?" rank + 5 ) < (#games against players of higher rank). So, asymptotically, if you play stronger players about twice as often as other players, then you get branded.
- falstaff: Here are links to recent rec.games.go discussions about this feature:
Patrick's explaination and Bill's clarification
- See note about remarks under Observing Games heading.
- Hu: A tilde (~) is a sign that the person is not kind enough to play weaker players even five games less than 33 percent of the time. The tilde does not apply to players weaker than about 24k. Some people avoid tilde players all the time but I recommend playing them if they offer to play a weaker player. It helps the weaker player and it helps the stronger player lose the tilde. It is easy to learn more about Go by playing weaker players with handicaps, especially about invasions.
Key List
- glibber: Game types: (R)ated, (F)ree, (T)eaching, (D)emonstration, (S)imultaneous, (P)rivate", (*) Tournament. Also, "(Ob)servers".
- Witness that "W+Time" means white won when the clock ran out for black, and that "B+Res." means black won when white resigned.
Viewing Japanese fonts on KGS
Richard Hunter: Some people want to be able to see Japanese characters, but all they see is little boxes. The problem is not having the right font. Instructions are given in the KGS FAQ. I sent wms the instructions for Mac OS based on advice I got from voldemort. I repeat them here, slightly modified, because I can edit this page easily and other people can add comments or questions.
Mac OS X
This procedure will enable a Mac OS X user to use KGS in English mode but also read and write Japanese. It works for the downloaded client but not for the JavaStart version, so you have to repeat the process every time the client is updated, but it only takes 20 seconds.
- Japanese is included in the OS X easy installation. Set your system preferences. International: keyboard: check Kotoeri (third from the end; the flag with the round red spot) for Japanese input in addition to US English. Download the KGS client. It should appear on your desktop. Modify it as follows before moving it to anywhere else, such as the Applications Folder.
- Control-click on CGoban icon. Choose "Show Package Contents".
- Double-click "Contents".
- In "Contents", double-click "Info.plist". A dialog box asks for an application to open it. Choose TextEdit in Applications.
- Find the line that reads "<string>English</string>. Double-click the word "English" and type "Japanese". It should now read "<string>Japanese</string>".
- Close and save.
Alternative methods are to:
- Set the CGoban preferences to Japanese, which gives you Japanese menus.
- Set the Mac OS X Finder to Japanese by dragging Japanese above English in the International System preferences.
chtito: I have a question about this. I would like to see both Korean and Japanese characters. It is clearly possible to see the Korean characters by following the preceding instructions and replacing "Japanese" by "Korean". But then how to have both Korean and Japanese??
Richard Hunter The above method is a practical trick that works. The correct way to do it is to get you system to recognize the Java fonts. I don't know how to do that, which is why I can't see Japanese when I use the Java WebStart? version. I would prefer to fix it properly, so if anyone knows, please tell.
Bugs
- Be sure that you report any bugs to
admin@igoweb.org before posting them here. All the bugs listed here should be ones that the admin already knows about.
Simultaneous Games
- If you play a simultaneous game and then edit one of the games, you must re-finish all of the games or else they will show up as unfinished in your game list. (This may have gotten fixed as of about version 2.5.1). Not a bug, but worth noting: Simultaneous games are like teaching games to the server, so the players can see any comments made during the game by observers, in addition to their own comments.
Wishlist
- The following are features/requests KGS users dream about with the hope that wms will one day have time to implement/grant them:
- Server user list. This includes monitoring rooms for members.
- Right click feature on open games to get users info.
- Hitting the forward key after creating variations should follow the main tree, not the new variation.
- Edit window to become a permanent part of the main board window, switching back and forth is cumbersome.
- Hu: DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graph).
- Hu: Controls to clear chat windows and to stop it automatically scrolling up.
- Hu: Have user info show where a player is, for example watching a game, unless it is a private room, and only if the user checkboxes that it is ok to track them.
- Hu: Make names in game records live links so that clicking on one brings up the user info.
- Hu: Option to sort game records according to result. Secondary sorts. Put column headings over the columns and then clicking on those can control the sort, with the previous sort being the secondary sort.
- Hu: Option when reviewing editing SGF files: to have Score Estimate window available and updated on every move. This one I would find very useful, since I am constantly doing the multiple clicks to get through the menu when I am reviewing my own games. The score estimator has its flaws, but it is very useful to compare relative scores for different positions.
- Hu: Weight ratings according to length of game and number of moves. Ratings are being distorted by blitz games (example: two seconds per move). Games won on time, which is common for experienced blitz players with fast internet connections and supple wrists, do not reflect true strength.
- Hu: A clue in the commentaries to distinguish between those made during the game and those made after. Perhaps a dashed line.
- Hu: Change the "9d?" rating that gets awarded players who win a lot of games to something like "9d+".
- Hu: When a User Info request fails because of "no such account", make a new dialogue so that a new name can be typed in, instead of forcing user to go all the way through the pulldown menu again.
- Hu: Since KGS can show SGF files with X's marking stones and points, have a button in the Editing Tools window to support that.
- Hu: The current move is marked as an option. The effect is to write a circle in the SGF file for every move. Make this SGF file marking optional, or not done by default.
- mgoetze: And, while we're on the topic, marking the move automatically in newly-loaded SGF files would be a nice option for the preferences.
- Hu: There is something semi-automatic like this already. Under the Options button, if you select Label, you can choose the Label All Moves option from the popup box.
- Hu: Support for team games (see my user info).
- Hu: Semi-public rooms that anyone can join, but the room owner can exclude people individually.
- Hu: Have a way to force Garbage Collection (Java internal issue). At least have the New Game dialogue or challenging an offer cause it to occur so that it does not happen right when you accept a game and the clock is ticking.
- Hu: Don't start the clock until the first stone is played. Maybe only start the clock right away for rated games. Sometimes people have delays as the game loads up, or they might have to arrange windows.
- Hu: Have the paired Editing Tools window pop to the top when a game window is brought to the top. (Have the Editing Tools under the game window unless it is explicitly brought to the top.)
- Hu: A list of buddies in the Set Preferences window, so we can clear out the deadwood of defunct buddy names, so .cgobanrc doesn't continually increase.
- Hu: Skins.
- Source code (yes we know, fat chance). How about an API?
- Port to other languages besides Java.
- Nico: Possibility to help the score estimator by manually specifying which stones are dead and which are alive (click to switch their status) where appropriate.
- mgoetze: A GTP interface.
Credits
- glibber: Thanks to Truc, Tsumu, aburry, minismurf, Rakshasa, Warp, eon, Thing, markspace, aussiemate, Phelan and JasonD at KGS for corrections, suggestions and general help. Also, thanks to wms for graciously devoting much of his limited time and energy to perfecting a very good Go client for the Kiseido Go Server, and thanks to the unknown originator of this page and subsequent anonymous contributors to it.
(As a point of clarification, wms wrote both the client and the server. The specs on the server haven't been released, but that allows wms to make changes to the server without breaking various clients, and vice versa. - Fhayashi)
- Or rather, that when changes to the server *do* break the client, it is wms who must fix the client as well, and vice versa.
This is a copy of the living page
"KGS User's Guide" at
Sensei's Library.
2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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