Here is BLIZZARD, the best interface for playing chess on the Zone! Tired of being kicked around by progs and draw cheaters? Pissed off because the Zone won't fix the draw cheater bug, won't do anything about problems at your table but will boot you in a heartbeat for saying something politically incorrect? Get even and kick their ass with BLIZZARD!
Why Blizzard? Ask yourself why the Zone allows the draw cheat bug to exist, even though it would only take a moment to fix. It's because they would rather splash a casino ad in front of a 12 year old kid than waste time make the Zone a decent place to play chess. Well, as long as the Zone doesn't give a shit about the Chess rooms, lets turn the whole thing into a stinking farting hole. Let's level the playing field and make EVERYONE in the Zone a cheater. Don't like it? go here>, but don't even think about whining about cheaters and assholes on the Zone. THE ZONE DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU, PAL.
The Zone is a big waste of time as you have to put up with the draw cheaters, the board squatters, the religious nuts, corrupt sysops, you name it. As you sit on a Zone board thinking about this, understand I will be doing something more productive, fun, and probably lucrative as well. So! don't bother emailing me, I ain't interested any more. I leave it up to you to spread the information on this site around. Hell, get the source code and do more with it, make the Zone an even bigger toilet.
What is Blizzard?
Blizzard is a program that interfaces a MSN Gaming Zone chess table with Chessmaster 8000. It automatically makes moves on both the Zone chessboard and the Chessmaster 8000 chessboard, effectively making you a Grandmaster level player.
If there's anything you don't understand here, this web site is for you
Updates
UPDATE July 15, 2002: Blizzard 1.11 - en passant fixed
UPDATE July 12, 2002: Blizzard 1.09 - a few more color checks. It seems the Zone slightly changes the colors on its boards to stop programs like Blizzard from working.
UPDATE July 12, 2002: Blizzard 1.08 - new command Edit/Copy copies the entire Blizzard text into the clipboard so you can paste it in a mesage to me if you have a bug
UPDATE July 12, 2002: Blizzard 1.07 - board orientation fixes
UPDATE July 10, 2002: Blizzard 1.06 - fixed so Blizzard plays as white. Chessmaster will make a move as white as soon as new game is selected; when File/Start is selected in Blizzard the move is made on the Zone chessboard.
UPDATE July 9, 2002: Blizzard 1.05 - color fix for Zone boards. Thanks to Happy_s97 for help in nailing this one down.
UPDATE July 7, 2002: Blizzard 1.03 - color fix for Chessmaster
UPDATE July 7 2002: Blizzard 1.02. Some corrections for color depth, more debug messages, more bug fixes. +Anus1490 now bans me on a regular basis, whether I've done anything or not, so if you see a guest playing in Outnumbered By Pawns on Table 150, that's probably me testing Blizzard...
UPDATE July 6 2002: Blizzard 1.01, a few small fixes plus some debug messages. Please email if you see any diagnostic messages pop up and I'll try to get them fixed (I can't respond to everybody, though)
UPDATE July 4 2002: More banishments by the evil sysops. A new ZONE.LAY has been uploaded that works on smaller monitors.
UPDATE July 3 2002: The sysop +Anus1490 BANNED BLIZZARDCHESS again! Also, a newer version of BLIZZARD.EXE has been uploaded; be sure and download it. The old one was a few months old; this has many fixes.
UPDATE July 2 2002: The sysop +Anus1490 BANNED BLIZZARDCHESS for releasing this valuable information to the Zone! They may be taking action to shut this web site down, so tell all your friends to get this information as soon as they can!
How to install
* You need Chessmaster 8000 (no, 6000 will not work)
* right click on ZONE.LAY and save target in Chessmaster's "layouts" folder
* put BLIZZARD 1.12 anywhere, a desktop shortcut helps
* load ZONE.LAY in Chessmaster using menu Preferences/Layouts/Load
* Blizzard was written assuming 32 bit color depth, and may not run on low resolutions.
How to run
* Accept a game in the Zone and be at the table - DO NOT HIT START GAME
* start Chessmaster 8000 and set appropriate time control
* set Chessmaster's time controls to 1 sec/move for 1 min games, adjust controls for taste (don't mess with the board layout though)
* when you are ready to play, use the File/Start menu in Blizzard
* while running, don't let any of the windows overlap, and don't screw with the machine
* watch Blizzard destroy your opponent
* to play another game, you must quit Blizzard and restart it, as well as select New Game in Chessmaster
Notes
* BLIZZARD automatically deals with draw offering pukes!
* IMPORTANT: Chessmaster and the Zone Chess window must be COMPLETELY visible and NOT covered up by other windows!!!
* comes with my famous 30/30 warrantee: 30 feet or 30 seconds (i.e., DON'T bother asking me for help, figure it out yourself; I got a 2800 rating with this interface and you can too, but you have to do it YOURSELF)
* report bugs to theblizzardchess@hotmail.com; don't expect a response
Now, In the name of BlizzardChess, go kick some proggie butt!
BlizzardChess, aka ShogiMan (theblizzardchess@hotmail.com)
Files and Links
the Blizzard 1.12 source code
Click here for the Zally website
PDC 2 Zone hacks
Insane Zone
