Stonebase 4.5: Disappointed
Today I played for about a couple of hours with Stonebase. Obviously I can't say I'm an experienced user of this program, but I already got some impression on it. The last version I had used was 3.9 which had a couple of features that I'm missing right now.
Most things don't work as I expected, to start with, I got strongly disappointed with the filtering tool: wide but limited at the same time. It doesn't handle correctly the ranks, as it understands that both 4d and 23k levels are "more than 10k", while you can only filter per one colour rank at one time (so you'll have to set up to filters in order to filter rank for both colours). It doesn't let you filter by player, only by white player or black player, so you have to set up two lines.
As already announced by the developers, the pattern search tool has been disabled, due to the strange results that usually appeared. I'll be looking for this tool... I remember the pattern search thumbnails to be of great use and one of the strongest features of this program.
The counter tool, featuring both Chinese and Japanese rules, isn't very good at calculating the life and death status of stones. Just to make a comparison, the estimation of the result of an specific game I was reviewing when my opponent resigned was in my favor for 2 points; the same estimation made by SmartGo in 2 seconds is that Black wins by 25, due to the dead status of one group. In stonebase, in order to declare one group as dead it has to be completely surrounded (just like in KGS), whenever an unoccupied space is left nearby applying "dead" to that group automatically sets all the territory to the opponent.
On the other hand, the wonderful database manager: You can have all the database categories you want, then load different databases in each, and finally filter the databases for the desired data (black player, event name...). The appearance and versatility of this program is musing, it lets you load lots of board skins which turn it into a colourful experience.
Preloading the games in thumbnails, while would work wonderfully when implemented the pattern search system, is a good tool too: you can check your lasts games with a single glance, if you want to recover a recent game where you played "that pattern" you may want to check among the thumbnails. The Guess next move tool has implemented a new radar system which informs you of the distance between what you said and the actual move.
There are still a lot of menus to explore but I don't have much time recently. My intention was to make a videoreview but I finally decided it is too soon to make a serious analysis of Stonebase. It seems like the developers are capping the product while waiting for something to happen: Thumbnails are available and you can watch them but they are a bit useless without the pattern search engine. The count tool seems to be missing something too...
I have started a small tutorial in English for Stonebase, as I think it would be worth it to have some information about this tool in English. Here is the link: Stonebase in English. Please, feel free to contribute.
I am helping to translate the response from author StoneBase -Mr. AWater. Here we go:
"I am very flattered to have foreign fans who like StoneBase. Well, due to my limited English, I really can't explain to him what he pointed out in the above article. In fact, it is not exactly as he said (for the disappointed features).
Let's take the 'pattern serach' function as an example. He mentioned that it can't be used anymore in 4.5 version. It is not true. The function is still there. Let me explain. For 4.5 version, if 'pattern search' is needed, one needs to start with a new game record, put stones in, then highlight the area, choose 'pattern search' button [using right click of mouse], it would be ok. Or if you have a sgf. file, you can highlight the pattern, do the same way.
Please help translate my message to our friend and I hope he is not disappointed any more".
The above letter is from AWter. I tried the function, you need right click first, selectc 'Board/select board area' first; then do the highlight; then right click again, do the 'pattern search'. Good luck.
My email: gmao2k@yahoo.com; I am AWater's friend and stronger supporter of StoneBase.
Also AWater's English is pretty good. You could write him in English for your question and suggestions. You're welcome to put me on the copy list if you'd like. Thanks a lot! -GM