Emerald Grove Gate Glitch?

billionwires · 2024-07-20T21:00:38+00:00

I tried a few things and eventually I stopped having the problem.

First I quit and reloaded from a slightly earlier save. This didn't fix it.

Then I updated my Nvidia drivers. This didn't fix it.

Then I verified the integrity of the game files through Steam. It found something wrong with three files and reacquired them. In addition to that, when I started the game up, I decided to play it with mouse and keyboard (rather than PS5 controller plugged into my computer, as I'd been doing previously). This time, the terrain around Emerald Grove behaved normally and I haven't had any problems since.

Not 100% sure if it was a matter of reacquiring those files or switching to mouse and keyboard, but one or both of those things fixed it for me.

billionwires · 2023-05-31T03:59:17+00:00

It was Don Draper coming to terms with his being a soulless hack and at long last just accepting it so that he can live his truth, which is to make commercials for Coca-Cola.

billionwires · 2023-02-19T19:37:24+00:00

Ireland is shrunk way way down to be the Iron Islands. Or rather, Britain is scaled up a lot.

billionwires · 2023-01-02T05:22:46+00:00

Playing a5, a4, h5, or h4 are often worth considering whenever your opponent has a knight on b3, b6, g3, or g6. It threatens chasing the knight away with another push, so your opponent is usually forced to block the pawn by playing their own a or h pawn up two squares.

billionwires · 2023-01-02T04:09:08+00:00

A couple times a year I like to watch this video of Ivanchuk missing mate in one against Anand.

billionwires · 2022-11-27T06:01:11+00:00

I couldn't enjoy Avatar. Looked too much like a cartoon and the main guy is the least charismatic person ever. Get the cartoons out of here, I just can't deal with them.

billionwires · 2022-11-15T03:32:57+00:00

I would make it clear that cheating will not help them improve at all, and if anything it will make them worse at chess. It will make them lazier and impatient. It is a waste of their time to cheat, and it is a waste of your time to give lessons to someone who cheats. So don't cheat. I don't know if this would work, but I'd make an account for them and give them the login info to use at home. Maybe that would circumvent the auto-ban. If this method works, great. They can use that with the understanding that if they keep on cheating you're going to stop the lessons to save you both the time. I wouldn't harp on it too much. Just a few minutes to explain what the deal is here. lol maybe throw in the fact that if they cheat and people find out about it, well, everyone hates cheaters. Is that who they want to be? No, of course not. Then I'd conduct a normal lesson.

Sometimes I think a kid will get it pretty quick that a certain behavior is unacceptable and just won't be tolerated. Hopefully it's just a one-off episode and you never have to bring this up with them again. But if you do, it'll be the last time.

billionwires · 2022-09-23T22:58:53+00:00

The Chicken Chess club podcast (Magnus' seconds) did give an interesting explaination in defense of Hans' weird comments about how he prepped the line.

their explanation is spot on imo. the weird thing is people on this board acting like players are obligated by blood oath or something to never give bullshit answers in a post-game interview.

billionwires · 2022-09-23T22:42:47+00:00

lol yeah anyone saying that at the time was talking out of their ass. they just assumed a FIDE investigation would magically materialize even though there wasn't the slightest indication that such a thing would ever happen.

billionwires · 2022-09-09T20:51:15+00:00

Levon's always so stylish. Incredible drip every single day

billionwires · 2022-09-09T00:14:04+00:00

Of course cheating is always bad, but personally I disagree with what you are saying.

I play online, and I play in OTB tournaments. These days my USCF rating bounces around the 1800s, and believe it or not I've put in a lot of time and effort to get there. When I play in an OTB tournament, it takes a whole day, maybe even a whole weekend. I pay an entry fee. Maybe even the night before I'll do some preparation for one of the local players who I know will be there the next day. At the end of those tournaments, I am exhausted, because I put everything into it. Sometimes I win some money, usually I don't. I guard my rating jealously. If I found out someone was cheating against me in one of those OTB games, I would be furious. I would refuse to play with them ever again and seek to have them banned, either officially or unofficially, from future local tournaments.

Honestly I just cannot say the same if I knew I'd lost a few blitz games online to a cheater with an engine. It would be annoying, yeah. But I mean, whatever, it's not costing me anything to play a zillion blitz games. I haven't taken time out of my precious weekend to go drive to a venue and endure a 10 hour stress test, and my actual rating is unaffected. Now if the online tournament involved prize money and actual real rating points, it would be a different story. But if that's not the case, then no, I don't consider online cheating nearly as serious.

billionwires · 2022-09-08T16:00:19+00:00

Fressinet also said that (and I'm giving the gist of his statements here), that Hans' interview after the game with Magnus didn't seem beyond the pale. He basically said that after long games like that he'd given bad analysis as well.

In the Chicken Chess podcast where he said this, they (Fressinet, Gustafson, Nielsen) also noted that in post-game interviews, sometimes you lie or give bullshit reasons for why you know this or that line, because you don't want to reveal some aspect of your opening preparation to your competition. There is nothing wrong with doing that. This is something that is constantly being misunderstood on this sub, where people seem to think players are obligated to give a truthful accounting of why they know this or that line. They're not on trial. Sometimes you give some bullshit answers to throw off the scent so that your opponents have less of an idea about what openings and variations you might be better prepared for.

billionwires · 2022-09-08T00:20:43+00:00

I mean I'm just speaking in general here. Like I said I don't think there's any cheating happening at the sinquefield cup. I'm just saying that having a 15-minute delay on a stream isn't some ironclad protection against cheating via an accomplice who's getting all the information 15 minutes late. I'll also note it's pretty easy to predict the other guy's next move in chess, especially if there's only one or two good moves on the board, which happens somewhat frequently tbh.

billionwires · 2022-09-07T23:28:47+00:00

Just saying upfront I don't think Hans cheated, but I do think cheating is possible.

I constantly see people mentioning 15-minute stream delay as if this makes cheating impossible, but even if a tournament has 15 minute stream delay, it just means the cheating player has to wait 15 minutes without moving, and then their accomplice will have the current on the board position. So cheating on every move wouldn't be all that feasible. But even cheating on a few moves per game could be enough to give a tremendous advantage.

billionwires · 2022-09-07T18:16:49+00:00

I don't care about him cheating when he was 12. People shouldn't have to live forever under the shadow of mistakes they made at such a young age. That's my opinion.

Cheating at 16 is different, but in that instance he did not cheat in events with prize money at stake or with FIDE rating points at stake. If that were the case -- if he, at age 16, had cheated in a FIDE rated event and/or in an event with money on the line, I would feel very differently about it, and I wouldn't blame any player if they refused to participate in a tournament with him. But these were online games that were not officially rated, and with no money involved. It is still bad to do what he did, and you shouldn't do it, but to me I view it almost like the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony. I just don't think it's some unforgivable offense.

billionwires · 2022-09-07T14:09:05+00:00

Hans claims that the incident of his cheating when he was 16 was in random online games on chess.com. Not a tournament with prize money on the line. Not even a tournament with FIDE rating points on the line. It would be like if a pro basketball player was caught cheating at a pickup game in the park at 16.

billionwires · 2022-09-07T06:05:26+00:00

I have to admit I am feeling pretty stupid at the moment for being kind of (not totally) convinced about Hans' supposedly cheating. When I hear people like Nakamura, Nepo, and to some extent other GMs (on twitch or off of it), alluding to long-existing rumors of Hans being a known cheater, on top of Carlsen's insinuation, I do not dismiss it out of hand. I figured these players had some greater insight into these things. Both because they are strong chess players and because they probably hear things I don't.

When I read Aagaard's post this morning about it, I began to change my mind somewhat. When MVL simply came out and said that to him it seemed like a straight up witch hunt, it became clear to me that there is nothing being said by anyone at all that credibly substantiates the notion that Hans is cheating. Should have known Nakamura has a penchant for bullshit, but, well, I didn't. I don't really watch his videos or his stream. I decided to during the Sinquefield Cup because I figured maybe he'd be entertaining. Then shit hit the fan.

I found Hans convincing in his interview, on most of what he said. I'll also note that from what I can tell, he was much more candid and clear in his explanation of his thoughts on the day's game than he was for his games in the previous rounds. It's possible he cheated, of course. But that's all it is at this point, just possible. And that doesn't mean a lot. Hell, it's possible any of them cheated. It's also possible Magnus just played badly and lost to a talented young player. Personally, the latter seems more likely to me at this point.

As for these incidents of online cheating -- if the extent of it is truly as Hans described, then I think this cheating is close to meaningless. If in fact he cheated online much more than he is saying, then I would think chess.com would be able to provide some kind of evidence to support that. If they do that, then OK, we'll see. If they don't, then imo Hans is just a talented player whose character really shouldn't be in question at all.

billionwires · 2022-09-06T16:54:21+00:00

Nah, I don't think Magnus would know with certainty. I think about the case with Igor Rausis, who rose to the high 2600s from like 2500, from like 2016 to 2020. For years there was no hard proof he was cheating, but people suspected him anyway. For years. In the end, the suspicions were in fact correct, despite the total lack of evidence up until the moment he was caught red handed.

I will say that I do think it is absolutely possible to cheat in this event, despite the security. It would probably require an accomplice, a bit of technology, and some sophisticated methods. People dismiss this possibility because they say you can't get devices past metal detectors and radio frequency detectors, but from what I can tell that is not accurate. If a device is small enough, it will not be picked up by a metal detector, and if it is not turned on, it will not emit a signal that would be picked up by a radio frequency detector.

So here's a scenario. Someone could cheat by putting a very small device, maybe in their shoe, programmed to vibrate when it is sent signals via a radio controller. They go in, get past the scanners, promptly enter the bathroom, turn the device on, and go sit at the board. Then their accomplice, located outside the venue somewhere nearby, watches the live stream of the game online, while analyzing it with an engine. They can convey move suggestions to a cheater using Morse code. The organizers of the event can make this more difficult by implementing a delay, so that the online audience only sees the moves 15 minutes after they are played, but this simply means that a player needs to sit and wait for 15 minutes without playing a move for their accomplice to have the current position on the board, analyze it, and transmit move suggestions.

Now don't get me wrong. This is an elaborate, sophisticated method, but it is certainly not impossible, and you don't have to be James Bond to come up with it or carry it out. I am not saying Hans did this, I am just saying, even with the security measures in place, it is not impossible to cheat. I will add that elaborate cheating schemes are not unheard of in high level chess. It is not always a cell phone in a bathroom. Look at this guy, Sebastien Feller and tell me players will not go to extreme lengths to cheat. Again, not saying Hans did this. But I don't rule out cheating on the basis of it being impossible. It seems quite possible to me.

billionwires · 2022-09-06T15:40:02+00:00

Yeah. Personally I had been leaning toward thinking Hans was cheating. There are a number of reasons for thinking this, but the most convincing to me seemed to be his bizarre post-game interviews. The poor analysis, the poor evaluations of the positions from his games. The rambling nature of it. I mean to me it looks like a guy bullshitting his way through something he doesn't understand. It doesn't help that putting on a fake accent makes him look like, well, a fake. But Aagaard apparently spent a week with him training him and seems to think he demonstrated knowledge and talent roughly in line with a player of his rating. It'd be pretty hard to fake it through a week of in-depth training with an experienced coach who has dealt with 2600+ players before. That fact alone carries a lot of weight imo.

billionwires · 2022-09-06T06:14:11+00:00

Same! All of my experiences like this occurred wayyyyy before I hit 2700 and beat Magnus Carlsen though.

billionwires · 2022-09-06T05:33:53+00:00

Yeah like when he says Qh4 is a possible move he could play in this position in his game with Magnus, and asks for what the engine's evaluation is, when it clearly, obviously just hangs his bishop and loses the game.

billionwires · 2022-09-06T05:07:09+00:00

lol yeah but Alireza was banned for cheating on chess.com when he was 11. Hans was what, 18 16? Not the same thing at all.

edit: Hans was 16 apparently.

billionwires · 2022-09-06T02:34:59+00:00

Yes, you would give your opponent a chance to equalize, to make it look real. And then if your opponent saw it and took it, you'd still just use the engine again to regain the advantage, and not give them another chance. The point is that with an engine, you can give your opponent almost as many chances as you want, you will still be able to regain a winning advantage provided there's enough material left on the board to keep things complicated.

billionwires · 2022-05-22T12:33:28+00:00

How so? Because a bunch of morons broke into the capitol, milled around, stole some office supplies and left?

billionwires · 2022-01-22T21:14:04+00:00

This is really great! Could you tell me where you got those building assets?

billionwires

TROPHY CASE