This faq was last updated on October 27. 1997. If you have any questions not mentioned in the faq, please don't hesitate to ask. My e-mail address is yls@kagi.com.
Question #01: Why is the animation so slow and jerky?
Answer #01: You probably have one or more applications open that (for some reason)
requires a lot of processing time (SimpleText is one of the biggest
sinners if it has documents open). Super Othello is very forgiving, and
gives a lot of time to background processing. Also, Super Othello has a
built-in sleep mode wich is activated after approx. 30 seconds of
inactivity. The effects are noticable after a couple of minutes. During
games, this will also slow down the animation. To solve, you should make
a move, pull down a menu or click in the Super Othello window. The sleep
mode is only activated while the Super Othello application is in front.
If you have a slow Mac, like the original LC (or such), the animation is
bound to be jerky at times. I am thinking of ways to optimize the drawing
routines, but this is not included with v. 2.3.
Question #02: When I started Super Othello, my screen was set to 256 colors, but now I
have set it to thousands. Why doesn't the graphics improve?
Answer #02: This is because when Super Othello starts up, it checks the screen and then
loads the appropriate graphics. If you turn down Super Othello's query to
change the number of colors, Super Othello will load the 256 sprite sets,
which in turn reduces graphics quality. In other words, for the screen
changes to take effect, you have to restart Super Othello first. Why didn't
you just let Super Othello change it in the first place?
Question #03: I want to skip my move, but the Skip move command is disabled and I don't
seem to be able to drag the cube. What's wrong?
Answer #03: Previous versions of Super Othello (1.0 - 2.2) allowed you to skip moves
at any time. These older versions also implemented another way of skipping
moves -- the opponent was given two succesive moves. This has now been
changed (corrected, if you will) and the correct behaviour has been
implemented. After all, you can't skip a move when there are moves that
can be made!
If you can't see the move you can make, turn "Show available chips" on from
the Othello menu.
Question #04: The about box is all screwed up. Why is that?
Answer #04: Don't know. This is a bug which occurs very rarely and only when some
special conditions are met. It is not dangerous and it will probably
not crash your machine. It can be removed by restarting Super Othello.
If it doesn't improve, report it to me with details about your setup,
amount of RAM given to Super Othello, etc. so I can try to fix it.
Question #05: What's the deal with the Advanced menu?
Answer #05: This menu provides some special commands which can be useful for some
people (like me) when setting Super Othello up against another Macintosh
Othello/Reversi game on the same machine. This mainly concerns games which
use an inverse opening formation. The Switch places option is however
useful as a shortcut (instead of going via the Settings dialog). If you are
annoyed by its presence, typing cmd-shift-a will hide it. The changes are
not permanent, though.
Question #06: Aaargh! My alternate boards don't work! Is there anything I can do?
Answer #06: You will, unfortunately, not be able to make your old alternate boards
work with Super Othello. However, if there is a board layout which you
particularly like, you can create it by following these simple steps:
- start a new game
- hold the option key down while dragging the chips on the board to
their desired position
- if you need more than the two green and red chips, hold the option
key down while you drag chips to the board from the red and green
chips in the sidebar
- save your game _without_ making any moves
That's it! Now anytime you want to play a game using your alternate board,
all you have to do is load the game you saved and start playing!
NOTE: Make sure that you have autoskipping turned off in case you move the
chips in a way that results in no available moves for the starting player.
ALSO NOTE: Undoing moves from this saved game would constitute as a bad
idea, since you "cheated" to make the board. You would probably end up with
a garbage board.
Question #07: Why does Super Othello sometimes start a game all by itself?
Answer #07: This is what is known as a demonstration mode. All cool games have it,
and besides, it looks much better when Super Othello plays a game against
itself as opposed to just sitting there doing _nothing_. You may also notice
that the cube keeps spinning while you have the about box open.
Question #08: What about network play? I've been poking around the resource fork of
Super Othello and have found a Network menu.
Answer #08: Network play will come. When is another story, as my testing has become
more problematic. It is scheduled for version 2.4 or 2.5 (along with a
number of other cool features... check the YLS homepage for updates).
As for the Network menu, no network code is included with Super Othello,
so even if you did manage to make it visible, it wouldn't _do_ anything.
Question #09: What about IOS then?
Answer #09: Super Othello will not support IOS connections, atleast not for some time
anyway. If I'm encouraged enough I might implement this, but for the
moment IOS has a very low priority.
Question #10: What's IOS?
Answer #10: IOS (= Internet Othello Server) is an Internet-based server where you can
meet people and play games of othello with them. It's sort of like network
play with sugar on top.
Question #11: What are some of the features planned for future versions of Super Othello?
Answer #11: The following is currently not even on the drawing board (literally), and
there are no guarantees that any of the following will be implemented in
future versions of Super Othello. Planned features for Super Othello
include
- ability to choose color and surface of the chips
- network play, possibly with chatting
- differently shaped chips with morphing effects
- sounds ... ?
- alternate board support
Question #12: I have cheated and tried to undo a move. Now the board doesn't look anything
like what it should.
Answer #12: Undoing moves after you have cheated is a bad idea, since Super Othello
only stores the moves made, not the entire board for each turn. You will
have to avoid undoing moves after cheating... Sorry. It is a bit strange
that you did even as much as manage to undo a move, since both the undo
arrow and the Undo move item in the Edit menu become disabled after
cheating.
Question #13: Wow, I'm impressed and I want to pay for Super Othello. How do I do that?
Answer #13: Very simple. Without going into details, the price is $15, £10 or NOK 100.
For some more detailed info, read the document "Paying for Super Othello".
If this document, or the Register application, did not come with Super
Othello, contact me and I will send the information or the Register
application to you. My e-mail address is yls@kagi.com.
Question #14: You say your e-mail address is yls@kagi.com, but previously it was
stoedle@online.no. Have you changed _again_?
Answer #14: No. Yls@kagi.com is a forwarding address, meaning that if I ever change
from stoedle@online.no to something else, you could still send e-mail
to yls@kagi.com since the mail would always go to the correct address.
You can, of course, still send mail to stoedle@online.no, but if your mail
is returned, try yls@kagi.com instead.
Question #15: I have registered, but my registration code doesn't work. Can you tell me
what is wrong?
Answer #15: You must enter your name and registration code _exactly_ as typed on the
registration card, otherwise you will get a dialog saying you entered the
wrong code. If you have done this, contact me and I will try to come up
with a solution.
Question #16: I registered a version of Super Othello which did not come with a serial
number or a shareware reminder. What should I do?
Answer #16: Contact me. I will provide you with a code as soon as I receive your
request. If you have an e-mail address, including it will speed up the
process, as I don't have to start fumbling with envelopes, stamps and all
that. You will, of course, get your code either way, as long as the address
recorded on you is current. I apologize for any inconvenience this has
