http://www.angelfire.com/yt/zanum/freecellsolver63beta.zip
This link should let you download what I have so far.
To run the program, just run the EXE, and type in the name of the txt file you want to analyze, with .txt extension.
I got the dead cards all sorted out, but the program is still pretty mediocre. I doubt it'll solve many hands in a reasonable about of time. It took a whopping 3.5 minutes to find a 63-move solution to MS #1. 31999 games at 3.5 minutes apiece = 77.77 days. Ouch. But it gets the first 15-20 moves down pat.
I'm probably going to give this program a rest for now. I originally starting writing this solver so I could try to rank the hardest/easiest deals. My next plan is to just evaluate each card's value versus its position in the stack. Ace buried under a mess of low cards topped off with a king will get a HUGE difficulty rating. Sound reasonable? This way I could finish all 32000 (or more!) games in a reasonable time.
Tonight I'm going to try my program in the tournament at 8pm EST at Freecell.com. Tonight's WRAC's Revenge (hard hard games), which allows me enough time to punch in card values...
A note about my input system: you're probably going to beat me over the head for this, but each card is valued from 11 to 134. The first two digits are the card value (A=1, J=11, Q=12, K=13) and the third is the suit. (D=1, C=2, H=3, S=4). So, AS = 14, 8C = 82, JH = 113, etc. (Refer to my txt files included if you're confused.) Before the cards are defined, you must specify the number of columns available and then freecells available, in that order. Notice how the first line is "8 4". Although spacing doesn't matter, you have to have at least one white space or carriage return between values.
Well, I'm taking the weekend off from programming anything (going home from college), but I'll be back on Sunday night to write my other program. What do you guys think of that idea? Give each game a numerical value based on card layout? I sure hope I can put 11982 on top...
Questions about my program, I'll answer 'em- I'm writing this in a hurry, so I probably missed something important.
-Taren
Received on Fri Nov 21 2003 - 13:29:36 IST