SCID vs PC

im after running another analysis and i got a message at the end saying it cant be saved as the pgn is read only.

i then moved it to the clipbase hoping to save it in scid format but nothing moved over.

dos anyone know what i did wrong

Ok, use pgn only to import, not to save games.

Make a SCID database, and import your pgn's into that.

Ive also come accros read only pgns before

This is mentioned in the help file, specifically in the Annotating Games section:

Cut Off Threshold Above this score, dont worry about adding variations, as game is won.

The default is 5.0, which is, of course, a large enough of an evaluation score that the game is completely won and no further variations witll be added.

As far as your second question, it sounds like you were attemtping to re-write (save) the original pgn file.  They are all opened as read-only, to specifically prevent writing over them, and so you saw that message. 

How did you try to save it?  If you click the little "down arrow" from the PGN header window, there is an option PGN and a secondary option SAVE GAME AS.  This will save the game and the analysis.

You could also simply export your current game and saved analysis to a new pgn file.  TOOLS - EXPORT CURRENT GAME TO PGN.

Nothing moved over to the clipbase?  How did you try to move it over?  One way is to first copy the game and analysis to your clipboard.  (PGN - COPY TO CLIPBOARD) and then switch over to the clipbase and then click TOOLS and then IMPORT PGN TEXT.

Thanks, i opened games list and dragged the pgn to the clipbase.

Im running the analysis again and ill try and save it the way you mentioned.

i actually got the message "cant be saved as pgn is read only" on move 21 of a 23 move game. im running it again to see if it shows up again on this move.  

the analysis has stalled on move 22 of a 23 move game.

instead of finishing the last move its search depth is up to 34 at the moment and rising. 

i have set the analysis to 10 seconds per move.

can anyone tell me what to do next. 

In post #433, Stephen says he fixed the Annotate Mode bug, where the engine doesn't automatically switch off, and instead continues to analyze the game after the final position has been reached.

It sounds like this is what is happening.

I haven't had a chance to download it yet, but this should be fixed in the most recent windows beta version.  (Link given in that post.)

Here's an example of some analysis, from my last OTB tournament game.

I used a recent development version of Stockfish as the annotator, set at just 10 seconds per move, and Blunder Threshold of just .4.  (Meaning, the engine will point out the better move/line whenever it finds a move/line that results in a socre that is .4 or better than my move.) 

I'm only asking it to show the better move/line when White (me) made a move.

[Event "2014 Recession Buster Open"]
[Site "San Diego, CA"]
[Date "2014.02.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Collins, Edward Dennis"]
[Black "Valdez, Reneray"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "1887"]
[BlackUSCF "1862"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 010314 64 SSE4.2"]

1.d4
+0.21
1...Nf6 2.c4
+0.26
2...e6 3.Nc3
+0.24
3...Bb4 4.Nf3
+0.24
4...Ne4 5.Qc2
+0.50
5...O-O 6.Qxe4
+4.56
6...d5 D 7.Qh4?! +-
+3.75 / +4.53
( 7.Qd3 Nd7 8.e3 c5 9.Be2 Nb6 10.cxd5 c4 11.Qc2 exd5 12.O-O g6 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 Bf5 15.Bg5 Be7 +- )

This is my first "blunder."  I played 7.Qh4, resulting in a score of +3.75.  As you can see, I should have played 7.Qd3, which would have resulted in a score of +4.53.

7...f6 8.e3
+5.10
8...c5 9.a3
+5.26
9...Ba5 10.Bd3
+5.75
10...g6 11.Bd2
+5.74
11...dxc4 12.Bxc4
+6.25
12...cxd4 13.Nxd4
+6.44
13...Qe8 14.Qe4
+6.27
1-0

That's it.  For this game, I made just one "blunder."  (Black, of course, blundered a piece on move 5, when he castled.)

Thanks lads. i just checked the analysis again and it was still analysing second last move. 

previously i didnt want to click on pgn tab in case all analysis would be lost but this time i clicked it out of impatience.

low and behold the analysis was completed.

finally, thanks to you lads its working

thanks for all your help with it.

i know the constant questions can be annoying.

now you only have to explain how to use the Tree feature and what are bookmarks

Tree feature:

Load a large database of games.  (Or any size, I guess.)
Display the Tree window.  (WINDOWS - TREE WINDOW)
Pull up one game and step through it, from the beginning.

The Tree window you opened up will give you statistics and the success rate of moves from the current position, for the games in the database you loaded.  As you continue to step through that game, you will see new stats, for that new position.

You can also add to the tree, something I haven't had a need or desire to do yet.

The help file talks about the Tree Feature in much more detail than this.  This only touches bases with this feature. 

I mentioned loading a large database of games, only because the stats will be more meaningful with a large sample size.

Bookmarks:

From the help file:

Scid allows you to bookmark important games for easy future reference. The bookmarks menu is found in File->Bookmarks, or from the toolbar bookmark icon.
 
When you open a bookmark Scid will automatically load the appropriate database, game and position.

For the record, I don't use the Tree Window, nor have I yet to use Bookmarks.  In fact, there's a LOT of features with the program that I don't use very often or at all.  (But it's nice to know they're there, if I ever need them.)

Great stuff. thanks Ed. you should be getting paid for the help you give here

Thanks, but this is just my way of giving back to the community. 

Do you know if stockfish can summarise the amount of Inacuracies, Mistakes and Blunders like Chess.coms analysis.

I try and keep a record of each and use it to see if im getting more consistent

I don't believe any engine yet written can do that.  That's a feature for a GUI, not an engine.  And no, I don't know of a GUI (and I have dozens of them) that will do exactly that task either.

Scid vs. PC can export an analyzed game to a formatted HTML file, that you can step through, complete with diagrams at each "blunder" but it doesn't summarize or tabulate the data.

If you have any programming experience, it would be a trivial matter to write a short program to parse a commented PGN file, and have the program keep track of your inaccuracies, mistakes, etc.  I'm writing such a program now, but it's for my own specific needs.

The Depth based anaylsis is deinfitely a work in progress.

I have made improvements over 4.11 in the latest beta/subversion,

so if you want to test Depth based analysis please use one of these,

The same goes for stopping single game analysis. This is in Subversion/beta only, and send bug reports if you have a clearly reproducible issue.

Also - Testing annotation can be complicated by Engines cache-ing analysis.

Gregor sent me a hack to speed up database opening too. (File opens do not have to be locked because we are not using threads). So please check this out if using subversion.

I have analysed a couple of my games with the bluder threshold set to 0.5

When the diffference in score between current move and previous move is greater than 0.5 Stockfish marks these as ?!(dubious move) instead of ??(blunder).

why is this

Note that Stockfish isn't the one marking the scores.  Stockfish just evaluates the position and reports the score.  Scid vs. PC is the one marking them.  And you can control what is considered a ? more or a ?! more or a ?? more, etc.

Whether a score is marked as ? or ?! or ?? (etc.) depends upon the values in the Configure Informant screen.

OPTIONS - GAME INFORMATION - CONFIGURE INFORMANT VALUES

The Blunder score here is separate from the Blunder Threshold score in the Configure Annotate screen.  You can have a Blunder Threshold of .3, for example, in the Annotate Screen, and have a Blunder (??) marked as 3.0, for example, in the Informant screen. 

The Blunder Threshold value controls the whether you wish to add scores for Blunders and add variations for Blunders. 

The Informant symbol for a Blunder (??) will still only be marked and added to the moves using whatever value you have in the Informant screen, not the Annotate Bunder Threshold score.

(I think.)

So, if you really do want a Blunder to be anything greater than .5, and if you do want this marked as ??, then also change it to .5 in the Configure Informant screen.

Quote from above "The Blunder Threshold value controls the whether you wish to add scores for Blunders and add variations for Blunders"

I understand most of your explanation apart from the above quote.  

Why is it necessary to have the Blunder Threshold setting in Annotate window if the blunder setting is going to be controlled by the Informant screen.

How does a setting or 0.5 in Blunder Threshold influence how scores and variations are added to blunders

Well, for me, when I want to have an engine annotate one of my games, I almost always want it to point out and add variations for moves and lines it finds that are, oh, even as little .2 or .3 or .4 better than my actual move.  I want to see what the engine recommends, to see what I possibly should have played in that position.

But an evaluation difference of just .2 or .3 doesn't mean my move was a blunder!  And I certainly wouldn't want my move scored as ?? because it wasn't a blunder.  It might not have been best, but it certainly didn't blunder the game away.

So this is why you really do need two different settings.  You need one setting to point out what IS a big blunder, (??) as you previously entered in the Informant Screen.  And you need another setting to decide WHEN you wish to have a varation added when the engine evaluates a move that is better than your move, as previously entered for your "Blunder Threshold."