What GUI are you using?
You didn't mention it, and that's the most important part of solving your problem.
Have you confirmed PGN you copied into memory is accurate?
Problem with PGN and Houdini
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Is it just Houdini 1.5 that you are having this problem with, or do other engines in this same GUI give similar results?
I'm using Arena. The PGNs are accurate, I can copy them into the Game Editor here and they're fine. I don't have any other engines installed, maybe that's worth a try. Thanks for your help!
I forgot to say: the notation of the game is fine, I can click through it no problem. It's Houdini's suggestions which are haywire and completely illegal; a typical one is Kg1-f4 which, after it first appears on around move 12, will then be top of the list for every move after that, followed by equally impossible moves on choices 2-4.
Like I sad, the problem only arises with manually copied and inserted PGNs; directly uploaded ones are fine.
EscherehcsE just wrote this in another thread:
For some strange reason, Arena goes nuts if you feed it a PGN with a FEN tag that starts at the beginning position of a game. (That is, it only likes FEN tags with partial games.) Delete the FEN tag (third line), and it should work fine.
That's the answer, thanks!
If I copy the PGN from a game which has been posted here (which I have to do via the Game Editor/Analysis Board) and load it into my free Houdini 1.5 via New/Position/Copy from Clipboard, the analysis always starts going haywire around move 12; Houdini will suggest moves like Kg1-f4 for every move after that. I don't have the problem if I download PGNs from my own or other game archives and then load them via the PGN menu; it's only copied PGNs which are the problem.
Anybody got any suggestions?