Anyone know how to search for positions with a similar pawn structure to the current board?

If you're using the latest subversion , you can check out the CQL search help -

Quick and powerful position searches can be done by marking squares with Shift+Click, then opening the CQL search dialog

Thx

I have yet to find where background color behind chess board is specified in scid.gui, and while there is an option to change PGN background color, there's none for the board background (I've already customized texture and pieces). I'd like to override the default Windows color for the background. Anyone been able to change this in scid.gui or...?

Keyboard shortcut for autoplay is listed as Ctrl+z but it's not working in version 4.19. Has it been changed or removed?

Sorry, but... you can.

I guess it was omitted, or at least, I can't find any trace of it in any .tcl file

Change

bind .main <Control-z> {menuUndo undo}
to

bind .main <Control-z> {toggleAutoplay}

Changing to toggleAutoplay worked! :-))

Can Control-? be fixed as well? It's supposed to open random game but instead opens window with list of databases.

In scid.gui, open random game is associated with Control-? in several places: Games and Databases, Finder and under ###Edit menu as $m add command -label GameRandom -command ::game::LoadRandom -accelerator "control-?"
set helpMessage($m,[incr menuindex]) GameRandom

? is Shift+/ on most keyboards (?)

Press Control+Shift+/ to load random game

Ah, yes, an excellent point. If I only I had had the wisdom to realize this before posting query. My bad. Thanks for your wisdom.

BTW, I found fix for Scid vs PC on Windows tablet. I can select to show keyboard icon on task bar and use that for digital keyboard below chess board. Works very nicely.

Sorry if this post is considered a necro, but, considering the thread title, this seems to be the logical place to make it. And maybe @stevenaaus himself can help me

Following a guide on Reddit, I've spent the last couple of days trying to set up a chess toolbase, and the last 24 hours, minus sleep and other needs, have been largely fruitless.

In a nutshell, my toolbase consists of Scid vs PC plus Stockfish 10 and Caissabase. So far, so good. However, I also want to use a 5-piece Syzygy tablebase (I don't want to use as much drive space as the 6-piece set requires), and it is this that is giving me the trouble.

When in Scid vs PC, I click Options -> Tablebase Directory, and in the window that pops up I use the browse button to select the folder where I keep the tablebase files. However, when I then click OK, I get a popup, titled Scid: Tablebase Results, which reads "No tablebases found." And, when I enter the Stockfish configuration menu (via the Scid vs PC Tools menu), and enter the path to the tablebase directory, as instructed on the Stockfish website, Stockfish ceases to function at all. This happens with both the bundled v9, and the v10 which I add myself. When I go back into the Stockfish configuration menu and delete the tablebase path, it starts to function again, though without the tablebases. And, as far as I can tell, the bundled (with Scid vs PC) Toga engine runs without using the tablebase files, also.

I really have no idea what is wrong, and my GoogleFu is weak, or so it seems. I've tried a few searches with key phrases which may be gleaned from this post, but no luck. I suspect that the problem with Stockfish not working when configured with the tablebase path may have something to do with Scid vs PC not recognising my directory.

Please help, and TIA

PS, I'm on Windows 10 

Well, I'm only using the previous version (4.18), but that version only supports Nalimov tablebases, not Syzygy tablebases. So unless the latest version now supports Syzygy tablebases, that's your problem.

Thanks for your reply. I did notice in the relevant help page for Scid vs PC that only Nalimov tablebases were mentioned, but, having read this Reddit post , I was certain that Syzygy should work......but, having read that post again, the process described is for Scid vs MAC. So, I guess you're right, unless someone else knows better.

Thanks once again for your reply o7

Oh, OK, I read the Reddit post - I think, in theory, it ought to work. The difference is that he has Stockfish directly accessing the Syzygy files via the Stockfish config file, and Scid is out of the loop. Maybe I'll try to install Stockfish 10 into my copy of Scid vs PC and see if I can get it to work.

Let me know how you get on, good luck o7

OK, I was able to get Stockfish 10 to use the Syzygy bases - It evaluated the Li**** position as 0.00, and showed 11 tablebase hits. Of course, Scid vs PC wasn't able to find the Syzygy tablebase files, just as you experienced. (I also got the "No tablebases found" error message when I tried to point Scid to the Syzygy folder.)

Interesting. How did you configure it in this instance? In Scid vs PC, or via a command line option or some such? I've tried Google searches on how to configure separately from the GUI, and the most visible link is https://support.stockfishchess.org/kb/advanced-topics/engine-parameters

Trouble is, even though the link AND its contents are displayed in the Google search list, when clicking on the link - in all 3 of my browsers - I just get

This site can’t be reached

Thanks once again o7

Regarding the advanced topics link, there wasn't really much useful info there. Here's a link to the archived page on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180317181332/https://support.stockfishchess.org/kb/advanced-topics/engine-parameters

Regarding how I configured the Stockfish engine - the way I normally configure any engine I add to Scid vs PC.   From the menu, "Tools --> Analysis Engines --> New". Then I fill in the Name, Command, and Directory fields, then I click on the "Configure" button, which then brings up the "UCI Configure Stockfish 10" window. That window is where you add the Syzygy path. Here's some screen shots of the setup: (right-click on any of the images and "View image" to get an enlarged view of the image.)

The pictures are great, and I now have everything up and running. I too got 11 tablebase hits, so it all seems to agree. Thankyou, Sir, for all your help o7

pfren, many thanks for your suggestion o7