Game freezes with katago after both players pass

[Santo]

When katago resigns, the game seems to finish correctly, no freeze. However, Katago stops working after that, until the whole game is restarted.

Gnu go or hybrid never play.

This is in Linux (ubuntu 16) under various versions of steam compatibility (proton 4.11. proton 5, and "Steam Runtime").

[John Waltz IV]

Sounds like GNUgo isn't running I've seen the dev respond that GNUgo is required in the scoring phase.

[Santo]

So to clarify: the actual freeze only occurs once the game ends and both players pass.

However, there are many times when the engine simply does never play, even if the 20 minutes are left to pass (it loses by time then, without having made a single move). The only engine that ever made a move was "katago". However, after successfully completing one game (which only happens if a player resigns), the engine does not seem to work again after that, until the game is restarted.

[Wolfey Studios]

The game isn't natively supported on Linux, but I've heard mixed result with players using Linux and Proton. A player has reported it working on Mint 20 and on with Manjaro. There are many variables at hand between settings, distros, hardware, and what's going on in Proton to be able to tell right now, but I'm sorry you're running into issues.

[Santo]

I see. Any clue as to why gnu-go would be the one not working, or how to workaround it? Most people seem to have problems with katago in fact, not gnu-go.

[Santo]

I managed to solve it after replacing the gnu-3.8 executable in the game folder, by the 3.6 executable downloaded from https://www.pandanet.co.jp/English/glgo/download.html

After that, the game correctly scores! (When using katago, as opposed to before, so it seems to be true that gnugo is used for scoring). And gnugo now works. All the AI seem to be working! :)

[Santo]

I correct myself: all the AI except for "hybrid" seems to work. So gnu works, katago works, but hybrid does not work. Not sure if relevant for debugging other issues.

[Wolfey Studios]

So, there was a patch last night which should have resolved some of the AI issues. I believe if you modify the install files, when you launch the game Steam will verify the install files and redownload any that are not as expected, such as replacing one of the AIs. What I think might have happened is that you got the latest patch which fixed your issue. Can you go to your install files and verify whether it is the standard GNUGo or the one you replaced it with?

On the subject of the hybrid AI, if both GNUGo and KataGo work, then the hybrid should theoretically work as well. This AI takes longer to run since it's finding many "good" moves to choose from instead of just one good move, but perhaps I've set the thresholds too aggressively for PCs that can't compute that data in the fastest manner. Can you check if it is working for you, but just takes longer than expected?

[enjoae]

Thanks @Santo, the gnu-3.6 exe fixed gnu-go for me !
There is a similar thread with people having troubles with AI on linux here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1264970/discussions/0/2974028351344717331/
Cheers

Edit: Considering Wolfrey Studio answer's, I tried Hybrid AI and it fixed it too. (It is indeed a bit slow, but my machine is not super powerfull) - Thanks both :)

[Santo]

@Wolfey: It is definitely the gnu-3.6 exe in my case. In fact, executing it manually with wine, the 3.8 exe "freezes" and never responds to a move (when playing ascii mode). No idea why. The 3.6 worked by itself in wine, and then when opening the game, it also worked.

I will later test the hybrid AI and see if it plays after waiting more time.

[Santo]

I have tested and confirmed: Both Katago and GnuGo work and play instantly. However, Hybrid never plays: it lost on time on the first move, after waiting 20 minutes.

[Wolfey Studios]

FYI, 3.6 has been packaged with it by default now in the latest patch, among a bunch of bug fixes. I'm not sure what is causing your hybrid specifically to not work, but I'll keep it in mind as I look into the other issues tomorrow.