MineSweeper Solver ------------------ This is an application which helps you to solve Microsoft(R) MineSweeper games or solves them by itself. It solves the games by "reading" the board from the screen and using logical conclusions to determine the positions of the mines. Features: - Plays MineSweeper by itself. - Gives hints where to uncover the next field. - Shows the probability of a mine in the field the mouse cursor is over. - Highlights free squares and mines . - Can prevent clicking on a known mine. - Analyzes also lost games. - Can handle wrong flags. - Solves MineSweeper in an almost perfect way. Website: http://www.wsdh.org/?minesweeper 1. Legal statement: ------------------- Copyright 2008 by Mathias Markert The MineSweeper Solver is freeware. Permission to copy or redistribute it is hereby granted. It MUST NOT be sold in any way. This software is provided "as-is" and WITHOUT WARANTY of any kind, including indirect or consequential damage or loss of data or profits. You use it at your own risk. 2. Installation notes: ---------------------- Requirements: - Microsoft(R) Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 - Microsoft(R) MineSweeper (any version on any operating system except Vista) Extract and copy both files WinMineSlv.exe and WmSlvHk.dll into a directory of your choice. Run WinMineSlv.exe. Microsoft(R) MineSweeper must be installed on your system. It is not part of this software. Microsoft(R) MineSweeper is normally shipped within any version of Microsoft(R) Windows. 3. Using MineSweeper Solver --------------------------- After you started the application you can see the first tab "Solver". Use the "Solve" button to solve a game. The MineSweeper Solver will stop when the game is won or lost or when the most probable solution will exceed the current risk threshold. This can be set to 0% or no risk which means that only sure decisions will be executed. Than no game will be lost but some games wont be solved completely. Otherwise more games will be finished but also some of them will be lost. You can press the "Hint" button when you want to known were to play next. The best solutions are provided in a list. If you enable the option "Set mouse cursor" it will be automatically set to the field where you should play next. At the bottom of the window the probability of a mine of the field where the mouse cursor is over is displayed. By using the right mouse button or by using the applications key you can get to the options menu. You can set up the following options: - displaying of the current mine probability - prevention of clicking on known mines (affected by risk threshold) - enable the analyzing of lost games - using of flags as input data (games may be lost if there are wrong flags) There are shortcuts for the three buttons: F2 ... new game F5 ... solve game F6 ... give hint They also work when the MineSweeper has the key focus. With the second tab "Player" you can watch MineSweeper games played by the MineSweeper Solver. Won and lost games will be counted. You can reset the counter by the options menu (right mouse button or applications key). Additionally the MineSweeper solver can stop after won and/or lost games. There are three modes of animation (None, Fast, Slow). Note that using animation will capture your mouse cursor. You cannot use your mouse any more. Use the keyboard instead by pressing Alt + F4 to close the MineSweeper application or Alt + Tab and Esc to change to the MineSweeper Solver and stop it. 4. About playing MineSweeper ---------------------------- The MineSweeper Solver plays the game like a human does. It doesn't use any kind of trick or magic. It reads the game situation from the screen (therefore the window must be visible completely, it doesn't use memory reading techniques) and analyzes it. The position of mines are determined by logical conclusions. If there is no sure decision it chooses the most probable solution. To my knowledge this is the best MineSweeper solver ever. There is no other one winning 36.4% of expert games. This probability was calculated by playing more than 6,300,000 games. 5. FAQ ------ Q: Does MineSweeper Solver use any trick? A: No! MineSweeper Solver only reads the screen and clicks on the squares. Q: Does MineSweeper Solver choose the squares randomly? A: Yes, but only if there is no clear solution and the squares have the same mine probabilty. Q: Can MineSweeper Solver handle black & white boards? A: Yes. Please restart MineSweeper Solver after switching between black & white and color mode. Q: Does MineSweeper Solver support MineSweeper clones? A: Not yet. It is possible, but most effort would be about the differences of the user and graphical interface of each MineSweeper clone. Q: What is WmSlvHk.dll used for? A: WmSlvHk.dll is used to control the mouse and keyboard input of the MineSweeper window (preventing clicking on mines and hot keys). Q: My FireWall displays an warning about WmSlvHk.dll? A: WmSlvHk.dll does use Windows functions (keyboard hook) which are also used by MalWare. This is harmless, but just delete WmSlvHk.dll, if you do not trust it. MineSweeper Solver still works but the features mentioned above are disabled. 6. Mines in the real word ------------------------- There is a serious aspect about mines: http://www.un.org/av/photo/subjects/mines.htm