Chessmaster 5500

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⤏ Go to series page
The Chessmaster 2000	1986
The Fidelity Chessmaster 2100	1989
Chessmaster 3000	1991
Chessmaster 4000 Turbo	1993
Chessmaster 4000	1995
Chessmaster 5000	1996
Chessmaster 5500	1997
Chessmaster 6000	1998
Chessmaster 7000	1999
Chessmaster 8000	2000
Chessmaster 9000	2002
Chessmaster 10th Edition	2004
Chessmaster Challenge	2005
Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition	2007

Key points

Sounds and voice don't work correctly on modern versions of Windows (see Crashes constantly for the necessary fixes).

Chessmaster Live online multiplayer service has been shut down.^[1]

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Disc check.

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest official patch is v1.1.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename CmMovie.exe^{[citation needed]}
Go to the installation folder. Delete or rename `CmMovie.exe`.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\*.ini^{[Note 1]}

cm.ini contains general game settings.

cmsound.ini contains sound settings.

Other *.ini files do not need to be edited.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\*.CMG^{[Note 1]}

Saves can be saved anywhere (the default is the installation folder).

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Always runs windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Native Windows Vsync.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration		Native Windows cursor.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	2	Shared-screen.
LAN play	2
Online play	Chessmaster Live servers have been shut down.^[1]

Issues unresolved

SmartBoard Error at launch

Chessmaster 5500 relies on a VXD driver that is not compatible with Windows XP and later. This error appears even if SmartBoard is disabled in the settings.

Issues fixed

Crashes constantly

Chessmaster 5500 crashes constantly on Windows XP and later because of a sound incompatibility; the changes below prevent these crashes.

Disable unsupported features^{[citation needed]}
Go to the installation folder. Delete the `sounds` folder. Edit `cmsound.ini`. Change `sounds=voice` to `sounds=simplified` OR `sounds=none` Change `InfoVoice=1` to `InfoVoice=0` Change `IVAVoice=1` to `IVAVoice=0` Change `NLAVoice=1` to `NLAVoice=0` Change `TutorialVoice=1` to `TutorialVoice=0` Save your changes.

Interface is offset

Set Windows 95 compatibility mode^{[citation needed]}
Right-click `Cm5500.exe` or one of its shortcuts. Choose Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab. Enable Compatibility mode and choose Windows 95. Click OK.

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95
Processor (CPU)	P-90 IBM PC or compatible
System memory (RAM)	16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	13 MB	500 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA 640x480 256 colors

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 PC Multiplayer availability - CHESSMASTER 5500 - PC - Ubisoft Customer Support Site

[gamedir-2] 1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[multiplayer-1] 1.0 ^1.1 PC Multiplayer availability - CHESSMASTER 5500 - PC - Ubisoft Customer Support Site

[1]

[Note 1]

Developers

	Mindscape
Release dates
Windows	October 1997
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Genres	Chess
Series	Chessmaster