Extending bitboards to 128-bits. about connect4 HOT 3 CLOSED

Hi,
supporting 128bits bitboard is in fact something I wanted to do it someday, but currently I'm not working much on that project.

One of the issue is the C++ standard does not define 128bits integer type. __uint128_t is a non standard GCC extension, probably other compiler also provide the same kind of extension but it is not (yet?) in the C++ standard.

That being said, I haven't looked yet at the implication of supporting 128bits boards in TranspositionTable.hpp.

from connect4.

The GNU G++ compiler is what makes solving 128-bit bitboards possible as shown on 8x8 (requires 72 bits). I don't think it's possible on other compilers though as it's not guaranteed. I tested the same code with Visual Studio, and it failed to compile.

With 128-bit bitboards, however, the board size can go as large as 11x10 (121 bits) compared to 8x7 (64 bits) in 64-bit bitboards. If I were to solve it on move one, it'll likely take years before a result comes to whom which side wins. But it's a good test to ensure the functions are working with already played positions using this method.

from connect4.

Hello,
I pushed a commit to support 128bits boards using g++ non-portable __128 type.

from connect4.