How to's
with the download screen
A: Try right click on the download link, and save target as. The software comes as a regular .zip file
Q: How do I start it? I downloaded the program, but can not see it in the program menu.
A: If you have downloaded the zipped program, you must save it in a folder you remember. Then
open the folder in windows explorer (shortcut : windows key+E), and double click the downloaded
program, for example spademan.zip. You can use any unzip program to unzip the file, but if no
program starts when you double click, you would need to install an unzipper. Get the free
evaluation version from www.winzip.com, install that, and try again. You do extract the zipped
program to a folder you remember, it can be the same folder that you downloaded to.
Double click to start up the program. The first time you start it, it will ask if you want to create a
shortcut to your desktop. For some programs an installer might be available, for instance
spademan yahoo. Then you should be able to install it directly from the top menu bar, and run it
from both the program menu, or the shortcut on your desktop.
Q: How do I create a shortcut to the program on my desktop?
A: Right click the desktop, select new->shortcut, the type or browse to the location of the programs
exe file.
Q: How long can I use the free demo?
A: The free demo will work for 7 days. After that it will run with limited functionality, until you enter
some valid keys in the setup->activate menu.
Q: Why isn't the demo working?
A: The amounts of fully working demos are unfortunately limited. I release them from time to time,
around each 2 weeks. In the mean time, there is nothing you can do, except get the keys, if
verification works, and you like it. You can try the verification demo. It basicly shows the same
thing, except north is disabled in history, and there are no cards in green area. Just the total count.
So you can see if it is working. The other features are intact, such as auto-login and direct links.
Q: I have purchased the keys, but my program does not run.
A: In most cases, the wrong keys has been entered. When you purchase the keys, you have to
remember them. A reminder of your keys will be sent to your paypal email adress right after
purchase, and if you press the continue button in paypal, you should be taken to a page where
your keys are written. It is recommended to print out this page and keep it. You can send us a mail
and ask for you keys. You enter the keys in the programs setup->activate. Note that the keys are
case sensitive, so they have to be entered exactly like written, and no spaces
.
Q: Why does the program not activate?
A: Please check carefully the keys in the program, setup->options->activate. Copy paste from the
mail you received to your pay pal email address, make sure no spaces are unintentionally added.
Second, the program sends a check to the online database during startup. It might be that you are
behind a firewall, that does not allow the request to go through. What kind of connection do you
have? Is it a DSL type? If you have a software based firewall, make sure the program is allowed to
access the internet. If it is DSL, there might well be a firewall box on your line, or a firewall
controlled by your service provider. If you have a router/switch in your location, please check that
the program is allowed internet access.
Do make sure that there are no stale pages in your cache. From your browser, empty all
temporary files and cockies, and make sure content is updated on every visit to a page. In IE this is
done from Tool->Internet Options, Delete cockies, delete files, and settings.
I it still does not activate, despite the fact that you have purchased the keys, Tell us what is the
cause code, and response during startup. We are able to run diagnostics, to check if your the
program on your computer can access our webserver.
Q: I have bought a new computer, and want to install the cardsman program on it. Can I do that?
A: Yes, you can. Download the program again from www.cardsman.com, and enter your keys in the
programs setup->activate menu. Note: You can not use the same set of keys at the same time on
another computer, that will block your account.
Q: Why do you block accounts when the keys are used on two computers at the same time?
A: It is to prevent piracy of the software.
Q: I have reformatted my harddisk. Can you provide me the keys, so I can use the program again?
A: Yes, we can. Send us a mail to the support adress, and do include either one of your paypal
receipts, or at least one of your keys, if you remember any. Sometimes your email adress is
enough for us to identify your account, and retrieve your keys.
Q: My program start up, then it gives an error code, and ask me to check the connection to the
internet. I am connected, what is wrong?
A: The program was not able to check the keys at startup. Check that keys are correct in
setup->activate. If you have firewall software installed, check that it does allow your cardsman
program to connect to the internet. If it still does not work, please send us an email ,
and include your user name, the error messages, your paypal receipt and a description of the
problem. You could also retry, by checking the keys in the programs setup->activate menu, and
press ok. The program will then retry to connect and check the keys.
Q: My program does not show any cards in the green area. What is wrong?
A: The keys could not be verified. See above Answer.
Q: My program give the error message: Could not synch with table. What should I do?
A: Make sure the table is visible, and press ok when asked to try again. Check that you are not
using 16 bits color, right click on your desktop, select properties, then settings, to check the color
settings. If possible, set it to 24 or better 32 bit color. This is sometimes denoted as 'millions of
colors'. If you play an international game on yahoo, use the links the is from the main page, since
the layouts on some international games are different. If that does not work, You can send us a
screenshot of your table, and we can check the reason. Do:
Open the game table, play with robots, make at least one card visible on the table, and press
printscreen, and while holding it, press alt key on your keyboard once. Then release both. Then
from start->programs->accessories->paint, you start the paint program on your computer.
Select in paint edit->paste, and a picture of your game table should be visible. Select File->Save
As, select 24bit bmp, save it as MyShot.bmp, zip the MyShot.bmp with winzip, and send the
MyShot.zip file to our support mail.
Q: My counter does not count, or does only count red cards.
A: There are two different 16 bit color formats. Cardsman programs does only support the most
common one of them. Try to change your color quality, see above for how to. If still problems, take
a screen shot of our game table, see above Answer as well for how to that.
Q: My game tends to freeze, and it is difficult to use my cardsman program when I play. What can I
do?
A: Open the programs setup->options->misc menu, and adjust the scanspeed setting to a lower
value. If you play with java games, they require a lot of resources on microsoft OS, and it might be
better to adjust the programs scanspeed down.
Q: My cardsman card counter misses cards, at least occationally. What can I do?
A: Try to increase the scanspeed from the setup->options->misc menu. A known issue is the last
card in the game, when the game over pops up quick. Then you have to reset score and cards,
either left click in client area of the progam, or use the file menu.It is not supposed to miss any
cards, and from our experience, it never does, even on old computers and much lag in the game
room.
Q: The automatic login does no longer, but it used to. What is the reason?
A: Most likely you have installed windows xp SP2. There is a pop up blocker added to internet
explorer in SP2, and the login uses and new window that can be blocked by that. Try to turn off the
pop up blocker in IE.
Q: What kind of payment do you accept?
A: We do accept all payments through paypal. They do take all major credit cards, and payments
from your paypal account. If you wish to pay manually from your paypal account, you can do so by
email request, we will provide our receiving email adress, and create and send you keys.
Q: I have payed with an e-check at paypal, but did not receive any keys. Why is that?
A: If you pay with an e-check at paypal, it will take approximately 4 days before it get cleared,
according paypal. We do not receive your payment until the e-check is cleared. You will receive
the keys when the check is cleared. Feel free to contact us if you do not receive your keys. They
will be sent to your pay pal email address.
Q: Why is my user account blocked?
A: Blocking happens when we discover that 2 programs are using the same keys at the same time.
So please be careful to run only one program at a time. If your account is blocked, we will unblock
it, manually. Send us a mail. And don't do it again ;-)
Q: I am not longer playing, and I want to uninstall the cardsman program. How do I do that?
A: To uninstall, use control panel -> add/remove software. If you did not install it, but rather
downloaded the zip file and then run the exe, you can just delete the files (1 zip, 1 exe , 1 txt, and
possibly a shortcut on your desktop)
Q: Which browsers do you support?
A: The counters works with all browsers. The automatic logins and backdoors might not work for
other browsers than internet explorer.
Q: Can I install the cardsman software on an apple computer?
A: The software does only work with microsoft windows operating systems.
Q: For the automatic login to work for yahoo programs, I have to enter my yahoo user name and
password, in the setup->options-Access menu. Isn't that a security risk?
A: Yes, it is. We do not store or record your yahoo password. It is written to a local file settings.txt,
to keep it permanent in your program. We recommend you to play with a yahoo account id, that
does not carry any valuable information to you. The yahoo id and password
is sent to yahoo during startup, if the autologin options is set on.
Q: What about the keys, they contain also a user name and a password. Is that a security risk?
A: No. You can use any keys, any text string, as long as it is not already taken.
Q: Does it really help?
A: It helps, in a few ways. First, it gives you speed and confidence. You know all the information of
the current hand. Second, it has a few nice access features, that shortens your startup time down
to a doubleclick. And the directlink help you find suitable partners and tables quick. And last, I
would say that few people, even the good players, do really remember all the cards and history
accurately. So I think it give you an edge in terms of accuracy. Besides, you start to focus on what
is most important, that is the strategy. I find that most fun part.
Q: How does the (manual) installation work?
A: The installation works like this:
1. You download the program, from www.cardsman.com
2. You unpack the program using winzip, and store it with it's executable name
3. You start the program, .exe, by double clicking it from the location where you saved it
4. When started the first time, the program will notice that the settings.txt file does not exist, and will
ask you to enter your keys, as you will get when you pay for the activation. If you press cancel, or
the keys are not found after an online lookup in the database, it will check for available full version,
time limited demos. If keys entered are valid, or if demo is available, the cards will show in the
green area. If keys are invalid and no full demos are available, the limited functionality verification
demo will run. It is the same, except there are no cards in the green area, only some text, and the
total number of remaining cards is written, pluss that north's cards are disabled in history (the
black area). This is only so that you can verify that the counter works in practice on your computer.
5. When you exit the program, it will create the (bm/hm - ) settings.txt file, and write your keys to
the file, in the same location as your .exe program.
6. The next time you start the program, it will find the settings.txt file, and read the keys from there.
It will ask you for the keys if their values are empty.
7. You can re-enter the keys when the program is running, in the setup->options->activate menu.
8. If you want to reinstall the program, exit the program if running, and delete the (bm/hm - )
settings.txt file. Then restart the program.
9. If you want to un-install the program, you can just delete the program .exe and the settings.txt
file.
Q: I did what is required, but the program does still not work. What can I do?
A: Tell our support team, and they will send you a diagnostics program, to find out the exact
reason for the trouble.
Q: Who do I contact you for help, and what information should I include?
A: Send a mail to support@cardsman.com, and do include this:
1. The name of the program you are using, and the game platform, ex: spademan, msn
2. A receipt from paypal, or any receipt number
3. Either one of your keys (user name, or email, password is supposed to secret)
4. A description of the problem
5. A screenshot of your table. Do:
Open the game table, play with robots, make at least one card visible on the table, and press
printscreen, and while holding it, press alt key on your keyboard once. Then release both. Then
from start->programs->accessories->paint, you start the paint program on your computer.
Select in paint edit->paste, and a picture of your game table should be visible. Select File->Save
As, select 24bit bmp, save it as MyShot.bmp, zip the MyShot.bmp with winzip, and send the
MyShot.zip file to our support mail.
