2017-01-02
At Sokoban-Online.de a brand new solver was introduced in the middle of december. Sokolution made by Florent Diedler. A hitherto unknown name in Sokoban.
Test results for Sokolution can be found at Sokobano.de. Sokolution performs only second to the still ruling Takaken solver.
Not bad for a newcomer!
Sokolution is a plugin. That means it need a Sokoban player to work.
Download Sokolution from Diedlers homepage.
Install Sokolution with YASC
- Put your download, SokolutionPlugin_v1.53t_ext.dll, in the folder C:\Users\Yourname\Documents\Sokoban\Sokoban YASC\Plugins
- Open YASC and go to Tools>Solver
- Click “Browse”. Go to the folder mentioned in 1. and choose the dll for Sokolution
- Thats all. Now click on the dropdownbox with the text YASS 2.xxx and you find you have a new solver: Sokolution v1.053t
Install Sokolution with Sokoban++
- Rightclick the icon for Sokoban++ and choose “Open file folder”. Copy SokolutionPlugin_v1.53t_ext.dll to the folder “Solvers”
- Restart Sokoban++ and choose Level>Solvers and you will find Sokolution v1.053t
There is no helpfile for Sokolution but using the solver a bit I learned:
Sokolution doesn’t accept cyclic levels.
Sokolution is limited to 64 boxes, maximal size 40×40 and maximal 255 floors.
By the way the limits for Takaken 7.22 are:
Takaken doesn’t accept cyclic levels.
Takaken is limited to 64 boxes and maximal size 50×50.
I wanted to try Sokolution and tested it together with all the solvers you would want to use (To my knowledge. Please correct me if I am wrong) with my collection “Sokobet”. The solvers were allowed one hour before time out.
| Sokolution | YASS | JSoko | Takaken | |
| A | U | U | U | U |
| B | U | U | S | U |
| C | S | S | S | S |
| D | S | S | S | S |
| E | S | S | S | S |
| F | S | S | S | S |
| G | U | U | U | U |
| H | S | U | S | S |
| I* | S | S | S | S |
| J | S | S | S | S |
| K | S | S | S | S |
| L* | S | S | S | S |
| M | S | S | S | S |
| N* | S | S | U | U |
| O | U | U | S | S |
| P | S | S | S | S |
| Q* | S | S | S | S |
| R | U | U | U | U |
| S* | S | S | S | S |
| T | S | S | U | S |
| U* | S | S | S | S |
| V* | S | S | S | S |
| W | U | U | U | S |
| X | U | U | U | S |
| Y | U | U | U | U |
| Z | S | S | S | S |
| Æ | U | U | S | U |
| Ø | S | S | S | U |
| Å | S | S | S | S |
| Solved | 20 | 19 | 21 | 21 |
S = solved. U = unsolved.
*) Cyclic levels. In all the levels the first move is an inevitable push so I just changed the levels a bit to test them with all the solvers.
Many of the levels were solved within less than 2 seconds by all the solvers. Once in a while some solvers really took some time but eventually got the job done.
Not unexpectedly none of the solvers could handle A, G and Y.
Only JSoko solved B and Æ.
Only Takaken solved W and X.
Much to my surprise JSoko not just solved, but also just needed 0,4 seconds to figure out how to solve Æ. A simpler solution I didn´t recognize when I constructed the level. Actually Æ can be sharpened conciderably.
Sokolution tends to use lots of moves for its solutions. Probably due to different methods to find a solution. But the number of moves and pushes really aren’t very interesting. Using an optimizer the results will become much closer.
The conclusion: A new high class Sokoban solver. So now you need to use 4 solvers to get the best results.
Did you remember to download the last version of YASC a few months ago? One feature you might like is the possibility to put a grid on your skin. Go to Settings>Graphics>Board>Grid and set enabled=yes.
You will also get YASS version 2.138 which boosts the number of solved levels in the classic XSokoban collection to 85, just one short of Takaken. Getting there next time?