Spider Solitaire (Windows, 2007)
Spider Solitaire |
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Developers: Oberon Media,
Microsoft This game has debugging material. |
The killer app in Microsoft Plus! 98 if you didn't like golf, marbles, image editors, CD players or McAfee. This page documents the 2007 version of Spider Solitaire included with Windows Vista and 7.
To do:
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Debug Menu
Like 2007 versions of Solitaire, FreeCell, and Minesweeper, this game has an internal g_debugEnabled variable. As well as the block & pause modes and logging as described on the Solitaire page, setting it to a non-zero value enables this debug menu.
Amongst the obvious options:
- Show Idle Tip - Shows a hint if you leave the cursor stationary on a card for a short period.
- Delete Settings - Deletes the SpiderSolitaireSettings.xml file from "%LocalAppData%\Microsoft Games\Spider Solitaire".
- Toggle Debug Keys - Enables the semi-colon key which lets the game play the next move without dealing another row of cards, and the apostraphe key which does the same allowing dealing of cards.
- Toggle Hint Rankings Display, Toggle Allow Any Move and Toggle Dialogs - These options have had their code removed. Execution falls through to the Game menu's Change Appearance option and sets the cards to the Large Print deck.
Solver Debugging
Running the executable with the -solverdebug
argument adds a third part to the status bar of the following format:
Solver: SC=?,MD=?,MT=?,PM=?(A=?)(Sx[y]->Sz[w]...)
PM is the number of possible moves, and the Sx[y]->Sz[w] portion are the possible moves (card y on stack x can be placed on card w on stack z). The other values are currently unknown.
This is also present in Solitaire.
XInput Support
In the Vista/7 version, an interesting feature that isn't documented anywhere (Help Menu-wise) is XInput (gamepad) support – if the game detects an Xbox 360 controller plugged into a USB port, the P1 corner on the controller will light up, signifying the controller can be used. Possibly undocumented because Microsoft thought people were too used to the traditional controls, and a gamepad wouldn't work for a card game. It's a neat little feature, nonetheless.
Controls
Button | Effect |
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Left analog stick/D-Pad/Shoulder Buttons/Triggers | Moves the cursor. Oddly, they can also be used to navigate the menu bar. |
B/Back | Undoes the previous move. |
A/X | Selects the card the cursor is on. Moving the cursor onto another card and pressing A or X again moves the previous card onto the stack. Double-tapping either button moves a card to the home stack. |
Y/Start | Opens the Game Menu. |
Introduced in Windows 1.0 | Reversi (1985) |
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Introduced in Windows 3.x | Hearts (1993) (Prototypes) • Minesweeper (1990) (Prototypes) • Solitaire (1990) (Prototypes) |
Introduced in Windows 95 | FreeCell (1991) • Hover! (1995) (Prototypes) |
Introduced in Windows 2000 | 3D Pinball: Space Cadet (Prototypes) • Spider Solitaire (1998) (Prototype) |
Introduced in Windows XP | InkBall |
Introduced in Windows Vista | Chess Titans • FreeCell (2007) • Hearts (2007) • Minesweeper (2007) • Purble Place (Prototypes) • Solitaire (2007) • Spider Solitaire (2007) |
Introduced in Windows 8 Developer Preview | 5 in a Row • Labyrinth • Treehouse Stampede! • Zero Gravity |
Introduced in Windows 10 | Microsoft Solitaire Collection |
Other | GeoSafari for Bob |
See also | |
Microsoft Entertainment Pack |
- Pages missing developer references
- Games developed by Oberon Media
- Games developed by Microsoft
- Pages missing publisher references
- Games published by Microsoft
- Windows games
- Pages missing date references
- Games released in 2007
- Games released in January
- Games released on January 30
- Games with debugging functions
- To do
- Bundled Windows Games
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