Last updated March 12, 2006.

NOTE: Very recently, a complete new distribution of XSeed became available. If you are using XSeed for the first time, you probably want not to follow the instructions on this page about how to get XSeed until you get to the part about getting the complete new XSeed.

XSeed is a tournament administration program written for, and used by, the USFA. This page makes the XSeed software available.

The USFA made XSeed available on its old Web site, with one problem. It wasn't anywhere near a current version of XSeed. The USFA introduced a second problem when it introduced its new Web site, but didn't put XSeed on it.

The user interface for XSeed is not particularly good compared to other tournament administration software. And, the program tends to crash when bad things are attempted. But, what XSeed does, it does absolutely according to the rules and policies of the USFA. And, since it's what the USFA uses for national tournaments, it produces the very same kinds of papers to which a fencer should become accustomed for fencing in national tournaments. It's worth investing the time to become proficient with XSeed. Yes, it takes longer to understand XSeed, but it's worthwhile in the long run. And, the price is right (free).

System Requirements

According to the old USFA Web site, the system requirements are:

• Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 5, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
• 32 MB of RAM
• 10 MB of available hard-disk space

License Agreement

The old USFA Web site displayed this license agreement:

Something You Might Want to Know

When you actually run XSeed, it's not a single program. It's actually three different programs (Registration.exe, XSeedMain.exe, XSeedSetup.exe). Yes, XSeed could have been written so one program handles all functions, but it wasn't. Instead, depending on what you need to do, you run the right one of the three programs.

How is XSeed Packaged?

When XSeed was originally made available on the old USFA Web site, it was packaged as a single file called "setup.exe", which, when executed, would extract several files (including the manual, "XSeedManual.pdf"), and install (if necessary) a few small pieces of Microsoft Access. That "setup.exe" file is still available, but it is not the current version of XSeed.

When XSeed was revised, what was made available (through private channels, not on the old USFA Web site!) was the three files ending in ".exe" (Registration.exe, XSeedMain.exe, XSeedSetup.exe) which form the bulk of XSeed. However, it is not satisfactory to put these three programs on a computer and try to use them unless the computer already has Microsoft Access installed. If the computer does not, the old "setup.exe" should be installed first, and then the three ".exe" files (Registration.exe, XSeedMain.exe, XSeedSetup.exe) should be replaced with newer ones.

So, if you know what you are doing and you already have Microsoft Access, you can skip straight to getting the replacement three ".exe" files (Registration.exe, XSeedMain.exe, XSeedSetup.exe). But, if you're at all uncertain, do things the long way.

How to Get the Complete Original XSeed

Download "setup.exe" here (8,460 KB). When it is stored on your computer, run it. Make a note of where you install the files which make up XSeed. "setup,exe" will install a couple of fragments of Microsoft Access (if needed), and create five files:

ClubDivision.mdb

(254 KB) a starter copy of the "club/division database" (in the format of a Microsoft Access 97 database consisting of two tables) which is needed by XSeed. The file predates the creation of the North Coast (California), Green Mountain, and Northeast Pennsylvania Divisions, and 19 "divisions" corresponding to foreign areas from Argentina to Virgin Islands. Multiple clubs in the Southwest Section were founded after this database was created (at least 1,000 club names are in the file currently used by the USFA which were not in this file). But, this file is still a better start than nothing.

Registration.exe

(232 KB) one of the three programs which make up XSeed. Will claim to be version 2.2.1.0.

XSeedMain.exe

(376 KB) one of the three programs which make up XSeed. Will claim to be version 2.3.0.0.

XSeedManual.pdf

(392 KB) the XSeed manual.

XSeedSetup.exe

(116 KB) one of the three programs which make up XSeed. Will claim to be version 2.0.0.0.

This is enough to run XSeed, but it won't be the latest version. To get the latest version, move on to the next step (below).

How to Get the Upgrade to XSeed

Download "Xseed.zip" here (279 KB). When it is stored on your computer, it will be found to be a compressed (zipped) folder containing three files:

Registration.exe

(228 KB) one of the three programs which make up XSeed. Will claim to be version 2.8.0.0.

XSeedMain.exe

(404 KB) one of the three programs which make up XSeed. Will claim to be version 3.0.3.0.

XSeedSetup.exe

(120 KB) one of the three programs which make up XSeed. Will claim to be version 2.7.0.0.

Wherever you installed the original XSeed programs, replace the original Registration.exe, XSeedMain.exe, and XSeedSetup.exe with these.

How to Get the Complete New XSeed

First, decide if you really should do this. If you are not already using XSeed, you want to do this. Skip the next paragraph. If you are already using XSeed, this may not be as good an idea as you might think.

Exsting XSeed users will benefit from getting the latest XSeed programs. But, they're the same programs available in a smaller file above in the "How to Get the Upgrade to XSeed" section. Existing XSeed users might also benefit from the updated ClubDivision.mdb ("club/division database") contained in the complete new XSeed distribution. But, it can also be dangerous to replace an existing ClubDivision.mdb with this new ClubDivision.mdb on a computer which has already been used for XSeed. XSeed data for a tournament do not actually contain division names and club names. Instead, they contain short codes used to look up the real names in ClubDivision.mdb. If you have ever created a new division, or crreated or modified a club, then you have information in your existing ClubDivision.mdb which will disappear if you replace it with the new ClubDivision.mdb from the complete new XSeed distribution. That's fine if you are not keeping XSeed information from any old tournaments. But, if you are, clubs and divisions for those tournaments may become wrong or completely blank. This can be avoided by creating a new XSeed "Common Folder" (see discussion of "Directory Structure" below in the "Some Hints About How to Use XSeed" section) so you can keep all tournaments using the old ClubDivision.mdb together with the old ClubDivision.mdb, and all new tournaments together with the new ClubDivision.mdb.

Download "XSeed.zip" here (7,761 KB). When it is stored on your computer, it will be found to be a compressed (zipped) folder containing one folder called XSeed. Extract (un-zip) this folder and store it on disk. This folder will be seen to contain two folders and ten files, including the three files of the upgrade to XSeed described above. One of the files is named "setup.exe". If you wish to install XSeed, do not move any of these files. Run "setup.exe". That will install XSeed. The installation process will ask about where to install the XSeed programs. It is a bad idea to make it install the programs in the very same folder "Xseed" which came from XSeed.zip. When XSeed is completely installed, you can delete the folder "Xseed" which came from XSeed.zip. You can delete XSeed.zip too, if you wish.

Some Hints About How to Use XSeed

Directory Structure

The XSeed documentation explains that for each tournament for which XSeed is used, a unique folder should be created, called the "tournament directory". This has to be created manually. Name it something which makes you remember for which tournament it was created.

The XSeed documentation explains that all the tournament directories on a single computer must themselves all be in the same folder, the "Common Folder". This is not true (but it doesn't hurt if you believe it anyway, and it's usually a good idea). What is really true is that wherever you put a tournament directory must have two other things in it -- a "club/division database" called ClubDivision.mdb (a starter copy compes with the original distribution of XSeed), and a referee database called Referee.mdb (XSeed automatically creates an empty database if it fails to find one). The place (or places) you keep your club/division database, your referee database, and your tournament directories does not have to be the same place you keey the programs which compose XSeed. All that matters is that you know where you are keeping them.

Whenever you start one of the three programs which compose XSeed, the program will need to know which tournament to handle. Normally, it immediately prompts you with the chance to navigate through your directory structure until you have selected the particular tournament directory of interest. Do not just select the folder containing all the tournament directories, and do not open up the tournament directory and select a folder within it. Just select the tournament directory itself, and let the program run.

Hidden in the XSeed documentation (see "Setting up program Icons and Folders" in the appendix) is a way to make an XSeed program know exactly what tournament you want (instead of navigating your way to the one you want). Just have Windows create a shortcut for the program. Then, change the properties of that shortcut so that the directory in which Windows thinks the program should run ("Start in", not "Target") is the tournament directory for the tournament! And, since XSeed is actually three different programs, this probably means that for a given tournament you want to create three shortcuts, one for each of the three programs.

Multiple XSeed Programs Simultaneously

More than one of the XSeed programs can be running for the same tournament simultaneously. In fact, more than one copy of a single XSeed program can be running simultaneously. They don't even have to be running on the same computer. XSeed can run across a network. The XSeed documentation does not describe what the limitations and dangers of doing this are. However, the USFA itself runs its national tournaments this way. Two rough rules of thumb appear to describe what can and cannot be done.

1. With one notable exception (using XSeedSetup to define or redefine a tournament event), XSeed immediately stores everything on disk. Nothing special needs to be done to save data. So, nothing special needs to be done with a first XSeed program to get a second XSeed program (on the same or a different computer) to be able to get new data. But, generally XSeed programs do not assume there's another XSeed program making changes somewhere else! So, even though new data from a first XSeed program are available to a second XSeed program automatically, the second XSeed program may not know it until forced to look! That usually means ending and restarting the second program. In summary, you generally do not need to close a first XSeed program to get new data to become available, but you may need to restart a second XSeed program to make it realize there are new data!
2. Sometimes one XSeed program can be used to change something which has already been read and memorized by another XSeed program. A second XSeed program could undo the change by saving memorized data which do not include the change. For example, two copies of XSeedMain could be looking at the same pool. One copy could be used to switch two fencers to force the fencer order to be more appropriate for handing a teammate issue. But, if the other copy is used to save pool results, the fencer order will go back to what the second copy already memorized when it started and read the pool data from disk. (This example is a little far-fetched, as the pool sheet printed with the second copy of XSeedMain won't have the same fencer order as the memorized information showing in the first copy of XSeedMain, so the problem should be noticed before it happens.)

Idiosyncracies

Names and Short Names

XSeed takes fencer last names and fencer given names separately. However, for most purposes, what it prints is not a fencer's complete last name and given name(s), but something shorter which will more certainly fit on what it prints. This shorter thing is known as the "Compressed Name". When initally adding a fencer, assuming you type the last name and the given name(s) without first typing a "Compressed Name", XSeed automatically generates a Compressed Name consisting of the last name, a comma, and the given name(s) (if short enough) or first initial (if too long). From that point on, adjustments to last name, given name(s), and Compressed Name are all separate actions. When a fencer reports a misspelled name, commonly the correction is made to the last name and/or given name(s) but the Compressed Name is overlooked by accident. So, the wrong Compressed Name keeps printing! Remember (especially when you think you just corrected a name but the correction seems to have had no effect) that the Compressed Name needs separate correction. This same issue applies to referees, who also are saved with separate last name, given name(s), and Compressed Name.

Pool Promotion Fraction

XSeed can be configured many different ways to accommodate a fraction smaller than 100% promoting from a pool round, or some fixed number per pool, or some specific number from the entire round promoting. The default is for 80% to promote from a pool round. For ordinary 100% promotion tournaments, remember to specify 100% when setting up a pool round.

Large Pools

XSeed can be configured to have nonstandard large pools. For example, with eight saber fencers, one pool of eight (possibly double-stripped) makes more sense than two pools of four. By default, XSeed will not create a pool larger than seven. That is easy to reconfigure in the setup for a pool round. But, the upper limit of seven is specified in two different places ("Maximize pools of but no more than" and "Maximum fencers per pool") in the pool round setup. Changing just one "7" to "8" won't be enough for XSeed to create a pool of eight.

The Round-of-Eight Break

XSeed (unless you do some really strange things) draws a fundamental distinction between DEs up to the round of eight, and DEs from the round of eight onward. It treats them as two different rounds ("DEs" and "finals") just like pools and DEs are different rounds. This has two important consequences.

When there are more than eight competitors in DEs, you cannot get XSeed to print out any bout slips or even a DE tree for the round of eight or later unless all eight fencers entering the round of eight have already been determined by the earlier DEs. (XSeed will, upon request, print out blank bout slips labeled with the correct tournament and event name, though.)

Because DEs before the round of eight and DEs thereafter (finals) are different rounds, and because XSeed requires you to set up what rounds you want to have in any event, you have to specify whether you want DEs and finals, or just finals. But, before you do that, you have to know how many fencers you have, nine or more or eight or fewer. Horrible things can happen in XSeed if you complete pools and move on with nine or more fencers when you have only created a finals round, and horrible things can happen in XSeed if you complete pools and move on with eight or fewer fencers when you have created a DE round. With events with plenty more than eight fencers, it makes sense to set them up ahead of time with both DEs and finals. With events already known to be tiny, it makes sense to set them up ahead of time with just finals. But, with approximately eight to nine fencers, remember that there may be setup work needed even as late as when the last pool is about to be entered and the number of fencers finishing pools has finally been determined. If you go too far and proceed past pools when the setup has the wrong rounds, you may be unable to rescue the event. Luckily, when you have approximately eight fencers, it's really easy to invent a brand new event in XSeed with the same fencers, set it up correctly, force the pool(s) to be the same, and put in the results from the event which has to be abandonded.

The Three-Fencers Bug

XSeed was written to handle USFA-sized tournaments. The USFA, with rare exceptions (like wheelchair women's foil) never runs small events. So, a bug got into XSeed involving DE finals with only three fencers, and the USFA still hasn't needed to have it fixed. XSeed will report that the fencer who finishes third also finishes fourth! If planning for an event that small, bring a bottle of correction fluid.