Sealed - possible fix

[gmzombie]

then i assume you could do the same thing for the other sets besides the hard coded ones.

[Sonic]

Er, the remaining sets setup in the 'Expansion' column are the hardcoded ones. Like I said earlier, replacing these will result in trashing the Deck Builder set filtering, and having to replacing all the set button graphics, and I'm really trying to avoid breaking the original Sealed Game completely.
At least the way I have it set up now we have a compromise between the old and new - and it doesn't need a whole bunch of work which will only get binned when Sealed and the Deck Builder finally gets recoded.

Anyway, got the game up and running - the fix worked.
The old 8th cards are now reclassified as Astral/Other in the ‘Expansion’ column.

The Packs are now set up for Unlimited, M14, Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx.

The Boosters are now shown in order as Unlimited, M14, Theros, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Modern Masters, Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about the order in which the boosters appear.

The number of cards in the boosters is currently fixed. This means as Modern Masters replaces Chronicles its boosters only hold 12 cards.
Unlimited, Legends, M14, Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx boosters contain 15 cards.
Arabian Nights, Antiquities, and The Dark hold 8 cards as they always have.
The Pack/Booster labelling has been updated to show the new Pack/Booster names.

Info: The Pack/Booster names are setup in the @SEALEDDECK_PACKNAMES section in the Text.res file.

The 4th Edition set filter button in the Deck Builder now filters Unlimited, M14, and Theros. Yet again, this is something I have no control over and was determined by the need for Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx to be in packs and have 15 cards in their boosters.
The 4th Edition filter button selections and hint text have been updated to show the new sets.

Info: The 4th Edition filter button selection labels are set up in the @FOURTH section of the Menu.txt file.
The buttons hint text is set up in the @FOURTH section of the CUECARDS.TXT file.

Note: the Text.res file also contains the fix for the current filtering bug in the in-game Creature Type selector, and the Menu.txt file contains the fix for the current filtering bug in the Deck Builder’s Creature Type selector.

I’ve included the manalink.csv file so you can check the changes.

Don't forget to back up the following files before installing:
Cards.dat
CUECARDS.TXT
Menus.txt
Text.res


For those of you stumbling across this thread wanting to try these files.
Here’s the “Help, I’ve trashed my Manalink game install!” warning.

These files will only work with the 'Manalink Update 2014/05/06: Journey into Nyx' update, are purely for testing a ‘possible’ game fix until the Sealed game can be fully recoded, and they will be overwritten by the next patch.
Please don’t install them if you are at all unsure what you are doing.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/aq26t ... _Block.zip

[gmzombie]

well done sir. at least for now people can do some newer sealed stuff. i hope we can get this recoded though as i would love to have a sealed event where i could choose 6 total packs for like a pre release event.

[Sonic]

Before patting me on the back, you'll need to put some work in play testing - just to make sure the ASM coding hasn't hidden any nasties I didn't manage to spot.

[gmzombie]

Well I did open a few packs and they seem to be there. I didn't build a deck though but it did not show cards that wasent supposed to be there. I'll have more time to play with it tonite

[Bog Wraith]

I installed the files and played one sealed deck tournament and it worked very well. There were no cards from outside of the Theros block, only a few cards like Last Breath and Springleaf Drum which used the Mercadian Masques & Lorwyn versions of those cards respectively.

One thing I would like to see in the future if it's at all possible, would be to have the 2 starter deck slots replaced or having an option of changing those 2 slots to booster packs as it is with the other 4 booster packs. As you know, sealed deck play no longer uses the starter decks, but now consists of 6 booster packs, 2 from each of the three sets in a block. It would be preferable to have as an example, 2 Theros, 2 Born of The Gods & 2 Journey into Nyx boosters to choose from to generate our sealed pool of cards from. Just wondering if this could be done or if it needs to be part of a more robust reworking of the interface and other areas of the game that have been mentioned earlier on in this thread.

So far everything seems to be working with these files and it was great to be able to construct a deck & play in a Theros block sealed deck tournament. I shall continue to play with this & report any anomalies if I should come across any.

Thanks Sonic for all the work you're doing on this, it's much appreciated.

[Sonic]

I installed the files and played one sealed deck tournament and it worked very well. There were no cards from outside of the Theros block, only a few cards like Last Breath and Springleaf Drum which used the Mercadian Masques & Lorwyn versions of those cards respectively.

One thing I would like to see in the future if it's at all possible, would be to have the 2 starter deck slots replaced or having an option of changing those 2 slots to booster packs as it is with the other 4 booster packs. As you know, sealed deck play no longer uses the starter decks, but now consists of 6 booster packs, 2 from each of the three sets in a block. It would be preferable to have as an example, 2 Theros, 2 Born of The Gods & 2 Journey into Nyx boosters to choose from to generate our sealed pool of cards from. Just wondering if this could be done or if it needs to be part of a more robust reworking of the interface and other areas of the game that have been mentioned earlier on in this thread.

So far everything seems to be working with these files and it was great to be able to construct a deck & play in a Theros block sealed deck tournament. I shall continue to play with this & report any anomalies if I should come across any.

Thanks Bog Wraith. Much appreciated.

The reprints in the latter expansion sets, like Last Breath and Springleaf Drum, will always display the cards original artwork in the Deck Builder, Packs and Boosters. Primarily because the cards artwork in the CardArtManalink is compiled in order of release, and the Deck Builder, etc. will always look for the first named jpg image for a card without a following bracketed number.

As the Duel.dat file is currently set up this is also the ordering for the expansion/core symbols displayed on the cards - first release to last.
Although, unlike the artwork, it is possible to change the settings in the file to get the symbols to display the expansion symbol of the most recently set a card has been included in.

As discussed earlier in the thread, a great deal of this section of the game is still currently ASM hard coded - and this really dictates what we can currently do with it. Basically, it really needs to be migrated to C and completely rewritten before we can do anything remotely like what most people have been asking for.

The idea was simply to find some easy way to put the Sealed game into some sort of playable order with what we currently have to work with, and without breaking the original game any further.

gmzombies' proposal of Block Sealed was pretty inspired. We had just enough expansion slots to play with, and include the latest core and one other reprint expansion.
Admittedly, it's a massive compromise from what most of us really want, but it's better than the mess it was.

[Bog Wraith]

gmzombies' proposal of Block Sealed was pretty inspired. We had just enough expansion slots to play with, and include the latest core and one other reprint expansion.
Admittedly, it's a massive compromise from what most of us really want, but it's better than the mess it was.

Agreed, it is MUCH better the way it is now.

BTW, I was remiss in not thanking gmzombie for his initial input into where we are now. He & I go way back, to the days of Mok, and he has always been a very passionate and devoted member of our team.

Thank you as well my friend!

[gmzombie]

No need to thank me as I am just as you said very devoted to this game. We have come so far from moks last beta and if there is one thing I wish was that we could have been able to keep up with the peeps that we lost when manalink.De went down. I just want to see this game as the best it can be and I know it can beat the holy he'll out of that mtgo crap. Maybe I'm just biased

[Sonic]

I know it can beat the holy he'll out of that mtgo crap. Maybe I'm just biased

Reminds me of what I posted after I'd completed the manalink2.csv beta file and Mok revealed the mods he was going to make to it.

"I think Mok's 20 steps ahead of us csv monkeys.
Whilst we'd be happy expanding on what we've already got - he's planing a rival to challenge 'Dual of the Planeswalkers'.
I'd suggest we let him run with it. We can ride in on his coat tails - if his brain slows down and we can catch up."

I think Mok saw the games potential even back then - but he was somewhat sceptical that we'd ever find someone who could code in both ASM and C.

He didn't foresee the arrival of Korath, that's for sure.
And what that guys done for the game in the last year has been nothing short of jaw dropping.

Anyway back to the matter in hand.

This is fun. 1 Theros Pack, 1 Born of the Gods Pack, 4 Journey into Nyx Boosters - and let rip.
Managed to construct a fairly reasonable round winning 40 card G/R deck on the first go.

[gmzombie]

howd u get 4 journey into nyx packs? u mean 2?

[Sonic]

howd u get 4 journey into nyx packs? u mean 2?

Nope. You've read it wrong - it's 4 Journey into Nyx BOOSTERS.

Come to think of it, I suppose to get more equal number of cards from all three sets it would be better to use only 3 Boosters. As you get at least 11 lands in a pack, and the boosters don't contain any lands. Have to try that later.

Got a nice 46 card White/Blue/Green deck running at the moment. Played two games - got a 4th round, and a Tournament win on the score card so far.

I should really go to bed now... but this Block Sealed format is sooooo addictive. ZZZZZZZ

[gmzombie]

so u got 6 total pack? 1 born 1 theros and 4 journey?? did u use a sealed deck as 3 packs? also i can get the artwork for the packs working but only half way. seriously if we could just have a pack per pack pic this wouldnt be a problem lol.

[Sonic]

so u got 6 total pack? 1 born 1 theros and 4 journey?? did u use a sealed deck as 3 packs? also i can get the artwork for the packs working but only half way. seriously if we could just have a pack per pack pic this wouldnt be a problem lol.

I'm not really sure what you're referring to when you say '6 total packs'.

The game only allows for a maximum of 2 'starter packs' and 4 'boosters' in total.
Each starter pack holds 60 cards, including about 11 basic land cards, and each booster holds 15 without lands.

The way I had the game setup was with Theros in one of the starter packs and Born of the Gods in the other and Journey into Nyx in all of the 4 available boosters. See pic below.



I did some work in an attempt to improve the pack/booster images when I started work on the manalink makeover. But in the end I gave up, as there was very little point at the time because of the state the sealed game was in.
I'll see if I can find my original image files.

[gmzombie]

Lol I just read it wrong . Was thinking u said you used a theros pack a born pack and 4 journey packs for a total of 6..but like I said I read it wrong lol. I have worked in the packs but a problrem arises as the opening of the packs they are different pack images depending on where they are..it's stupid but I'll show u pics later tonite.