New Magic: Origins game and the issue of DOTP 2014 support

[loookaz]

So we have now Magic DOTP 2014, 2015 and new game labelled by the Wizards - Origins.

My questions are to both users and developers:

- does it mean that the 2014 version will lose support of modders?
- has any of the programmers been able to use and analyze what are the differences between 2014 and the Origins games?
- are there any significant changes in the gameplay between them? (user experience)
- is there any chance that the new Origins game is in any way "backward compatible", meaning that we will be able to export all the available and already created cards from the CM to the new game?

I know that some of the questions will need some time to be answered, but still this is what I am pondering about regarding the new iterration of Magic the Gathering game by Wizards.

I would like to know what you think about them.

cheers

Lucas

[Xander9009]

-I'm not 100% sure what it would mean to lose support of modders for 2014 considering it's got almost 75% of all cards ever made haha. I'll still be willing to fix any bugs and I just finished an update to TFM's universal generator so it can fully code way more cards that would be ready to play as soon as they're run through it (rather than only making the framework and needing to code the rest).
-We haven't gotten the lol files opened or the viewed the cards' code, so we don't yet know the programming differences. More than likely, they'll at least be very similar.
-Not that I noticed, but I wasn't looking for it. Except for the deckbuilding, of course. Compared to 2015, the card limit is higher, doesn't exist, or is simply handled differently: Origins apparently doesn't crash when an ID over 1024 is used.
-Yes and no. At least, probably. There are likely to be many cards that will work right off the bat just by copying them over without needing to change them at all. Many others will require very minor changes which I could easily make a tool to perform. Others will need major changes to the way they work and probably won't be able to be done automatically, but will probably still be possible to convert manually.

The main thing I'm looking at right now is the possibility of a higher card limit or no relevant card limit. Combine that with the CW and the game's built in (albeit clunky) deck building, and it'll make a modded Origins the best in the 'series'. Quite frankly, if Stainless gave us a way to lock them initially and just made unlocking them extremely difficult (by that I mean unlocking them through hacks), then it would be a win-win. They get their money through people buying coins to unlock cards faster, and we just want more cards to play with. If we could make a game with both of those, they'd get money from selling coins still, and we'd get pretty much all of the cards we want without them ever having to put the work in for the cards. That won't happen, though. And that's okay, because I'm just as happy adding the cards manually myself and having them unlocked from the get-go.

Going back to whether or not 2014 will be abandoned, I think it depends on how modding for Origins goes. If it's ever as good as 2014's modding capabilities, then we'll migrate over. If it's not, such as 2015 wasn't, we'll be more reluctant and stay where we are. Either way, I'm most worried about how difficult porting over the CW will be. Since the cards are XML but the coding is mostly LUA, that much should stay mostly the same, with just constants and certain functions changing. Someone apparently already got a wad to load and the cards appeared in-game, so they haven't abandoned it entirely, they're still pretty similar. That means automatic porting of cards should be a relatively simple process, but it doesn't mean there won't be any major curve balls. I guess I'll just wait (im)patiently for them to get Origins figured out.

[RiiakShiNal]

I think that modders will probably stick with either DotP 2014 or DotP 2015 (since modding has actually made progress on 2015), since Origins requires the player to be connected to a server to make any progress and it is highly likely that when you connect to the server it validates your cards (which would make modding extremely difficult).

Personally, I still haven't been able to play Origins due to the Fatal/Unknown error problem that many people have complained about.

[Xander9009]

I think that modders will probably stick with either DotP 2014 or DotP 2015 (since modding has actually made progress on 2015), since Origins requires the player to be connected to a server to make any progress and it is highly likely that when you connect to the server it validates your cards (which would make modding extremely difficult).

Personally, I still haven't been able to play Origins due to the Fatal/Unknown error problem that many people have complained about.

I experienced that issue after updating my graphics driver. I have a dedicated graphics card, too, though, and switching to that fixed it for me. So, if you have multiple graphics cards, you might try using a different one if you haven't already.

[RiiakShiNal]

I experienced that issue after updating my graphics driver. I have a dedicated graphics card, too, though, and switching to that fixed it for me. So, if you have multiple graphics cards, you might try using a different one if you haven't already.

This is on a laptop using the latest graphic driver that supports the card. As such I don't have a choice about changing cards or even upgrading the driver. The card is an older GeForce GTX260M. I suppose I could completely change out the card to a 280M (which is the max supported by the laptop), but I don't really want to spend $200+ on such a meager upgrade to play a free game.

[Xander9009]

I experienced that issue after updating my graphics driver. I have a dedicated graphics card, too, though, and switching to that fixed it for me. So, if you have multiple graphics cards, you might try using a different one if you haven't already.

This is on a laptop using the latest graphic driver that supports the card. As such I don't have a choice about changing cards or even upgrading the driver. The card is an older GeForce GTX260M. I suppose I could completely change out the card to a 280M (which is the max supported by the laptop), but I don't really want to spend $200+ on such a meager upgrade to play a free game.

I'm sorry. That's unfortunate. I just thought I'd mention it since that was the only way I was able to fix it. I was just surprised when I started getting the error because I updated by driver. It wasn't until I noticed my computer was defaulting to the chipset rather than the dedicated graphics card (I'm also on a laptop) that I managed to play. Something tells me you already thought of that, though. At least they're aware of the problem and apparently looking into it. Of course, even if you manage to play, you'll still probably be getting kicked off the servers like everyone else. That's my biggest problem now.

[loookaz]

I have also had some problems with the Origins graphic card support. Editing the configuration file and manually forcing Geforce video card in the NVIDIA settings helped. I like the interface, but generally feel disappointed. I will wait for it to be hacked and other cards to be added to it, otherwise I have no interest in it.

[gunpocket]

I hope modding is a thing in Origins. I really want to use planeswalker cards without lagging to extreme amounts. 2015 doesn't interest me because of a lack of 2HG, though I hope they add the ability to play with an AI partner in it for Origins. (If modding does make a breakthrough, I hope you can apply foiling to modded cards, I don't really know how that system works in these games.)

[orlouge82]

After playing through Magic Duels, I've realized that Wizards will likely use players' desire to unlock new cards to sell the in-game booster packs (yes, you can do this by winning duels, it takes SO MUCH LONGER to just get one booster pack). If modders circumvent this system, I would be concerned that Wizards would take legal action against them or this site itself. DotP 2014 remains the best platform for modders.

[proud]

it’s best to keep all your modifications offline, or face a possible ban or termination of your account.

[Xander9009]

Hey Riiak, you may or may not have seen the update, but apparently they released a patch that may fix the fatal/unknown errors for many people. I don't know if you actually want to play, but if so, you might give it another shot.

[RiiakShiNal]

I saw the update and it goes farther in the load, but I'm still getting the Fatal Error/Unknown Error so I'm still dead in the water as far as Magic Duels goes. I haven't really had any time to play with it much though, so it may just be a matter of manually setting some configuration settings now (only time and effort will tell).