Magic Duels tests and results

[Xander9009]

You can more or less post questions anywhere as long as they're related to the topic at hand, but for coding questions specifically, you can post them here: viewforum.php?f=63

They'll be seen by me (although I may not be able to help all the time), RiiakShiNal (probably the most knowledgeable highly active member), and I think thefiremind may even still be subscribed there (at the very least, he's posted there relatively recently to comment on one of my own questions, and he's right up there with RiiakShiNal). So, all in all, it should work as a good place for programming questions. Note the thread there titled "General DotP 2014 Coding Questions". If you don't want to make a thread of your own, that one will work (I usually just ask questions there unless I suspect it'll be a longer conversation).

[Tejahn]

Karametra, God of Harvests - Missing Subtype

Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Primeval Bounty

Temple of Enlightenment - Scry 1

Temple of Mystery

@thefiremind: I created a Bant deck to test the latest version of your Test ZED Contents v2.2. I'm not sure what the conflict could be. But after downloading and packing it I still have duplicate cards next to each other in the Card Collection screen and the screenshots above are poof that something is wrong because Karametra, God of Harvests is missing her subtype as well. I'm using spirolones' MDO_CreateZed to turn the DATA_000 folder into a .ZED and renaming it DATA_021.ZED.

EDIT 1: Can you provide your actually .ZED as opposed to only the folders? A random thought I just had is perhaps compression has something to do with it.

EDIT 2: I wanted to test unlocking all the missions as described by GrovyleXShinyCelebi and I noticed the official DATA_000.ZED is 597,430 KB but when I packed it up using spirolones' MDO_CreateZed it became 2.95 GB and when I tried to load the game it crashed. It would seem compression is at least part of the issue.

[thefiremind]

EDIT 1: Can you provide your actually .ZED as opposed to only the folders?

Here it is:

Code: Select all

http://www56.zippyshare.com/v/HKMLJRar/file.html

I'm not putting it on the first post because I want to be sure that people who decide to mod Magic Duels know what they are doing, and if they manage to make the ZED themselves it's a good enough proof that they do.

EDIT 2: I wanted to test unlocking all the missions as described by GrovyleXShinyCelebi and I noticed the official DATA_000.ZED is 597,430 KB but when I packed it up using spirolones' MDO_CreateZed it became 2.95 GB and when I tried to load the game it crashed. It would seem compression is at least part of the issue.

That's because we only have the public key for ZED files so we can't compress them. The result is very similar to what you would obtain with the old Gibbed Tools without the "-c" argument. 2.95 GB may be too big for the game to handle. The usual rule of thumb is to override old things with separate ZEDs rather than changing them inside the original ZED.

[Tejahn]

I was able to confirm before getting to the office this morning that the .ZED you provided worked. The subtypes displayed properly. I'll do a comparison this evening to try to determine what the conflict was. Thanks!

[spirolone]

EDIT 2: I wanted to test unlocking all the missions as described by GrovyleXShinyCelebi and I noticed the official DATA_000.ZED is 597,430 KB but when I packed it up using spirolones' MDO_CreateZed it became 2.95 GB and when I tried to load the game it crashed. It would seem compression is at least part of the issue.

That's because we only have the public key for ZED files so we can't compress them. The result is very similar to what you would obtain with the old Gibbed Tools without the "-c" argument. 2.95 GB may be too big for the game to handle. The usual rule of thumb is to override old things with separate ZEDs rather than changing them inside the original ZED.

I didn't test it, but I think that, maybe, problem is not only size: my CreateZed program uses first part of central dir of orignal Data Zed file, then if you try to repack all the files in it, you'll obtain an archive with redundant files...

[Tejahn]

spirolone, your right about duplicate and redundant files. I was able to confirm that it is indeed your MDO_CreateZed tool causing the added subtypes not to show. Will you be updating your tool anytime soon?

Also, thefiremind, I'm having trouble trying to use your D15Tool (with DuelsLib). I know this is a silly question but exactly what tools to you use to extract and pack you .ZEDs?

[spirolone]

spirolone, your right about duplicate and redundant files. I was able to confirm that it is indeed your MDO_CreateZed tool causing the duplicate cards and the added subtypes not to show. Will you be updating your tool anytime soon?

Also, thefiremind, I'm having trouble trying to use your D15Tool (with DuelsLib). I know this is a silly question but exactly what tools to you use to extract and pack you .ZEDs?

Maybe I wasn't clear: problem I was talking about, causes game doesn't start at all, and it's not related to a bug of my tool. I could update my code, but what do you need to be changed? Why do you think your problem is caused by my tool and how?

[Tejahn]

Vile Aggregate

Vile Aggregate - Duplicated

I was referring to a more aggressive redundancy check if you think it's necessary. There is no actual problem with the tool. I've added over 800 cards to Magic Duels using it. Not to mention almost twenty decks. The duplicates I see are a cosmetic glitch that has nothing to do with your tool. As the above screenshots show, the duplicates are only BFZ cards (See Blisterpod and Broodhunter Wurm in the second screenshot). For example, in the deck builder, although Vile Aggregate is showing itself available to be placed in my deck up to 6 times in all, if I put 3 in my deck the other 3 disappear.

I'm just experimenting and asking random questions. As TFM mentioned earlier, I'm one of the people that don't fully understand what I'm doing. Lol.

EDIT 1: The subtypes no longer show when I pack the .ZED using MDO_CreateZed. It's obvious I'm making a mistake somewhere. Oh, and I figured out that the duplicates are from the cardpool XML.

[thefiremind]

I'm having trouble trying to use your D15Tool (with DuelsLib). I know this is a silly question but exactly what tools to you use to extract and pack you .ZEDs?

Use the converter part of my tool (the workspace is only for DotP2015), drag and drop your DATA_0xx folder into the tool's window (be sure to select Magic Duels key) and it will output the ZED wherever you choose to save it.

I'm just experimenting and asking random questions. As TFM mentioned earlier, I'm one of the people that don't fully understand what I'm doing. Lol.

Actually, what I was meaning is that I don't want flocks of people blindly downloading the ZED file and placing it into their Magic Duels folder, then starting to rant about what it did to their original Steam copy.

[Tejahn]

Thanks. And I never had to create a new account but I should. I always disconnect from the Internet and start the game with my added .ZED. When I do accidentally start the game with an Internet connection a prompt always informs me that my content doesn't match what's stored on the server and gives me the option to play with the local content or what's stored in the cloud. By choosing cloud it warns that the local content (custom .ZED) will be erased. I've not yet received the ban hammer.

[Tejahn]

Ephara, God of the Polis - Subtype Visible

Thoughtrender Lamia - Subtype visible

Okay TFM, my questions persist. When I use the ZED you provided I can drop it in the root folder of the game and everything displays fine. There are no duplicate cards and the additional subtypes are visible. However, when I drag and drop the ZED on your DOTP 2015 tool to unpack the ZED and then pack it back up the subtypes disappear and the duplicate cards appear even though I made no changes. However, I did notice that your original file size is 5,699 KB but when I pack it back up without making changes it becomes 5,770 KB. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I have time to experiment with this all weekend and I'm hoping to post some results.

[spirolone]

However, when I drag and drop the ZED on your DOTP 2015 tool to unpack the ZED and then pack it back up the subtypes disappear and the duplicate cards appear even though I made no changes. However, I did notice that your original file size is 5,699 KB but when I pack it back up without making changes it becomes 5,770 KB. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I have time to experiment with this all weekend and I'm hoping to post some results.

I think you are using a "CreateZed" tool based on DATA_000, while TFM Zed file is based on DATA_001; that is, Header.xml is different! Your Zed, I suppose, doesn't overwrite E1_BFZ_BOOSTER_SET.xml and E1_SHOEBOX_CARD_POOL.xml, cause "source" is "DATA_000/..." instead of "DATA_001/...", or, maybe, cause "<RELOAD_ALL_CONTENT/>" flag is missing...

[Tejahn]

TFM - Header XML

How do I fix the problem? Is there a certain "CreateZed" that makes the specific files? If so, where is it located? I've read and re-read the different threads trying to determine what I'm doing wrong. Also, which XML is the "<RELOAD_ALL_CONTENT/>" missing from? I should be able to manually add it. Lastly, I did notice that his overall folder is called DATA_082 while inside there is a folder called .METADATA and DATA_001 which contains all the folder I'm use to navigating.

EDIT: I found the Header.XML inside the .METADATA folder. I'm about to start experimenting again.

[Tejahn]

TFM - ZED contains the METADATA folder

ZED after trying to pack both folders

I now realize that thefiremind's ZED contains both the DATA_001 AND the [color=#00BF00].METADATA folder within it[/color]. The .METADATA folder contains the <RELOAD_ALL_CONTENT/> tag responsible for refreshing the game content. I wasn't trying to pack this folder at first but every time I try to pack both folders I get a ZED (1,197 KB) the game doesn't even recognize.

[spirolone]

How do I fix the problem?

Try to use this DATA_001.bin file in TFM Tool (you can do it even with my CreateZed Jar but TFM tool is better!):