The next version of manalink

[jatill]

Just a heads up to everyone, and in particular the other coders. I'm not planning on touching the manalink code for at least a month (i.e until February). So if there are bugs that need to be fixed, or features added, I'm leaving it in your hands. I think I deserve a break I'll still be on the forum, and willing to answer questions, etc.

[mathusalem]

Well, yeah you do desserve a break !
and since now some people came to help. you really can take the opportunity
.
I just wanted to add a quick note :

Neither Void and Presence of the Master have been added in the Constructed version as well as the Limited Version. I hope evryone is aware of that as it would be a shame if those got clobbered in further constructed versions.

[Gargaroz]

However, the code for Nether Void (made by me) needs to be fixed : I'm not good with the counterspell stuff, so if anyone wants to improve it, it's welcome.
And now for the good news : as Jatill already knows, I have a bunch of cards coded and ready for release, but I need to know a thing : are we going to annihilate all non-playable Legends from Costructed version to make room ?

[Bog Wraith]

Can someone answer this for me?

With the magic limited .exe that we switch to from constructed, is it possible to keep creating these separate parts of the program and thus calling other cards coded into these .exe files? Is this a way around the 2000 card limit, meaning that we can continue to add as many cards as we want, just not be able to access them all at once like is the case with the constructed & limited versions we have now. Or does the limit still restrict us to 2000.

If we can do it this way, this would be fine as we could have different blocks grouped together that we could switch to and be able to handle any of the new versions of MTG that will come out in the future, as is the case with jatill creating the Zendikar block.

Yes, I'd still like to see the limit broken and have all the cards available at all times, but if this is a way around it, it will still be awesome.

I'd really like to know this so please post your thoughts.

Thanks.

[jatill]

I'm not sure I follow what you're asking 100%. But if this answers your question, there are already over 2000 unique cards between the 2 versions, so in that sense we have "broken" the limit.

[Gargaroz]

Bog Wraith, it's an interesting idea, but we'll be forced to re-insert switcher.exe, and I don't know if this a good idea (I got no problems with switcher, but I agree it's a bit tricky when you start with Manalink 2.0).

Another question for all : what about the "funny" cards ? Stuff like Pheldagryff, Infernal Genesis and so on ? I like coding similar stuff, but where we'll put them ?

And, above all, if we could implement EDH I'll be the happiest person in the community

[jatill]

If the actual limit can't be broken (and I'm going under the assumption now that it never will), then I think the next best thing would be an editor that lets you choose which 2000 of the coded cards to include in your version. I actually don't think this would be a monumental task, though I don't know any desktop application languages currently (VB would probably be best).

Gargaroz-
Before replacing crappy Legends, first fill out all the uncoded slots in the constructed version, of which there are still about 50, I think. Then look at the anti-wishlist to get a sense of which cards to remove. Go ahead and add "fun" cards to the constructed version for now. Hopefully by the time there is another big space crunch, someone will have written the editor I mention above.

PS: There's no reason EDH couldn't be implemented. It's a pretty small set of rules.

[mathusalem]

If the actual limit can't be broken (and I'm going under the assumption now that it never will), then I think the next best thing would be an editor that lets you choose which 2000 of the coded cards to include in your version. I actually don't think this would be a monumental task, though I don't know any desktop application languages currently (VB would probably be best).

Now that's an great idea ! there are about 30 to forty cards that are in the constructed version and that I don't care about, however I realize that some people actually play those cards, and there are about 15 to 20 cards that are available in the limited version that I wish could be in the constructed version : that feature would solve the problem. we all could personnalize our card pool and this way, it would be easy to stay within the 2000 card limit.

ow and I'm all for Pheldagriff

[Bog Wraith]

I'm not sure I follow what you're asking 100%. But if this answers your question, there are already over 2000 unique cards between the 2 versions, so in that sense we have "broken" the limit.

Ok, sounds like you got my question, but as Richard Nixon used to say: "Let me make myself perfectly clear!", (BTW, am I showing my age with this quote! )

As of your latest release, 20091224, we can switch from Constructed to Limited and back, and from within the main menu. These two versions seem to call from different dll files and are executed by their own unique .exe file. Lets call these two separate entities "Modules".

Ok, now with each new block of MTG that comes out in the future, or if we wanted to add older complete blocks, do these situations need their own Modules containg their own dll & .exe files that we would access via the main menu as we do now with constructed & limited?

So, for example if we want a Mirage/Visions/Weatherlight block, one of my personal favorites, would we need to create a Module for this block? I know that not all the cards might be able to be coded in due to the limitations of this game in general. Also, cards like Counterspell would be added into this block's csv file from existing code from other modules in the game, thus saving redundancy entries.

I guess what I'm asking is, where is the 2000 card limit located? Is it in the csv files? I noticed jatill that you created a ManalinkL.csv file, (separate from the normal ManaLink.csv file), which I gather is called by the Limited Module along with it's also newly created dll files. Or is the limit in the .exe files, or elsewhere?

So, instead of having to have an editor to choose which 2000 cards we want in our version, is it possible to continue adding new blocks with these Modules which we could access within the main menu as we do now, or is the editor you speak of the only way around this?

I'm not a programer so I'm sorry if I don't ask these questions in the right way. Thanks for your patience in reading them and in any answers you can give me to make me better understand what goes on behind the curtain!

[EviL_CLonE]

I like the idea of having a personalized Manalink, assuming that the 2000 card limit couldn't be broken; but what would it happen with LAN game? Both players should have exactly the same pool, right? (I don't think if this is really important, since LAN game is not possible right now, but just was wondring...)

[gmzombie]

i think the problem can be resolved but it would involve rewriting the main exe i believe as for what ive been explained an array is hardcoded with a size from the starting point and cannot be changed. so a rewrite would be the only way to fix this i believe.i dont know how long that would take but i just hope someone will be able to fix it. i would even be willing to put up a donation to get it done..i dunno how anybody else feels about that.

[mathusalem]

Now with all these new features to be added, maybe at one point we could make the great leap forward......

[jatill]

The main 2000 limit is an array in the exe, according to Snackster.

We could continue to add new any number of modules, each either their own dll's, csv's, and card editors. Now that I've done it once, it would be pretty easy to do again.

[Bog Wraith]

The main 2000 limit is an array in the exe, according to Snackster.

We could continue to add new any number of modules, each either their own dll's, csv's, and card editors. Now that I've done it once, it would be pretty easy to do again.

Ok, that's good to know!

I really like the idea of conducting block specific drafts and sealed deck tournaments as well, so using my above example, it would be awesome to have a Mirage block module to do this with, or any other block that folks might vote on as to what they'd most like to play with first.

Each block would be a sort of time machine, back in time to the card pool that was available during play as it was happening then. To make it comparable to lets say T2 at that time, (better known as Standard format for you newer players), we would add some cards from whatever the main set, i.e. 4th edition, was in that block at that time.

I'm sure there are allot more great ideas out there in creating modules of various blocks or individual sets that our players would like to see.

Your addition of Zendikar as a separate selection opened my mind to these possibilities.

This is all very exciting and better yet, will allow for continuous development of past & future blocks for years to come, and that is the best Christmas present I could hope for!

[gmzombie]

wait lets just brainstorm a minute. now you can make modules alt csv's dlls and such. Can you explain to me why we couldnt just add a new dll file into the mix much like the manalinkex.dll or eh.dll files and just pull some of the data/code from the original array and put it into a dll file? would that not free up enough space in the exe for more code which would route to the dll files anyways. i mean the card data is already above 30,000 cards according to skymarshall in the original new fix so if the exe has an array that is full why not pull back out of the exe and implement a dll such as a manalinkcore.dll (which would have the core cardset into it)or something...im just spitballing out loud here feel free to tell me im wrong. Im wondering too if the array has something to do with routines. Jatill i got a question can you create vanilla cards or cards that have the same abilities within the game already and go past that 2000 limit or will it still fail. im just brainstorming trying to get discussion going about this.