Manalink 3 Noob looking for help.

by **SkivSkiv** » 02 Nov 2016, 05:32

Hey everyone. I played magic from unlimited up until stronghold.
I also played MicroProse's M:TG constantly as a kid. I love the booster draft, the duels, the deckbuilder, the interface, shandalar... It's the reason why I kept my piece of junk Win98SE PC around until the mainboard finally fried.

So when I found this place, I crapped my pants that it's been updated for compatibility AND cards!!

Then I saw how complicated the install is... Please believe me I did search..for hours. Tried to get as much info as possible.

I downloaded and installed the custom ISO and ran the 2009-2011 patch and fixed all the card art so it runs fine like that. But I want to get all the cards and abilities everything (and hopefully use them in Shandalar...).
I ended up downloading a dozen zip files, some of them very very large. I'm just completely lost as to how to do all the updates, in which order, etc etc.

I just need some help because I can't make heads or tails of all this and I want to make sure I get all the cards that are available.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer me and I'm sorry I'm too big of a noob to figure this stuff out from the directions.

Packages I have are: the 2010.iso with 2011 update patch
Manalink 3 portals to theros
Manalink 3 BFZv2
Manalink 3 EMNv2
Cardartmanalink 2012
cardartmanalink 2012-2014
cardartmanalink March 2015
cardartmanalink Dec 2015
cardartmanalink cumulative aug 2016
Sonic card frames
SarlackML3GraphicsWideV1.3
and playdeckanalyzer.

by **drool66** » 02 Nov 2016, 07:25

Hi! I'm in the same boat - I played from Mirage through Mercadian Masques and bought the Microprose game off the shelf and DoTP as soon as it came out.

Install has gotten convoluted, but here they are as I understand them:

Step 1: Uninstall the iso (and its patch if necessary) - it is not compatible with the Manalink files on this site (which are much better)
Step 2: Unzip Portals to Theros to an install folder (wherever you want; I'm using C:\Magic\Program)
Step 2.5 (Optional): Unzip Sarlack's graphics pack to your install directory to use his graphics
Step 3: Unzip BFZv2 to the same folder, overwrite everything
Step 4: Unzip EMNv2 to the same folder, overwrite everything
Step 5: Install the cumulative cardartmanalink folder to the "CardArtManalink" folder in your install directory (the other cardartmanalink files have been rolled into the cumulative one. yay!)
DONE! Run the program from Magic.exe

Optional: To play Shandalar with the above setup, go to this post and download the file "shandalar-3103-g3c15d99-HallOfTheSultan2.zip" and, again, unzip to your install directory, overwrite everything.

BONUS: To get the most up to date card art, go to the link in my signature below, and then to the folder "New for next release" - I'm adding alternate art all the time.

Good luck, feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

by **SkivSkiv** » 02 Nov 2016, 10:51

Ahh!!

So the iso isn't even part of the install! No wonder it wasn't working right for me!

Much obliged, friend. I appreciate the help!

Now to recreate the decks of my youth!