Manalink PlayDeck Analyser v0.5

[stassy]

I found my error, I didn't see the Exact Match words and I though the checkboxes below was to activate a combination of filters, silly me, while the filter combination was already active by default.

I crashed when spam clicking the move/copy button so I guess it is as you suspected, slower computer with too fast inputting monkey tester is bad

For the list, it was meant for myself, I might start to make a replacement list for me since many netdeck have alternative cards to be replaced

[CirothUngol]

I'm sure the interface for the Search function could be more intuitive. Maybe reversing the placement of the text for each button, so that the button text stays static and the text above it changes to indicate what the setting currently is... that'd probably be better.

I tried to duplicate the button-error on my 800Mhz but no luck. The buttons only execute 4-5 lines of code, but I've been able to force similar errors before when doing my own MonkeyTesting on the slower computer. I did my best to eraticate them... just don't press the button so fast. ^_^

Oh, I get it. Such a list could be rather convenient if it were integrated into the NetDeck Dialog. "NameOfCard;NameOfReplacementCard" in a text file and the substitution happens automatically? Hmm... sounds easy... fodder for PDAnalyser 0.3 perhaps.

[0rion79]

Here for me everything is running fine, even if it has left untouched a couple of decks. Dunno why!
I was also thinking: is it possible to to develop the followings?
1 - include subfolders in the PlayDeck folder with decks and respect that tree structure within PlayDeck Analyzer. It is made for the ones like me that keep different kind of decks into different folders, eg. for not mixing T1 and T1.5 decks together, with very unfair results during the duel.
2 - add a custom field to mass-update Deck's author and e-mail address.
What do you think?

[CirothUngol]

If the PDAnalyser is skipping any PlayDecks that it should correct, I'd be interested in seeing them so I could try to implement a fix. Even if it doesn't find a card because the CardName is misspelled or has a missing apostrophe, etc. I have a small database in the program for correcting such things.

1 - Not so easy... JustBASIC doesn't have a recursive folder function, or Search, or Find File\Folder, or even a Copy function. All these must be written and implemented from scratch. Not impossible, just difficult. I'll think about how that would work.

2 - Very easy... in fact, I did this when first writing the app. Clobbering an lines in the header and replacing them with a static string is simple... too simple. It allows me to take my entire folder of 3000 PlayDecks, click a button, and Bam! All previous user\created by info is gone and now they were all made today by me. That'd be a shame.. it just seems abusable.
Again, I'll consider how best to implement such a thing.
Any suggestions as to which lines should be clobberable? Lines #1 and 7 can't be altered, and line 6 is useless.

Which brings me to the thought that perhaps we should use Line #6 (PlayFace Value) for something useful. Manalink seems to ignore it, as long as it's >1 and <56. We should ask the developers if this value is indeed ignored (it should be, as it was only used in MtG v1.0). We could use it to identify PlayDecks by Type or something, and then they could be sent to the appropriate folder after rebuild.

I dunno, I'm thinking outloud... it might work, though.

[stassy]

Orion79> I have some trouble updating some of your decks because they have uncoded cards.
I checked your old playdeck that you posted for update some time ago and they are really in those decks, does that mean that you coded some cards before the nolimit update or did some limited cards didn't make through 3K+ patch?
Here is the list of uncoded cards :
- Banding Deck.dck has Cooperation
- Centaur Deck.dck has Seton's Scout
- Landwalk Deck (forest).dck has Zodiac Monkey
- Spider Deck.dck has Gloomwidow and Deadly Recluse

Additionally during conversion I guess I made a mistake and converted twice some decks with wrong IDs, so they got a wrong card but as I no longer have the original deck I can't make the appropriate changes.
Can someone who has the right cards compare those decks post the correct ones from the following, thanks in advance :

240sxforever-EDH-GBW control.dck
legacy_aww_BattleOfWits.dck
have Votary of the Conclave

Legacy_Cognis_BG09.dck has Crumbling Ashes
Legacy_Cognis_RG09.dck has Gigadrowse
Stompy.dck's Evil Clone has Jungle Lion

[Psychodabble]

First, great app, thanks. It's now a required download since the new patch and I find it quite user friendly, though perhaps the tip that you need to target the manalink.csv from the magic_updater folder should be included in the instructions in the first post. I struggled with that for a bit before I figured it out thanks to Circoth.

A couple of issues from my conversion:
I'm not sure what the intended function of the Exchange Vanilla list is, but it seems to only do weird things. For example, it replaced all of my Merfolk of the Pearl Trident with Final Revels (which is listed as uncoded). It also replaced all Scathe Zombies with Psychic Transfer (another uncoded card). Is this intended behavior? Relatively easy to fix in any case.

Another card I had an issue with in a few decks is Warrior Angel. The app correctly updated its card slot, but still lists it as uncoded. I checked it out in the deck editor, but it looks okay.

This leads to a general question I've got about uncoded cards (e.g. Final Revels and Psychic Transfer). The cards and text show up in the deck editor, just without a picture. What would happen if I left them in the deck and tried to play? Would leaving Warrior Angel in be bad, since it came up as uncoded? Would it be CTD bad, or BSOD bad?

Finally, I had a deck with Kongming in it that the app dumped to unmatched, though Kongming is definitely in the csv.

Again, thanks for making a great app and thanks in advance for helping with my noob issues.

[stassy]

I don't see Warrior Angel as a coded card in the last update

Please check your Manalink.ini file for the option ViewAll=0, as it seems you have enabled the option to view uncoded card from the Deck Editor.

They will be available but might crash the game if AI use a deck with them (player won't be able to cast it, debugging it will result of a permanent that do nothing)

The issue with Kongming might be the character encoding used, this is a really tricky card that need exact typography or it will not be recognized.

The app is not perfect so be sure to list what cards are not recognized so Circoth can fix them all.

[Psychodabble]

I don't see Warrior Angel as a coded card in the last update

Please check your Manalink.ini file for the option ViewAll=0, as it seems you have enabled the option to view uncoded card from the Deck Editor.

They will be available but might crash the game if AI use a deck with them (player won't be able to cast it, debugging it will result of a permanent that do nothing)

The issue with Kongming might be the character encoding used, this is a really tricky card that need exact typography or it will not be recognized.

The app is not perfect so be sure to list what cards are not recognized so Circoth can fix them all.

Yeah, I'm stupid. Warrior Angel was only in the decks, not in the actual card list. I replaced it with some of the newer, better angels. Just out of curiosity, why was Warrior Angel removed from the lists? I see now that there are more efficient cards available, but with the 2k limit gone it seems odd to take stuff out that's already coded.

Maybe I'll just replace the Kongming with something else rather than take the risk...

[stassy]

Actually you can just manually replace it in the ingame DeckEditor, the PDA will recognize it, it will only fail if it came from a deck made before 3.0 (due to unicode issue)

Also noticed a bug/missing feature in the Netdeck option : copy pasting a list of card will with no amount generate an invalid error.
It could be useful instead to convert no amount to 1 type of card for 1 line (eg to make a deck of newly created cards from patch day *cough*)

[CirothUngol]

Thanx for the kind words, PsychoD! I'm hoping this app proves useful to everybody. I'm glad you figured out the bit about the Manalink.csv, the next release of PDAnalyser will read directly from the Cards.dat (like the game does) and will only need the CSV for "Export as" options.

I'm not sure what the intended function of the Exchange Vanilla list is, but it seems to only do weird things.

I was supposed to take that one out before I released v0.2, it's no longer current. It's supposed to replace vanilla cards (like Merfolk of the Pearl Trident and Aspect of Wolf) with better equivalents (like Cursecatcher and Blanchwood Armor). Try the other 2 (add\eraticate Moxes), they work great. The Banned\Substitute Lists thing is a hold-over from the 1st version of the PDAnalyser (which was a WinXP batch file)... a good idea that needs better implimentation.
If you run into any non-matches (like Kongming) I'd appreciate a post showing the exact spelling\characters used so I could enter it in the internal database (I'm thinking of externalizing it in a text file so users could update it).

I've added some new options\abilities in v0.3, like reading directly from the Cards.dat and converting a NetDeck from the CommandLine (No GUI). Also the PDAnalyser now comes as a single executable that's 20 times smaller and (usually) 2-5 times faster, thanx to R. T. Russell's Liberty BASIC Booster. I've spent some time re-writing portions of the program so it will "complile" correctly under LBB, and now I'm looking to work-in a few more features before releasing it. Proposed features include:
--------------------
Finding PlayDecks recursively in the PlayDeck folder (I dunno...)
A PopUp Dialog to clobber\replace lines in PlayDeck Header
Automatically assume quantity of 1 if only CardName is present in NetDeck Dialog

[0rion79]

Great! Where is V.3? Still not out?

[Shantak]

Any idea what's wrong when PlayDeck Analyser v0.2 won't start on my PC? I get the following error message:

---------------------------
Smalltalk/V
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a non-continuable protection violation has occurred. Check ERROR.LOG file.
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OK
---------------------------



Am I missing some dependency file or what is wrong? I would have thought this would have come up earlier. My system is 64-bit Windows 7.

[stassy]

Did you check the error.log file?
Do you run the PDA in admin mode?

[Psychodabble]

@ciroth: Here's the exact line from my log -
.1512 Kongming, Sleeping Dragon ...in PlayDeck was not found in Manalink.csv. UNMATCHED

This was the only card to come back unmatched, but there could be more as my deck list is limited to the ones that came with the download plus the ~50 decks I've made over the years. I tend to fall in love with certain cards/themes and use them over and over so there isn't a ton of variety in there.

I think the product is already great, but it's cool that you're already working on a new version. In regard to the Exchange Vanilla list, should I just delete it?

@Orion79: I'm just a noob, but I was able to get this to work and saw that you were still having trouble. Maybe if you post what you've done step-by-step, I can help you get your decks converted, because the new patch is sweeeeeet.

[CirothUngol]

Wow, thanx for the interest, guys!

@ Orion79
No, v0.3 still needs a little polish before release... but it does seem to be working well. Are you still having issues with the most recent Manalink.csv? If so, I'd like to help you find out why.

@ Shantak
That looks like a Win7 protection issue. Try running the PDAnalyser with Administrative rights, or from a drive that isn't the drive shared by Win7. All that protection stuff gives me the willies.

@ Psychodabble
Looks like you made that PlayDeck with a Manalink update that didn't use Double-Quotes around the "Sleeping Dragon" part (making it a spelling error). Thanx, I'll put that in the database. As for the Exchange Vanilla list; yes, just delete it. I've already removed it from the app.

In the future, I plan on reworking the Banned\Restricted\Substitute lists, as the PlayDeck format is no longer necessary for these files to work (as it was in the original WinBatch file). Something like "CardQty;OriginalCardName;NewCardName" would be easier and make more sense.

I've added some new buttons to the NetDeck Dialog (including "Add qty 1" button for Stassy ^_^) and plan to work on this over the weekend. I've a couple of simple additions (ReplaceHeader DialogBox and SearchPlayDecks LogFile) and then a few more complex ones that I may not get to (Recursive PlayDeck Search, Rebuild Banned\Substitute Lists, DAT2CSV Converter).

If anyone has an easy-to-implement request I'll try to work it in before release.