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I don't know if this particular issue has been answered, or maybe I am making more work for myself. I have now spent three days getting Forge setup and still not done.
I used Gathere Extractor to download pretty much everything. As I am on a very slow download, it took a day and half. I had used this progrma before, so I am not a complete idiot using it (I hope) and now I have a folder with all the cards from Scryfall (and wizard's Gatherer if something was missing.

As a test, I import the Tempest bloc into the right folder and not all graphics showed. I rename the folder TM to TMP and now they show. I am finding I am doing this for almost every single folder, and some still not showing up. I found the editions folder in the res folder and opened all the set lists, seeing the metadata for code= and code2=... I started changing all code2 to match code as I want the subfolders to be the official set codes for when I update later down the line for new sets. I am left with a handful of editions that don't have a corresponding folder, and now I am finding both code and code2 were wrong for some sets (Master's Edition for one, GE downloaded Master's Edition to ME1, but the edition file has code=MED, which has no Master's Edition cards/incomplete...)

In the end I think I am making this way harder on myself, and not sustainable for future updates. Does anyone have advice on setting up a Forge install, hopefully without spending time downloading everything again.

My advice is to rename your set image folders to what Forge is looking for. You are correct that any future updates you do for Forge will end up overwriting the contents of the \res\editions folder, undoing all your work. You MAY be able to backup that folder and restore it after you update and have it work -- but if the dev's change something around in the future, you may find it won't.

Sorry..this is probably not what you wanted to hear

Welcome to Forge

I know, it's not very obvious in the beginning, what has to be done where exactly for all HQ scans to show up, but you managed to get quite far on your own, maybe I can shed some light on the remaining questions:

- As you already found out, Forge will look for replacement images in (the root of ../cache/pics/cards and in) set subfolders, which have to be named for "CODE2" IF it's different from "CODE", which mostly happens on older sets.
I just checked, around Dissension/Coldsnap era seems to be the change to a unified set code approach.

- If you've been at it for three days, expect there to be a few more to sort everything out.
Yes, it's that difficult, it's been like that for most of us, I think.
The reason being a complete catalog of all (english) art variants and tokens in XLHQ will be MASSIVE, if you consider, say, 10-20 full downloads per day.. I've been at it on and off for more than twice your timeframe and I'm still not finished (well, main sets and expansions are done, also a few tokens and special sets, but the latter might even be impossible to complete 100% due to XLHQ unavailability)

- You will need a mass rename tool at some point, there are quite a few to choose from (one with undo function or at least preview would be my advise. Be careful )
Reason: Not only does Forge expect a naming scheme like this

[cardname][x].full.jpg/png

where [cardname] is the exact name for this card inside the corresponding sets edition .txt-file (Forge/res/editions), the [x] is a number for alternate art variants in the same set (if applicable) followed by ".full.jpg" or ".full.png".
Examples:

Skullclamp.full.png
Swamp1.full.png
Huatli, the Sun's Heart1.full.jpg and Huatli, the Sun's Heart2.full.jpg
Thorn Thallid4.full.png
etc
(I used my own descreened, palletted, transparency-cornered pngs for some sets in the beginning, before I found out that desktop Forge has transparency corners for jpgs! I still use pngs on mobile though.)

- If you find a sets edition .txt-file missing a few/a lot of cards, that is because not every card is supported yet. You can find the unspported card list in the main release thread, second post by blacksmith, category "DistinctStats.txt". You can try out latest snapshots, if you like, which may include new card scripts but as a trade-off, some things might not yet work as expected, some things which worked before won't in one snap, but are fixed in the next one, etc.. (due to adaption of new game mechanics there need to be Forge code changes sometimes, which may break something that worked fine before).
You'll become an involuntary app tester for the benefit of being current, card script and feature wise. You can find those snapshots by simply replacing "releases" with "snapshots" and deleting everthing after ".org" (referring to the main release URL). New ones are sometimes generated several times a day.

If you got more questions just ask away!
K.

5enza wrote:...future updates ... for Forge will end up overwriting the contents of the \res\editions folder, undoing all your work.

The res folder usually contains at least one change, that's why it's included with each Forge update.
The naming scheme has had an update recently so that cards like:

Karn, the Great Creator.full.jpg and Karn, the Great Creator1.full.jpg

now need correct numbering for all variants, like this:

Karn, the Great Creator1.full.jpg and Karn, the Great Creator2.full.jpg

Expect that number to rise in future sets with ever more variants
And when such a change happens, ALL Forge users need to make that change. But [cardname].full.jpg has been around for "eons", meaning such changes happen very rarely.

K.

Thank you all!

Yeah. I went back to a "clean install" and imported the folder to start, then slowly look for missing card art. I think that might be what I will do from now on. It seemed to cut down the time more. I would just hate to start up a game and realize missing art, kill everything, fix it and do it again. I guess this is a trade off for a project like this.

You can also check for missing art with the "Audit Card and Image data" button in Game Settings > Content Downloaders. It'll generate a copy/pastable list, which may be too big in the beginning.

A visual approach looks something like this: replace the no_card.jpg in Forge/res/defaults with something easily noticable, like this:

| Open

no_card.jpg (9.12 KiB) Viewed 3926 times

and filter (magnifying glass) for a few sets at a time, to spot any missing/falsely named images.





This is how it looks here (no filter, snapshot Forge, 10 column view, resized the catalog to show more rows):



Now, if I want to quickly find out which set a specific "no_card" placeholder belongs to (e.g. when using snapshots and new sets/cards are added), while I hover above the card, I middleclick (mousewheel) to zoom the card while moving the mouse out of the catalog to the top right:



let go of the middle button and the card is still "selected" and finally hovering above the set code, where a popup shows the full set name:



Enjoy Forge and collecting HQ!
K

PS: If Forge is open, you're in deck editor and add a new subfolder with correctly named images, Forge will display the new additions instantly! No need to restart Forge.

I completely forgot about the audit button... Will definitely come in use when tracking down token images as well. And I already dd something to replace the no_card default and have been using that. So far, I have a work flow that is capturing everything missing. It allows me the opportunity t also catch up on everything that has changed in the last 15 years.

My only gripe now...I need to talk to the Gatherer Extractor forum. The PNG download option is still downloading art without transparency...and I cannot find the option if there is one to force it.

Desktop Forge should render transparent corners anyway, it does so for jpgs as well.

But yea, Scryfall PNGs do have transparency and Gatherer Extractor should save them as such, I agree

K.