3 letter naming convention ?

by **ParkerLewis** » 31 Oct 2016, 11:44

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if there was any news regarding the change to a three letter naming conventions for all sets.

I have downloaded the latest masterbase and it seems the change hasn't been enforced yet, while the earliest talks about it are dating from like 2008 or so. Or at least my MWS still uses "A" for Alpha, for example, despite me having the latest (up to Kaladesh) database.

May I ask what is the current status on this question ? It would be great if the switch would be possible, if only because the three letter convention is now also the one used by many other programs (making it easier to share common data between programs, like for example card pictures).

by **Goblin Hero** » 31 Oct 2016, 13:40

It will break your old decks, inventories and pictures. That's why this change is not planned.

by **ParkerLewis** » 31 Oct 2016, 13:58

Huh ?

If some cards in a deck breaks, I can just reedit said cards in the deck. Breaking pictures - you mean just needing to rename set folders ?

Even if that's too much work for some people, automating any of this is the most basic scripting exercise (I know I can do it in Matlab in a few minutes, but anyone used to a more classical/portable langage surely can do the same for everyone to use). This can't realistically be a reason not to go with the change.

Feels like this change was overwhelmingly favored at the time. Plus it is the official naming convention, so maintaining a different one is just a bad, bad idea.

by **Goblin Hero** » 01 Nov 2016, 06:56

ParkerLewis wrote:If some cards in a deck breaks, I can just reedit said cards in the deck. Breaking pictures - you mean just needing to rename set folders ?

Most probably it will also break MWSPlay online client. Every user of MWS *must* use the same database with the same set codes. MWS is no longer updated and that's a problem too.

ParkerLewis wrote:automating any of this is the most basic scripting exercise

Yes, but it must be integrated into MWS itself. Which is no longer updated...

by **ParkerLewis** » 01 Nov 2016, 11:01

Into MWS itself ?

I thought MWS itself didn't reference any MtG info (supposed to be a "generic card playing program"), and that all came from the MasterBase. Which you are king of

And yeah, I don't see any issue with outdated MasterBases needing to be updated. MasterBases already get outdated every three months anyway, so that seems like a non-issue.

by **ParkerLewis** » 12 Nov 2016, 09:48

Btw, the (non-)issue of pictures directories and updated .mwDeck files is solved here http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=581&start=30.