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[Cogito Ergo Sum]

What the hell do i do with the decks i downloaded from this thread.

On a side note, how do i get the AI to randomly choose a deck that conforms to the Format of mine and that contains only cards it can play?

[VladVoivode]

Ave Cogito Ergo Sum,

I can answer your question about where to put the decks.

If you are running Windows, the decks should be unzipped to [drive designation]:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Forge\decks\constructed (or commander for commander decks.

I am not sure how to force the AI to play random decks but, in this section you will find a zip of decks designed specifically for the AI and many of these decks have specific difficulty settings.

Curiously, I have not experienced many problems with AI play. It seems to play most decks competently and sometimes brilliantly. I hasten to add however that I have downloaded over 12,000 decks so I may have been lucky.

I play four of the programs with AI offered on this site, namely, Forge, Manalink 3.0, Magarena, and BotArena. They compliment one another very nicely. Each has strengths and weaknesses which I expect from AI applications but that said, kudos to the developers of all of these games.

Anyhow, I hope you have fun with decks you have downloaded. While you're at it, try Forge's rather robust search engine in the deck editor.

As an aside, I will be adding a new topic and adding decks from a number of databases not represented here. User gos has done a superb job of scouring the big sites and has done considerable work in bringing these decks to the community. At the moment, I am looking at how best to add approximately 200,000 MORE decks from lesser known sites. It's proving to be a bit weird but I am hopeful that by next week, I SHOULD have at least 100 zipped and posted for community testing.

Salve,
Vlad

PS: If you cannot find the complete path, you will need to have Windows show hidden files and directories. If you are a Mac user, I am afraid I cannot help you but I am certain that someone else can.

[friarsol]

PS: If you cannot find the complete path, you will need to have Windows show hidden files and directories. If you are a Mac user, I am afraid I cannot help you but I am certain that someone else can.

No need to jump through these hoops. Just goto preferences, then click on the "Show User Directory" button, then decks then whichever folder is appropriate.

[Cogito Ergo Sum]

PS: If you cannot find the complete path, you will need to have Windows show hidden files and directories. If you are a Mac user, I am afraid I cannot help you but I am certain that someone else can.

No need to jump through these hoops. Just goto preferences, then click on the "Show User Directory" button, then decks then whichever folder is appropriate.

I tried putting "All the decks plus already completed difficulty files.rar" into the Deck directory and then starting Forge.
It took all the .dck files and put them in the constructed, but some are called AI* and other quest# and i still have 4 files left in the deck folder .DS_Store, easy.txt, medium.txt and hard.txt, those must be the "difficulty" files, whatever that means.
Somehow that doesn't seem right.
Also the pre-constructed decks aren't in the user directory, they're in the Forge directory.

[VladVoivode]

PS: If you cannot find the complete path, you will need to have Windows show hidden files and directories. If you are a Mac user, I am afraid I cannot help you but I am certain that someone else can.

No need to jump through these hoops. Just goto preferences, then click on the "Show User Directory" button, then decks then whichever folder is appropriate.

I tried putting "All the decks plus already completed difficulty files.rar" into the Deck directory and then starting Forge.
It took all the .dck files and put them in the constructed, but some are called AI* and other quest# and i still have 4 files left in the deck folder .DS_Store, easy.txt, medium.txt and hard.txt, those must be the "difficulty" files, whatever that means.
Somehow that doesn't seem right.
Also the pre-constructed decks aren't in the user directory, they're in the Forge directory.

You have to place the decks in the correct folder. Constructed should be unzipped to the constructed folder, commander to that folder, etc. The ones with the AI designation are decks that to my understanding have been tested such that the AI has no difficulties playing them. I use them in constructed mode and they work fine. I haven't downloaded any decks for the preconstructed option because I mainly play either with constructed or I will allow Forge to generate a random deck for me and one for the AI from the entire card pool - I like the challenge and the surprises. I am hopeful that someone can answer your other questions as I don't play quests, or the other variants in Forge. As I mentioned, I like to play different applications for different reasons. Manalink 3.0 for instance - for me - has a nicer gauntlet and it has a version of Magic called SPAT which is not available in Forge, BotArena, or Magarena.

[Cogito Ergo Sum]

You have to place the decks in the correct folder. Constructed should be unzipped to the constructed folder, commander to that folder, etc. The ones with the AI designation are decks that to my understanding have been tested such that the AI has no difficulties playing them. I use them in constructed mode and they work fine. I haven't downloaded any decks for the preconstructed option because I mainly play either with constructed or I will allow Forge to generate a random deck for me and one for the AI from the entire card pool - I like the challenge and the surprises. I am hopeful that someone can answer your other questions as I don't play quests, or the other variants in Forge. As I mentioned, I like to play different applications for different reasons. Manalink 3.0 for instance - for me - has a nicer gauntlet and it has a version of Magic called SPAT which is not available in Forge, BotArena, or Magarena.

But that's just it, there were no folders in the archive.
Manalink looks way too complicated to install.

[VladVoivode]

You have to place the decks in the correct folder. Constructed should be unzipped to the constructed folder, commander to that folder, etc. The ones with the AI designation are decks that to my understanding have been tested such that the AI has no difficulties playing them. I use them in constructed mode and they work fine. I haven't downloaded any decks for the preconstructed option because I mainly play either with constructed or I will allow Forge to generate a random deck for me and one for the AI from the entire card pool - I like the challenge and the surprises. I am hopeful that someone can answer your other questions as I don't play quests, or the other variants in Forge. As I mentioned, I like to play different applications for different reasons. Manalink 3.0 for instance - for me - has a nicer gauntlet and it has a version of Magic called SPAT which is not available in Forge, BotArena, or Magarena.

But that's just it, there were no folders in the archive.
Manalink looks way too complicated to install.

Trust me, I was a bit flummoxed at first, but, Forge is nicely laid out as to where things go. If you look at gos's threads, he (assuming a "he" here) specifies where to unzip constructed decks, commander, and so on.

If you wouldn't mind, would you please post a snapshot of your Forge directory as well as the directory where you are unzipping your decks? (Blot out your name of course if you wish). I think this would help a lot in getting you where you want to be.

As for Manalink, it is VERY easy to install actually. Since there's lots o' love here, I don't think that the Forge folk will mind my writing about it.

Manakink 3.0 is actually a continuing development of Sid Meier's Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers game from MicroProse. The game has two components. The adventure part of the game is called Shandalar but the really cool component is the Duel. Anyhow, the installer for Manalink 3.0 is a self-executable. The images are a separate download and user Sonic has very clear instructions on how to install the card images.

But different strokes eh? For me, though I LOVE BotArena, I find that one to be the the most byzantine of the four I play. I did finally get it to work but while others find that one a snap, it almost made my cerebellum implode.