Manalink2.0 SCV Installation Guide

[CirothUngol]

A few more old-skool Playdecks...
I took the other 700+ Playdecks offered on this thread and ran them through a batch, setting standard substitutions for old common cards (like Craw Wurm, Scathe Zombies and Merfolk of the Pearl Trident). The result was 161 old Playdecks that are still 100% compatible with the 20110208 update.

Amazingly, many of the decks remain unchanged from the original OEM version (like Armies of Light, Azaar - Lichlord and Pure Evil), 'cause they're build around good solid cards that are still in Manalink Constructed. One of my favorite decks from the old MtG:DotP days, Mechanical Blue, made the grade without a single substitution... and is still a blast to play!

Hopefully others will find these useful. Please report any issues with the Playdecks or the archives.

[stassy]

I am really interested in the way you batched the whole deck pack, I myself tried many automaton softwares and none of them could make a card replacement by line.

[CirothUngol]

How? Brute Force, my friend. ^_^
I simply wrote a rather unintelligent WinXP batch file to scan the Playdeck directory and compare the decks line-by-line to Manalink.csv, writing mismatch info to a .log file. It can also move the mismatched decks (leaving all good ones behind), rebuild the decks to match the .csv, make direct card-for-card substitutions, generate descriptions by identifying card colors & artifact percentage, and locate degenerate decks by checking against Banned and Restricted lists.
It is slow, ponderous and cumbersome; the complete antithesis of user-friendly... however it is rather effective at finding problem decks and adding accurate and consistent color descriptions. It's by no means the first or only over-bloated and overtly complex batch file I've ever written, but it's probably the last.

[rant]
Windoze Batch is not, I repeat, not to be used as a programming language. Don't do it. Use absolutely anything else, 'cause everything else is better than Windoze Command Line if you want to do really nifty programmy stuff like use real variables, define arrays, create functions and call subroutines.
[/rant]

However, it can be done. It's just not pretty; nor easy. If yer interested, I could try to clean it up a bit and throw together a quick how-to, with a few caveats.
1. I am not a programmer.
2. Windoze batch programming is unwieldy, inefficient and unkind to users.
3. It would take some time.

[off_topic]
I wrote this thing many, many moons ago and have since moved on to a real programming language... JustBASIC! ^_^
I have a Manalink.csv viewer that's quite useable with static columns, fully editable fields, colored-coded rows, and column sorting, but I've yet to write a search routine or a save/export function. I hope to eventually incorporate a more intelligent implementation of the batch file's functionality as well as a .csv compare... but that's all way, way in the future. Good times.
[/off_topic]

...umm, I think I just hijacked Salbei's thread. Apologies. My bad.

[stassy]

Well, in fact it could be really useful for non coder who want to change their deck and started from the beginning of ML's age of stone (aka Mok)and now have a dreadful number of non updated decks :p

[Salbei]

Please create a topic at the "Development" section and link to it from here.

[Salbei]

...
These CardArtNew/CardArtLim folders and Manalink files should solve the problems and confusion over the current artwork for the 8th February patch release. And will also remove the need for people to download separate artwork archives with your own custom installation.

The included Manalink files are adapted from Jatill’s last update, and correct a number of format and text errors.

Correct number of images in the folders: Constructed (2898) – Limited (3071)

All the artwork is now produced from HQ pics (except Karador, Ghost Chieftain – no HQ pic available yet)
All missing artwork added – including the Cat token
Card artwork common to both the Constructed and Limited sets use identical images.

New alternative artwork for:
Bitterblossom
Crusade
Divine Offering
Elvish Warrior
Everflowing Chalice
Fling
Hero of Bladehold
Leonin Skyhunter
Liliana Vess
Signal Pest
Swords to Plowshares
Sylvan Ranger
Thopter Assembly Token
Zombie Token

Delete both current folders before installing these – some of the artwork in the older folders is no longer required and won’t be overwritten by just copying these new folders into the ‘Magic/Program’ folder.

...

All the best… Sonic (Jez)

http://www.mediafire.com/?6x4ttuzqpdo6u41

Thanks a lot Sonic. I updated the initial post and will try to setup mirrors for this.

[Salbei]

Sure! Orion79 posted a DuelSounds set that had it's volume reduced by 50%... I think they're the same ones found in the CCGHQ Custom ISO torrent. You can grab them from HERE.

Also, you could use a batch file to move and replace the sound files automatically. You can grab a DuelSounds Toggler HERE... just make sure the file extension is ".cmd" and not ".txt" (some browsers do that) then drop it into your MtG Install folder; double-click and it turns sounds off, double-click again and it turns sounds back on... simple. ^_^

This seems to be useful. Going to add this to the initial post if you don´t mind.

[CirothUngol]

No problem, glad it could be useful. I'd offer to create a mirror for the new artwork package, but only if you'd like a second MediaFire link... that's all I use.

Incidently, I've been playing this Manalink SCV edition exclusively for a couple of weeks now, and I dig it! I've always played with the sounds turned off (hence the DuelSound Toggler), but now I actually leave the sounds on. .. they're that cool. ^_^

[Aswan jaguar]

Post by SundayForever » 05 Mar 2011, 13:11
I've been using your version for nearly a week. It has been good, except for some seemingly random hangups when using multiplayer. The symptoms of the hangups are both players have a "Waiting for Opponent" message on their screen. The game doesn't appear to be locked up, just in an endless loop. CPU utilization is low. I say "seemingly random", but if I were asked to assign an activity where it seems to happen more often, it would be with deck and hand interactions where cards are revealed to other players such as "Goblin Matron" or "Coercion" and the like. But, again, it isn't always in those situations where it hangs.

Some feedback on the multiplayer how you managed it?hamachi?what os do you use as this version was thought to be pretty unstable-to not working.How much games do you thing ended to played (percentage).Another one said he had success with multiplayer but we didn't get any feedback.If you could give an updated multiplayer guide would be nice.Unless is via home lan and not internet which is less buggy I think.

[a1z2s3x4]

My multiplayer experience is only within my home lan. Worked pretty well, maybe 70% of games to completion. If you can avoid cards that go into your deck and put cards in your hand, then it was more stable. Goblin Matron seemed to lead to a crash every time. Coercion was another that led to frequent crashes. We still play. If we get a crash, I make note of the cards that were played most recently (and look in the Trace.txt file for clues) and remove them from our decks.

[Salbei]

I tried Multiplayer again yesterday.

My neighbor (Windows XP, SCV patched to the current latest Version "March") and me on Windows 7, exact same Version. You need to run Magic.reg (should be included in the SCV, otherwise check the WIKI for "multiplayer" and copy the .reg file.
You need this for the Manalink "Gem" to show up.

We connected via Wireless LAN (select "Internet TCP/IP")
Make sure you disable everything in your config.txt (magic folder) beside Rules Engine:1
Otherwise there will be sever mistakes in the game and both players won´t have any cards in their libraries (actually just the opponent). I guess that is caused by "alphabetize decks" - so you must disable that!

Should work the same way if you play over the Internet (you need to setup Hamachi first and both be at the same "emulated" LAN Network in there).

Be aware that a lot of cards will crash the game out of nowhere. I´m currently trying to list those Cards that cause those crashes.
When both people use the same version and carefully build their decks (excluding cards that are known to crash the game) multiplayer should be enjoyable.

We just played a couple games, unfortunately 4 out of 5 games just crashed because of some Cards. Well once we figure those Cards out it should be enjoyable.

Cards that crash a Multiplayer Session:

Duress (you can choose the card but it never "resolves" for the opponent -> opponent plays it, game crashes for me)
Thoughtseize (like duress)
Maelstrom Pulse (removing multiple targets at once causes the game to crash.Worked fine when i removed 2 Candelabra of Tawnos but crashed the game when i tried to remove 2 Kird Ape)
Spellstutter Sprite (I tried to counter Umezawas Jitte with the Sprite, the Sprite never resolved for my opponent and the game crashed for him)

---
I updated the initial post and included a Multiplayer Section. Hope i didn´t forget anything in there.
I´ll try to add a list of cards that are known to crash the Multiplayer sessions.
Would you share your list with us, please ?

[Salbei]

Sonic updated the Artwork for the March Version. The Link is included at the initial post now.
Thanks Sonic !

Been fiddling again, and recompiled the card artwork folders for the 7th March patches.

Added missing Bird, Serf, and Multi-purpose Alliances (temporary) token artwork for the Golden Years patch.

Corrected number of text/format errors in the manalink files.

Added new promo/rewards artwork for:
Anathemancer
Browbeat
Black Sun’s Zenith
Day of Judgment
Plague Stinger
Searing Blaze
Skinrender
Spellstutter Sprite
Treasure Hunt
Treasure Mage
Volcanic Fallout
Wall of Omens

Corrected number of images in each folder after redundant artwork removed – Constructed (2894) – Limited (3072) – Golden Years (3057).

All the best… Sonic

Constructed/Limited Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?5ib5vflqa5h3nif

[Sonic]

Salbei unfortunately forgot to include the link to the Golden Years CardArt update.

Golden Years Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?a2te076uq5eabg6

I had to include this as a separate download due to exceeding the MediaFire free upload 200Mb limit when all three folders were included in a single archive.

All the best... Sonic

[Salbei]

Well the Golden Years Mod is not included at the SCV, i didn´t even link to it. That is why the Artwork for it didn´t get linked.
It is just going to cause problems and this version should remain user-friendly.
Sure, the mod will work but i´m not willing to provide support for a mod that i´m not even using myself (see custom version^^).

[Sonic]

I really wouldn't be too worried about the Golden Years mod, Salbei.
If you've installed the Constructed/Limited 7th March patch, the programming for the Golden Years cards is already installed along with that patch.

Gargaroz's separate Golden Years patch just includes the the individual artwork, manalink and dat files for the mod, and a batch program to automatically rename the associated GY/Limited folders and files so the mod is launched in place of the Limited game.

All Gargaroz has really done is to create another set of card parameter files, which includes the CardArt folder, Manalink.cvs and Cards.dat files, just like the separate files the Constructed and Limited games use.
But this now means we have an extra set of card parameter files to fill with another possible 2000 cards.