Need some help with Deck Editor, please

by **a1z2s3x4** » 23 Feb 2011, 14:22

Over the last three weeks, I've done tons of downloading of different versions of the deck builder, manalink patches, etc. and seemingly tried every combo of installations that I can think of, including testing on virtual machines running XP (i'm running win7ult). Of course, the wiki installation was the first thing I tried. I have no problem using the Constructed or Limited versions of the game.

What I'm trying to do is to use the Custom version and bring in my old favorites and make my old decks playable again.

I've searched ALOT and read a lot of threads and history (all I'm getting at here is that I didn't try things once and when it didn't work for me, scream "HELP!"

)

Here's what I've narrowed things down to:

2 problems:
Problem#1: Using DeckEditorWrapper.exe dated 8/6/2010 and located in latest update (20110208.zip) leads to the problem that has been documented before where card A is replaced by card B, then card B is replaced by card C, card C replaced by card D, and so on and so on. This happens for me in Win7 or XP, regardless of admin rights/compatibility settings/etc.

Replacing DeckEditorWrapper.exe with a version from 7/28/2010 that I found in an older update fixes this problem. This file can be found in the complete game directory linked/uploaded by Cognis (thanks!) and in a zip file previously linked by Stassy, and then re-linked by COgnis. (thanks again!)

I do not know the implications of using an older version of DeckEditorWrapper.exe as opposed to the 8/6/10 version. It seems to work. However, possibly it is contributing to the next problem?

Problem#2: I have had success using all the latest updates + DeckEditorWrapper dated 7/28/10 when making "small" updates. For example, adding a deck that triggers the addition of 5 or 10 cards is USUALLY successful. If I dump all of my decks (which, of course, is what I want to do), this leads to the addition of approx 400 cards. During the process of addition, things seem to go well. Of course, this takes hours. At the end of the run, I have discovered that while the manalinkc.csv gets updated with every card addition, the cardC.dat does not get created because the csv2dat will give an "error at offset 0x#####". Since the cardC.dat doesn't get updated, the cards do not show up when magiccustom.exe is executed.

This leads to a few questions:
1. Can I get some tips to trouble shoot the offset?
2. Potentially, there is one (or many) particular cards that are getting written incorrectly to the manalinkc.csv?
3. When I open manalinkc.csv in a text editor to troubleshoot, I can usually find an entry or two that has what looks like a carriage return that causes the line to complete on the next line. Usually this involves a quotation in the flavor text. When I "fix" these extra carriage returns, I still cannot successfully use the CSV2DAT.exe to update the cardc.dat. It will error at a different offset, though. Any ideas?

My final question: Is it just me? Has ANYONE been able to use the latest downloads from the wiki pages and been successful in switching out cards?

Sorry for the long email! Any help/pointers would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris

by **Salbei** » 24 Feb 2011, 03:27

Like you said, you don´t know what version you are using - this is most likely going to be responsible for all above issues.

The ManaLink 2.0 forum supports 2 installation routes - WIKI or SCV.
The patches posted here WILL NOT WORK for other versions unless you install compatibility things that should not be needed in the first place.

If you are using a "random" torrent Version or the CUSTOM ISO please report your issues where you downloaded the files from, we don´t know what is in there and its is not our "job" to know.

by **a1z2s3x4** » 24 Feb 2011, 04:28

Wow. That came over a little harsh. Perhaps the tone in my post is being misunderstood?

I do know what version I am using. That is, the Wiki install. Mok's Manalink 2.0 + latest 2/8/11 patch + 1/6/11 art + wiki download for "Updated Deck editor" (deck editor_1_time.zip). The comments about me trying other things were just that; a simple report of other things I have tried.

I am experiencing the problems I described using the wiki-recommended install and files. I'm just asking for some tips from others who may be experiencing the same thing. If I came off rude or entitled, it certainly wasn't my intention. Of course I don't think it is anyones "job" to help me.

So, if anyone can confirm or deny what I am seeing using the latest files or offer some troubleshooting tips, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Chris

by **Salbei** » 24 Feb 2011, 04:38

I´m very sorry if i sound rude to you. Was not my intention at all. English is not my native language and some things may sound different than intended.

I am not able to help you with Problem#1+Problem#2, but others might be.
I stopped using the custom deckeditor / my2000 after having a ton of issues with it myself so i got no clue how to fix anything related with it.Simply never got it to work flawlessly and refuse to try it again.

There have been a lot of issues with the "Custom 2000" version and i am really looking forward to the day it is no longer "needed" (when the 2000 card limit can be removed).

by **a1z2s3x4** » 24 Feb 2011, 04:55

Salbei,
I am sorry for my reaction. Your written English is 10000% better than what I could write in German!

I am also about to abandon my attempts at making a "Custom". All of my older favorites are available in the "Limited" version. Perhaps I should just use "Limited" when I want to play my old decks and "COnstructed" for making new decks and be happy with that. After all, if not for the efforts of the people on this site, we'd be playing only the original or nothing at all!

Thanks,
Chris

by **Salbei** » 24 Feb 2011, 04:59

stassy wrote:The answer is in this very thread "unfortunately" :

If you have the original version of My2000, you can copy 1 card at a time in about 5 seconds each.

Sorry about the issues, but that seems to be the only solution so far.