Hiya, guys!
I haven't checked out the forum much in 2010; it's nice to see that development of Manalink is still in full swing. Earlier this year (Jan-Feb) I downloaded an update that knocked out some of my many Gauntlet Decks due to the inevitable removal/replacement of old cards to make way for the newly coded ones. Since Gauntlet is about 50% of everything I do with Manalink, and I have hundreds of decks to play with, I back-tracked the updates to try and find the last one that doesn't mangle the old-skool Gauntlet Decks. As far as I can tell, the update for January 9, 2010 was the last one before the start of the purging of older cards, so that's the one I've been using ever since. I did a clean build, added all the updates, and archived it for transport to the few computers I play it on. One of these is a disfigured multi-colored 800Mhz Franken-puter I play with at work and I recently discovered, much to my surprise, that a couple of my customers were MtG players back in the mid-late '90s. When they saw me playing Manalink, they remembered the original Microprose game and were excited to get a chance to check out the newer version. I told them I'd hook 'em up with the version I was playing (already had the archive burned onto CD and everything)... but alas, they are not Computer Geeks, such as myself, and are in fact computer illiterate. After trying to explain how to Un7zip something to little effect, I told them I'd make a self-extracting executable (since they didn't know what "archives" were), but quickly realised that an executable would also be insufficient, since there wouldn't be any Desktop/Start Menu shortcuts for them to start the program (did I mention they're computer illiterate?). I told them I'd look online for a free Windows Installer Creator that would make the shortcuts... and I found one!
ClickTeam's Install Creator is FREE, makes shortcuts, is full-featured, versatile, easy to use, and has really good compression... and it's FREE. Of course, never to do anything without excess, I wound up getting Install Creator Pro that offers more advanced features and removes the obligatory ClickTeam ad at the end of the install. I combined my archived build of Manalink 2.x 20100109 with the original HomeOfTheUnderdogs install of Manalink 1.3.2 (for Shandalar) as well as a few extras (like 700+ PlayDecks for Gauntlet and an AutoToggler to turn Sounds & Animations On/Off). The installer has been tested on Windows 95/98SE/ME/NT4/2KSP4/XPSP2/XPSP3 and seems to work flawlessly (of course Manalink 2.x will only run on WinXP+, but Manalink 1.3.2 and the installer work fine). I can't say for Vista/7, as I don't have access to those OSes. The installer offers choices between Manalink 2.x and/or 1.3.2, with or without Sound and/or Animations. The installer is 428 Mb and comes packed with an autorun.ini and manalink.ico for friendly CD Burning. A full install requires ~975 Mb and the most minimal requires ~140 Mb. I've personally been using this build of the 20100109 update on a daily basis for over 6 months now, and it seems to be very stable on Windows XP SP2/SP3. Hopefully, someone other than my customers and myself will find this installer useful. Great to use if you want to play with old decks, wish to preserve the backwards-compatibility of your new decks, or want to play a 50 opponent Gauntlet without hitting the same deck twice. ^_^
Also, I'd originally planned to make an updated version of the Manalink 2.0 VMWare Appliance available at the top of this thread, but Mok's 2.0 is the last version I could get to run on Win95/98. Without 98micro's tiny footprint a VMWare appliance can grow unweildly very quickly. A bare WinXP Pro install is 2Gb+ before you add hundreds of Mb worth of card images. That's a no-go. However...
I recently laid my hands on a tiny OEM install of WinXP SP2 whose bare install clocks in at under 250Mb! After wrestling with VMWare driver issues for half a Saturday (as an OEM disc, none are included) I was able to get Graphics, Audio, Network and Indeo Video working, and the Manalink Install runs just fine. I've been using the appliance for over a week now and feel secure that its stable. After loading the necessary WinXP updates and adding the Full Manalink 2.x 20100109 Install (~975 Mb) the Appliance starts at 1.37 Gb, and the 6-part 7zip archive is 596 Mb. It was created using the new VMWare Player 3.1.1 which now allows creating as well as executing appliances, making VMWare Workstation obsolete unless you're creating business applications, network simulations, server distributions or the like. Well worth the upgrade, and probably necessary to use this appliance (faster than MS Virtual PC, too).
I've uploaded all of the files to MediaFire, re-downloaded them, ran .par2 checks and binary comparison with Beyond Compare, so these are good to go. Archives are 7zip.
Manalink 2.x 20100109 Windows Installer (~428 Mb)
This is the installer with a few files for friendly CD Burning
Manalink 2.x 20100109 Installer part 1Manalink 2.x 20100109 Installer part 2Manalink 2.x 20100109 Installer part 3Manalink 2.x 20100109 Installer part 4Manalink 2.x 20100109 Installer part 5Manalink 2.x 20100109 Installer .par2 Check FileManalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare Appliance (~596 Mb)
Manalink 2.x 20100109 installed on a WinXP SP2 Appliance for VMWare Player 3.1.1+
Manalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare part 1Manalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare part 2Manalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare part 3Manalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare part 4Manalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare part 5Manalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare part 6Manalink 2.x 20100109 VMWare .par2 Check File...and a MediaFire link to VMWare Player 3.1.1 for Windows
VMWare Player 3.1.1I've also attached an archive below containing the ReadMe and my EZ DuelSound Toggler. Just drop the DuelSound.cmd file into your Manalink install (same directory as "Magic.exe") and double-click. It'll move and rename all of the Sounds and Animations, and then put them back if you double-click it again. Nice and Easy. ^_^
Please report any problems you have with downloading the files or using the Installer/Appliance.
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