Updated DotP 2013 Wiki Page

[RiiakShiNal]

I went ahead and updated the landing page to include links to the DotP games and created the DotP 2013 wiki page with links to the already existing pages and threads along with links to all the DLCs I could find for DotP 2013.

Hopefully everyone can flesh out the pages and set things up in a better fashion to direct people to when they come up with the same standard questions. It could also help for other little bits of information that we each have that others may not.

[RiiakShiNal]

Just added a page for Unlocking Decks and Cards and I would appreciate it if someone else would look over it to make sure it makes sense and all the information is correct.
DotP 2013 Unlocking

Yes, this is a double post, but it has been a couple of weeks and I doubt anyone will notice this if I don't.

Edit: Also added a Best Practices page with some of what we have discovered. If there is something I missed or another "Best Practice" that you feel should be up there feel free to add it and the reasoning for it to the page. I have tried to only put up best practices that we can all be objective about with a reasoning that is based on problems that we as modders have encountered or are likely to encounter.
DotP 2013 Modding Best Practices

Any best practices that are subjective should be discussed either on the forum or on the wiki talk page for Modding Best Practices. An example of a subjective best practice would be something like "Image filenames should be A+Multiverse number." The reason I think that is subjective is because as long as the filenames are unique I don't see any reason why the filename can't be something like MYP_000001 where the person simply increments the number each time or MYP_CARDNAME where CARDNAME is the name of the card. I believe all of those are valid conventions that accomplish the same goal to prevent image name conflicts.

[NEMESiS]

This quote has me interested:

The game will only save up to about 18 deck configurations to the profile and we have no control over which decks are saved.

I think this is either erroneous or I am simply misinformed but the game has 21 available decks if you count the expansion and DLC.

[RiiakShiNal]

This quote has me interested:

The game will only save up to about 18 deck configurations to the profile and we have no control over which decks are saved.

I think this is either erroneous or I am simply misinformed but the game has 21 available decks if you count the expansion and DLC.

That is from when we examined the profile generated by the game. As of the last Theta update I have (1.0dc120909) that is true (it has also be verified on the Skidrow version which I also have). I do not know if WotC changed that with the Deck Packs that they released (I hope they did, but I have no way to confirm at the moment). If I can get my hands on a current profile from a current Steam version I can confirm whether this has changed or not. Previous profiles I have seen from the Steam version have all had the same 18 deck limit.

So as far as has been determined that is at the very least true for Skidrow, Theta (as of 1.0dc120909), and for earlier Steam versions (pre-deck packs).

The reason I used the word "about" there is because we don't know if this limit has changed.

[NEMESiS]

I have the steam version. Where can I check or what do you need to confirm the correct number? There actually quite a few people on other forums complaining that at least 2 decks forget their unlocks every time they load the game (I don't think they use mods though). The number must have been increased at some point and it seems that some players didn't receive it for whatever reason.

[RiiakShiNal]

I would need the profile (the filename is <SomeNumber>.profile where SomeNumber can be just about anything). I think that would be easier than trying to explain the structure on how the game stores data and having you examine the file in Hex. Though a good guess can be made from the size of the profile. If the filesize is still 4,292 bytes then it is highly likely that they have not increased the limit.

[NEMESiS]

I don't see any ".profile" anywhere. Is it inside a particular wad?

[RiiakShiNal]

No, it is a separate file and is usually found with "hash.file". I would imagine it is somewhere in your Steam data, maybe under Steam\userdata\<SomeNumber>\97330\?

[NEMESiS]

Yeah I found it and its still the same size at 4,292 bytes. Do you want it?

[RiiakShiNal]

Sure, because it is the same size, it is unlikely that they changed it's structure, but I can look at it anyway just to confirm.

Edit: I just got the file and I will take a look at it tomorrow as it is fairly late (or early depending on how you look at it) here.

Edit 2: I just finished looking at the file, apparently I was wrong, your profile has exactly 21 deck configurations stored in it so they did increase the number saved to the profile. Though it's still not many unfortunately.

[NEMESiS]

What happens if you try to change the number?

[Takhen]

Clear and good works, I like

[RiiakShiNal]

What happens if you try to change the number?

It's hard coded into the executable, I don't think anyone has succeeded in changing it at all.

Now, it is possible to change the deck ids that are stored in the profile (someone cracked the hashing technique a while back), but I have yet to get the game to actually recognize and save a deck that I tried to manually specify in that method.

[Takhen]

As I wrote in the other post, to find in the forum the best I can, other than the wiki, I went to read (or I should se "searching donwload links") aaaaaaall the old topics in New MTG Cards and Decks, in Documentation, in Utilities and Custom releases

Here I downloaded all I found, programs, XMLs, WADs, codes I saved (and something will not work because linked to DOTP or DOTP 2012, but if I read all the english text now I was to second page yet)

I didn't read yet the topics in the same place of this one, and the section Programming Talk, because these two "Subforum" are about 5 and 7 pages of topic, with more answers than those I already visited

So before I start to explore also these ones, I would ask if there is something useful I could find to download or save (as a complete and running code for card or abilities) that I couldn't found also in the Subforum I already visited: I this total of 12 pages of topic would be useless I won't read these

[RiiakShiNal]

As I understand the first part of your post you skimmed the topics in most of the sub-forums looking for code and downloads (mods, utilities, etc...). I will use this summation as a basis for the rest of my post.

I didn't read yet the topics in the same place of this one, and the section Programming Talk, because these two "Subforum" are about 5 and 7 pages of topic, with more answers than those I already visited

So before I start to explore also these ones, I would ask if there is something useful I could find to download or save (as a complete and running code for card or abilities) that I couldn't found also in the Subforum I already visited: I this total of 12 pages of topic would be useless I won't read these

I'm not sure if you'll find much in the way of downloads for those parts of the forum, but I can give a couple of quick generalizations.

The main DotP forum area contains mostly beginner questions and general information and updates. For example there is the "Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013" thread which is mostly us talking about what we hope is in the game and some of our early findings once it came out. Other examples include people asking if the games can be modded on other platforms, updates that have come out for the different versions, playing multiplayer, etc....

The Programming Talk sub-forum while it will not have very many downloads has a treasure trove of information on various aspects of coding cards, problems people have run into, solutions that have been found, etc.... Some threads are code heavy, while others are more thoughtful discussion, regardless many of the threads here (currently up to about page 3 for DotP 2013) are a good read for people wanting to make cards. This is one of the main sub-forums for people wanting to code cards as it is a great place to post coding questions and has most of our past coding questions and the answers we came up with there. It does cover all 3 games so there may be some filtering you will have to do, but if you have a coding question chances are it has been answered or at least addressed somewhere in here. Of particular note (in no particular order) are the "Lets talk about (...)" threads, "all about mana tokens", "'naming a card' functions", "functions for 'choose a creature type'", and "problems with Life and Limb".

If you have specific questions on certain abilities or cards and you can choose a couple of good key words then you can use the search box in the top right corner of the forum to search for posts/threads which might have the answers.

To be perfectly honest, I have not read every thread here on the forum and I doubt more than a few can say that they have (I would be surprised if anyone has). Searching using key words, skimming posts/threads that seem like good candidates for answers and good information has allowed me to find most of what I have needed, for the times when I can't find what I need I either experiment and test with the game itself or I ask a question in the appropriate sub-forum (usually Programming Talk) and hope someone else has the piece of information I need.