Xander9009 wrote:I didn't realize this was originally for 2013 (I really wish these forums were at least all marked...). I just saw it was related to a limited number of decks being saved and thought that was a problem new to 2014.
Not a new problem, it started with the introduction of console support in which they created a new player profile file format that limited the number of deck configurations saved. I know for a fact that this problem did not exist in DotP 2010 as I had dozens of custom decks with custom configurations saved that I played and worked with. I don't know about DotP 2012 because I didn't play or mod that game, but from what I remember DotP was the first to really introduce console support and this was a new problem at that time.
As for determining this thread was for DotP 2013, that wasn't too difficult since DotP 2014 didn't come out until about June/July 2013 and this thread started in March 2013, 3-4 months before DotP 2014 came out. Incidentally, it was also a couple of months before I released my first version of the Deck Builder for DotP 2013 (which happened in May).
Xander9009 wrote:Yeah, it'll definitely need to load all wads, I just meant it wouldn't need to load up every card. But, also importantly, it wouldn't need to modify the decks themselves at all. It would only need to do the following:
- Load all decks
- Load the cards the chosen deck uses
- Allow user to manipulate decks by swapping cards in or out between the three available lists
- Save the deck configuration to the profile
Without needing to modify the decks themselves, manage a complete list of decks, mess with the decks' art assets, or even check for errors, it could be quite a bit simpler.
Managing art assets and such is simple compared to the rest of the loading/saving. Most of the error checks I've added are a result of catching errors during the regular load and just storing them off with understandable messages. Very few of the error checks resulted with me adding a new check for no other reason than to catch a game error. So you wouldn't be reducing the complexity by much if any, besides you would actually be increasing complexity by then linking the loaded deck with a deck configuration that has to be saved in at least two places (externally to the game where we can manage it, and in the profile which would have a separate load/save with an extra checksum recalculation on save. The Deck Builder doesn't currently handle loading of the player's profile so it doesn't have any of that loading and linking code.
Xander9009 wrote:I meant to ignore the in-game deck manager altogether. It'd be awesome if we could get it to work for all decks, but it's been long enough that I'm confident it won't happen. So, next best thing: an out-of-game manager that still allows the configurations to be used in online matches.
You may be able to get it to manage all decks externally, but you'll only be able to tell the game about and have it load a limited number at any given time because there is a limit to how many deck configurations that can be saved in the profile (limited to just the amount of official decks, but you should be able to use their slots by changing the deck IDs on the deck configurations, though they will get overwritten with the base official deck configurations when the game saves the profile again). So you'll have to have a list of what decks will be saved to the profile that can be managed by the user.