Not everyone can learn the same way, it often depends on the background knowledge, but I'll try to make you start as I started back in DotP2012 days. I had the Deck Editor Revised which has been a great help, but I believe that the most important thing was an almost empty DLC file that I began to edit. So, I made something similar:
I just took cards from Garruk's and Chandra's revenge decks, plus a card made by me, so that you can see where the custom content goes. Of course this deck won't be great if you play it (taking random cards from 2 decks can hardly result in something good
), but once you learn how to edit a deck, you'll be able to tune it by yourself.
After downloading and extracting the ZIP file I attached, you'll just have another WAD file as the ones already inside the game directory. So, what to do now?
Download Gibbed Tools from here:
viewtopic.php?f=99&t=7341(Ignore the first link, use the second)
If you aren't using Theta version 1.0r36 (or a later Theta update) of DotP2013, download from the third link, too. You'll get a DLL that you have to keep inside the game directory, which will allow you to use custom decks.
Extract Gibbed Tools in a directory of your choice (for example, I have a "Modding" sub-directory inside the DotP2013 directory where I put everything pertaining to modding). Drag and drop Deck_1234_TEST.wad on Gibbed.Duels.Unpack, you'll end up with a Deck_1234_TEST_unpacked directory. Follow the sub-directories inside until you open DATA_ALL_PLATFORMS. Here's the important part of the WAD file.
- ART_ASSETS: all card and deck illustrations go here (card pictures go in a sub-folder called ILLUSTRATIONS as you can see from the test deck).
- CARDS: all card XML files go here.
- DECKS: this is where you'll start to look at: the decks directory.
- TEXT_PERMANENT: here you can find an XML file in Excel format that contains the localised text for the deck name. It's possible to add localised text also for AI player names, in-game queries (questions like "Would you like to draw a card?"), etc.
- UNLOCKS: I left this sub-directory empty: unlocks still have some problems that no modder could totally solve, so just ignore them for now.
Enter the DECKS sub-directory. There are 2 XML files.
The "_LAND_POOL" XML file actually just lists the lands that the deck can use. It must have the same name as the deck, plus "_LAND_POOL". You don't need to edit this file for now: you'll have to open it and change its ID in case you copy it for another deck because all the decks ("_LAND_POOL" included) must have a different ID. More on this when you feel more comfortable with editing.
Open the other XML file (the one without "_LAND_POOL") with a text editor like Notepad. As you can see, this is the list of the cards that the deck contains.
If, for example, you want to remove
Firewing Phoenix and add another
Ulvenwald Tracker, delete FIREWING_PHOENIX_301087 and write ULVENWALD_TRACKER_277710 in its place. What if you want to add a card that isn't in this deck yet? You need a list of the cards included in the game, so you can know their filenames. Either you unpack all original decks, or you rely on someone who already did that for us:
viewtopic.php?f=62&t=6784&start=105#p91398Once you think you edited the deck enough, it's time to repack it. Drag and drop the Deck_1234_TEST_unpacked directory on Gibbed.Duels.Pack. You'll obtain a Deck_1234_TEST_unpacked.wad (you can delete the "_unpacked" part from the name, I think it would work anyway but it's better looking without it). Put your new WAD file in your DotP2013 directory and play with your test deck.
I think this is enough as a starting tutorial, let me know if you have been successful.