Shandalar 2012 Revisited

[Fistleaf]

With regards to the missing cards problem, I am just using this Shandalar 2.0 installation (just before it was renamed to Shandalar 2012). I did not install any other save files or mods.
I have only 100+ cards in my deck so that should not be a problem. I bought 1 Clone card and won another Clone card in a duel, but when I edited my Deck in town, I didn't find them. Also, one of the dungeons had Black Lotus as a prize, but I couldn't find the card anywhere in the dungeon. These are the only 2 cards that I noticed, there may be others. I have attached the save files.

[BlazingTiger]

Found a few bugs i believe. Ones just a graphical glitch the other puts cards into your deck.

Graphical Glitch - When your able to buy any card color with coin or amulets, if you click the summons for green you can't see all the cards because theres too many for the two boxes provided. And if you go to another color you still see the overflow at the bottom of the second row of cards.

Deck Glitch - After winning cards from an opponent the cards won sometimes find there way into my deck. Just won a white knight from a crusader and then got into another duel pretty soon after and on my 2nd draw the white knight popped up in my black deck. Has happened before with a green card.

[CirothUngol]

@Fistleaf
I just checked out your SaveFiles by trying them in both old and new versions of Shandalar, each with the same results.
I find 2 Clones in the DeckBuilder... you don't find them? Does anyone else find them?
What is the date on your DeckDLL.dll file?

As for Black Lotus missing from the Dungeon, I'm unsure if this is a new or old bug (I often finish games without much need for the Dungeons). Did you exit the Dungeon and then re-enter it? What level are you playing? I think some levels disallow you access to the Power Cards. I've recently (re)aquired the original Microprose MtG instruction manual; I'm hoping that a complete re-read of the rules specifics will clear-up some of these issues.

@Blazing Tiger
The issue with the Buying Screen being too short is an old and unfixable one... the original game behaved this way as well.

However, recently accquired cards appearing in your PlayDeck, now that's a new one. Did you have at least 40 cards in your deck (or 30 for Apprentice)? Are you using one of the Pre-Boosted SaveGames from the install, or did you start a new game from the very beginning?
I'm highly suspicious of the hacked SaveFiles that I've included (well... 'cause they're hacked.), and have been waiting for some unforseen issues to appear.

Thanx for reporting the problems guys, it's most appreciated.

[jiansonz]

The thing with a newly 'won' card ending up in the deck has happened to me as well, but only very rarely and I do not think it has happened yet in the current version I play (2010 .iso).

Green summons in the lists are no problem for me. They are indeed too many to fit in the box, so they spill over downwards. However, there is still just enough space so you can click on whatever you want. If you can pick Wyluli Wolf, you are fine, since it's the last one in the alphabet.
Red summons, on the other hand, are 7 cards too many to fit. All the lines for the 8 red summons last in the alphabet appear on top of each other but no matter where on this line you click, you pick Wall of Dust.

[Fistleaf]

CirothUngol, thanks for checking. My DeckDLL.dll date is 6/6/2012 8:01AM.
I didn't encounter such problems when I installed the full Magic CD version sometime last year, so it could well be file differences between versions.

[johnnih]

I am afraid the Shandalar 2012 won't run for me. When prompting shandalar.exe, I get the message "Magis:The Gathering hs stopped working", after the screen resolution has changed to that used by the game. I installed the files linked in the OP - that is the directX and the C++ stuff.

I run win7 x64.

[johnnih]

I am afraid the Shandalar 2012 won't run for me. When prompting shandalar.exe, I get the message "Magis:The Gathering hs stopped working", after the screen resolution has changed to that used by the game. I installed the files linked in the OP - that is the directX and the C++ stuff.

I run win7 x64.

Okay, a solution to my problem was already present elsewhere on these forums. Post by CarlPH in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=76&t=2349&start=300

[Huggybaby]

Weird how DEP only affects a few people. Thanks for the report johnnih.

[deadsy]

Hello. first and foremost thank you for continuing work on this excellent game to keep it relevant, your and others work is greatly appreciated! this is a bug report however, after playing for about 2-3 hours without issue i entered a town and got the apparently infamous "Daves extra cool timer error". when i googled it, i found posts on this going back to early 2000's saying there was a manalink patch thatd fix it, but i have not tried to replace any of your supplied game files though. i installed your newest version of shandalar 2012 from your mediafire link at the start of this thread. i run windows 7 64 bit. I tried setting the shandalar exe file to run in compatibility mode for windows 95 but everytime i try to resume the game, i am still immidiately getting the error and booted out. the error reads specifically

assertion error
D/newmagic/mulltiplayer/sid/glue.c line 864 could not load daves extra cool timer

any suggestions would be great and thank you again for your work!

[CirothUngol]

Ah, the infamous "Dave's Cool Timer" error. I haven't seen that one in quite a while (many years, in fact ever since I discovered Manalink 2.0). I remember it as being a Win95 compatibility issue, so I did some digging around and found this on dvdvideogame.org:

If you tried this game previously without the patch then you may have set the Program Compatibility Mode on the icon you use to start the game. If you did this then the game will NOT work once you patch it and it will come up with an error similar to the following:

"Assertion Error File-> D:\Newmagic\multiplayer\sid\glue.c, Line-> 864 Could Not Load Dave's Extra Cool Timer

Please call MPS Costumer Support 1-510-522-1164"

To disable the compatibility mode, please do the following:

1. Right Click on the icon you use to start the game and select Properties
2. Select Compatibility
3. Make sure none of the boxes are checked, if they are then uncheck them, then click Apply, then OK and try the game.

So it says to be sure that Compatibility Mode is OFF. Other than that, I'm at a loss. Hopefully someone here will know more about it 'cause I haven't seen that error in ages... kinda like an old friend that you don't really wanna hang out with. ^_^
Thanx for reporting the error, I'm hoping that we can find a solution for you.

Incidently, the patch they're referring to is Manalink (either v1.3.2 or v2.01). Don't install that.

[Huggybaby]

Didn't the Application Compatibility Toolkit fix work on this error? (It's installed automatically with the ISO.)
And changing compatibility settings has never really worked IIRC. Also, be sure to reboot.

[deadsy]

having turned compat mode off and rebooting, the game is working again as it did when i first tried it. whats odd is that i didnt turn compat mode On until i had the error in the first place, i turned it on to attempt to fix the problem heh. anyway things seem to be working again for now and hopefully stay as such =) thank you and keep up the great work!

[deadsy]

hello again =) found something nasty today mid-dungeon! opponent cast drafnas restoration on me while i had no artifacts in my graveyard, the effect turned out to be that my entire library got destroyed, leaving me to lose on the following turn due to lack of being able to draw a card. probably not a specific error due to your version of the game, but it might be worth disabling the card if its had this effect in the circumstance. might not have cropped up too often, as a computer wouldnt normally cast that on you, except they were desperate to unload their hand due to my black vise.

[CirothUngol]

Again, that's a new one. I rarely see Drafna's Restoration used in the game, and I'm fairly sure the AI has never cast it on me (instead using it only to recover Artifacts from it's own graveyard). I just played a little bit using the card in my Blue Deck, but it seems to work as intended when cast by the player.

Even though I've never seen or heard of the effect you describe, I'm fairly certain that the problem is with Shandalar itself, and not this specific install, because this new version of Shandalar is really just the old version with a few fixes that give it more stability on modern systems and allow it to use BitMaps for some of the UI images (you can thank Mok for that, he's the original programmer for Manalink and the GodFather of all you see here, I'm just a Hobbyist getting back into programming after a 20+ year lag).

Microprose left the game in 1997 with lots of quirks and bugs, many of which have been fixed... but many have not. For those that remain we usually must either avoid them or just deal with them until such time that another talented Assembly programmer comes along who wishes to pick up the gauntlet.

Sorry I couldn't offer a solution to the issue (other than avoidance), and thanx for posting with the Bug. If you find any more problems, please post them as well. I might be able to solve the next one, and it's a great start to a much-need BugList for Shandalar.

[jiansonz]

I've had the computer cast Drafna's on me but that did not cause any bug (I also had no artifacts in my graveyard).

If the problem is related to that particular card, maybe I should substitute it for Reconstruction in my Overhaul? (Reconstruction is quite often a better choice anyway)