Could I ask a question, please?

[Takhen]

I thank you again, you give me a help key

Because "WAD format is not allowed" you can found here my WAD:
http://www.2shared.com/file/NmBD3Vz9/Deck_1234_TEST_unpacked.html

[thefiremind]

I found the problem. Your card was saved in UTF-8 now, but it must have changed encoding at least once during its lifetime because some special characters were corrupted: you can see some "?" in the Japanese text if you open your card. That probably prevents the game from loading it. If you re-download my WAD (or pick up the original Dragonlair Spider from my core WAD, they are the same) and make the same modifications, then save, it should work. When you save with a new name on Notepad, look at the box to the left of the "Save" button, there will be a selection where you can choose ANSI, Unicode, Big-endian Unicode, UTF-8. That's where you choose UTF-8. If you accidentally save with ANSI, you can't return to UTF-8 just by saving again: the special characters get corrupted and you have to get the original ones somewhere else (from the original card if you have a backup of it, or with my "Localised" tool).

I attached your personal card remade by me from the uncorrupted Dragonlair Spider, in case you want to skip remaking it.

P.S.: you can attach any file you want, be it WAD or XML or whatever, if you compress it into a ZIP or RAR archive.

[Takhen]

You are a genius, but...WHAT A STUPID MISTAKE: do you know how? I used OpenOffice to open XML...
If I use the Notepad it runs...
But OpenOffice wasn't better than Notepad?! BAH!

However THANK YOU, and...

What did you say about the solution with too shining images in the theta?

[Takhen]

I will be the FAQer man

[thefiremind]

You are a genius, but...WHAT A STUPID MISTAKE: do you know how? I used OpenOffice to open XML...
If I use the Notepad it runs...
But OpenOffice wasn't better than Notepad?! BAH!

Better using Notepad: XML is plain text (= text with no font changing, bold/italic, etc.) so maybe OpenOffice makes changes and adjustments that you don't want.

What did you say about the solution with too shining images in the theta?

It's not because of theta, it depends on your PC's video card. You must compress the TDX files. You can do it in 2 ways:

• Use Paint.NET as explained in this tutorial. This is the "long way" but if you want to make custom deck boxes, avatars, etc. you need Paint.NET anyway (unless you find a TDX plugin for Photoshop... in that case please let me know! ).
• Use a tool made by another modder (Eglin), that you can find here (again, ignore the source files, you just need the EXE). This works exactly as Gibbed TDX Convert, but with a difference: you drag&drop uncompressed TDX files on it, and it compresses them really fast. In case drag&drop doesn't work, try to move the TDX in the same folder as the EXE, then drag&drop from there.
  So, in total: PNG/JPG ->[Gibbed TDX Convert]-> uncompressed TDX ->[Eglin's tool]-> compressed TDX

If you use 512x376 images, you'll see the image go down in size to about 126 KB.

[Takhen]

The tool in the second point doesn't work on my pc, I don't know why.
So I used paint.NET saving in TDX format.
According with the settings in the topic of the first topic, the image is about 250k. If I change some settings, I can move in to 125k.
Obviusly we are talking about a 512x376.
The problem here, that I didn't find in the topic about paint.NET, is that the image covers all the card, as the card was a textless, and doesn't stay into the space assigned to a crop image...

-

Than I tried to create a card, a card with only static abilities (the ones I can do for now) but more than a single static ability in it.
So, watching your example at beginning of this topic, and watching Vampire Nighthawk too, I hope I learned how to do.
Eccept for some parts:

Vampire Nighthawk has COMMASPACE=1

Code: Select all

<STATIC_ABILITY commaspace="1">

but in PCCASTELLAZZI tutorial I found FILTER ZONE

Code: Select all

<STATIC_ABILITY filter_zone="ZONE_IN_PLAY">

So I don't know If I have to join these, like this:

Code: Select all

<STATIC_ABILITY filter_zone="ZONE_IN_PLAY" commaspace="1">

Or not?

But the greatest doubt is about another line:

Code: Select all

HELP title="MORE_INFO_BADGE_TITLE_3" body="MORE_INFO_BADGE_BODY_3" zone="ZONE_ANY" />

All the static abilities have a line of HELP TITLE at the end, differing from others by the number (here 3).
In your example, the sample code with the two abilities Fly and Haste have a single HELP TITLE line at the end, but in Vampire Nighthawk there are 3 HELP TITLE lines: a line for each static ability.
And if I have to use more than one HELP TITLE line, what is the order in which I have to put them??

So I don't know if I have to use a single line every time there are one or more static abilities, or it must to be the same number of there abilities

Another line that I don't understand is this:

Code: Select all

<SFX text="COMBAT_FANG_LARGE_ATTACK" power_boundary_min="4" power_boundary_max="-1" />
<SFX text="COMBAT_FANG_SMALL_ATTACK" power_boundary_min="1" power_boundary_max="3" />

I thought it was about the POWER (reading "COMBAT[...]ATTACK"...), but I saw that no matter if the creature was a 1/1 or 6/5, this line was always the same, so I copy with no questions...

[thefiremind]

The tool in the second point doesn't work on my pc, I don't know why.

I forgot about this, you aren't the first one who reports it. You are probably missing some Visual C++ runtime library or something like that, but since that tool always worked for me, I can't tell you exactly what you need.

According with the settings in the topic of the first topic, the image is about 250k. If I change some settings, I can move in to 125k.
Obviusly we are talking about a 512x376.

You can go down to 125 for card pictures because they don't need the transparency.

The problem here, that I didn't find in the topic about paint.NET, is that the image covers all the card, as the card was a textless, and doesn't stay into the space assigned to a crop image...

It's the first time I hear about this. Could you post your card and your picture so I can see both of them?

Vampire Nighthawk has COMMASPACE=1

Code: Select all

<STATIC_ABILITY commaspace="1">

but in PCCASTELLAZZI tutorial I found FILTER ZONE

Code: Select all

<STATIC_ABILITY filter_zone="ZONE_IN_PLAY">

So I don't know If I have to join these, like this:

Code: Select all

<STATIC_ABILITY filter_zone="ZONE_IN_PLAY" commaspace="1">

Or not?

commaspace="1" means that the ability will be put in the same line as the first ability of the card, separated by a comma. So if you want to get a text setting like Baneslayer Angel where multiple abilities are in one line, you use commaspace on all the abilities you want to put in the first line (except for the first ability, that stays in the first line without commaspace). If you don't want that, no commaspace.
The filter_zone tag is often abused in the official cards: many abilities have it without requiring it. Partly because at first I didn't know when it was really necessary, and partly because it's faster to leave it where it is, I often left it as well. Now that I modded DotP2013 for quite some time, I think that filter_zone has a meaning only in abilities that use the <FILTER> block, but leaving it in other abilities doesn't hurt.

But the greatest doubt is about another line:

Code: Select all

HELP title="MORE_INFO_BADGE_TITLE_3" body="MORE_INFO_BADGE_BODY_3" zone="ZONE_ANY" />

All the static abilities have a line of HELP TITLE at the end, differing from others by the number (here 3).

The HELP block tells the game what to show you when you use the "More information" button near the zoomed card. Each badge corresponds to an ability. If you look here you can find the number associations, for example BADGE_DEATHTOUCH = 3 means that a HELP with number 3 calls the information about the deathtouch ability. This is totally unrelated to how the card works, and you can safely ignore the HELP blocks: the card will work exactly the same. That's why I ignored them for my example, but if you want to be precise, a card with flying and haste should have a HELP with 10 (flying) and a HELP with 13 (haste). The order has no importance.

Another line that I don't understand is this:

Code: Select all

<SFX text="COMBAT_FANG_LARGE_ATTACK" power_boundary_min="4" power_boundary_max="-1" />
<SFX text="COMBAT_FANG_SMALL_ATTACK" power_boundary_min="1" power_boundary_max="3" />

I thought it was about the POWER (reading "COMBAT[...]ATTACK"...), but I saw that no matter if the creature was a 1/1 or 6/5, this line was always the same, so I copy with no questions...

This means that during combat, the creature will use the large version of the fang animation when it has 4 or more power ("-1" here means "no boundary"), or the small version of that animation when it has a power between 1 and 3. The official cards almost always use this setting: small animation with power 1-3, large animation with power 4 or more. Sometimes you find

Code: Select all

<SFX text="COMBAT_GAEA_ATTACK" power_boundary_min="1" power_boundary_max="-1" />

which means that the same animation will be used no matter what's the power (except for 0 power which would have no animation at all).

[Takhen]

Card and image, as you required, but the card doesn't work still now, maybe it is incomplete
I know the problem of the image because I tested it with a card from your Test WAD

[Takhen]

PS: In that card I'm trying to apply your previous answers

[thefiremind]

The main problem is that you saved the card as TXT while it should be XML. I know that Notepad insists on saving as TXT, but if you select "All files (*.*)" and add the extension to the file name when you save, you should be able to save as XML.

There are other problems inside the card:

• Types, supertypes and sub-types must be inserted in separated blocks. And besides that, "Legendary" is a supertype, not a type. So you should have:

  Code: Select all

    <SUPERTYPE metaname="Legendary" />
  <TYPE metaname="Creature" />

  When you aren't sure about those things, look at other existing cards.
• The static ability for first strike is wrong. There are two ways to write the code:

  Code: Select all

      local characteristics = Object():GetCurrentCharacteristics()
    characteristics:Characteristic_Set( CHARACTERISTIC_FIRST_STRIKE, 1 )

  or

  Code: Select all

      Object():GetCurrentCharacteristics():Characteristic_Set( CHARACTERISTIC_FIRST_STRIKE, 1 )

  they are totally equivalent: the first one makes a local variable that points to the characteristics, then sets first strike through this variable; the second does it all in one shot. What you wrote has no meaning because Characteristic_Set is a method that can't be called from nothing.
• Protection is an exception to the rules for the HELP blocks: even if it has a badge, the HELP doesn't use badge numbers. Look at Chameleon Colossus or Goblin Piledriver for an example.

And finally, this isn't a problem but just a suggestion: you can put all the protections for a single card in a single ability, for example Akroma's protections can be coded like this:

Code: Select all

      local filter = Object():GetFilter()
      filter:Clear()
      filter:AddColour(COLOUR_RED)
      filter:AddColour(COLOUR_BLACK)
      Object():Protection()

anyway your code is totally equivalent, so you can leave it as it is.

About the picture, I can't see anything wrong. Have you tried to use the picture on a colorless non-artifact card (an Eldrazi for example)? Colorless non-artifact cards use a special transparent frame that needs a full image, and if you use a crop it will be stretched to cover the whole card.

[Takhen]

Modifies added

Code: Select all

  <STATIC_ABILITY commaspace="1">

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="en-US"><![CDATA[Protection from black]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="fr-FR"><![CDATA[Protection contre le noir]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="es-ES"><![CDATA[Protección contra negro.]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="de-DE"><![CDATA[Schutz vor Schwarz]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="it-IT"><![CDATA[Protezione dal nero]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="jp-JA"><![CDATA[プロテクション（黒）]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="ko-KR"><![CDATA[흑색으로부터 보호]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="ru-RU"><![CDATA[Защита от черного]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="pt-BR"><![CDATA[Proteção contra o preto]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>


    <CONTINUOUS_ACTION>

    local filter = Object():GetFilter()


      filter:Clear()

      filter:AddColour(COLOUR_BLACK)
      filter:AddColour(COLOUR_RED)




      Object():Protection()


    </CONTINUOUS_ACTION>

  </STATIC_ABILITY>

  <STATIC_ABILITY commaspace="1">

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="en-US"><![CDATA[Protection from red]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="fr-FR"><![CDATA[Protection contre le rouge]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="es-ES"><![CDATA[Protección contra rojo]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="de-DE"><![CDATA[Schutz vor Rot]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="it-IT"><![CDATA[Protezione dal rosso]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="jp-JA"><![CDATA[プロテクション（赤）]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="ko-KR"><![CDATA[빨간색으로부터 보호 ]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="ru-RU"><![CDATA[Защита от красного]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="pt-BR"><![CDATA[Proteção contra o vermelho]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>
  </STATIC_ABILITY>


Code: Select all

    <CONTINUOUS_ACTION>

    Object():GetCurrentCharacteristics():Characteristic_Set(
CHARACTERISTIC_HASTE, 1)

    </CONTINUOUS_ACTION>


Code: Select all

<SUPERTYPE metaname="Legendary" />
  <TYPE metaname="Creature" />
  <SUB_TYPE metaname="Angel" order_de-DE="0" order_es-ES="1" order_fr-FR="0" order_it-IT="1" order_jp-JA="0" order_ko-KR="0" order_pt-BR="0" order_ru-RU="0" />
  <EXPANSION value="DPG" />

And I admit that use TXT...another stupid mistake...

Perhaps I have to tell you that with your changes, the card doesn't work still now...

About the image I uploaded on the forum, I tried it on your XML, and it have the "TEXTLESS ERROR"

And yet I am putting all...

[thefiremind]

There are still problems that I didn't see before:

Code: Select all

    <LOCALISED_TEXT LanguageCode="pt-BR"><![CDATA[Akroma, Anjo da Ira]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>LanguageCode="pt-BR"><![CDATA[AKROMA_ANGEL_OF_WRATH]]></LOCALISED_TEXT>

I think you can see for yourself that the part after the first </LOCALISED_TEXT> shouldn't be there... and at the end of the card I see

Code: Select all

 </ABILITY>

why did you add this?
Those are errors in the XML syntax, if you try to open the XML file on your browser it should warn you about them.

About the image I uploaded on the forum, I tried it on your XML, and it have the "TEXTLESS ERROR"

My XML? Which one?

[Takhen]

I modified your DRAGONLAIR_SPIDER_288172 in DRAGONLAIR_SPIDER_288999 and added WAKROMA.tdx as image to test my TDX

About my mistakes, I used more softwares found on the forum and tutorials to test them
Maybe they uses some differences
For example, I remember that there is a

Code: Select all

</ability>

because there was also an

Code: Select all

<ability>

somewhere...

Or about localised text, it should be a mistake during the copy, maybe I pasted twice or some like that...

THE CARD RUUUUUUUUUNS!!! :):)
(When it is finished I will post to thank you, firemind, and you all ond the forum )

Now the weird event: with my Akroma the image, WAKROMA.tdx goes like a crop, so, being a crop, it is perfect
The SAME WAKROMA.tdx, with DRAGONLAIR_SPIDER_288999 has the TEXTLESS ERROR

[Takhen]

Because my bug is on DRAGONLAIR_SPIDER_288999, I can publish the complete card (the images run on it) that, according with my tests, seems to work

It is AKROMA, ANGEL OF WRATH, text from TIMESHIFTED, and picture on your chose from THIMESHIFTED and DIVINEvsDEVIL

enjoy, and THANK YOU ALL, guys

[thefiremind]

Well, congratulations for your first card!

About your Dragonlair Spider, sorry if I repeat myself, but the image gets stretched only on colorless non-artifact cards as far as I know. Is it possible that you changed the cost of your Dragonlair Spider to or (or any other cost with colorless mana only) to make it easier to cast and test?