Question about Adding a New Card with old Functionality

[luckylavs]

I would like to try something for Manalink which sounds relatively simple -- not sure if it actually is though.

Okay, so I want to create a new card for my deck based on functionality already existing in an old card. For example, let's say I want to create another card like "Weakness" but give it a different name -- and to make it blue instead of black.

Can I just basically copy the section for "Weakness" already in manalink.csv, tack it on the end with the next ID, change the name and color, and that's it? Or does there need to be something else updated as well -- for example, to tell the program that the largest ID number is now one more than it used to be. A Max Card Count or something like that...

Anyone know?

[stassy]

You can try your luck in the ML Wiki, however I don't know if the infos in there are outdated since it's programming stuff to the core

http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/ManaLink_2.0

[Aswan jaguar]

If you mean something like the photo attached:
(copy an old card existing in exe and change it)
If you edit both csv files and copy the old cards values and make new entries (remember to change colours,mana)renumber entries-save changes.Run Magic Updater and then open Updated files copy everything and paste it on your main magic folder and overwrite everything.
Then create a photo 288/232 and save it like others in CardArtManalink.
That's all from my little experience.

[Korath]

Things will break very badly if you change the positions of Rules Engine, or any of the following cards, in Manalink.csv; and things will break (not quite so badly) if you try to add a "real" card after Rules Engine in Manalink.csv. So don't do either of those; replace one of the previous lines instead. Just pick one that has an entry but isn't in the game. (Lines can be added anywhere in ct_all.csv.

You'll also need to run csv2dat and ct2exe and move the resulting files back into your main Manalink directory.

This still may not work, depending on the card. A small percentage of cards have other cards that directly check for their ids (from Manalink.csv). For some, it's because the card itself mentions them (like Festering Newt mentions Bogbrew Witch), while for others, it's because shortcuts were taken while coding the card (like Turn to Frog).

[Aswan jaguar]

Korath said:
... and things will break (not quite so badly) if you try to add a "real" card after Rules Engine in Manalink.csv.

Any specific ideas what might break in such case so I can pay attention and look after in future?

Korath said:
You'll also need to run csv2dat and ct2exe and move the resulting files back into your main Manalink directory.

What is the difference with Magic Updater.bat that was made by Gargaroz to do the exact same thing with csv2dat and ct2exe is it lacking something?Because I mentioned Magic Updater.bat as you run only 1 program.

[luckylavs]

Hi Korath,

Thank you for your response.

I understood you to say that messing with anything in Manalink.csv at the line where Rules Engine is or later will break things.

If I just wanted to add a couple new cards, it's better to replace a line already in Manalink.csv that isn't used in the game. I noticed that before we get to the entry for Rules Engine -- there are about 16 or so lines with unique IDs that say "Empty" -- I trust those lines aren't used in the game.

But what if I wanted to do something more ambitious, such as -- instead of adding just 1 or 2 new cards, add 50 new cards, or something like that. I will run out of lines to replace in manalink.csv -- before I start having to replace actual card entries.

You mentioned something else though, you said:

"Lines can be added anywhere in ct_all.csv."

Is ct_all.csv just like manalink.csv? Can I just stick all of my new card entries in there instead of manalink.csv? I'm really not sure what the difference is between ct_all.csv and manalink.csv. But if I can use ct_all.csv, then it sounds like problem solved.

Thanks

[Korath]

The "Empty" lines in Manalink.csv are used for the orange effect cards, the "Draw a card" cardback that appears in your hand during the draw phase, and so on.

There are thousands of unused lines in Manalink.csv. Anything with a 0 in the "CODED CARD" column doesn't appear in the deckbuilder. Except for ones that can be transformed into, like the animated versions of manlands or the back or flip sides of Kamigawa or Innistrad cards, any of these can be replaced. (The only one that I'm aware of that doesn't appear immediately after its "real" card is the Mishra's Factory Assembly Worker.)

A card has to appear in both ct_all.csv and Manalink.csv to appear in the game.

[luckylavs]

Thanks Korath, that worked perfectly.

[luckylavs]

Hi, Quick Question. I haven't been playing Manalink for awhile--got busy with work, when I got some time I installed the patches and updated to the most recent version -- I noticed after the patches I can no longer do what I used to be able to do -- replace entries that have "0" in coded card in Manalink.csv, and add a corresponding entry for the new card in ct_all.csv.

The cards I try to create show up just fine in the deck editor, but during any duels what I see is a "Swamp" for every new card I tried to add.

Is it still possible, post-patch, to use this technique? Or maybe there's something else I need to change in addition to Manalink.csv and ct_all.csv to get it to work now?

[Korath]

I don't think anything's changed on this end.

OK, hm. I'll go through this step by step, just in case you're leaving something out, and because I've never done the whole thing on my own before. We'll add Lagonna-Band Trailblazer from Journey into Nyx, since it's functionally identical to Fabled Hero and we therefore won't have to recompile ManalinkEh.dll.

Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Creature - Centaur Scout 0/4
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Lagonna-Band Trailblazer, put a +1/+1 counter on Lagonna-Band Trailblazer.

1. Start with Apr14 release.
2. Pick an uncoded (and unused - not a token or an animated version of another card) card in Manalink.csv that we don't mind losing. Let's go with Illusionist's Gambit, since, as a multiplayer-only card, that's not likely ever to get implemented.
3. Its Manalink.csv line is:

   Code: Select all

   13622;Illusionist's Gambit;0;Illusionist's Gambit;|2|U|U;8h;2;3;2;2;0;2;0;0;0;0;0h;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;1003h;-1;-1;-1;-1;-1;-1;211;211;0;Instant;Cast Illusionist's Gambit only during the declare blockers step on an opponent's turn.\nRemove all attacking creatures from combat and untap them. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. Each of those creatures attacks that combat if able. They can't attack you or a planeswalker you control that combat.;"";"";"";"";"";"";0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;40;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;-;C;C;C;C;C;C;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;R;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

   (The forum software here is wordwrapping it despite appearing in a code tag. Shame on it.)
   
   That corresponds to the values (generated from "{ head -n1 Manalink.csv ; egrep "Illusionist's Gambit" < Manalink.csv; } > xManalink.csv; ./xml.pl"):

   Code: Select all

   ID => 13622
Full Name => Illusionist's Gambit
Short Name => Illusionist's Gambit
Cost Text => |2|U|U
Expansion => 8h
Color => 2
Card Type => 3
Rarity => 2
Req Colorless => 2
Req Blue => 2
New Types 1 => 1003h
New Types 2 => -1
New Types 3 => -1
New Types 4 => -1
New Types 5 => -1
New Types 6 => -1
New Types 7 => -1
Subtype => 211
Subtype 2 => 211
Type Text => Instant
Rules Text => Cast Illusionist's Gambit only during the declare blockers step on an opponent's turn.\nRemove all attacking creatures from combat and untap them. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. Each of those creatures attacks that combat if able. They can't attack you or a planeswalker you control that combat.
AI Base Value => 40
(T1) Vintage => C
(T1.M) Modern => C
(T1.X) Extended => C
(T2) Standard => C
(HI) Highlander => C
(EDH) Commander => C
Commander 2013 => R

   with everything else set to 0 or "" as appropriate to the field.
4. The values we want, modeled on Fabled Hero's, are below. Everything in parentheses are comments, not part of the actual values.

   Code: Select all

   ID => 13622 (same as the entry we're replacing)
Full Name => Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
CODED CARD => 1
Short Name => Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Cost Text => |W (cost as displayed in the upper-right of the card)
Expansion => 8h (I'm not sure what the values here correspond to, but 8h seems to have been used for all remotely recent, "real" cards)
Color => 8 (CP_COLOR_WHITE, as enumerated in src/drawcardlib/drawcardlib.h)
Card Type => 7 (CP_TYPE_CREATURE, as enumerated in src/drawcardlib/drawcardlib.h)
Rarity => 2 (I'm not sure if this is still used by anything; drafting and expansion symbols use per-set rarity as defined later)
Req White => 1 (amount of white mana required to cast)
Num Pics => 1 (number of images in CardArtManalink/ for this card - no need to create them; if not found, it'll just get blank white)
Power => 0 (the creature's base power)
Toughness => 4 (the creature's base toughness)
New Types 1 => 1001h (SUBT_CREATURE, from src/stypes.h.  New Types 1 should always be a Type, not a subtype or supertype, but otherwise the order of new types doesn't matter.)
New Types 2 => 20h (SUBT_CENTAUR, from src/stypes.h)
New Types 3 => A7h (SUBT_SCOUT, from src/stypes.h)
New Types 4 => -1 (-1 for unset subtypes)
New Types 5 => -1
New Types 6 => -1
New Types 7 => -1
Subtype => 39 (SUBTYPE_CENTAUR, from src/subtypes.h)
Subtype 2 => 159 (SUBTYPE_SCOUT, from src/subtypes.h)
Type Text => Creature - Centaur Scout (the typeline as displayed on the card.  You can use the extra-long hyphen if you really want.)
Rules Text => Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Lagonna-Band Trailblazer, put a +1/+1 counter on Lagonna-Band Trailblazer. (the rules text as displayed on the card; paragraphs are separated by \n.)
Flavor Text => Go forth with honor, return with glory. (flavor text as displayed on the card)
(B) Block => C
(T1) Vintage => C
(T1.M) Modern => C
(T1.X) Extended => C
(T2) Standard => C
(HI) Highlander => C
(EDH) Commander => C
Journey into Nyx => R

   The AI values in Manalink.csv are only used when the AI builds a deck in sealed deck mode, so no need to set them. Num of DB Abilities, DBA1, etc, determine which cards show up when you filter by ability in the deckbuilder, so no immediate need to worry about them either. I've just left them all the same as Fabled Hero's in the manalink.csv line below.
   
   As usual in csv files, if the value for a column has a ; or " in it, the entire column needs to be enclosed by " marks (and any "'s in them doubled - see e.g. Kongming's entry.) Not an issue here, though.
   
   As a whole, this turns into the line:

   Code: Select all

   13622;Lagonna-Band Trailblazer;1;Lagonna-Band Trailblazer;|W;8h;8;7;2;0;0;0;0;0;1;1;0h;0;4;0;0;0;0;0;1001h;20h;A7h;-1;-1;-1;-1;39;159;0;Creature - Centaur Scout;Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Lagonna-Band Trailblazer, put a +1/+1 counter on Lagonna-Band Trailblazer.;Go forth with honor, return with glory.;"";"";"";"";"";0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;2;2;50;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;1;3;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;C;C;C;C;C;C;C;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;R;-;-;-;-;-;-

   Change Illusionist's Gambit's line with that, without changing its position in the file. Make sure not to use an editor that'll "helpfully" change the newline format. Notepad is right out. You might have luck editing it with a spreadsheet program; I never have.
5. Fabled Hero's line in ct_all.csv is:

   Code: Select all

   10000;Fabled Hero;Fabled Hero;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;-1;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;0;1;2;0;2;2;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0x200adc7;0;1;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;0

   which corresponds to the values:

   Code: Select all

   Sort order => 10000
Name (will be cut down) => Fabled Hero
Full Card Name in CSV (must be exactly the same) => Fabled Hero
Type: Creature => 1
Family => -1
Color White => 1
Required Colorless Mana (total) => 1
Required COLOR Mana (total) => 2
Power => 2
Toughness => 2
Code Address => 0x200adc7
Ability: Double Strike => 1
Play after Combat => 1

   Lagonna-Band Trailblazer will end up similar:

   Code: Select all

   Name (will be cut down) => Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Full Card Name in CSV (must be exactly the same) => Lagonna-Band Trailblazer (as the column name indicates, this must be identical to the "Full Name" column in Manalink.csv)
Type: Creature => 1
Family => -1 (from enumeration subtype_in_card_data_t in src/manalink.h)
Color White => 1 (because the card is white, not because it has one white mana in the casting cost)
Required COLOR Mana (total) => 1 (total amount of non-colorless mana in the casting cost)
Power => 0
Toughness => 4
Code Address => 0x200adc7 (this has the Heroic trigger; from src/ManalinkEh.asm)
Play after Combat => 1 (when the AI will consider spontaneously playing this; it'll always consider playing in the discard phase or when another spell or effect is on the stack)

   That turns into the line:

   Code: Select all

   10000;Lagonna-Band Trailblazer;Lagonna-Band Trailblazer;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;-1;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;0;4;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0x200adc7;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;0

   Insert this into ct_all.csv, somewhere after the basic and dual lands at the very start, and somewhere before the effect cards and dynamic types at the end. Anywhere next to another "Sort order 10000" line will do. I added it in alphabetical order, just after Lagonna-Band Elder, but that's not necessary. Again, make sure your editor doesn't casually mangle the line endings.
6. Rebuild the data files and exe:
   1. Run csv2dat.exe in the magic_updater directory. It should have no output, but create new Rarity.dat, DBinfo.dat, Cards.dat, and card_id.h files.
   2. Copy Magic.exe from the main manalink directory into magic_updater.
   3. Run "ct2exe.exe ct_all.exe" "ct2exe.exe ct_all.csv" in the magic_updater directory. It'll have a metric ton of errors, most (but not all) of which are expected, and which we can't really filter out so the real errors are visible because it was written in assembly and is therefore an unmaintainable wreck. If it doesn't crash - which it sometimes does, for no apparent reason - it'll update Magic.exe in-place and give it a new timestamp.
7. Copy Rarity.dat, DBinfo.dat, Cards.dat, and Magic.exe back into your main Manalink directory. card_id.h is only needed if you plan to recompile ManalinkEh.dll.
8. Start up magic.exe, verify that the card appears in the deckbuilder (it won't have an expansion symbol, since there isn't one for Journey into Nyx in Cardart/expansion_symbols.pic yet).
9. Start a game, debug the card into your hand, cast a Giant Growth on it to see whether it gets a counter.
10. Profit!

    

    Giant Growth doesn't have an image here either, because I didn't want to wait for 380 megabytes of imagery to copy into my test installation.

[luckylavs]

So my newly created Lagonna-Band Trailblazer, which appears perfectly correct in the the Deckbuilder (picture and card text), will be dealt in my game as a Swamp. And it plays in my game like a Swamp. Incidentally, I noticed that Swamp is the very first card in the Manalink.csv listing (at entry 0).

So let me check a couple things first -- Before the patches, I used Notepad++ to make all my edits. But you say Notepad is no good (not sure if that means Notepad++ is no good either, but I guess it couldn't hurt to check it first). Perhaps the thing I should do is try these edits instead with a different text editor, Is there a specific text editor you can recommend (a free one)? Note that I have WinXP, I don't have a Linux system.

Second thing -- I'm not getting the same output that you get which is so clean and organized -- you have a format like this:

Required color mana => 2
Required colorless mana =>1
...

Boy would I like to edit cards in that format instead--

Instead what I see is Notepad++ is a jumbled mess (I pasted the entry below):

Code: Select all

13622;Lagonna-Band Trailblazer;1;Lagonna Band Trailblazer;|1|W|W;8h;8;7;2;1;0;0;0;0;2;1;0h;2;2;0;0;0;0;0;1001h;5Bh;B4h;-1;-1;-1;-1;93;90;0;Creature — Human Soldier;Double strike\nHeroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Fabled Hero, put a +1/+1 counter on Fabled Hero.;“You. Poet. Be sure to write this down.”;"";"";"";"";"";0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;2;2;50;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;1;3;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;C;C;C;C;C;C;C;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;R;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-


So because of the different formatting, it's not easy for me to immediately see what entries you changed, aside from changing the name from Fabled Hero to Lagonna-Band Trailblazer at columns 2 and 4.



Here is my corresponding entry in ct_all.csv:
Again the only thing I changed was the name displayed in columns 2 and 3. Did you change values in any other places?

Code: Select all

10000;Lagonna-Band Trailblazer;Lagonna-Band Trailblazer;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;-1;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;0;1;2;0;2;2;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0x200adc7;0;1;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;1;0;0;0;0;0


If your entries are exactly the same as mine, and it is not the text editor -- then I wonder if I am not updating the files correctly...

[Korath]

I haven't ever used Notepad++ myself, but as far as I know it should be ok. It's just standard Windows Notepad that ruins everything it comes in contact with.

I can't edit in the readable format either. What I have is a perl script that translates from the jumbled mess into that format; I don't have one that goes in the other direction. I did post my final lines above, though.

Your csv lines work for me, except that the creature's still 2/2, costs , has double strike, etc. since those columns weren't updated.

I can replicate the swamp error by copying the .dat files back into the main directory correctly but not copying the new Magic.exe. You need to copy Magic.exe from Manalink 3.0/Program/ into your Manalink 3.0/Program/magic_updater/ directory, run "ct2exe.exe ct_all.csv" (not ct2exe.exe ct_all.exe, as I posted above, though if that were the problem, the lack of the usual pages and pages and pages of error messages should have tipped you off), then copy Magic.exe back into Manalink 3.0/Program/.

If you're using the Magic_updater.bat that used to be distributed in earlier patches, be aware it hides its updated files in a subdirectory, magic_updater/updated_files.

[luckylavs]

Yay!! It works now. That was exactly the problem --
I forgot to copy Magic.exe over to that directory

Thanks for your help Korath!!