Updates on the way.

[Rawky]

if anyone feels like putting together an interim artwork package for the cards

I started working on just the cropping step. Here's the As done. Let me know if they are adequate for processing. I'll continue to do more.

a-crops.rar

(2.89 MiB) Downloaded 320 times

[Korath]

I realize you haven't begun to resize yet, but it's something you've got to be aware of even while you're still just cropping. Artwork from pre-8th-edition, 8th-to-Magic2014, and post-Magic-2015 all have different aspect ratios, and if you just stretch them all to 288x232, they're going to look distorted. Compare your Altar Golem and Amugaba images from that package, for example.

[Rawky]

Ah, right - the different frames.

So I have to shave lines off a side to get closer to the x:y of the final product dimensions?

As in: crop to look nice, then shrink to meet one of the final dimensions, then shave rows or columns of pixels to meet the other dimension.

[Korath]

That should work. For the handful I did for previous releases, when I still couldn't have more than a dozen or so total cards that aren't in Manalink too, I fixed the aspect ratio in the initial crop, before resizing. I'm not sure what order Sonic does it in.

[Rawky]

What's the ballpark for file size? Looking at older pics, they range from 10-70 KB, with most being 20-50 KB. The more recent ones are around 30ish. Tell me where you want them and I will adjust my files accordingly. I'll submit the As again for review before doing anything else.

[Korath]

Average size overall is 28827 bytes, median 28674. So yes, the number to shoot for is around 30k. Individual images will obviously vary depending on their complexity.

[Rawky]

As for review.rar

(708.04 KiB) Downloaded 292 times

I seem to be orbiting around 40KB, so I can knock down the quality about 25%. Let me know of any flaws (too chunky, too blurry, etc) that need cleaning up. Accelerated Mutation was more complicated than the rest, so I used it as a starting point for most settings.

I should mention that some of the scans were of lower resolution, so the final image reflects the dull or faded quality of its parent image.

[Korath]

Altar Golem seems a bit blurry in the fullcard (that is, the image showing the entire card), and Aven Trooper displays visibly compressed along the horizontal axis in both the fullcard and especially the smallcard (the image as it shows up in your hand or on the battlefield, with just the artwork and top part of the frame). They otherwise look good to me.

[Rawky]

Got a screenshot handy?

Or better yet, how would I go about testing them on my own?

[Korath]

Just drop the images into CardArtManalink/. After that, if you've already upgraded to DL1, either start the deckbuilder with "shandalar -d", or start a duel and debug the card into your hand with F12.

If you haven't upgraded to DL1 yet, edit Manalink.ini to set ViewAll=1 and run the Manalink deckbuilder.

[Rawky]

Sweet, thanks.

I will update this post with batches of card art by letter as I go through them.

There were a couple errors, which are now fixed in this archive.

AtoL-Final.rar

(6.91 MiB) Downloaded 766 times

Further updates will come much slower, since I can't do this at work.

TheKillerNacho did the rest, which you can find over here.

Chaotic Strike turned out to be a duplicate, so you can choose to overwrite if you want. Mine has slightly darker colors. Otherwise, they are pretty much the same.

[stassy]

Chaotic Strike artwork is already existing in CardArtManalink (seems the only dupe in the 3 archives), shall we overwrite it?

[Spork]

Hey, new here and struggle with the maze of this forum. Sent you a pm Korath about this but I might as well ask here. Is there an up to date way of having the AI play updated decks? If not, is there a location with all the latest cards + their code so I could maybe create some decks for them myself?

[stassy]

In Shandalar, the decks AI is using during campaign mode are located in the Decks folder and are editable with any text editor like Notepad (or Notepad++, etc...)

There is a thread dedicated to AI decks revamp with ready to load decks pack there:
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=17721

You can create and custom your own AI decks by using PDA which can be found here if you are lazy and don't want to skim the Manalink.csv for card ID or the cardlist from the command prompt:
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=6244
simply create a netdeck with the name of the card and it will automatically find the card ID for you to copy paste in the AI deck

[Spork]

Sweet, should be able to work with this. Not sure if this is the right thread for asking all these noobish questions, but is adding cards to the game just copying the format in the manalink .txt file with the card info and adding the card picture? Or is there a lot more to it?

Also, what is the difference between "Manalink" and the Shandalar game? Is Manalink just the game itself with the drafting and single game/gauntlet, etc? I don't need this if there's no supported multiplayer for it.