Manalink2.0 SCV Installation Guide

[Salbei]

Manalink 2.0 SCV
<Salbei´s Customized Version>

Screenshots and Video | Open

Operation Systems and General Information | Open

Operation Systems:
Tested and working:

Windows 7 (64bit)
Windows 7 (32bit)
Windows XP (check posts below, might need to use compatibility settings)

Other:

Windows Vista (no support, highly unstable)
Windows 98 and below (not working !)
Ubuntu (could not get the game to even start)

Features:

Custom Sounds (~90% different sounds) (Salbei)
Custom UI (different backgrounds, slight UI changes) (Mathusalem + Salbei)
Custom Hands (different look) (Salbei)
Custom Deckbuilder (different look) (Mathusalem + Salbei)
Custom Start Menu (mathusalem)
Custom Manasymbols (Sonic)
Pre-installed version 20110504 (2011 May 04)
Portable Version !

No support:

Custom Version (pics NOT included,Exe Files NOT included!)
Shandalar (check the Shandalar forum)

Note:
I did not code any of those Cards !
I just "improved" different optical parts of the game.
Without the work of other pioneers this would have been impossible.All i did was change a few things after THEY made it possible to do so.

This is just meant to be very easy to install for new Players.If this attempt does not work for you, then please let me know!
In the meantime you might want to check the Wiki for the "normal" installation route (link below).
http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/Installation

Read the Spoiler above before you download!


Installation Guide

Step 1:*update
Download the SCV Folder. (~161 MB)

Mediafire | Open

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http://www.mediafire.com/?rtinudqev4u3bh3

thanks sonic!

-OR-

Spacequadrat | Open

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http://www.salbei.spacequadrat.de/magic ... /Magic.rar (161MB)
-

Step 2*update
Download the Artwork (~160 MB)

date: 2011 05 19
Mirror by Sonic

mediafire | Open

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http://www.mediafire.com/?htxwnc0eem2oii3 (157,18MB)

Step 3
Installation

Guide | Open

1.Unrar the Custom folder (Magic.rar). You should then have a folder called "Magic". Move this folder wherever you want it to be (like c:\Magic). This is your magic folder.

2.Unrar the Artwork (Artwork.rar). This should be 2 Folders (CardArtNew and CardArtLim). Move those to into your magic folder. (c:\Magic\CardArtNew and c:\Magic\CardArtLim)

3.Start the game!
Magic.exe = Constructed Version (aka "Best off")
MagicLimited.exe = Limited Version (aka "sealed")

Step 4
Keep it up to date!

Updates | Open

I will try to post additional links here when updates are available.In the meantime just check the Patch Index.
The version used for the SVC is February 08 ! Please Check the Patch Index frequently to spot newer patches.

Updates:

July 17 | Open

-
Topic : viewtopic.php?f=85&t=5013

General:
If there are any questions left post them here.
Additional Mirrors are very welcome !
If you find any wrong/missing Artwork please report that here.I need to know the name of the Card and the Version (Constructed or Limited) to fix this.

Multiplayer

setup | Open

1.
You both need the exact same Version of the Game!
Make sure your config.txt file got everything set to "0" beside Rules Engine. Otherwise there will be problems.

2.
Setup Hamachi (if you are not playing over LAN) or your LAN (Network).
Make sure you find each other on the network. If you don´t find each other google to solve the problem! You might want to check firewall/router settings etc. if needed.

3.
You both need to run the Magic.reg file to enable the Manalink "Gem" to connect to each other in the game.
It should be included at the SCV, otherwise check http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/Multiplayer_Dueling .
The Magic.reg file should look like this:

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MicroProse]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MicroProse\Magic: The Gathering]
"manalink"="on"

4.
Both Players should then be able to connect to each other via the "Gem".
Open->Internet->Connect
One of you needs to be the Host, the other one needs to join. When i tried this on LAN i didn´t need to enter the Computer name or the IP. It just "worked".
If that is not the case for you then your Firewall or Router might block the Port (27500).
Both Players must allow Manalink/Magic traffic on the LAN (Windows should ask you when you hit "Connect").

5.
Once both Players are visible to each other then you are golden.Just click the other Players name and then "Invite".
The other Player will then get a message (xxx invites you to a Duel).Doubleclick that message and Accept.

6.
Both players go to "Duel Opponent" (Magic!)choose their Decks and adjust the settings (40 card or 60 card decks etc).
Once you are ready you send the parameters to your opponent, once he agrees the game starts.

Cards that crash Multiplayer-Sessions | Open

Goblin Matron
Coercion
Duress
Thoughtseize
Maelstrom Pulse
Spellstutter Sprite

[Salbei]

Everything working fine ? Great !

Please let me know if you find any missing artwork or got any issues getting this "version" to work.
Even a simple "working fine, thanks" would do it

[Salbei]

Added 42 missing/wrong Artworks. Mostly alternate Artworks.

[Lucky Luchiano]

Downloading...

[Salbei]

Let me know if you need any help. The instructions above should cover everything though.

[a1z2s3x4]

Salbei,

I just wanted to thank you for your efforts with this.

I've been using your version for nearly a week. It has been good, except for some seemingly random hangups when using multiplayer. The symptoms of the hangups are both players have a "Waiting for Opponent" message on their screen. The game doesn't appear to be locked up, just in an endless loop. CPU utilization is low. I say "seemingly random", but if I were asked to assign an activity where it seems to happen more often, it would be with deck and hand interactions where cards are revealed to other players such as "Goblin Matron" or "Coercion" and the like. But, again, it isn't always in those situations where it hangs.

It would be nice if the original games did more visible debug logging where a person could narrow down the problems. (Does it do logging and I just don't know where to look?)

My opponent and I are both on Windows 7 (me Ultimate, her Home Premium). I tried using your version on an XP virtual machine and it actually hungup more in my XP VM than it did running on the Windows 7 host. I also have the original CDs for Magic, SOTA, and DOTP (from back in "the day"). So, I even tried a WIndows 98 virtual machine with very little luck. Program crashed before I could even play 1 card. So, as you can tell by my efforts...I REALLY wanted to play this game again. Thanks for making it easier!

Chris

[Salbei]

Thanks for your reply.

It is a known issue that Multiplayer is quite "bugged" and i can´t recommend using this version for that purpose.I should have mentioned that, my bad. I´m surprised you got Multiplayer to work at all (via Hamachi i guess). You could try a different version (Moks Manalink 2.0 should be stable) for this purpose, but a lot of the new cards will be missing there.

If you could pinpoint Cards that are causing wrong interactions (bugs, crashes etc) then please use our "Bug Reports" section. The only difference between this Version and the "official" WIKI installation route are changed sounds and slightly different UI images - those should not be responsible for any problems.

I actually experienced the same OS issues. Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit! , tested both) works best for me too. I´ll edit the initial post and mention this.Should be working fine on itself, no need to use Virtual Machine.

If you are using Windows XP you could try to disable Visual Themes (Rightclick the magic.exe or shortcut to it -> settings -> compatibility settings -> check "Disable Visual Themes".

I cannot recommend using Windows Vista. Personally did not test this, but other users reported issues with this.

[a1z2s3x4]

It has worked surprisingly well for multiplayer, considering that you had no intention of using it for MP. I just confirmed twice over that playing the Goblin Matron will quickly lead to a crashing MP session. Did it twice in a row.

So, is the recommended multiplayer version to use the "2011" ISO?

Thanks again,
Chris

[Salbei]

I did not test that ISO myself, so i can´t confirm that.
You might need to ask at the Shandalar forum (they created that version).
viewforum.php?f=76

[a1z2s3x4]

OK, thanks again for the quick response.
I just re-read your original response to my message and I see that I overlooked some of your statements and I gave a poor response in general.

A few things:
1. My multiplayer experience was over a LAN (playing with my wife on our other laptop), not over the internet.

2. You clearly stated to try Mok's Manalink 2.0 (which I completely overlooked or I wouldn't have asked you what version you recommend for MP!)

It would be a shame to go back to the older cards because I just spent hours re-working my old decks to work with the newer cards in your version!

I'll try Mok's version, but keep yours on standby until I can figure out which version works best for my setup. No reason why I couldn't keep both, I suppose...

This reply makes it worse, but sorry for cluttering up your "Installation Guide" thread...

Thanks again,
Chris

[Salbei]

Well the "current" Manalink 2.0 does not support Multiplayer.
It might work, but it is not our current focus to enable a stable Multiplayer environment for that as long as there are other things left to do (fixing bugs etc).

I´m sure someone will take a look at this known issue in the future, but like i said - it is currently more important to provide a stable "Singleplayer" experience first.

No problem, you actually helped to prevent others that might would have got the same issue (expecting to play Multiplayer with this).

BTW you can keep multiple installations up. Just use different folders.

ISO for Shandalar (it waS made for that purpose!)
Moks Version for Multiplayer (currently the most stable way to Multiplayer)
SCV for the remaining Singleplayer, Challenges, EDH , Gauntlets, Draft etc.

Nowadays the required diskspace should not be an issue anymore.

[Cognis]

I wanted to instal your version for custom sounds and when I saw the pic I realised I've been using it for over a year now great job

[Salbei]

Edited the initial post:
-added supported Operation Systems
-added things that are NOT supported
-removed the Alternate Artwork link from the WIKI to avoid confusion.
-slightly changed the format (used list tags, embedded the Youtube video).
-added more spoiler tags (tried to fix the information overflow)

Thanks for your replies.

[CirothUngol]

Thanx for this nice, clean, updated and all-inclusive version! I've been using it for almost a week and it seems to be really stable in WinXP SP3, no crashes yet. The new sounds are fun, especially in Duel. Very nice indeed... but I'm not so sure about the Tribal Drums on the opening menu, maybe I'm more of a melody kinda guy. ^_^

I've been playing Draft and Sealed Deck, but wanted to play Gauntlet, so I ran the 100 Playdecks from the CCGHQ Custom ISO Jan 16, 2011 Update through a batch script to identify (and correct) CSV mis-matches (Constructed). Over half were perfectly fine and most of the others were simple substitutions (like Air Elemental, Vine Trellis and Urborg Volcano). I let the script correct misspellings, make simple substitutions and add proper color descriptions, then edited about a dozen by hand. They don't make use of any of the newest cards, but they're pre-made and should all be 100% compatible. If anyone's interested they can grab 'em at the bottom of this post.

I also upped the Manalink 2.0 SCV install files to my MediaFire account... here are the mirror links.

Magic.part1.rar
Magic.part2.rar
Magic.part3.rar
Magic.par2
Magic.vol000+261.PAR2
Artwork.part1.rar
Artwork.part2.rar
Artwork.part3.rar
Artwork.part4.rar
Artwork.par2
Artwork.vol000+131.PAR2
Artworkpatch 2020110219.rar

I've re-download, checked the hashes and added the par2 files just in case anything gets corrupted. If there's any intrest in a .torrent, I could easily oblige.

A quick question... what are all the extra MAGIC.EXEs in the program directory? That's new to me.
I'll also assume that this version will be safe to update from? Looks like a good re-starting point to me.
Thanx again for all the effort Salbei, Appreciate!

Edit - I just noticed that you have Windows 9x compatibility listed as "Untested"... go ahead and mark that "Non Working". Unless a specific effort has been recently made for Win9x compatibility, it doesn't work (some of the .DLLs give errors). I've had good luck getting recent updates to run stably on a VMware WinXP SP2 install, so Linux should be able to use that (don't use Linux myself).

[Salbei]

Thanks a lot for the mirrors, i´ll edit those in.

...
A quick question... what are all the extra MAGIC.EXEs in the program directory? That's new to me.
I'll also assume that this version will be safe to update from? Looks like a good re-starting point to me.
...

The extra .exe files are "leftovers" from old patches.
I did not mention it, but this is the exact folder i have been using for years, patch after patch. Most likely there are a couple obsolete files in there.The only difference is that i removed my decks and the files responsible for challenges (so every challenge is locked).
"If it is not broken then don´t repair it!"
Delete those files at your own risk (Backup first!).
I´m pretty sure 10-20MB could be saved this way, but i did not want to delete anything that might not be needed to avoid complications.

And yes, you can simply overwrite the files when a patch comes out.

... but I'm not so sure about the Tribal Drums on the opening menu, maybe I'm more of a melody kinda guy. ^_^
...

The files can be found at your "Sound" folder (duh!). Just take a look at those files (and maybe play them) and you will know when they are used.
It is really easy to replace sounds you dislike without much effort.

Edit - I just noticed that you have Windows 9x compatibility listed as "Untested"... go ahead and mark that "Non Working". Unless a specific effort has been recently made for Win9x compatibility, it doesn't work (some of the .DLLs give errors). I've had good luck getting recent updates to run stably on a VMware WinXP SP2 install, so Linux should be able to use that (don't use Linux myself).

---> done