The Last Homely House

Undying Lands => Valinor => Topic started by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:11:18 AM

Title: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:11:18 AM
I will be updating this sticky from time to time. Feel free to reply with any questions or feedback!

What is Lackey?

LackeyCCG (http://lackeyccg.com) is a computer program that lets your play virtually any CCG over the internet. Different CCG's have plugins that work with Lackey, or you could create your own game and sets. It works on both Windows and Mac, as well as Linux via WINE. It is a capable program, but unfortunately, has little documentation. Since I have had a few TLHH members asking me to show them how it works, I am creating this tutorial for those who want to try it. Learning how to use it will give you the opportunity to be able to play not only LotR online, but other CCG's as well, such as SWCCG and M:tG.

Program and Plugin Installation

The following instructions will assume that you are running Windows, but the steps will be similar for other operating systems as well. Download Lackey (http://lackeyccg.com/downloads.html) and unzip it to wherever you want to keep it on your computer (I keep mine in My Documents). Open the LackeyCCG folder and double-click on LackeyCCG.exe to start it. You should hear Trevor say "Welcome to Lackey!" and see this screen:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fmainscreen.jpg&hash=131e335b57d7cd932a21808d8a349d645aa9fcd7)

Tip: Sometimes I have problems with parts of the screen blanking out if it's not maximized. If this happens to you... maximize it! :)

Select Preferences from the upper right corner of the screen:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fpreferences.jpg&hash=143e1124444cc1e100de386970babe8ae5a3ef87)

The Plugin Finder is a nifty little list by Magiko that keeps track of all of the different plugins for Lackey and their websites. Click on Update Plugin List from URL to load the current plugin information.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fpluginfinder.jpg&hash=59ef42914b18e9e12010fe5cd49c0e5d31be201d)

Once the plugin finder loads (give it a few seconds), you can download the LotR plugin. The following steps are numbered in the screenshot in blue:

1) Select the lotr plugin from the dropdown box.
2) Select the card image size. To see how much screen space they will take, and the download size, look at the LotR plugin main page (http://lotrtcgdb.com/lackey). I suggest High as a good middle ground.
3) Click on Update from URL. Lackey will start to download the plugin information.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fautoupdate.jpg&hash=0f2d0e8874977cacba5670f61c1445bc3108e0df)

While files are being downloaded, you will see a status notification in the upper right corner of your screen. You can click on the X at any time to cancel the download.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fdownload.jpg&hash=f44b24c70d6b4c0aae37b5298f100aa166669a9e)

Give it a few minutes, depending on your connection speed. When all downloads are done, you will see the following message at the bottom of the white status window:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fupdatedone.jpg&hash=5dfa7902619cccf360eb7bb7650662a0fae671e2)

You don't actually have to restart Lackey. Instead, click on the Load Plugin button.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Floadplugin.jpg&hash=0744c05045c1c4ebb5b244b249552a944d4b092d)

Lackey will boot you back to the main screen (it does this whenever you change any preferences). The LotR plugin is now officially installed! Card images will be loaded automatically whenever they are needed, but IMO it's best to get them all at once. Go back to preferences, and click on Download all missing images to grab the LotR card images.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fdownloadimages.jpg&hash=f78cda67cd14f6f3862c6e745258e95646834026)

This might take some time... but while it's working, you can poke around other areas of the program. Let's start with some basic preferences.
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial
Post by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:11:42 AM
Preferences

First, you should set your name. I recommend making this the same as your TLHH username so that others can recognize you in the server chat room. Click on the Player Profile tab.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fsetyourname.jpg&hash=5247f781d58c3c6b44eb70bede93bbdc503f9ae1)

You also should consider adding an Avatar. Copy a square .jpg of at least 100x100 to your LackeyCCG\images\avatars folder, or choose one of the (odd) built-in avatars. For example, you could choose use the Sauron avatar. The larger the image size, the better the quality, so don't be afraid to exceed 100x100. The avatar will be displayed next to your decks, and will also be the image that other players see if they look across the table in 3D mode.

You can also choose a Color for to be used whenever you mark up the board with arrows and such (more on that later, it's mostly just for fun).

Make sure that when you are done you click Save Profile. Booted back to the main screen again, woot! :P

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Favatar.jpg&hash=242e47fa5b88e00d317a880134a9b5e18c415bc6)

Go back to Preferences and choose the Appearance tab. The following steps are numbered in the screenshot in blue:

1) (Optional) Change the Table Image. I love wood1 because it's reminiscent of the days I used to play LotR on picnic tables with my friends.
2) (Optional) Change the Card Picture List Image. This is what you see as the background of your hand/decks. I'm thinking that some of the nice SdA themes could be ported over! For now, I like wide. Choose one you like.
3) (Optional) Show times stamps in log is useful if you ever have to go back and check something.
4) Select either Lower Cards on Top or Bottom. This is important when it comes to stacking/attaching cards (for example, possessions to companions). More on this later in the gameplay section of the tutorial.
5) If you have a fairly modern computer, you ought to select Best image quality.
6) Save Preferences when done! Back to main screen.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fappearance.jpg&hash=a4f26e799b7b9800744d7f460ea34a7d3f0ce328)

Go back to Preferences and choose the Gameplay tab. Check Auto-clear cards moved off the table. This will make sure that, for example, Gollum loses his wounds when moved to your discard pile. Without this setting, cards moved to discard/your deck/your hand/etc. will keep their wounds. Nah.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fgameplay.jpg&hash=e4b6e5bd375ff5d5f6bb588d082822913fc465fa)

Save preferences. At this point, the main screen should look more like:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fnewmain.jpg&hash=5263188bb22dec6639dcb0a3ac91fcc158194346)
(this is with a 37-degree table tilt).

Other things you might want to check out are the Chat presets and Sound settings. As you're probably still waiting for cards to finish downloading, let's look at the Deck Editor.
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial
Post by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:12:56 AM
Deck Editor

Even though you may not have all the card images downloaded yet, when working in the Deck Editor or playing a game, they will be downloaded automatically as needed. At the top of the screen, there is a Deck Editor tab. Click it to start making a deck. Here is what you'll see:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fdeckeditor.jpg&hash=724322f3c93b817cfa094c2e7a93657127179548)

A breakdown of the pieces:

1) The card viewer. This shows whatever card you are mousing over both in the Deck Editor and in the actual game.
2) Your current deck. In this screenshot it is empty.
3) Filters. Use these to search for specific cards, such as "[Orc] minions with a strength < 10"
4) Available cards to add to your deck. If you have no filters set, this will show all cards.

In the center of the screen there is a basic search feature that by default searches for cards who text starts with that you type. There is also a drop-down box that lets you quickly filter by Format, such as Movie Block or Standard Format. View Tiled lets your see your deck laid out visually. The Open Packs feature lets you simulate opening booster packs and starter decks. Important: Please uncheck the Consolidate Sets button. This will allow you to put cards with the same title in your decks, and not mess up your opponent's deck if they do. For example, Orc Pursuer vs. Orc Pursuer*.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fconsolidateformat.jpg&hash=14d43431791f336619def16bb73f7bce95e57928)

The filters in the bottom left corner are where you can search for specific cards. To use each filter, toggle the ON/OFF button. The Name field is usually the most helpful, as you can search for text anywhere in a card's title. Here's an example of a search for potential riders for the new wargs:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Ffilters.jpg&hash=8eff70baf8076ffda78ef9257a2f6fe62b09b304)

Once you have found the cards you want, you can drag them from the bottom of the screen to the top to add them to your deck. You can also use the +1/+4 and -1/-3/etc. buttons to add and remove cards. However, I discovered another way that I think works better: keyboard shortcuts! Select a card, either in your deck or in the list of available cards. Now, you can use the arrows keys on your keyboard as such:

Left Arrow: Remove 1 of selected card.
Right Arrow: Add 1 of selected card.
Up Arrow: Move up one card.
Down Arrow: Move down one card.

Much quicker than clicking around, especially when tweaking quantities of cards in your deck. Notice also that in both parts of the deck editor, you can sort cards by clicking on the column headers. Nifty.

Your deck has three parts: Deck, Sites, and Starting. Deck is your draw deck, Sites is... sites, and Starting is for the Ring and Bearer. When adding cards, you can drag them straight to the tab or select the tab first by clicking on it. Once you have completed your deck, type in a Deck name and click Save Deck.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fsavedeck.jpg&hash=cfd8ca2f2bb1c41a81a5940dceaa8b1cc5e88d3a)

The Lackey Deck Editor is quite capable, but unfortunately, it doesn't tally up Free vs. Shadow card counts. Therefore I'd recommend building one side at a time to make sure you have equal quantities. Or, better yet, switch to Zorbec's Decklist Builder and use DLB2Lackey. ;)

Now let's move on to connecting to the server to start a game.
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial
Post by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:13:15 AM
Starting an Online Game

To connect to another player, click on the Server tab. Set your login name (TLHH username would be best) and then click on Refresh Server List from Tracker.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fserver.jpg&hash=5d6fa75925c7c12b9673ef6e1c9a720957bc07b4)

This will automatically connect you to the Lackey server. In the future, you can come back to this screen and click Connect to Server from Tracker to connect. You should now see a screen like this:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fserverscreen.jpg&hash=8dc89fbbdc63eaa2d23e499be12e18c21c86d538)

There is also a large white chat area (not shown). On the left side of the screen is a list of players (looks like quite a few M:tG players today). On the right side is a list of current games. If you were joining another person's game, you would click on the game title and then click Join Selected Game. Or, you can start your own game by clicking Host a game...

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fhost.jpg&hash=13892172bf93cdc252ca51350bd843de9449ad1c)

If you want to have multiple players OR let anybody watch your game while it's in progress, you should change the number of seats from the default of 2 to a higher number. Also, if you have not set up port forwarding, you'll need to check Use proxy server. Then click on Host.

A word on port forwarding: If you can host with SdA, then you can host with Lackey. You'll want to forward ports 25710 and 25711. Port forwarding is not necessary but it is the better way to go. Why? It gives a direct connection between you and your opponent. This means that even if the server (Trevor's computer) goes down, your game is not interrupted.

It is possible to start your own server, or directly connect to an opponent via their IP address without using the Lackey server. It is also possible to use Hamachi for a direct connection. More information on that will be explained in the Other Features section of this tutorial.

Now on to the game!
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial
Post by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:13:26 AM
General Interface

Once you have started a game, it will bring you back to the main screen. The tab will say something like: Game: 2 players. For purposes of this tutorial, I will be playing on solitaire mode (Game: solitaire). That means I can switch back and forth between myself and my imaginary opponent and control both. You might want to try this first before playing with an opponent just to get a feel for the interface. One thing to understand about Lackey is that the majority of actions are performed by either drag-and-dropping or right-clicking. Keep that in mind when experimenting.

So, first things first. Let's load a deck! You can do this by using the Load to You option on the Deck Editor screen. However, there's a better way. Right click on your avatar on the left side of the screen and choose to load a recent deck:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Floadrecent.jpg&hash=dbb567e36ea46a4170c7cf441167d3eb33ba2663)

Now that you have a deck loaded, you can start to explore the interface. Here's another picture of the main screen with various elements marked:

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Felements.jpg&hash=ac0d6c1cd972200d86eed5380de4705bff926eed)

1) The card viewer.
2) The table.
3) The side board.
4) Player information.
5) The bottom board.
6) Turns and phases.
7) Log and chat.

Let's look at these one at a time. The card viewer and table are fairly self-explanatory.

The side board:
(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fsideboard.jpg&hash=a370fb8040adf4dfad525128fe9a6a8eb24803f2)

The side board is one of two places that you can use to manage your cards that are not on the table: Hand, Draw Deck, Discard, Sites, etc. You can also use it to perform actions on your opponent's cards (such as choose a card from their hand to reveal or discard). If a deck is normally concealed to you, you will only see the backs of the cards. I usually use this side board to play sites and show my discard pile, but you could use it for your hand or minimize it altogether. Tips:


Player information:
(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fplayerinfo.jpg&hash=4418bbe4838967f5ec539b131cd1b8971e76cc30)

This section manages twilight, threats, and burdens. Use +/- to add or subtract from the counters, or put a number into the text box and push = to set the counter to that number. One important thing to note is that, unlike SdA, burdens are managed with a counters. Another feature of the player info box is that you can use it to select which piles to view in the bottom and side boards (click around on Hand/Deck/etc. and you'll see what I mean). If you are playing solitaire mode, you can switch between yourself and the bot by clicking on the avatar.

The bottom board:
(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fbottomboard.jpg&hash=9da16a720bdb821b16ec425809eee75d3e279eae)

The bottom board is most useful as your hand. It also has a bunch of buttons to perform game actions. Draw draws a single card. For all other actions, select a card or cards and then click the button. Wound and Heal are obvious. Clear removes all tokens from a card (nice for healing x4), or healing everyone at a sanctuary with one click. Strength-/+ puts a green counter on a card to help you keep track of strength bonuses. Culture-/+ is for adding and removing culture tokens. Finally, the various colors at the end are for adding tokens to use on the adventure path in multiplayer games. These actions can also be performed by right-clicking on a card.

To play cards from your hand (or from any other pile), simply drag and drop them to wherever you want them to be on the table. To return a card from the table to hand, or to discard a card, drag it to the bottom/side board or to the appropriate tab. If you drag to a tab, it will always put the card on top (useful when playing an event such as Still Needed).

Turns and Phases:
(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fphases.jpg&hash=bb4238c7d90e01bf1a183cdb4ccbbb0d0eba8e29)

This section is for advancing each player's turn and keeping track of phases. You may or may not need to use it... I generally don't use it when I play with friends and voice chat with Skype. However, I would recommend at least using it when advancing each turn for the following reason: The game is automatically saved at the change of each turn and phase. It's always nice to have a backup if something goes awry! (for example, the server goes down and you were playing a proxy game)

Log and chat:
(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Flogchat.jpg&hash=6ba3d8eb528f9fcf599a8a58ba0f494adceba2eb)

This section keeps track of everything that happens in the game and serves as a chat box between you and your opponent. There are also customizable chat shortcuts and a few useful buttons: /reveal is used when bidding, and the /drawX buttons are used to draw from 2-8 cards in one click.

Now that you've seen some of the interface, you have enough information to start playing a game! At least, much more information that I had when I first tried to figure it out. :P The next section will give some tips on how to accomplish specific actions.
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial
Post by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:13:42 AM
How do I...
Note: Most actions can be done using either the bottom board or the side board. You can decide which you like to use the most. I'll assume that the bottom board is being used for your hand exclusively, and the side board for your deck/discard/etc.

...Bid to see who goes first?
Type /secret into the chat window and a number to set your bid. After your opponent does the same, you can both reveal your bid by clicking the /reveal button above the chat log. For example:

You type: /secret 2
You see: OrcMasher sets a secret message.

You type: /reveal
You see: OrcMasher reveals his secret message: 2.

As long as both of you have set your bid, it does not matter who reveals first, since the bid cannot be changed without the other player knowing about it. If you tie, have someone call it, and press F2 to flip a coin.

...Play my starting companions?
Click on the Deck tab of your side board and then click on the Owner Can't See button below the card list to reveal your draw deck. Drag your companions on to the board. If you want to play them face-down, hold down CTRL while dragging. Click on the Owner Can See button to hide your deck and then Shuffle. Note: Sometimes, these buttons can get covered by the cards in the deck. If that happens, you can still click on them, or right-click on the Deck tab for more options.

...Draw my starting hand?
Press the /draw8 button above the chat log, or type it in.

...Mulligan?
Click on an empty spot in your hand (bottom board) and drag the mouse cursor over all of your cards to select them all. Drag your eight cards to the top of your draw deck, Shuffle and /draw6.

...Play a site?
Select the sites tab in the side board and drag a site on to the board. To rotate the site, double-click on it.

...Move to a site?
Click on a site and add a token of any color (Wound, Strength+, Culture+, Orange, Black, etc.) In previous versions of Lackey, you used to be able to use your avatar as a player token. For some reason, that ability has been removed (though it has been promised in a future version). Therefore, IMO the easiest way to move is to add tokens when moving to a new site but not bother to remove old tokens. Less mouse clicks. :)

...Take control of a site?
Simply drag the site to your support area. Clear it if you want to remove tokens.

...Replace a site?
Have the owner of the site drag it back to their Sites tab, then play a replacement site.

...Play a card from hand?
Drag the card from your hand on to the table.

...Discard a card?
Drag a card from wherever (Hand/Table/Opponent's Hand...) to the Discard tab.

...Select multiple cards?
On the table, you can select multiple cards by dragging over an area with your mouse (much like you select icons on your computer). You can perform actions on these cards by dragging them around, or right-clicking for a list of options. You can also select multiple cards by holding down SHIFT when clicking on a card. A few examples of how this could be useful:

-At the end of a turn, you can select all of your minions and their possessions and drag them at once to discard.
-For a card such as Nobody Tosses a Dwarf, you can SHIFT-click on the top three cards of your draw deck (Deck tab on sideboard) and drag them to Discard to discard them simultaneously.
-While at a sanctuary, if you have 5 or less wounds, you can select your entire fellowship and click Clear to heal them all completely (or Heal to heal them all once).

...Choose a card at random from my opponent's hand?
I love doing this in real life... fun psychology. Select your opponent by clicking on the arrow next to your avatar in the side board. Now click on their Hand. It will show you all of their cards (face-down, of course!). Click on one and do what you need to do!

-To discard, drag it to the Discard tab.
-To reveal, just drop it on the table.

...Play a card from discard?
Select your Discard tab and scroll for the card you need. You can drag it to the table, your Hand, the top of your draw Deck, etc.

...Reveal the top X cards of my deck?
Right-click on the Deck tab and you'll see a bunch of options. Just follow the menus. To conceal, you can use Reveal to All-->NONE.

...Wound/heal a character? Add/remove a culture token?
Click on the card and use the Wound/Heal or Culture-/Culture+ buttons.

...Wound many characters?
Nifty trick: If you right-click on the Wound button, the mouse cursor will show the text "Wound" next to it. Now, every time you click on a character, it will wound that character. This is especially useful during the skirmish phase to quickly deal out wounds and exertions. Click on the Wound button again to end this mode. Another way you could use this is with Heal at a sanctuary.

...Attach a card to a character?
Unfortunately, Lackey does not have an attachment feature yet. However, in the game appearance preferences, you have an option to show either Lower Cards on Top or Lower Cards on Bottom. So, for example, if you had Lower Cards on Bottom selected, you would want to play possessions/conditions/etc. to the left and slightly below your characters. This will ensure that your character is on top and you can see the stats of the card they are bearing. If you opponent plays with the opposite setting as you, then both of your cards will display correctly. To move a characters and the cards it bears, select them all at once and drag them. Here is an example of what this should look like (one player with lower cards on top, the other with lower cards on bottom):

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fstack.jpg&hash=716ad549c7cf318a7246353d52ebf43bfc858603)

...Rotate a card?
Double-click on it.

...Turn a card over?
CTRL-click on it.

...See the text/errata of a card?
Underneath the card viewer is a checkbox marked "Text." Click on it to have all card's text and notes shown over the image. Or, if you want to look at the text of just one card, hold down the ~ or \ key on your keyboard while mousing over the card.

Zoom in and out on the table...?
The scroll wheel of your mouse works beautifully for this. Otherwise, you can click on the Zoom button on the top of the table and then drag the mouse up and down. Make sure to click Zoom again when done. The 0 next to Zoom resets it to 100%. Tip: If your opponent is playing cards that seem to be off the screen, you probably need to zoom out.

Pan around the table...?
I'm not sure why you would want to do this, unless you had zoomed WAY in. In any case, use the Pan button on the top of the table and then drag the mouse around whichever direction you want to go. Make sure to click Pan again when you are done.

Tilt the table...?
Similar to Zoom and Pan, there is a Tilt button. Tilting the table gives a 3D effect and lets you see your opponent's avatar. This is especially useful for multiplayer games where 2 or more people are seated across from you. It also gives a visual indication of the cards they have in their hand (normally you could look at Hand in the player info box).

Mark up the table...?
This is mostly for fun. Use the Mark button on the top of the table. Erase erases ALL players' markings. Here is an example.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fmark.jpg&hash=1d723230887e793bc90279095ab08ba9d63511e2)

Please let me know what other questions you have! On to some other features below.
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial
Post by: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:13:53 AM
Other features / Advanced Options

Opening Packs:
Lackey lets you simulate opening booster packs and starter decks. For example, you might want to play a game where the terms are that each person gets a starter deck and five booster packs of their choice. To enter this mode, click on the Open Packs button in the Deck Editor. Right clicking in the gray area at the bottom of the screen will give you a list of booster packs and starter decks. Pick a few, then click on the Add All to Card Pool button. To exit this mode, click on Return to Free Build.

(https://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flotrtcgdb.com%2Flackey%2Ftutorial%2Fopenpacks.jpg&hash=b13ac907018029013ed04a4985dee18226028c05)

Note: Some of the starter decks are missing cards. I will be fixing this as soon as I have time to comb through each one.

Starting your own server:
If you have port forwarding enabled (or Hamachi, see below), you can start your own server! Essentially it gives you a private chat room and game setup for multiple players. From the Server tab, click the Start Server button. From the same tab, other people can connect to you using your IP.

Playing over a LAN/Hamachi:
Normally Hamachi isn't needed, because you can play a proxy game using the Lackey server. However, you could use it to start a private server, even without port forwarding. Also, my friends and I have played LotR via Lackey on a LAN without internet access. It's a little tricky, but here's what you would need to do:

Create a text file named YourLastIP.txt (NOT YourLastIP.txt.txt -- be careful) in your LackeyCCG folder. Put your Hamachi or LAN IP address in this file on the first line and nothing else. Restart Lackey. Now, you can start a server and host a non-proxy game. Make sure to delete this file when you are done.

The Lackey server used to have a bug that made it crash when too many proxy games were started. Now that it is fixed, you shouldn't really need this step. However, it may be useful if Lackey is ever discontinued and you want to connect to someone. Note that you can always start a server without going making the text file above, but in that case, your opponent would need to be the one to start a game (proxied).

Adding Dream Cards:
Since Lackey is plugin-based and made to work with any CCG, you are free to add your own dream cards to the mix! You will need a spreadsheet program -- OpenOffice (http://openoffice.org) works great (it's what I use). At the bottom of this post are attached two files: parody.xls and parody.txt. These will be used as a sample to get you up and running, so go ahead and download them now. Also, be sure that before you play with dream cards that you have updated the LotR plugin and downloaded all missing images.

The card information for the 3500 or so LotR cards is kept in a large text file called CardData.txt. When I work on the database or Lackey plugin, I use this spreadsheet (http://lotrtcgdb.com/files/CardData.xls). You might take a look at it to see how a variety of card types are inputting. In any case, I recommend working off of a master spreadsheet with your dream cards and then exporting it to txt when done. This allows you to pad fields with zeros (for example: Strength: 08, Card Number: 003), which helps them sort correctly in Lackey. In my experience, when you import a txt file into a spreadsheet program, it ditches the leading zeros and saves it incorrectly.

So go ahead and open up parody.xls. The first three columns -- Name, Set, and Imagefile and mandatory for every card. For set, choose something unique to your dream card set. Do not use any spaces or special characters. Examples of good set names are ReturnToMiddleEarth, NeverEndingParodyChain and ChuckNorrisVSSauron. Each of the Imagefile entries must be unique as they serve as the card identifier. If you don't have any images, that's fine -- the cards will show up as text only. If you do have images, you should save them in either your LackeyCCG\plugins\lotr\sets\setimages\SETNAMEHERE folder, or in the LackeyCCG\plugins\lotr\sets\setimages\general folder. Remember: Do not distribute dream cards images based on Decipher's LotR templates. If you make your own images from scratch, you are free to do what you want with them.

The spreadsheet needs to be saved in a TAB-separated format with NO TEXT DELIMITERS. Excel likes to add quotation marks as delimiters around text when you save. This will not work in Lackey. Open up parody.txt. The top row should read:

Name      Set      Imagefile      Side...

Excel likes to give you:

"Name"      "Set"      "Imagefile"      "Side"...

I'm sure there is a way to specify options in Excel so that it doesn't do this, but I don't have the program to check. In OpenOffice you can save as CSV and then edit the filter options to use TAB's and no quotes. However, an easier way exists to save your work: Select the entire spreadsheet (click anywhere in the spreadsheet and use CTRL-A to select all). Then, copy and paste it into a text editor such as Notepad. This will preserve the tabs without any quotes. If the last line is empty, make sure to delete it, and then save the file as parodyset.txt. Perhaps close and reopen it to make sure it saved correctly.

Your set's txt file should go in the LackeyCCG\plugins\lotr\sets folder, next to CardData.txt. After copying it there, edit the file LackeyCCG\plugins\lotr\setlist.txt. At the top of the file you should see:

1
CardData.txt

The number represents the number of data files to read. Change it to 2 and add your set so that it looks like this:

2
CardData.txt
parodyset.txt

Now fire up Lackey and check out your dream cards!

A couple thoughts:
1) If you are having any trouble, it might be best to load only your dream card set. Edit the setlist.txt so that it looks like:

1
parodyset.txt

That way you can look at only your dream cards without having to find them in the normal cards. If columns are off in Lackey, it's likely that the file was not saved correctly.

2) CardData.txt and setlist.txt will be overwritten whenever you update the LotR plugin. Therefore, always keep your dream cards in their own file and make a backup of setlist.txt to restore after updates.

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

A Final Note:
Lackey is still in development, but is getting better all of the time. If you find any bugs (yes, there are some) or have any ideas for improvement, let Trevor know! :)
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Malachi on October 19, 2008, 11:20:25 AM
Nice tutorial, Kralik! I didn't know some of the things you mentioned.

Now I wish someone could explain me how to use the SDA... :-k
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial
Post by: Thranduil on October 21, 2008, 01:13:50 PM
Quote from: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:13:53 AM
Adding Dream Cards:
I will explain how this is done probably next weekend.
Gargh! That was the only thing I wanted to know! :lol: I've managed to get some in, but I added to the spreadsheet with all the card details on a whole load; some of them work perfectly, and others don't work at all - all the information is in the wrong place and it doesn't display the images. :cpunch:

Thranduil
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Kralik on October 21, 2008, 06:08:01 PM
Quote from: Thranduil on October 21, 2008, 01:13:50 PM
Quote from: Kralik on October 18, 2008, 10:13:53 AM
Adding Dream Cards:
I will explain how this is done probably next weekend.
Gargh! That was the only thing I wanted to know! :lol: I've managed to get some in, but I added to the spreadsheet with all the card details on a whole load; some of them work perfectly, and others don't work at all - all the information is in the wrong place and it doesn't display the images. :cpunch:

Thranduil

It took me six hours to make that tutorial and I needed a break for real life. :P

Until I have time to type some stuff up, I can definitely help with some questions.
First, could you let me know:

1) Are you editing the CardData.txt or working off of the Excel-formatted CardData.xls?
2) What spreadsheet program are you using?
3) Are the images your own or cross-linked to D's images?

Also, know that you'll eventually want to keep any dream sets in a separate data file, since the main one gets overwritten whenever the plugin is updated. Keep a backup for now. ;)
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Thranduil on October 21, 2008, 06:13:00 PM
Quote from: Kralik on October 21, 2008, 06:08:01 PM
1) Are you editing the CardData.txt or working off of the Excel-formatted CardData.xls?
2) What spreadsheet program are you using?
I'm using excel (for mac) but it still is retaining its .txt extension and the column lengths reset every time I open it, so I don't think it's the wrong format.

Quote from: Kralik on October 21, 2008, 06:08:01 PM
3) Are the images your own or cross-linked to D's images?
They are my own. I've put them in a folder which matches the set name column in CardData.txt and they're jpegs called by their numbers which should again match the image file column.

Quote from: Kralik on October 21, 2008, 06:08:01 PM
Also, know that you'll eventually want to keep any dream sets in a separate data file, since the main one gets overwritten whenever the plugin is updated. Keep a backup for now. ;)
Thanks for that! Could thing I didn't try to update - otherwise I would have lost quite a few hours of work! :-S

Thranduil
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Kralik on October 21, 2008, 07:12:22 PM
I've heard that Excel sometimes has problems saving the tab-delimited data file correctly. I'd suspect that may be part of the problem if your columns are not lining up in Lackey. One thing that Excel likes to do is insert extra quotation marks where they don't belong. You should try opening CardData.txt in a text editor and see if there are lots of quotes. A workaround (worth trying, anyway), is to copy the data from Excel and paste it into Text Editor, saving that as the text file. With OpenOffice, I work off of the .xls datafile and save it in CSV format, editing the CSV options to use tabs and no quotes.

The three data fields that are mandatory are Name, Set and Imagefile. The set name should not have any spaces or special characters. Images can go either in the set's folder (as you have been doing), or in the general folder. File type and extension must be .jpg.

Well, hopefully that will help -- if not, why don't you save a copy of the CardData.txt with just a few of your cards in it and attach it to a post? Then I could take a look. :)
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Thranduil on October 23, 2008, 04:25:02 PM
Thanks! I'll get on and try that stuff. :gp:

Thranduil
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Thranduil on October 26, 2008, 10:23:18 PM
It's worked! It's worked! =D> \:D/ 8-) :clown: :cheers: <:) O0 <:D~

Ahem... :whistle: :ninja:

Thranduil
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Kralik on October 27, 2008, 05:36:19 AM
Good to hear! So, are you going to playtest with anyone, or is it just for yourself? :)
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Thranduil on October 27, 2008, 05:38:15 AM
Quote from: Kralik on October 27, 2008, 05:36:19 AM
Good to hear! So, are you going to playtest with anyone, or is it just for yourself? :)
Well, they are based on Decipher's templates so presumably I can't distribute them.

Thranduil
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Kralik on October 27, 2008, 05:42:12 AM
Quote from: Thranduil on October 27, 2008, 05:38:15 AM
Well, they are based on Decipher's templates so presumably I can't distribute them.

Thranduil

You could distribute and play with the cards as text... :whistle:
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Thranduil on October 27, 2008, 06:31:02 AM
Quote from: Kralik on October 27, 2008, 05:42:12 AM
Quote from: Thranduil on October 27, 2008, 05:38:15 AM
Well, they are based on Decipher's templates so presumably I can't distribute them.

Thranduil

You could distribute and play with the cards as text... :whistle:
But I have 2 problems:

1) Isn't the "imagefile" column mandatory? What do I put instead?
2) Then I have to input all the gametexts of the cards into the spreadsheet, and I really can't be bothered! :(

Thranduil
Title: Re: Lackey Tutorial (Warning: Image Heavy)
Post by: Kralik on October 27, 2008, 08:31:33 AM
Ah, well, I guess you can't play much with text cards if the author didn't put in their gametext. ;)
But if you ever wanted to distribute text dream cards, the Imagefile column would serve mostly as an ID for the card in the system. You don't actually have to have an image.