Custom Cards in GCCG

[Cw0rk]

Here is the full list for Thranduil's set.

http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4075.0;attach=560

[eomund]

Hey guys,

I'm really sorry I haven't gotten this done yet ... I'm taking some classes over the summer, and my workload got a lot heavier than I was expecting towards the end of term. I've got a couple days' break between class and exams, though, so I should hopefully be able to get this up by the end of the weekend.

Just a warning - the formatting from the pdf is surprisingly good, but still not amazing. The first file I create will have a lot of small errors because of that, but I'm hoping to fix the majority of it up over the next few days.

[Cw0rk]

Hey guys,

I'm really sorry I haven't gotten this done yet ... I'm taking some classes over the summer, and my workload got a lot heavier than I was expecting towards the end of term. I've got a couple days' break between class and exams, though, so I should hopefully be able to get this up by the end of the weekend.

Just a warning - the formatting from the pdf is surprisingly good, but still not amazing. The first file I create will have a lot of small errors because of that, but I'm hoping to fix the majority of it up over the next few days.

Thanks a lot!

[eomund]

Sorry again for not meeting my own timelines ... things just keep coming up and taking me away from this project.

Luckily, I have finally found the time to finish it off! There are three .xml files attached - one for each set in Thranduil's Light and Shadow block. Copy those three files into your Gccg => xml => Lotr folder and add the lines:

 <cardset source="light.xml"/>
  <cardset source="twilight.xml"/>
  <cardset source="back.xml"/>

to the file Gccg => xml => lotr.xml and you should be able to use the cards in GCCG.

The only problem I know of is that when I run GCCG, the cards from all three sets appear jumbled together into a single set. I'm not going to bother fixing this unless it is affecting people besides me, so please let me know if you experience this (or any other) problem.

Also please post if you notice any typos in the file. There were some errors when I copied the .pdf into a text file, but it's possible I missed a few. They're generally easy to fix, I just don't want to go through and proofread all 360 cards myself.

[Cw0rk]

Awesome! I'll download it and try it later.

[Cw0rk]

I suggest that if you try it, make a copy of your LOTR.xml file before editing it.

It doesn't work for me. I copied the lines on the LOTR.xml file using MFC Wordpad and I can't open GCCG. I'm getting this as an error:

I/O exception at Document::open(const string&): short read on './xml/Lotr.xml'

I've also tried with the Notepad and I get an almost similar error:

I/O exception at Document::open(const string&): short read on './xml/Lotr/light.xml'

EDIT: When I open another card set file like returnoftheking and compare it to light, back or twilight, I can see several differences in term of tabulation and 'enter's.

[eomund]

To the best of my knowledge, xml doesn't pay attention to indentation or enters, so that shouldn't matter.

Could you post your lotr.xml file?

[Cw0rk]

To the best of my knowledge, xml doesn't pay attention to indentation or enters, so that shouldn't matter.

Could you post your lotr.xml file?

Well, if your lotr.xml file is working, it would be easier if you post it. I would just have to download it and you wouldn't have to find what is the error in mine.

[eomund]

Well, if your lotr.xml file is working, it would be easier if you post it. I would just have to download it and you wouldn't have to find what is the error in mine.

Smart thinking ... mine is now attached.

[Cw0rk]

Well, if your lotr.xml file is working, it would be easier if you post it. I would just have to download it and you wouldn't have to find what is the error in mine.

Smart thinking ... mine is now attached.

It still doesn't work for me. I guess that this problem might be caused by the advanced age of my computer.

[Not a Zombie]

Works great for me. All the sets have their own tabs, I can see all the cards, it looks good! The GCCG server doesn't recognize them though and takes issues in the one player table, so playing games with them would be odd untill GCCG is updated to allow for them. Its pretty sweet though!

[Thranduil]

I'm really excited! I'm just annoyed that I couldn't get GCCG to work on my mac to try for myself...

Let me know how it goes.

Thranduil

[Kralik]

Just a quick note here:

Since GCCG is run on the central server, it will have issues with new/extra cards. One of the reasons I hoped that the Valinor Dream Team would work is to develop dream cards that everyone can use. SdA has card sets but not cards hard coded, so you could add new cards in existing sets and play with them as long as both players had the same data file. Lackey works similarly.

[Creator]

Adding pictures is pretty straight forward. You create a folder in Gccg -> Graphics and put your pictures in it. My program will automatically look for the folder with the pictures in it to have the same name as the xml file (minus the .xml at the end) and for the pictures to be named "XY.jpg" where X is the set number, and Y is the card number. For example, the original Ruling Ring would be "01001.jpg". This stuff can be changed (except for the folder location), so feel free to request a different naming system.

The more difficult part is making pictures. As far as I know there is no easy way to make card images. Magic set editor has been working on a template for a while now (http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/node/901), but I don't think anything new has been posted recently.

Without pictures, the cards will look like the ones I've attached to this post - the same as real decipher cards would look if you didn't download pictures for them.

I am in the process of making several cards via photoshop that look almost identical to the real thing. I "blanked out" the templates for most of the cultures so that they are the bare-bones templates. They look almost perfect. I have fonts that are also almost identical to the ones that Decipher uses and am able to create my own cards. I'd be willing to send a few images to you if you're wanting to test this out in GCCG.

Here is an example of a WIP custom card: http://bayimg.com/FajNpaaDk

Just a quick note here:

Since GCCG is run on the central server, it will have issues with new/extra cards. One of the reasons I hoped that the Valinor Dream Team would work is to develop dream cards that everyone can use. SdA has card sets but not cards hard coded, so you could add new cards in existing sets and play with them as long as both players had the same data file. Lackey works similarly.

It's probably better that way in my case, because I'm editing Decipher's templates, so it might be simpler to just have the cards uploaded only between the players using them, rather than hosting them on the server (for copyright issues).