MWS Customization

[Nihil Credo]

I was reading Bardo's MWS diaries (http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=bab643889f90d823959d69486402958f&topic=32964.0), and when he posted a screenshot (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c391/Bardo49days/Zilla-Game1.gif) I was pretty surprised
to discover that a hardcore Eternal player like him is still running a bare-bones MWS installation,
without pictures or even decent card borders.

Considering that you can now get a legal registered version of MWS for free (http://www.trialpay.com/stores/magicworkstation/checkout), I think that if
you use MWS a lot, as most Legacy players do, there's little reason not to take the time to
make it look more like paper Magic... not to mention more pleasant to the eye.

To begin with, you can go to GoblinHero's site (http://www.slightlymagic.net) and download his Master base and themes.
The themes reproduce faithfully old or new Magic card frames and mana symbols, while the
Master base is automatically updated with the latest Oracle wording after every new set.

Afterwards, proceed here (http://www.mwsdata.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=413&sid=f3c61999dff18ae2ee9abacc825d656b) (login with bugmenot.com) to download high-quality pictures of
pretty much every Magic card ever printed. You have the choice of full scans, which are
generally prettier, or cropped pictures, which allow you to enjoy the latest Oracle wording
even on older cards (my favourite, except for Planar Chaos and Future Sight alternate frames).

The result? Here are some screenshots:

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8256/pimpmwsok4.png

Here you can see two-fisted testing of Angel Stax against Rg Goblins (Topo Gigio is the
default opponent): while Siege-Gang Commander was about to start doing some serious
damage, it seems Goblins will soon end up land-locked and staring down an Exalted Angel.
Notice the Oracle wording on Exalted Angel, the DCI promo Armageddon, and the Goblin
tokens from Magic Online.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/4008/pimpmws2ic1.png


This one is from testing on MWSPlay: my opponent's Replenish deck has just lost its last
card to a snazzy custom-textless Hymn to Tourach and is about to receive lethal damage
from a pair of Red Death buddies. Then again, what could his pitifully mundane basics and
duals do against Unhinged Swamps and custom dual-coloured Badlands?


So, how is your MWS set up?

[Artowis]

Bare bones

I'd rather they finally release the code so somebody competent could fix the shuffler and connection issues rather than yet another way for the program to look pretty.

[Bardo]

I've always been a minimalist for these kinds of things, and even look at those who have gone balls-to-the-wall on their MWS customizations with a bit of suspicion. I honesly don't care for the "blue-block" background on the default MWS settings, but it is at least unobtrusive and doesn't bother me. The card images and all are more of a distraction to me than anything else--even if it does offer a little more "flavor."

Similarly, I don't play with foils or foreign edition cards in my Real Life decks either. Good art on black-bordered, pre-8th edition frames work as well more me as the no-frills default MWS settings.

[Angelfire]

Personally I think its a great post. I play MWS alot and was looking to upgrade from the bare bones version.

[Peter_Rotten]

What the Hell is this thread about? I'm deleting most of it besides the original post which is worthwhile for MWS users who want a more visual aspect.

You may now thank me for enhancing your MTS experience. (Do it silently without posting here).

[Sanguine Voyeur]

I have photoshop, if there's a card I don't like, I fix it.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb242/Sacul_Kamadaka/Brainstorm.jpg
Or just use the one from Coldsnap...
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb242/Sacul_Kamadaka/SwordstoPlowshares.jpg

[Pale Moon FTW]

The unregistered version does support card pictures and themes and the link Nihil posted where you can get the registered version for free isn't really free since you'll have to buy some random crap from another site to get it. In the end you just pay for an avatar and a background.
But I can recommend to everyone to get the pics and 8th edition theme. I like when the cards I'm playing with looks real instead of just being some computer generated stuff.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

The unregistered version does support card pictures and themes and the link Nihil posted where you can get the registered version for free isn't really free since you'll have to buy some random crap from another site to get it. In the end you just pay for an avatar and a background.
But I can recommend to everyone to get the pics and 8th edition theme. I like when the cards I'm playing with looks real instead of just being some computer generated stuff.

I don't have the registered version, the only thing I want from the full version is the ability to test against a different deck in solo mode. I don't think that it's worth money though, especially to someone with out a job.

[Pale Moon FTW]

Testing against a different deck can be done in the unregistered version aswell:
Instead of opening MWS open MWSPlay.exe up twice (you can't open MWS twice). Just select the deck you want to test against in the other window and Alt+TAB between them.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

I've done that, it's a pain, but I've done it. Given the choice, I'd rather make things easier, but I'm a frugal fanny.

[Pinder]

For those interested, you can always make your own. There was a tutorial drummed up by GoblinHero that was really useful for that. I'll see if I can find the link.

When I get the chance I'll post a screenshot of what I've been using.

For reference, here's (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t124/Pindarius/MWSTheme.jpg) the Theme I made and have been using. No pictures because my hard drive is small.

[Nihil Credo]

For those interested, I did get MWS for free through that link. Most of the sponsors require you to buy something to get MWS, but a few (I used EBay) don't. Information about which is which can be found in the magicworkstation.com forums.

[Pale Moon FTW]

Unfortunately it isn't free anymore. Now you can only choose between seven offers and eBay (or anything else free) isn't one of them :(

[Nightmare]

Any reason there arent pictures for Masques block?

[Pale Moon FTW]

You can get pictures for the masques block here. (http://files.mwsdata.com/crop.html)

[The Rack]

I've been trying to do this stuff, but the trial pay thing isn;t working ad the databases won;t go in the non registered one. Now what?

[Nihil Credo]

For the TrialPay thing: as you can read in this thread, the completely-free offers (EBay and the like) have been pulled. The ones left require you to buy something. Frowntown; however, if you see something that interests you, it might still be a better deal than buying MWS outright (at least if you care about avatars/background/printing proxies/easy two-fist testing, which are the only features enabled by registering).

As for the databases, it seems you're talking about GoblinHero's base and themes. What exactly is giving you problems? Being unregistered does not affect that.

[The Rack]

It says "Unsupported File Types" lame...

[Nihil Credo]

Okay, this is how I did it, step-by-step:

Master Base file:

1) Download from this page (http://www.slightlymagic.net/base.shtml) the file named "MTG Master base"
2) Extract the file in your MWS folder. The Master.mwBase and Data\Sets.dat files should both be overwritten
3) Start MWS. The top half of the screen should now feature the new master base; to check, press CTRL-M to load the default master base.
4) Check that your decks work. Some of the edition tags may not match (es. "10ED" instead of "10E" for Tenth Edition); in such cases, a window with the broken cards will appear. Add the new version of the cards from the new master base, then save the deck.

Theme (assuming you want post-8th frames):

1) Download "New Theme" from the page linked above
2) Extract the file into the \Themes subfolder of your MWS folder
3) Start MWS. Press F10 to open the Preferences window.
4) Under "Interface", there is a scroll-down menu labeled "Graphic Theme". Choose "New Magic" from it, then press "Ok". The new theme should be applied now.

If something goes wrong, check that you have the latest MWS version (0.94f). Other than that, I'm not sure what else could have caused the problem...

[Sanguine Voyeur]

I was hoping this page would get bumped again.

I didn't like the art on Humility. I screwed up the mana cost, but it's still better then the original art. I think this makes it painfully obvious that I think the angels from Evangellion are really cool.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb242/Sacul_Kamadaka/Humility.jpg
This (http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb242/Sacul_Kamadaka/Showoff1.jpg) is the theme I use, it sets the standard background to a black scratchy pattern instead of ugly poker table. My background is dark red and black clouds, set to a pattern. It also effects the mana and card symbols. For any card I don't use the full art, planeshifted boarders are used, like on the Cruel Bargain.

[Nihil Credo]

While you're at it, do you think you can whip out a textless Disenchant from this picture (http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/4459/yoshitakaamano2ls8.jpg) by Yoshitaka Amano? I think it fits perfectly, and I'd do it myself, but I'm too lazy to download the frames/mana cost icons and Photoshop it all together ;)

[Sanguine Voyeur]

I think I'll use this one too.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb242/Sacul_Kamadaka/Disenchant.jpg
Being bored with Photoshop kicks ass.

[Nihil Credo]

Awesome! Thank you a lot.