Official Cockatrice thread

More than a "new" MWS, it's intended as a successor of it since it still lacks some fundamental function and basically no one play on it. But it has a lot of nice perks:

- works nicely on a mac, no parallels or things
- auto-download of cards picture, no more 100000 imports
- you can copy a deck to the deckbuilder with a simple copy-paste
- you can test alone with two differents deck one against another
- it's much clearer to see and don't crash as often as MWS
- before a game you'll see your whole deck on a "virtual" table, similarly to MtGO
- it's updated regularly on cockatrice.de

The problems? There are no players on it and it has an awkward interface when you play, cards will get piled in strange ways and your hand it's vertical by default (but you can set it horizontal).
I'm using it mainly because it work good on mac (lol at MWS crashes) and i can test two decks a particular matchup with no need of a mate over internet.

Program can be found here

Hope this get some positive reviews, i've been positively impressed by it.

Tried it just now. Some very nice features, such as on-the-fly card picture download and (in theory) multiplayer support. But it's still nowhere near ready for regular use: for example, it crashed every time I drew an arrow and I could not manage to start an actual multiplayer game (the "ready to start" button would stop working). Once that is fixed, it'll need some more basic polish, such as dynamic card picture resizing - they're nearly unreadable on a 1920x1080 screen.

If these issues are solved, I can see it becoming a contender. But I wouldn't go around spreading it too much until it's ready to take on the network effect of MWS, or its reputation will be perma-ruined.

I'm using Cockatrice since its beginning and can highly suggest it. The developers are pretty ambitious at implementing new features or fixing bugs.

@ network effect: Just perma ban Spanish and Italian IPs. Simple but effective. :)

Hi. I'm the primary author of the program. Thanks for your interest :)
I apologize for the stability issues. Things were stable before the release of the latest version, I suppose the new features could've been tested more thoroughly before releasing. I'm probably going to make a fixed release this weekend or next week.

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your hand it's vertical by default (but you can set it horizontal).

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The hand is vertical by default because it's just better that way. It may take a bit of time getting used to it, but it actually saves a lot of space on the screen. The horizontal option was included for all the haters :) If all of you think it should be horizontal by default, it can be done, I don't really care.

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it has an awkward interface when you play, cards will get piled in strange ways

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Would you please elaborate on that? I don't understand what you mean :) You know, pretty much everything can be fixed.

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dynamic card picture resizing - they're nearly unreadable on a 1920x1080 screen

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Card pictures are always re-rendered when you change their size, so the quality is already the highest possible. If you're using the auto-downloaded ones, it's because of them being blurry in the first place (check Gatherer, that's where the pictures come from). A higher quality can be achieved by using MWS-like HQ scans.
On a side note, you're not supposed to be able to read the text of the cards lying on the table. This is just not possible with current monitor resolutions. For this, you have the big picture displayed on the right (and the oracle text box below it).

I can't get it to work, though I am a n00b. It "Cockatrice - Disconnected" and will proceed to show me a blank page. Figured everyone here could help since they got it working, and the creator of the program himself is here.

I had that problem too until I tried exploring.

Once you download it, launch "Oracle". Go to the file menu and click "download (something or another)".
Then you can download the sets.

After that's done, you can launch Cockatrice, and it'll ask for some file paths. You make decks go to "Decks" and pictures go to "Pics" and make card set to go "cardset.xml" or something like that, which is a newly created file after Oracle is finished.

Then using the file menu at the "Cockatrice - Disconnected" screen, you can create new decks and start modes such as local and connected.

I hope that helps!

Btw, mbruker, this program is fantastic. I'm on a Mac and to me this runs just like MWS. (I'll be joining your forums to let you know of bugs on the Mac version as I come across them). It's just so great that I don't have to sleeve up proxies of decks anymore and play against other proxied decks.

I haven't tried this yet, but is it possible for someone on the Mac version to connect to someone on the Windows version?

Thanks for making this.

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I haven't tried this yet, but is it possible for someone on the Mac version to connect to someone on the Windows version?

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Yes

Played a couple games tonight was fun, couldn't find a way to discard randomly :( but I like it better than mws already

Implemented chat channels? Spectators? That puts this head and shoulder above MWS already. Haven't managed to secure a game yet, but I like the functionality of it.

Does it handle priority, responses, and phases like MWS where its jsut kind of random and up to the players?

good start so far, but it needs all the functionality that mws has to become the new standard. for example interface look, card name in readable letters etc
and it needs a shuffle engine that is better than the broken shit on mws.

So I tried to register for the cockatrice forums but apparently registration is closed temporarily. I will therefore post my bug here:

I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 with qt 4.5.2 (devtools included).

I downloaded the source from the git, then ran this in the shell:

(from ~/cockatrice/cockatrice$)

lrelease cockatrice.pro
qmake
make

And make failed at build/handcounter.o on a QPixmap call...
Any advice? I'll try this on another linux box I have sitting around.

It's a good program but I found some things missing (or perhaps I just didn't find them) like for instance letting a player discard a random card from its hand or the hotkey for giving a creature +1+1; +0/+1 ; +1/+0.

Played around on the solo mode and it was pretty cool. Def better than MWS. Like others said, it needs a discard at random btn. Seems great though if everything gets functional with playing other players online I would def play on it alot.

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Originally Posted by Shimster

@ network effect: Just perma ban Spanish and Italian IPs. Simple but effective. :)

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Poor Spanish and Italians, they get shafted by ebay and now this.

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Originally Posted by Zork

So I tried to register for the cockatrice forums but apparently registration is closed temporarily. I will therefore post my bug here:

I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 with qt 4.5.2 (devtools included).

I downloaded the source from the git, then ran this in the shell:

(from ~/cockatrice/cockatrice$)

lrelease cockatrice.pro
qmake
make

And make failed at build/handcounter.o on a QPixmap call...
Any advice? I'll try this on another linux box I have sitting around.

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Seems that you miss some QT dev libraries. Is working for me in Debian.
It's great how the program autodownload the pics :)

Why does this board invalidate one's session so fast? I had typed up a response, and now I have to rewrite everything.
Anyway, thanks for the input.

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the "ready to start" button would stop working

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The button only works when you have a deck loaded. Other than that, I can't think of any reason for it to not work.

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Does it handle priority, responses, and phases like MWS where its jsut kind of random and up to the players?

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Yes. I have some ideas on how to deal with jerks though. For example, one could open a game than could only be joined by registered players, so any infractions could be saved in people's profiles, or something like that. We need to find a solution that will not be considered annoying/intrusive while avoiding the "n00b -- system: player lost" problem known from MWS.

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registration is closed temporarily.

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It's not actually closed, it just has to be done on the main website. Accounts registered there are automatically synchronized with the message board. Registering gives you the advantage that your user name can't be used by other people since it's password protected. You can also save your decks on the server and do other things that wouldn't be possible otherwise.

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make failed at build/handcounter.o on a QPixmap call...

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Seems that you miss some QT dev libraries.

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The actual reason is that I haven't been testing with Qt 4.5 lately, and they apparently have changed a function call between 4.5 and 4.6. I've made a Qt version check there, so please test the latest git version.

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it needs a discard at random btn

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I wasn't aware that this is such an important thing to have. No problem implementing it though. Maybe this evening... :)

Whether I try to cease watching a game the program ctd's. I run Window's Vista and have no issues otherwise. Excellent program, albeit the interface is plenty unpolished still.

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Whether I try to cease watching a game the program ctd's.

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Thanks. Fixed.

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Originally Posted by mbruker

Thanks. Fixed.

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As far as the shuffler is concerned, does it work better then MWS's?
Also I need a link for this program etc.

As previously explained somewhere else on these boards, the MWS shuffler works "bad" becouse it's actually random. As opposed to real life shuffling, which is influenced a a lot by shuffling techniques. So I'm not exaclty sure what you'd want to have fixed about that, really.

I really liked it!

One thing thou, can I choose what image it displays for certain cards? I'd like to play with my Mirage Forests, ya know, not Zendikar ones. Anyway, just a small detail that would make it feel more confy. :D

Other than that, no complains yet.

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Originally Posted by leander?

As previously explained somewhere else on these boards, the MWS shuffler works "bad" becouse it's actually random. As opposed to real life shuffling, which is influenced a a lot by shuffling techniques. So I'm not exaclty sure what you'd want to have fixed about that, really.

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MWS could implement a shuffling algorithm that actually simulates shuffling as opposed to moving cards to random spots. Or people could just learn to shuffle their damn decks more and get over it.

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Originally Posted by mbruker

[...snip]
The actual reason is that I haven't been testing with Qt 4.5 lately, and they apparently have changed a function call between 4.5 and 4.6. I've made a Qt version check there, so please test the latest git version.


I wasn't aware that this is such an important thing to have. No problem implementing it though. Maybe this evening... :)

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Thanks; it is working now. I can test it on an Arch system as well later.

Downloaded it. So far haven't been able to get anyone to join a game, though.

edit: managed to get in a game against Merfolk. really nice program, I'll be using it more often. Oh, and allowing spectators is awesome.

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Originally Posted by Nihil Credo

Tried it just now. Some very nice features, such as on-the-fly card picture download and (in theory) multiplayer support. But it's still nowhere near ready for regular use: for example, it crashed every time I drew an arrow and I could not manage to start an actual multiplayer game (the "ready to start" button would stop working). Once that is fixed, it'll need some more basic polish, such as dynamic card picture resizing - they're nearly unreadable on a 1920x1080 screen.

If these issues are solved, I can see it becoming a contender. But I wouldn't go around spreading it too much until it's ready to take on the network effect of MWS, or its reputation will be perma-ruined.

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LOL! I read "network effect" and then reflexively opened up wikipedia only to discover that I could just click the link.

Your source for new vocabulary.

If there's going to be new MWS, its probably OPT, which is nearing its 1.0 release, and is being developed for 3 years.

Do you have a link?
Never heard of OPT.

Things I would like:

- Doing something about how unreadable cards are when using a smaller monitor...having to hover over every card in your hand to figure out what they are through the oracle text is a pain...same with stuff on a cluttered battle field. Even an option to scale up the card display area + cards might be ok.

-Some function for die rolls/coin flips for the cards which require them and to determine who goes first...unless there is one and i missed it ;P

-Way to change who controls something plus putting it on their side of the field. for stuff like gilded drake

-List of Hotkeys, accessible in game

-A hotkey for advancing to the next phase/step

Minor Tweaks:
-Card manipulation options to indicate when you discard cards from your hand, sacrifice permanents etc. instead of just "move to graveyard" to create a clearer game record/ avoid ambiguities.

That's all i can think of after messing around with program for a just a little bit. I like the effort overall though and my bad if the functionality i asked for exists and I was just to dumb to figure out how to make it work.

Thanks :)

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Originally Posted by TeKo

Do you have a link?
Never heard of OPT.

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http://www.onlineplaytable.com/

OPT only works in Windows, doesn't have any docs, and it's closed source. Maybe some people don't care about it, but is a must one for me.

Imho OPT sucks cuz it is to slow. You have to wait 1/4 sec for every action you take. This sounds not much, but it simply doesnt feel smooth. OPT is just to clunky!

Quoted from the Cockatrice website.

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A new release is ready on the download page. This one mostly addresses bugs regarding stability. A full list of users on the server has been included, as well as direct chat.
Have fun.

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Capabilities missing in Cockatrice that I noticed when playing a few games this afternoon:

-Using Jace, The Mind Sculptor's first ability. It's hard to fateseal someone unless they exile the top card (letting them see the card when they aren't supposed to) and then you decide if they put it on bottom or on top.

-Using cards like Extirpate. It's hard for a player to search through their opponent's library. All the opponent can do is remove the cards themselves. Same goes with searching the player's hand, without them presenting it forward on the table - card by card. We mustn't forget that these cards are supposed to let you look at the contents of the opponent's library too.

Also, when you put cards on top of your library from your hand -- does it show the cards to your opponent? Because in the chat window it shows the card when I do it, yet it doesn't show the name of cards when my opponent does it. I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly, so more information on that would be much appreciated.

I can post more when I discover it. Two separate buttons - one for addition, the other for subtraction - would make controlling your life total much better. Using the menu or clicking the life total and then using two fingers up or down on my Macbook track pad is kind of awkward, imo.

I like it better than Workstation because it doesn't crash. Workstation crashed everytime I messed around it on my desktop PC (with good specs, etc even). Cockatrice works perfect and has a very friendly, simple interface on my MacBook. Not sure how it stands on the PC platform.

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Originally Posted by leander?

As previously explained somewhere else on these boards, the MWS shuffler works "bad" becouse it's actually random. As opposed to real life shuffling, which is influenced a a lot by shuffling techniques. So I'm not exaclty sure what you'd want to have fixed about that, really.

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The MWS shuffler is only "actually random" for decks of a size of 11 cards or less, due to limitations of the integer type used to store the random number.
Plus, MWS actually implements real-world shuffling techniques. It just doesn't use them during gameplay.

I sent the spanish translation of Cockatrice to the developers and them add it to the official release.
You'll can choose "Español in the next version (or now if you download the sources and compile by yourself).

If anyone want to translate it to his foreign language and want some help, PM me. It's easy.
Currently German, English and Spanish are supported.

To test it, you can fin more players at European night, between 21:00 and 01:00, I believe that this is 3:00pm-7:00pm UTC

Quoted from the Cockatrice website:

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A new release is available on the download page.

ATTENTION:
- You have to recompile your card database using the oracle tool when upgrading. Not doing so will result in cards being placed very awkwardly.
- The new address of the server is play.cockatrice.de. The old server on cockatrice.de is not compatible with the new client version and is going to be shut down eventually.

This release fixes a couple of bugs and also introduces some new features and improvements:
- The table height was reduced to three rows. "Temporary" cards are now in an extra zone on the left. This leads to a higher zoom factor when there are not a lot of cards in one row.
- Zones can now be revealed to selected/all players. Revealing a card from your hand at random is also supported.
- Middle-clicking a card or a card name in the message log opens a popup window showing all the information about the card. This makes the info area in the top right corner superfluous, which is why you can now minimize it if you don't need it.
- Improved text rendering on cards.
- Card tap/untap animation
- Spanish translation by Gocho
- Avatar support (though you can't change your avatar yet)
- and many minor changes you will discover yourselves.

Have fun.

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I've played a couple of games with the new version, and it's definitely much more stable - it never crashed on me at all.

Feature/bugfix request, sorted by importance:

- When spectating, card pictures didn't automatically download for me as they did when I was playing.
- I should be able to manipulate cards in my opponent's library that have been revealed to me (for stuff like Portent). If that is complicated, at least it should be possible to move cards from the top to the bottom of one's library without looking at them, for Jace TMS.
- Automatically displaying the printed P/T on creatures as they enter the battlefield would be extremely useful
- The custom messages I add under "Settings" don't seem to appear anywhere.
- In the right-click menu for cards in hand, "Flip" doesn't work and should be replaced by "Play this card face down" (most people won't remember Shift+double click).

- Hotkeys for adding/removing counters and for altering P/T on the fly would be nice
- An (optional) sideboarding interface more similar to that of the Deck Editor? And/or a button to sort them by CMC (more relevant to SB considerations) rather than by type?
- Saving frequently used token types, MWS-like?

I've been having problems with the server lately. I tells me "Server Timeout" and stops working. Any ideas about what could me wrong?

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- When spectating, card pictures didn't automatically download for me as they did when I was playing.

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That shouldn't make a difference. Do you remember the exact circumstances, or can you even reproduce it?

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- I should be able to manipulate cards in my opponent's library that have been revealed to me (for stuff like Portent). If that is complicated, at least it should be possible to move cards from the top to the bottom of one's library without looking at them, for Jace TMS.

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It's not complicated, it would just be inconsistent since you can't manipulate your opponent's stuff anywhere else in the game either. Putting the card on bottom without looking at it is possible by moving it face down to the table and then moving it back. There might be an easier way to do it in the future.
Your other points will be considered eventually :)

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I tells me "Server Timeout" and stops working.

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This has got to have something to do with your connection to the server. The server itself doesn't seem to have any stability problems right now. Are you sure it's not your internet connection?