Installation Instructions:
--------------------------

The archive format used for the Forge distribution is ".tar.bz2". There are utilities for Windows, Mac OS and the various *nix's that can be used to extract/decompress these ".tar.bz2" archives. We recommend that you extract/decompress the Forge archive into a new and unused folder.

Some people use the Windows application 7zip. This utility can be found at http://www.7-zip.org/download.html. Mac users can double click on the archive and the application Archive Utility will launch and extract the archive. Mac users do not need to download a separate utility.

Once the Forge archive has been decompressed you should then be able to launch Forge by using the included launcher. Launching Forge by double clicking on the forge jar file in the past caused a java heap space error. Forge's memory requirements have increased over time and the launchers increase the java heap space available to Forge. Currently you can launch Forge by double clicking on the forge jar file without a java heap space error but this is likely to change as we add in more sounds, icons, etc.


Updating to a newer version Instructions:
-----------------------------------------

- User data migration -
User data files, like decks, saved gauntlets, and card pictures, are now stored in new directories separate from the program data.  When this version of Forge is first run, it will scan the program directory for all user data and automatically migrate the files to their new homes.  There are three defined user data directories: userDir, cacheDir, and cardPicsDir, and their locations depend on the standard paths for your operating system:

    Windows:
        userDir=%APPDATA%/Forge/
        cacheDir=%LOCALAPPDATA%/Forge/Cache/ (or %APPDATA%/Forge/Cache/ for windows versions before the local/roaming directory split)
    OSX:
        userDir=$HOME/Library/Application Support/Forge/
        cacheDir=$HOME/Library/Caches/Forge/
    Linux:
        userDir=$HOME/.forge/
        cacheDir=$HOME/.cache/forge/

The appdata directory is hidden by default in Win7. Open a Windows Explorer window (or double-click on My Computer] and in the address field type "%appdata%/forge/" (without the quotes). If that doesn't work, type "%appdata"/roaming/forge".

cardPicsDir is defined as <cacheDir>/pics/cards/ by default.  If you wish to use a non-default directory, please see the forge.profile.preferences.example file located in the Forge installation directory root.  You can use this file to, for example, share the card pics directory with another program, such as Magic Workstation.

If you are using the Mac OS X version of Forge then you will find the forge.profile.preferences.example file by right clicking or control clicking on the Forge.app icon. Select "Show Package Contents" from the contextual menu. A Finder window will open and will display a folder named Contents. Navigate to the folder:
    /Contents/Resources/Java/
and you will find the file named forge.profile.preferences.example.

For reference, here is the full list of moved directories and files:

Old location      New location
----------------  ----------------------
res/decks/        <userDir>/decks/
res/gauntlet/     <userDir>/gauntlet/
res/layouts/      <userDir>/preferences/
res/preferences/  <userDir>/preferences/
res/quest/data/   <userDir>/quest/saves/
res/pics/         <cacheDir>/pics/
forge.log         <userDir>/forge.log

- New Import Data dialog -
The Import Pictures dialog, accessed via the Content Downloaders submenu, has received an overhaul and has been reincarnated as the Import Data dialog.  You may recognize it from the automatic data migration procedure if you had any data to migrate when this version was first started.  Instead of just importing pictures from a previous version of Forge, it can now import any kind of Forge data whatsoever.  If you have a directory full of deck files, you can use the Import Data dialog to copy or move them to the appropriate directory.  If you have just downloaded a torrent of high-quality pics for a particular set, use the Import Data dialog to get them to the proper place.  The dialog give you a full listing of all file copy/move operations, so you can see what will happen before you click 'Start Import'.

An importer option was added for including pictures in set-specific card directories that don't map to any currently known card.  This handles the case where people have collected complete sets of pics in anticipation of when Forge supports them.


The Mac OS application version:
-------------------------------

We have packaged the Forge BETA version as a Mac OS application. You can double click the Forge.app icon to launch the forge application on your Apple computer running Mac OS. This application will automatically increase the java heap space memory for you as it launches. This version does not require the forge.command file and it does not need to start the Terminal application as part of the start up process.

If you update your OS to Apple OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion and try to launch a new version of forge that you will likely get a dialog which states "File is damaged and cannot be opened. Please move to trash." 

Mountain Lion comes with a new Gatekeeper feature and this is probably blocking your ability to launch this newer version of forge. Visit the link below and follow the instructions. They are fairly long and detailed.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5290?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Please note that the issue is most likely caused by Mountain Lion's Gatekeeper feature and it is extremely unlikely that the forge dev team will attempt to get a unique Developer ID from Apple and use it to digitally sign our forge app.


Picture location info:
----------------------

The instructions that were found in this section are now out of date. Current instructions can be found in the CHANGES.txt and forge.profile.properties.example files.


Launching Forge and Memory Issues:
----------------------------------

In the past, some people noticed java heap space errors and lengthy pauses. The memory requirements for Forge have increased over time. The default setting on your computer for the java heap space may not be enough to prevent the above problems.

The technically proficient can launch the forge jar with an argument from the CLI. The argument "-Xmx512m" may work for computers with 1 Gig of memory. Computers with 2 Gigs or more of memory should be able to use "-Xmx1024m" as an argument.

We have created several scripts that will launch the Forge jar with "-Xmx1024m" as an argument. People using Windows OS should double click the "forge.exe" file. People using one of the other *nix OS should double click the "forge.sh" file. People using Apple's Mac OS X should download the Mac version of Forge and then double click the "forge.app" application.

The script file must be located in the same folder as the Forge jar file and the Forge jar file name can not be changed. Otherwise, the scripts will not work.

If you have a low end machine you may find that the scripts above will prevent java heap space errors but will find that Forge still runs very slowly at times.

In this case you can try the following. You can try using low quality pictures rather than the high quality pictures. Or you can try removing all of the jpg pictures from the pics folder.


Forge failed to launch:
-----------------------

If you're trying to run Forge for the first time, but it doesn't open up, you can try the following to get some output and help yourself/us solve the problem.

1) Open up a terminal
- Under Windows, press Windows+R, type "cmd", hit enter
- Under Linux, you probably know that yourself. Use your distribution's application menu, and search for "terminal" in a group like "utilities".
- Launch the program named "Console.app" which can be found in your /Applications/Utilities/ folder. Highlight the "All Messages" option and click on the "Clear Display" button before launching Forge.

2) Go to the folder where you unpacked Forge
- Windows: Let's say your forge is in D:\Programs\Forge.
- Type "D:", Enter to change to the D: drive.
- Type "cd \Programs\Forge", Enter to change to the directory.
- NOTE: On nonenglish systems, you might have problems due to the poor localization of Windows. Go to the innermost directory you find (worst case is "\"), then "dir", Enter to show all folders in that folder. Search for the one you're probably wanting. For Example the German "Programme" could really be "Program Files" or something like that.
- NOTE: You might have to "quote" directory names with Spaces in them
- Linux: Let's say your forge is in /home/user/Forge
- Type "cd /home/user/Forge", Enter
- NOTE: You might have to "quote" or 'quote' directory names with Spaces in them
- Current versions of Forge no longer include a launcher script for Mac OS, proceed to step three.

3) Run Forge
- On Windows, just type "forge.exe", Enter
- On Linux, just type "forge.sh", Enter
- Launch the Forge application bundle by double clicking on the program named "Forge.app".

Now you will probably see some sort of Error in the console. the first few lines contain a message that might help you. If you can't fix the problem yourself, please take the complete output and report your problem on the Forum.


The Card Pictures disappear when you restart Forge:
---------------------------------------------------

if you're running Windows 7, make sure you're running the program as an admin, otherwise no changes will be made to your system (nothing is saved). In Windows 7, Forge may be happier when run from somewhere in the My Documents structure, (they call them Libraries now???) or from another partition other than C:. The user has little permission to do much on the system drive.


Java Issues:
------------

Forge is likely to be compatible with Java 7 at this time. Some people have used forge with Java 7 and have not reported any problems that are related to Java 7. If you would like to upgrade to Java 7 and have held off because of Forge then you may upgrade as we do not think that it will cause an incompatibility type of problem. We will continue to try to maintain compatibility with Java 6 for the foreseeable future.

Forge requires Java 6 and will not run if you have an earlier version of Java. You will need to update to Java 6.


Card Picture Issues:
--------------------

The server which contained the high quality card pictures is now off line and these high quality card pictures are no longer available as a download from within the forge application. We apologize, but the current dev team do not maintain this server and this matter is out of our control.

Some people are choosing to re-download all of the low quality card and card set pictures when they install the next version of forge. This consumes large amounts of bandwidth needlessly. Please be careful!


The instructions that were found in this section are now out of date. Current instructions can be found in the CHANGES.txt and forge.profile.properties.example files.


When you install a new version of Forge, please follow the instructions that can be found in the CHANGES.txt and forge.profile.properties.example files. This will allow you to reuse your previous picture files and other user data files. This way you will only have to download the pictures for the new cards.

This should save enough bandwidth that everyone will be able to download the new set pictures from the cardforge server. We do appreciate your efforts to save bandwidth. Thank you.


Reporting Bugs:
---------------

To report a bug with an official beta release, please follow the instructions at http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/Forge#I_think_I_found_a_bug_in_Forge._What_do_I_do.3F .

To report a bug (1) with an alpha test, (2) with a nightly build, (3) with something compiled from the official Forge software repository, or (4) with the leading edge (formerly "SVN Bug Reports"), please do not submit your bugs to the forum. Instead, please follow the instructions at http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/How_to_File_a_Bug_Report_with_Mantis.

Forge will now allow you to upload a crash report to the Forge forum at CCGH.


A new very hard tier category in Quest mode:
--------------------------------------------

You will notice a new very hard tier category for the opponent. As you change from the previous tier to the next tier (easy to medium, etc.) you will now notice that there is not an abrupt change over. There is now a mixture of decks from the previous tier and the next tier for you to chose from. When you win a match you will complete the advancement to the next tier.


The Forge Booster Draft mode:
-----------------------------

A significant re-write of the Booster Draft functionality has taken place. Draft from the Full card pool, sets/blocks or custom drafts (like cube). The AI will pick cards more intelligently, and builds decks from picked cards. Old method would pick cards for deck and then stop picking new cards.


The developer mode:
-------------------

The developer mode gives us a few new features. These new features will primarily interest the devs as it will now help to test out specific cards while testing combat code changes. You can turn on or off this mode at the Home View -> Game Settings -> Preferences -> Gameplay Options section.

When turned on the battlefield will have a tab named "Dev Mode". There are a number of useful options in this tab. You can disable loss by milling, generate mana in your mana pool, tutor for card, etc.


New foil card image available:
------------------------------

Rob and Marc have worked together to add in a new feature which will overlay a card's image with a foil like film. A few random cards will have a foil like image in constructed mode games and possibly quest mode games. There is a check box on the Home View -> Game Settings -> Preferences view that you can use to turn this feature on or off.


Informational icons overlays for cards on the battlefield:
----------------------------------------------------------

The Battlefield will now display three symbolic icons that will overlay creature cards. These icons are used to denote summoning sickness and whether a creature is attacking or blocking.  Added additional icons that will be drawn over the cards in the battlefield for phasing and counters at a later date. The attack/block/phasing icons and counters will now also be shown on large cards, only casting cost will be omitted. Lands and tokens with different amounts/types of counters will no longer stack. Tokens with different summoning sickness will no longer stack. Lands that become creatures will now always be moved to the front row.


Optional choice for abilities that are on the stack:
----------------------------------------------------

When a spell or an ability appears on the stack and it says "(OPTIONAL)" you can right-click it to decide if you want to always accept or to decline it.


Multiple quest files:
---------------------
 
Multiple quest files are now supported. This allows you to start a new quest and give it a unique name, and it will not overwrite your previous quest game file.


The new UI now uses tabbed panes:
---------------------------------

We now have a tab system for sub-menus in the home screen. Quest mode refactored to fit this tab system. It's now considerably easier to use - less cramped, less clicks, more functionality.


The quest mode card shop:
-------------------------

You can now buy PreCon decks, Starter packs, Tournament packs and Fat packs from the quest mode card shop.


Player Avatar pictures:
-----------------------

The UI has a few new features including the option to pick an avatar from a collection of pictures. This can be accessed from the Settings -> Avatars tab.


The organizational structure of the /res/decks/ folder:
-------------------------------------------------------

The organizational structure of the /res/decks/ folder has been improved and we now have these six subdirectories:

/decks/constructed/
/decks/cube/
/decks/draft/
/decks/plane/
/decks/scheme/
/decks/sealed/

You can place your deck files from an earlier version of Forge into the /res/decks/ folder. When you next launch Forge these decks will be converted to a newer format and will be moved into the proper subdirectory.

Please not that your /decks/ directory no longer resides in you /res/ directory and has been moved to <userDir>/decks/.


User-created themes for Forge's background, fonts, colors and icons:
--------------------------------------------------------------------

When you select a new skin in the Preferences view Forge should save the change to the preference file, quit and then automatically re-launch with the new skin displayed. During testing some people have noticed that Forge is not restarting on their computer and they have to re-launch Forge themselves.

If anyone is interested in creating additional themes for inclusion in the Forge project then you should visit this topic at CCGH:

http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8449


The Battlefield UI:
-------------------

The Battlefield UI has a new feature implemented which allows us to move and resize the panels to new places on the battlefield. This allows us to personalize the battlefield display to our own liking. You should try moving panels by clicking and dragging their tabs.

If you do not like your efforts to personalize the battlefield display you can revert the display to the default layout by clicking on the Dock button labeled "Revert layout".


The pets in quest mode:
-----------------------

Some adjustments to the pets in quest mode were made. The quest mode plant wall's Deathtouch ability was deemed to be too strong against the AI's attack code and this ability was changed to Wither in this version. This includes a new pet.


The dock tab has a new button labeled "Open Layout":
----------------------------------------------------

The dock now has a new button labeled "Open Layout" along with old button with original function "Revert Layout". Modifying the battlefield layout will result in your changes being saved to a file named  "match_preferred.xml". You can copy and rename that file to share your layouts with other people.


The new Deck Editors:
---------------------

The work on the new UI is now finished and this version adds the new UI to the deck editors. We all would like to thank Doublestrike for his contributions to the new UI.

The new deck editors include:

* a better text search (can search for multiple terms, and "not" terms
* interval filters for P/T and CMC
* add/remove 4
* better statistics and draw probabilities
* Toggle-able, sort-able, resize-able, move-able columns
* and of course uses the drag cell layout.


Performance issues on low end machines:
---------------------------------------

Several people have noticed forge slowing down after playing a number of matches without quitting forge in between the matches that are played. The new UI may be involved somehow. We also hope to have this figured out and fixed in the near future. Please be patient in the meanwhile. A recent fix was implemented that should improve the slowdown problem somewhat.

A lot of time and effort have gone into fixing the memory leak problems that were recently noticed and reported to the dev team. Doublestrike and Slapshot deserve our applause and we are very thankful. People should be able to now play long multi match sessions without noticing slow downs and pauses.

Some performance changes were made to Forge and it should now operate more quickly on low end machines. Mid to high level machines are unlikely to notice as much of a performance increase. We tried to hunt down all of the bugs that resulted from these changes but there may still be a bug or two in this beta release.


A note about winning booster packs in quest mode:
-------------------------------------------------

If you win a quest mode match, you get a booster pack for every 1 or 2 (default) Wins, depending on the difficulty level. If you lose and you are playing on easy mode, you get a booster pack every 1 (default) Loss.


The new UI:
-----------

The first step was to update the battlefield window. The second step was to update the New Game window (now named Home view). We got constructed mode and then quest modes working first. We got the draft and sealed modes working again afterwards.

The work on the new UI is now for the most part finished. We should not expect major changes or major additions to the UI. Future betas may include a few minor bug fixes to the UI. And we may also include a few minor tweaks.


The new Alpha Strike button:
----------------------------

A new Alpha Strike button was added to the dock. The Dock is one of the tabs availble in the battlefield view.


Using Forge with the new Mac OS Mountain Lion:
----------------------------------------------

If you update your OS to Apple OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion and try to launch a new version of forge that you will likely get a dialog which states "File is damaged and cannot be opened. Please move to trash." 

Mountain Lion comes with a new Gatekeeper feature and this is probably blocking your ability to launch this newer version of forge. Visit the link below and follow the instructions. They are fairly long and detailed.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5290?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Please note that the issue is most likely caused by Mountain Lion's Gatekeeper feature and it is extremely unlikely that the forge dev team will attempt to get a unique Developer ID from Apple and use it to digitally sign our forge app.


The Forge sealed deck mode:
---------------------------

Sealed Deck mode has had a complete rewrite. Full cardpool, block and custom modes are supported. Custom sealed files in the res/sealed folder are exactly the same as custom draft files, except the file extension ".sealed".

A distinction may now be made between AI decks and Human decks, with the addition of a deck Metadata "PlayerType", which right now just helps by sorting human decks into the human combo box and AI decks into the AI combo box.

The Forge sealed deck mode has undergone significant changes. You can find these in the 1.2.14 beta and later versions. Instead of a single sealed deck match, you can now choose a 1-5 round gauntlet-style tournament where you will face increasingly difficult (probably) opponent decks. You can also choose to use starter packs instead of boosters in the block mode, choose to use 3-12 boosters instead of the default 6 in the full cardpool and custom (cube) modes, and so on.

Perhaps the most notable changes to the sealed deck mode are related to "fantasy blocks" and the greatly increased flexibility you have when you are building your own blocks.


The new Gauntlet mode:
----------------------

A new Gauntlet mode has been added. This mode gives you four options: Quick Gauntlet, Build A Gauntlet, Load Gauntlet and Gauntlet Contests. You can create a group of computer decks to play against by choosing either Custom user decks, Quest Decks, Fully random color decks or Semi-random theme decks.


The new Variant mode (was named Multiplayer):
---------------------------------------------

A new multiplayer mode has also been added. You should be able to play against multiple AI opponents at this time. You should note that the current Archenemy mode does not use Schemes at this time.

A lot of things are planned for this new multiplayer mode and it will take time to finish. Please enjoy what we have at this time and be patient. :)

Since Multiplayer is so new, not all cards will be 100% compatible right away as we expand scripting to handle multiple players.

The older match layout files are incompatible with the new multiplayer mode. The original match_default.xml, match_preferred.xml and the match_preferred.xml saved to a different name files have to go and can no longer be used. You can keep your editor_preferred.xml file. But you will have to setup your match view panels using the new match_default.xml file.


The new damage dialog:
----------------------

The new damage dialog now uses the new UI.


When choosing cards, sources, etc. using a list box:
----------------------------------------------------

When choosing cards, sources, etc. using a list box, the currently selected card will now be visually highlighted on the play field (to better distinguish between e.g. three different cards with the same name on the play field). Now the visual highlighting of a card will also work when declaring the order of blockers.


Return to Ravnica Guild Sealed Deck mode:
-----------------------------------------

Added Return to Ravnica Guild Sealed Deck mode. Start a new sealed deck game, choose "Block / Set" and then scroll down until you find "Return to Ravnica Guild Sealed (block)". Select that. From the "Choose Set Combination" menu, select the first option. You will be prompted twice to pick your guild (once for the promo cards, once for the actual booster - you should choose the same guild both times). After that you're ready to go.


Targeting arrows are now available in the battlefield display:
--------------------------------------------------------------

The Targeting Overlay has been fixed and re-enabled. It now correctly shows the targeting arcs in cases when it previously showed them in the wrong direction. The match UI is properly refreshed when the targeting arcs are switched on/off. The defunct "mouseover-only" mode is currently disabled (it crashes Forge, difficult to fix).

The visuals for targeting arrows has been improved and looks better, with an adaptation of the arrow drawing code from MAGE. Thanks to the MAGE team for permission for the adaptation.

Some people have noticed slowdowns when Targeting arrows are enabled. The battlefield Dock tab includes a targeting icon. You can set the targeting arrows to Off or to Card mouseover to speed up the game.


The new sound system:
---------------------

Forge now has a sound effect system in place. Several basic sounds are linked to the code now and will be enabled when "Enable Sounds" option is checked in the preferences. It supports WAV and AU file formats.

Currently supported sound effects are:
(the ones already available in the standard installation of Forge are marked with a [*])

AddCounter [*] - add_counter.wav - triggered when a counter is added to a permanent.
Artifact[*] - artifact.wav - triggered when an artifact is played.
ArtifactCreature [*] - artifact_creature.wav - triggered when an artifact creature is played.
BlackLand [*] - black_land.wav - triggered when a land with the "B" mana ability is played.
Block [*] - block.wav - triggered when a blocker is assigned.
BlueLand [*] - blue_land.wav - triggered when a land with the "U" mana ability is played.
Creature [*] - creature.wav - triggered when a creature is played.
Damage - damage.wav - triggered when a creature is damaged.
Destroy [*] - destroy.wav - triggered when a permanent is destroyed.
Discard [*] - discard.wav - triggered when a player discards a card.
Draw [*] - draw.wav - triggered when a player draws a card.
Enchantment [*] - enchant.wav - triggered when an enchantment is played.
EndOfTurn [*] - end_of_turn.wav - triggered at the end of turn.
Equip [*] - equip.wav - triggered when an equipment is equipped.
Exile - exile.wav - triggered when a card is exiled.
FlipCoin [*] - flip_coin.wav - triggered when a coin is flipped.
GreenLand [*] - green_land.wav - triggered when a land with the "G" mana ability is played.
Instant [*] - instant.wav - triggered when an instant is played.
LifeGain - life_gain.wav - triggered when a player gains life.
LifeLoss [*] - life_loss.wav - triggered when a player loses life.
LoseDuel[*] - lose_duel.wav - triggered when a player loses a duel.
ManaBurn - mana_burn.wav - triggered during a mana burn if the appropriate rule is enabled.
OtherLand - other_land.wav - triggered when a land with non-color mana abilities or any other land is played.
Planeswalker [*] - planeswalker.wav - triggered when a planeswalker is played.
Poison [*] - poison.wav - triggered when a player receives a poison counter.
RedLand [*] - red_land.wav - triggered when a land with the "R" mana ability is played.
Regen - regeneration.wav - triggered when a creature is regenerated.
RemoveCounter - remove_counter.wav - triggered when a counter is removed from a permanent.
Sacrifice - sacrifice.wav - triggered when a permanent is sacrificed.
Sorcery [*] - sorcery.wav - triggered when a sorcery is played.
Shuffle [*] - shuffle.wav - triggered when a player shuffles his deck.
Tap [*] - tap.wav - triggered when a permanent is tapped.
Token [*] - token.wav - triggered when a token is created.
Untap [*] - untap.wav - triggered when a permanent is untapped.
WhiteLand [*] - white_land.wav - triggered when a land with the "W" mana ability is played.
WinDuel [*] - win_duel.wav - triggered when a player wins the duel.

All sounds use the event bus model now and are not called directly.


The new Vanguard mode:
----------------------

We now have a Vanguard mode implemented. This is a work in progress. The older match layout files are incompatible with the new Vanguard mode. The original match_default.xml, match_preferred.xml and the match_preferred.xml saved to a different name files need to be deleted and can no longer be used. You can keep your editor_preferred.xml file. But you will have to setup your match view panels using the new match_default.xml file.


The new Archenemy mode:
-----------------------

Schemes have been added to the Archenemy mode. This is a work in progress and there may be a bug or two for us to find.


Quest Worlds:
-------------

This version allows you to travel between the regular quest world and the other worlds (Shandalar, Ravnica, Jamuraa, more may be added in the future) to get different duel opponents and challenges. You will have to complete your current challenges before traveling or you will lose them. 

World-specific format enforcing and starting world selection are available. Something has to be done about locked (non-repeatable) challenges so they do not end up locking other challenges in different worlds.


Forge now has sideboards for the human player:
----------------------------------------------

Sideboards have been implemented for Human players. We currently have:

* Sideboard creation support in relevant deck editor modes.
* In-game sideboarding with persistence between rounds in a match and sorting of cards in the in-game sideboard editor.
* Sideboard supported as a zone, with some relevant cards already in.
* Correct validation of decks, both before the game starts and between the rounds (Limited min 40, Constructed min 60, free-form sideboard/main in Draft and Sealed, 1:1 sideboarding with 0 or 15 cards allowed in sideboard in Constructed (all variants) and Quest; OK to have less than minimum between rounds in a match in all modes if lost cards on ante).
* Correct (fingers crossed) interaction of sideboarding with other relevant aspects of Forge rule enforcement (mulligan and ante interactions were corrected, initial hand and library between rounds were both corrected, everything else looks so far so good).

We don't yet have:

* AI sideboarding.


The deck conformance/legality limitation:
-----------------------------------------

The deck conformance/legality is now a user-toggable preference and is enabled by default. You no longer need to turn on dev mode to play an illegal deck.


Using Forge on displays that are only 600 pixels tall or slightly larger:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The "Sanctioned Format: Constructed" view should now be compatible with displays that are only 600 pixels tall. The deck list at 600 pixels tall should now display three lines of text rather than less than a single line of text.


We are looking for help in finding additional sound files for the new sound feature:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This version of forge includes a few sound files for the new sound effect system. While we have several sounds assigned to a few of the available events there are a number of events that do not yet have a assigned sound file. This should be considered a work in progress and we could use some help in finding interesting sounds that we can add to forge.

The sound files need to be in wav or au format, wav appears to be more widespread but the code can handle either format. The sound files need to be copyright-free and they should be in the public domain.

You can either record your own sounds if you have the necessary equipment or you may be able to find an appropriate sound on a website such as http://www.freesound.org/browse/

You should note that sound files can be large and we would like to avoid this if possible. A good size to shoot for would be 50 K or less. There is a freeware sound editor that may have versions for all operating systems. This app is named Audacity.

We have a forge forum topic at the Collectible Card Games Headquarters web site that is devoted to finding sounds for this new sound system. Please visit this topic and contribute a sound or two. We can use your help and assistance. :)

http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8570


Notes about the second Quest World, Jamuraa:
--------------------------------------------

A second Quest World, Jamuraa, has been added to Forge. When playing Quest mode, it is now possible to 'Travel' between the regular Quest environment and the two Worlds, Shandalar and Jamuraa, both of which include special formats, opponents and challenges. Or you can start a new Quest in any of them.

Like Shandalar, Jamuraa is a fantasy world. Its peaceful existence has recently been wrecked by a planar conjunction that shattered the barriers between Jamuraa and the infernal planes known as Jahim, Saqar, and Jahannam. The demon planeswalkers who rule those planes, and their hellish sister, Lilith, are now extending their influence over Jamuraa and gradually destroying the whole continent. Your task is to fight their minions and ultimately challenge the four demons - but beware, their destructive might is unfathomable!

From a technical perspective, the following sets are available to the player in Jamuraa: 
5th Edition, Arabian Nights, Mirage, Visions, Weatherlight.

Jamuraa contains:
- 81 opponent decks, broken down as follows: 13 'easy' decks, 17 'medium' decks, 31 'hard' decks, and 20 'very hard' decks.
- 9 challenges, including the 4 demon planeswalkers (the 3 demon rulers and Lilith) and 5 other special scenarios set in Jamuraa. All challenges are repeatable. All are fairly hard, and the 4 demon challenges are especially fiendish.
For the most part, the opponent duel and challenge decks are built with the same format restrictions as your own cardpool, and some of the easiest opponent decks were in fact based on a limited cardpool. But there will be exceptions, especially in the hard/very hard decks and challenges, which can be more like Vintage/T1 decks than pure Mirage + 5th Edition decks. There will be older cards here and there, and maybe even a random Tempest card or two (although these are extremely scarce!). 
Hint: if you find the later 'Vintage' opponent decks unfair or near-impossible to beat with your 5th Edition/Mirage block cards, you can Travel to Shandalar and collect some old power cards there, and then return to Jamuraa. Just remember to complete your challenges before traveling.

Information on the quest worlds format can be found in this topic:

http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=9258


New Deck Editor features with improved Filters:
-----------------------------------------------

Some work is being done on the various deck editors -- including the quest spell shop -- and we hope to add in additional features while improving the UI. Here is a quick tutorial on the new features:

FILTERS
The Filters tab has been removed and filters are now controlled from the Card Catalog tab. Pretty much everything that used to be a checkbox is now represented by a toggle button. The statistics labels at the top for colors and card types can now be clicked to toggle display of the related cards. Clicking the Total Cards label in the upper left will alternately set all filters on and off.

Text searches are done by just typing the the text box. The results will update as you type. Use the combo box to the right of the text box to set whether the search should be for cards with or without the specified text. The three toggle buttons to the right of the combo box allow you to specify where in the card the text should (or should not) match. Complex text searches, such as for goblin creatures with haste but not with kicker costs, are possible by stacking the search filters. Put the current search filter on the stack by selecting the "Add filter" button to the left of the text box and choosing the "Current text search" option. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on OSX). This will keep your current text search applied, but will clear the text box and allow you to input the next search filter. To perform the example goblin search above, you would:
1) Ensure "in" is displayed in the the combo box. Enter "goblin" in the text box and deselect Name and Text so that only Type is selected.
2) Hit Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on OSX). Notice the "Contains: 'goblin" in: type" filter appears below the text box.
3) Type "haste" in the text box. Deselect Type and select Text. Hit Ctrl+Enter.
4) Change the combo box from "in" to "not in". Type "kicker" in the text box.
The shown entries match your combined search filter. Click the little 'x' in the upper right corner of each search widget to remove that filter from the filter stack.

Format filters allow you to restrict the shown cards to those that are legal in a particular format. Select the "Add filter" button, hover over the "Format" submenu, and choose one of the defined formats. The filter will appear below the text box and will be combined with whatever other filters you have on the stack. Hover the mouse over the filter widget to see details on allowed sets and banned cards. Keep in mind that cards from other, non-listed sets may still appear in the results if they are just reprints of allowed cards.

Set filters are similar to format filters except that a window will come up with a grid of checkboxes so you can select exactly which sets you would like shown. There is a checkbox at the bottom (off by default) that will allow the filter to include cards reprinted in unselected sets, just like the format filter above. If you don't check this checkbox, only cards printed in the selected sets will be shown, allowing you to focus on just that set's version of a particular card. This is very useful in quest mode when determining which cards in a set you have yet to collect.

Value range filters allow you to restrict the cards by power, toughness, and/or converted mana cost (CMC). The text boxes that appear in the filter widget are editable and update the shown cards in realtime as you modify the numbers.

Quest World filters are similar to Format filters in that they restrict the shown cards to a group of sets, respecting lists of banned cards. They are useful when constructing decks that will be valid in the various quest worlds. You can have more than one quest world filter active at the same time; useful if you are constructing a deck that will be used in multiple worlds.

SPELL SHOP
The spell shop interface has also received some usability enhancements. The first one you may notice is the addition of a new column named "Owned". This column is intended to help players decide whether buying an item is likely to be beneficial. The data in this column varies depending on what kind of item the row represents:
Cards: A number indicating how many of a particular card a player already owns
Preconstructed decks: A "YES" or "NO" indicating whether the deck exists in the player's deck list
Booster/fat packs: A percentage indicating how close a player is to completing the related set.  "Complete" means at least one of every basic land and at least 4 of every other card.
If you don't want this column, it can be turned off in the editor preferences.

The new "Sell excess cards" button appears above the player's library. Clicking it will sell all cards that are not basic lands until only four copies of the cards remain. It's a one-click "cleanup" of the library and a great way to safely and quickly regain some cash.

The "Full catalog view" button appears to the left of the "Buy Card" button. Toggling this button will switch between showing the store's inventory and the full catalog. By applying a filter to show only a particular set (or group of sets), players can use this view to discover exactly which cards they do not own. Buying and selling cards is disabled while in this view.

Multibuy: By selecting any number of items and hitting space (or selecting the "Buy Card" or "Sell Card" buttons), a player can buy one of everything selected.

Find-as-you-type is now implemented for Deck Editor tables. Just start typing while the table has focus and the next card with a matching string in its name will be highlighted. If more than one card matches, hit Enter to select the next matching card. A popup panel will appear with the search string so you know what you are searching for. If no cards match the string, the string will be highlighted in red. Normally, if you hit the spacebar while a card is selected in one table, the card will be moved to the other table (catalog/deck). When the popup is displayed, space characters are interpreted as part of the search string. Find-as-you-type mode is automatically exited after 5 seconds of inactivity, or hit Escape to exit find-as-you-type mode immediately.

The Deck Editor has also gained some hotkey and context menu abilities. R-click on a card (or a group of selected cards) for a list of actions and keyboard shortcuts. In particular, you can now transfer cards 4 at a time using the keyboard and interact with the sideboard from anywhere. Also remember that you can jump to the other table with the arrow keys and jump to the text filter with ctrl/cmd+f. From the text filter, you can jump down to the tables by pressing enter.


The Game Log:
-------------

Added a 'copy to clipboard' button on WinLose screen so players can easily copy the game log.


The UI is more keyboard-friendly:
---------------------------------

Work was also done on making the UI more keyboard-friendly. For example, the OK button should now stay focused during matches, so you can advance through the stages by hitting Enter without having to go over and click the button all the time. If you find the button is losing focus, please report it as a bug.


Gatecrash Guild Sealed game mode:
---------------------------------

Gatecrash Guild Sealed game mode has been added. To use it, start a new Sealed Mode Game, select "Block / Set" and "Gatecrash Guild Sealed". Select the first (default) configuration in the "Choose Set Combination" dialog, and when asked to pick your boosters, choose the guild you want twice (once for the guild-specific booster, and then for the extra promo cards). 

The following cards are not included in the guild boosters of this game mode because they are not currently implemented in Forge: Bane Alley Broker, Bioshift, Killing Glare, Simic Manipulator.


New User Preferences:
---------------------
The display of clones and copied cards is now a matter of user preference. A user to now choose whether a clone/copied card should use its native artwork or the artwork of the card being cloned. So if Infinite Reflection is played and the "Clones use original card art" preference is checked, the cards that become copies of the enchanted card will still use their own art whereas by default they would all use the card art from the enchanted card.


Flippable Cards:
----------------

Flippable cards -- cards that have an alternate card printed upside-down at the bottom -- will now flip their appearance on the battlefield when in a flipped state.  They are now also flippable in the card viewer by clicking on the card image, just like double-sided "transform" cards have been.  When flipped this way, the details of the flipped side can be examined in the Card Details oracle text.


High Quality Booster Pictures:
------------------------------

Forge will now download high quality booster pictures. If you are interested in these high quality booster pictures, then you should delete the pictures that are found in your <cacheDir>/pics/boosters/ directory. Then download the new pictures by using the Home View -> Game Settings -> Content Downloaders -> Download Quest Images button.


Flip, Transform and Morph cards:
--------------------------------

When you mouse over a flip, transform or Morph (controlled by you) card in battlefield, you may hold SHIFT to see other state of that card at the side panel that displays card picture and details.


Alternate sound system:
-----------------------

Implemented an alternative sound system for people who have issues with sound gradually or instantly disappearing on certain Linux systems. Can be switched on/off in the preferences without needing a restart. Uses the standard Java Sound API so it doesn't require an external dependency. It's non-caching and, as such, less efficient than the regular sound system, so only use it in case you have issues with the default system, otherwise leave the option unchecked.


Human vs Human play over the internet:
--------------------------------------

Some initial code has been added that will at some point in the future allow human vs human play over the internet. This is a work in progress and is far from being implemented at this time. Please be patient. Anyone who is curious can read the messages in the http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=9837 topic.


Random Deck generation:
-----------------------

Deck generation is now strictly conforming the colors chosen. You won't get any Boros Reckoner in a RG deck, that could be added before the change (because its manacost could be paid with red mana). Avacyn's Piligrim won't be added in a deck that has green but doesn't have white, though it does not consume, but produces white mana. As well there won't be added any creatures whose activated abilities require colors not choosen for a given deck. That is to say that now color identity is used for deck generation, that allows a better filtering of cards.


Single declare attackers step:
------------------------------

Combined declare attackers step for all Defending Players/Planeswalkers. On declare attackers step you have to click the entiry you are about to attack and then click on the creatures that should attack it. Clicking on a planeswalker or player visually highlights it, so that you will see whos attackers are assigned at the moment. By default your first opponent is pre-selected.


Booster slots:
--------------

Booster slots are now way more customizable. This change allows us to implement DGM boosters correctly. Note that custom cube .draft and .sealed files have changed their format. They require a booster description instead of Num(Rarity) N lines. Find example records in files describing SkieraCube and Juzamjedi cude coming with Forge. Singleton parameter is obsolette, since all cards within a booster slot are unique. Ignore rarity is also deprecated, for Booster options allow you to pick cards regardless of rarity with 'any' word standing for ignored rarity. (ex: 15 Any)


Quest challenge start in play cards:
------------------------------------

We have received reports that the quest challenge start in play cards are not appearing on the battlefield for people who were playing the classic mode rather than the fantasy mode. This should now be fixed.


Commander:
----------

We are taking baby steps toward Commander but there are some hurdles left before we get there. We need to implement the replacement effect that moves the commander back to your command zone; the cost-changing depending on how many times you've cast your commander; generating colorless mana if you try to generate mana outside your commanders color identity and AI for all the above.


Customize your Sealed Deck games with fantasy blocks:
-----------------------------------------------------

We have an informative topic at CCGH which explains how you can create "fantasy blocks" and the greatly increased flexibility you have when you are building your own blocks. Please see the topic http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8164 for more information. Also note that the syntax was recently changed, see message http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8164&view=unread#p117389 for additional information.


Custom Cube:
------------

1. You can create and save your cube as a constructed deck. Place the .dck file in the /res/cube directory.
2. To create a description file in the /res/draft folder you need to make a copy of any existing *.draft file and the adjust the deckfile and booster structure to meet your needs.

This file format is outdated. "NumCards" is no longer used. Instead there should be a line describing a booster.

Find some examples below:

Booster: 1 Rare, 11 Common, 3 Uncommon
Booster: 5 Common, 5 Uncommon, 5 Rare, 1 Mythic
Booster: 16 Any
Booster: 10 Common, 3 Uncommon, 1 RareMythic, 1 BasicLand


Blank screen when starting a match:
-----------------------------------

This problem should be fixed. At least you'll see an exception/crash report describing why the match didn't start instead of a blank screen.


Duplicate triggers problem solved:
----------------------------------

This problem has now been fixed. (Mana Vortex required 2 lands, Emrakul gave 2 extra turns, Empty the Warrens creatures two Storm triggers instead of one.)


Constructed mode AI vs AI matches:
----------------------------------

Added support for AI vs AI matches. There is a checkbox which allows you to view the AI vs AI match. This is a work in progress and is not finished. While it appears to work OK there is still a need for a few UI changes. Please be patient. These AI vs AI matches will not be a good way to test out various deck types against one another as the AI does not understand card combos and the AI is still limited at this time.


Constructed mode Human vs Human Hotseat matches:
------------------------------------------------

Hotseat matches are now possible. This mode has some known bugs to fix. At this time both players must use the same computer. Human vs Human matches via the internet is planned and should become available sometime in the future. Please be patient.


Using predetermined decks in quest mode Challenges:
---------------------------------------------------

Added the capability to play Challenges vs predetermined decks (along with a few other related options to disallow specific quest mode things). Added Sorin vs Tibalt, and Tibalt vs Sorin as examples of Challenges that force you to use a specific Deck. (They seemed to be the best duel deck compatibility for the AI).


Targeting Overlay:
------------------

Targeting arrows will now be shown for equipments equipping permanents currently under opponent's control (for those rare cases when e.g. an equipped creature gets Switcheroo'd for something else).


The AI Drafting has been improved:
----------------------------------

The AI evaluated the basic lands higher than anything else. Fixed. The AI would pick cards with RemAIDeck but only at a much lowered pick rate. For example the best pick in a 250 card set would become the 75th best pick, the 20th best pick would become the 95th and so on. Divided this factor by 3 (so the first pick would become the 25th pick). Please test whether this has improved the draft experience.


Planechase AI:
--------------

This version of Forge includes basic support for AI opponents making use of the planar die in Planechase game mode. The AI will be able to use the "Roll the planar die" ability for most of the planes currently supported by Forge. Please note that this AI is currently in its infant stage, so don't expect it to utilize the planar die in a very smart fashion.


Adding additional opponent decks to your /res/quest/duels/ directory:
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Some people are adding additional opponent decks to their /res/quest/duels/ directory in an attempt to increase the number of opponents they will face while playing a quest.

The decks located in your /res/quest/duels/ directory are text files that have a file extension of ".dck" rather than the file extension ".txt". These deck files can be loaded into a basic text editor. You can view the contents of the deck files this way.

There is a metadata line for the deck's difficulty setting. Normal decks do not contain this metadata line for the deck's difficulty setting. Starting with Forge version 1.4.3 any deck file that does not include the deck's difficulty setting will be automatically assigned a value of "medium".

You can add a line for the deck's difficulty setting using a text editor and then saving the deck file. Currently, Forge will recognize the following settings:

Difficulty=easy
Difficulty=medium
Difficulty=hard
Difficulty=very hard

At the start of a new quest you will only face opponent decks that have an easy difficulty setting. After you have won a number of matches you will then face the opponent decks that have a medium difficulty setting. After you have won an additional number of matches you will then face the opponent decks that have a hard difficulty setting. Opponent decks that have a very hard difficulty setting may occassionally appear as a possible opponent instead of a opponent deck that has a hard difficulty setting.


- version 1.4.4 -
We were not able to release version 1.4.4 and are releasing 1.4.5 instead. Enjoy.


- Deck Editor and General UI improvements -
You can now right-click on a color filter button to show only cards of that color, filtering out all other colors. Similar with card type filter buttons.
Can double click row for deck to open it (in addition to clicking edit icon)
The selected tab on each draggable pane will now be remembered between sessions
Fixed bug where hover effect didn't work the first time hovering over a row that had just been deselected
Fixed bug where middle and right clicking buttons did the same behavior as left clicking, and fixed bug where clicking multiple buttons quickly (such as filters) while moving the mouse around would result in clicks not registering sometimes.
Fixed so cards are "selected" on mouse up instead of mouse down, allowing things like drag drop and zoom to work if the card is currently actionable
Fixed so, after dragging a pane tab to a new location, the pane it was in before selects its most recent remaining tab instead of being blank


- Card Zoomer -
Now you can gaze at your HQ images in all their glory with just a flick of the mousewheel, holding the middle mouse button down, or holding the left and right mouse buttons down at the same time. This feature will also increase the size of low quality pics up to the size used for high quality pics, but the image will not be very clear.

Instructions:
- Works on any card image in the Deck Editor or Duel screen.
- Move your mouse over the card you want to zoom and mouse-wheel forward.
- Mouse-wheel back, mouse click or pressing ESC closes the zoomed image.

Limitations:
- Only works with the mouse wheel at the moment.
- Does not show the other side of double-sided cards yet.

WIP:
- Press and hold the CTRL key while mousing over a card to see zoomed image.
- Flipping double-sided card.


- Preferences updates -
All reset buttons now appear under Troubleshooting section. Increased visibility of Troubleshooting section by moving to the top of the preferences screen. Added confirmation dialogs to all reset buttons.

Converted Skins list to themed combo and added to new Visual Themes section. Converted AI Profile list to themed combo and moved to top of GamePlay section. New Visual Themes setting to hide or show background image on match screen. Default show.

These new themed combo boxes when used with a theme which uses white colored text will cause readability problems for people using Mac OS X. A new "Themed ComboBox" setting is now available in the preferences section which will enable/disable themed combos should you be having readability problems with the new themed combo used in the preferences page.


- Window size/position now remembered between sessions -
Works with multiple monitors.
Remembers whether the window was maximized or un-maximized.
The first time you launch Forge after this update, the window will be maximized on default monitor, with 800x600 centered being used if you un-maximize. This matches how it worked before.
Remembers last un-maximized size even if the window is currently maximized such that, if you un-maximize the window, it will restore to that size at the center of the current monitor.
Window will be made accessible even if monitor setup or screen resolution is different between sessions.


- Card Zoomer Updates -
The Card Zoomer/Preview now supports split, flip and double-sided cards including cards played face down (eg. morph).
Split cards (name contains "//") are now rotated 90 degrees for easier viewing.
If a card is a flip- or double-sided card then you can easily view the alternate image using...
  - wheel mode : flick wheel forward or tap CTRL key.
  - button mode : tap CTRL key.
The standard flip graphic (the two rotated arrows) is displayed if the card can be flipped or transformed.


- Home Screen UI Improvements -
The menu on the Home Screen is now scrollable using either a mouse wheel or arrow buttons that will appear at the top or bottom if scrolling can occur in that direction
The Deck Editor and Exit Forge buttons are now laid out vertically to make it easier to add launch buttons for new screens coming down the pipeline (hint, hint...)
The menu on the Home Screen has been made narrower and the logo size increased to decrease whitespace and increase the width of the main panel
Release notes added to Games Settings section.


- User Preferences -
There's a new user preference that lets you choose whether a 0-cost block should prompt you to pay or to pay it automatically. This only affects blocking situations where you would have to actually pay 0, (e.g. War Cadence with X = 0). By default you'll be prompted for payment, allowing you to, for instance, prevent forced blocks by activating War Cadence for 0 then not paying the block cost.


- Match and Deck Editor Layout problems -
The match and deck editor windows contain panels that can be moved and/or resized. The changes that you make are saved to files that are named "editor.xml" and "match.xml". These files can be found in your userDir/preferences/ directory.

Sometimes people will decide that they do not like the changes that they made and wish to go back to the original layout. To reset layouts to default, go to the Game Settings -> Preferences -> Troubleshooting section. You will find at this location two buttons that will reset the match layout and the deck editor layouts.

Also use the mentioned measure if your match or deckeditor won't start - it would help in 90% of the cases.


- Constructed Mode decks can now be stored in subfolders -
The feature is half-complete now. Forge can read subfolders in constructed deck, you may start game with such deck, but cannot yet edit decks in subfolders nor manipulate subfolders.


=== Forge now has a Menubar ===
- Toggle visibility using the F1 key. 
- The Forge menu contains Exit and Restart options. 
- The Layout menu contains the selector for the various themes and a Set Window Size option. 
- The Help menu contains links to online articles and the local TXT files.

=== Duel/Match Screen Changes ===
- Fixed: Concede is prevented during the declare blockers step.
== Menubar Changes ==
- Migration of Dock and DevMode options into Menubar.
- Toggle console tabs visibility.
- Toggle background image.
- Toggle sound effects.
== Game Log Console ==
- Scrollbar is now hidden by default. Click console to toggle visibility.
== Prompt Console ==
- Fixed: Prevent buttons from disappearing off screen as the console size is decreased.
== Card Preview Console ==
- Fixed: now adheres to Scale Image Larger setting.

=== General GUI ===
== Themes ==
- Combo-box style should now be appear correctly on Mac OS.


- Commander -
The Commander gaming mode has been added and is located in the Variant view. This is a work in progress and is not finished at this time. You are invited to play test this variant.


- Switch Theme/Skin Without Restart -
You can now switch between themes/skins from any screen without restarting, using either Layout > Theme on main menu or combo box on Preferences page of Home screen


- Card Overlays -
Card overlays can be switched on/off during a match via the Game menu. Added new card id overlay. Overlays are now always displayed regardless of card image size (if switched on).


- Theros cards -
Forge now includes most of the new Theros cards. It may take a few days before these new card pictures become available for downloading via the "Download LQ Card Pictures" button. The LQ set pictures tend to take a few more weeks to process before they become available for downloading via the "Download LQ Set Pictures" button. Please be patient.


- Forge freezing during a match bug -
A number of people have reported this bug and we now feel that it may have been fixed in this version. Please play test this version and let us know.


- Skinned titlebar for main window -
Titlebar is now skinned instead of displaying using standard OS window titlebar
Maximizing window now displays full-screen
Can use Layout > View > Titlebar (F11) to toggle visibility of titlebar (will also open full-screen if hiding titlebar)


- Draft fixes -
Draft Deck Editor will now automatically open after finishing and naming a draft.
Fixed bug where switching away from a Draft and back would lose your picks.
Fixed bug where Draft tab remained open after finishing a draft and would crash if clicked at that point or another draft started.
Prevented canceling naming a draft, which would cause a crash.


- ComboBox visual tweaks -
Standardized appearance of combo boxes.
Removed separation between text and drop down glyph.
Fixed combo boxes on Constructed home screen to update properly when skin switched.


- Navigation tabs -
Forge now display navigation tabs in the titlebar and supports switching screens without closing them.
By default, Home and Deck Editor are available as tabs, with another closable tab added for any game you start.
X button in upper right can now exit Forge rather than closing the current screen and going back to Home screen, depending on user preference.
To concede the current game, you can use the X button in the Game tab itself, and you will now be prompted for confirmation.
Deck Editor and Exit Forge buttons have been removed from the Home screen since they're both accessible on the titlebar.


- The X button in the upper right corner -
The first time you click the X button in the upper right, you'll be given the choice between the old behavior of closing the current screen and returning to the Home screen (which matches what the X button on each navigation tab does) or exiting Forge if already on the Home screen, or the alternative behavior of exiting Forge regardless of the current screen. Your choice will be remembered so you won't be prompted again, though you can change this setting at any time in preferences. This way, whether you like the old behavior or expect that X button to exit the application, you'll be able to have it work that way.

Also keep in mind that even if you choose to have that X button work like before, the tabs will remain available for switching screens without closing them.


- True Full Screen support -
Full Screen is now toggled using F11 and has its own button on the title bar.
Maximize will no longer pretend to be Full Screen by covering up the taskbar.
When in Full Screen mode, the titlebar will be hidden unless you move the mouse to the top of the screen.
A "Lock/Unlock" Title Bar button will be available in Full Screen mode to toggle whether the title bar should remain visible at all times.
When in Full Screen mode, a clock will appear to the left of the "Lock/Unlock Title Bar" button.
The title bar will appear on top of other components if not locked rather than pushing anything down.
The title bar will remain visible while accessing the Forge menu.


- Window fixes -
Minimize no longer crashes on Mac.
Message and Input dialogs now appear properly centered and on top of main Forge window.
Prompt to save in Deck Editor (if unsaved changes) when using Forge > Restart.


- Introducing the Forge button -
The old menu bar has been removed.
The Forge button on the left side of the titlebar will drop down the same menu of options.
The Alt and Menu keys will also open this menu (even if the titlebar is hidden), with full keyboard navigation of the menus then possible.
The titlebar, minimize, maximize, and close buttons have all been increased in height to make room for the Forge button.
Menu items have been increased in height to make them more touch screen friendly. They also now enforce a minimum 100px width.
F1 has been changed to launch the Forge wiki since it no longer needs to toggle menu bar visibility.


- Forge now requires Java 7 -
Please update your Java runtime environment. At this point Forge versions 1.4.2 and above will no longer run under Java 6. Those who are using Mac OS should install the JDK version rather than the JRE version.


- The Mac OS X application -
At this time Forge now requires Java 7 and will no longer run under Java 6.

Unfortunately, the Mac OS X builder that we were using does not support Java 7. We hope to find and to use a different Mac OS X builder in order to continue releasing a Mac OS bundled application like we have in the past.

Currently, the windows/unix release of Forge includes a launcher file named "forge.command". Double click on the "forge.command" launcher command file and this will in turn launch the Forge jar file via the terminal application while increasing the Java heap space. This should be a temporary inconvenience.


- Preferences -
If hide tabs setting on, still show tabs for panes with multiple tabs.

Add setting for Compact Prompt, which hides prompt header and reduces font size to allow the prompt to be smaller in your custom layout.


- Select abilities using context menu -
Instead of displaying a dialog to select abilities, you'll now get a context menu when left or right clicking cards with multiple ability choices.
Each ability will have a keyboard shortcut of 1-9 based on order.
Unplayable activated abilities will still appear disabled so shortcuts are constant regardless of game state.


- Mana symbols shown in Card Detail and ability menu -
The Card Detail pane now shows mana symbols in place of WUBRG and other appropriate text characters.
Same for ability context menu described above and Game Prompt pane.
Also fixed WUBRG of colored mana symbols on a few dozen cards.
Reminder text now appears in italics, with a preference that can be set to hide it.


- Quest mode bazaar -
Added a new Quest Item, Charm of Vigor. Let's you play best of 5 games rather than best of 3.


- Game usability/speed improvements -
When paying mana costs, you can now press Enter/Spacebar or click the Auto button in the Prompt to automatically pay the mana cost using available mana sources if possible.
    - The Auto button will be disabled if you cannot pay the mana cost at that time, in which case Enter/Spacebar will cancel the spell/ability instead.
    - Uses the same logic the AI uses to pay mana costs. This means it will try to use mana in your pool before mana sources in play, using colorless mana to pay the colorless part of the cost if any is available.
    - You can still manually pay the cost by clicking mana sources in play (e.g. lands) or clicking symbols in your mana pool, which might be a good idea if you want to save specific mana sources for a later play that turn.
You can now press Ctrl+Z to undo tapping mana sources. (currently limited to before spell cast)
You will no longer be prompted when using a "Add one of any color" ability to pay a colorless cost.
    - Note: you'll still be prompted when paying Sunburst or cards that care what colors are spent to cast it (ex. Firespout).
You can now press Escape to Cancel the current prompt even if the OK button has focus.
Cards will now return to the same position in your hand if you cancel while paying their mana cost or choosing targets.
Optional triggered abilities now use Prompt pane for Yes/No confirmation instead of a dialog.
Cost-related confirmations such as "Sacrifice CARDNAME?" and "Pay X Life?" now use Prompt pane instead of a dialog.
You'll no longer be prompted for attackers if you have no creatures that can attack.
You'll no longer be prompted for blockers if you have no creatures that can block any attacking creature.


- Deck Editor filtering -
Multi-color cards containing a filtered color will no longer show up in catalogs.
Hybrid cards, split cards, and phyrexian cards will now show up so long as the card can be cast using only selected colors.
    - For split cards, each side of the card is checked individually, so Life // Death will appear if either {B} or {G} is selected.
    - Note that if the multicolor button is deselected (such that multicolor cards are filtered out), hybrid and split cards with multiple colors will still be hidden.
To improve usability, right-clicking a color filter button will now also select the multicolor button so hybrids and split cards appear by default, and so 2 color cards show up if you then left click a second color filter button.


- Improved dialog appearance -
Many message and confirmation dialogs now use skinned look with rounded border dialog on top of overlay.


- Deck Editor usability improvements -
You can now mark a card as a favorite in the Catalog by clicking the star icon in the first column. This will default the card to sort ahead of non-favorite cards if you sort on that first column (which is now the Forge default).
You can now add or remove cards from a deck using +/- buttons that appear on either side of the quantity for each card.
Filters are now available on Current Deck pane, replacing the need for the static stat labels.
A new filter has been added to allow filtering on specific Converted Mana Costs (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6+), as well as displaying the card count at each CMC.
Color and Type filter buttons no longer wrap, instead growing or shrinking as needed (along with the font the count string is too long).
Color and Type filter buttons can now be hidden, as well as be added from the Filters menu (formally "Add filter").
The Total stat label has been removed in favor of showing a caption and (# SHOWN/# AVAILBLE) ratio above the table. The caption is "Catalog" for the Catalog pane, and the deck name for the "Current Deck" pane.
Checkboxes are now available for each filter type, allowing that filter to be disabled and re-enabled without losing the configuration of that filter (such as chosen sets).
Adding a filter for formats, sets, and quest worlds now merges into existing filters of that type if possible to apply OR logic, rather than both appearing as separate filters with AND logic applied, likely resulting in no results.
Pressing Ctrl+Enter to add a filter for the current search now adds another editable search bar rather than just a label.
Cards added to deck are now selected, even if multiple are added at once. The performance of adding and removing multiple cards at once has also been improved.
When some but not all copies of a selected card are removed from the deck, that card now remains selected in the case of multiple cards being selected.


- Two quick bug fixes -
Fixed an easily reproducible crash that would cause the game to become unplayable if you accidentally tried to cast a card or play a land that you couldn't play at that time.
Fixed a crash that would occur at times when moving your mouse over the tables in deck editors.


- Memory usage optimizations -
Components are no longer cached in memory for skinning purposes, which used to prevent some components from ever being cleared from memory.
Card images are now cleared from memory cache when switching screens and between games.
Card display panels are now disposed during game play when its card leaves a zone.


- Deck Editor usability improvements -
Added File menu with shortcuts for common actions in Deck Editor (such as Ctrl+S to save the current deck).
Support resetting and hiding filters.
Add/Remove context menu items now properly update based on the number of cards that can be added or removed from the deck.
Support adding X copies of card at a time, where X is chosen using dialog.
You'll now be prevented adding more than 4 copies of non-basic land cards in Constructed decks by default, with that number being configurable.
Full catalog now available for sideboarding in Deck Editor.
Title field and buttons now available on Current Deck pane when on other sections, with the current section name displaying above the table.


- More skinned dialogs -
Most remaining dialogs are now skinned, including all message, confirmation, input, and list choice dialogs.
Reveal-style list dialogs now focus OK button by default and support Escape and Close button without showing a Cancel button.
Increased transparency of backdrop behind dialogs and make it appear over navigation bar instead of disabling navigation bar.


- Constructed mode -
The initial implementation of the new Constructed mode lobby screen is now available. It is a work in progress, so you should expect some rough edges and missing functionality, but the lobby screen is functional enough so it's possible to choose decks and player types and start the match normally.


- Multiple variants -
Multiple variants can be applied to the same match now! Planechase and Vanguard matches should now be started from the constructed match lobby by ticking the appropriate variant's checkbox in the variants panel at the top. It is not necessary to select only one variant anymore. Archenemy and Commander will hopefully also be implemented this way in the next beta release, but for now must be launched as before from the main variants menu.
Team selection is also planned for future releases, but at this time multiplayer matches will default to free-for-all.
The ongoing discussion of this feature can be found in the following thread:
http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=12609#p138913


- Support for multiple card art -
Forge now fully supports the distinction between cards with different art, which is most apparent with basic lands. It is now possible to specifically add cards with particular art in the deck editor, and cards with different art are now generated for random constructed decks, sealed deck pools, booster draft extra basic land pools, starting quest card pools, and quest card shop pools. The deck file (.dck) format has been adapted to account for this change so that the card art index can now be specified after the set, with the index starting at 1 for the first possible card art. In case you would like to avoid generating cards with random art in limited modes (sealed deck, booster draft, quest mode) in order to make your deck management easier when it comes to basic lands, you can uncheck the "Randomize Card Art in Generated Card Pools" option in the game preferences. When disabled, the generated limited mode card pools will feature one kind of each basic land with the same picture on all cards.


- Automatic card edition adjustment -
A deck may explicitly define the edition and art variant of each card it includes. If a deck specifies those for no card, Forge uses a special algorithm to determine which card printings were the latest by the moment all of deck's had been printed. These very editions of cards are used when loading deck into memory to reflect the flavour of the season when the deck was built.


- Image View (i.e. Card View / Pile View) for View Deck dialog, Deck Editors, Quest Spell Shop, and Draft Screen -
The "List View" combo box that had no other options has been replaced with two buttons, one for "List View" and one for the new "Image View"
In Image View, each card in the pool or deck has its card image displayed, with multiple copies of the same card each having its own image displayed.
Card images support the same hover, selection, right-click and double-click behavior as rows in list view
Card images can be arranged in groups and/or piles based on different configurable criteria, with groups being collapsible if you click on their header.
You can use Ctrl+MouseWheel to zoom in to maximum card width of 300px or out to a minimum card width of 50px.


- Loading decks with unsupported cards was causing Forge to crash -
Forge will no longer crash when there are decks with unsupported cards. These cards will appear in decks and games player starts as a dummy without cost, types, abilities, but with explanation in card's text. The unsupported cards will be listed in the console window as Forge is loading. Unfortunately, it is currently impossible to pinpoint which decks exactly include these unsupported cards in order to list them. However, depending on your operating system, you should be able to either use your operating system utilities or third party software to make a search inside deck files for the offending card name, locate the problematic decks and either update or remove them.


- Deck Conformance fix -
Toggling off Deck Conformance in Preferences now properly allows adding more than 4 cards to deck in editor


- Extended foil card support -
Forge now generates foil cards in booster packs, which will be apparent in sealed deck, booster draft, and quest modes. Also, foil cards are now correctly displayed in the deck editor including the new pile view mode. The display of foil overlay can be disabled in user preferences in case you dislike the visual foil effect. Please note that this option is visual only and does not affect the internal foil generation as such. Foil support is a work in progress and will be extended over time.


- New ItemManager Preferences -
The editor.preferences file has been deprecated, and the Preferences pane of Deck Editor screens has been removed. Instead, each CardManager and DeckManager (in deck editors, game launch screens, and deck viewer) can have its own options configured individually on its View Options panel.

To show/hide columns, simply go to the List View of any CardManager or DeckManager and click the View Options button (to the right of the Image View toggle button). This will show a panel containing checkboxes for each column, along with a "Unique Cards Only" checkbox on the Constructed Deck Editor Catalog. Your choices will be remembered between sessions, as will any column sorting, repositioning, and resizing. You can toggle the View Options button again to hide this panel.

For Image View, this options panel is visible by default and contains a button to expand/collapse all groups along with combo boxes to configure the "Group By", "Pile By", "Columns" properties that are also saved between sessions. Note that even if this panel is hidden, Ctrl+MouseWheel can be used to adjust the "Columns" property to essentially zoom in and out.


- Variant game modes -
All variants can now be applied via the constructed match setup. While moving Commander across, a basic experimental Commander deck generator was implemented. It will select a random two-color identity commander, and use those colors to build a two-color singleton deck. It is at least a starting point if someone doesn't have any Commander decks and doesn't want to or doesn't have time to build one.


- Quest Mode Pet Balancing -
Two quest mode pets have had their power reduced to reflect their strength relative to the rest of the other pets. The white Wolf Pet now has Lifelink instead of Vigilance, and the blue Bird Pet now scries for 1 instead of loots for 1 on combat damage. This change is immediate, so make sure to download Quest Images to get the new pictures.


- Card Images on Stack -
Each spell/ability on the stack now displays the image for its source card.
Stack now supports vertical scrolling if there are enough items on it.
Text for stack descriptions now displays with skin font.


- Layout fixes - 
Fixed issue where field would disappear on match screen.
Fixed issue where hand pane for player's you've MindSlaved wouldn't be removed after the effect ended.


- Storm Count -
Current Storm Count is now shown in the Card Detail pane for all storm cards


- Improved Deck Viewer from Match screen -
View Deck List from the Match screen now uses the same dialog that the Home screen uses, allowing viewing card images and searching/sorting the deck list


- Token Images -
The token images are now specific to each set (where possible). It is recommended that users delete the contents of their token image folder and download them again using the game's content downloaders.
The default locations by operating system are:
- Windows: <your local application data directory>/Forge/Cache/pics/tokens/ (usually C:/Users/<your username>/Application Data/Local/Forge/Cache/pics/tokens/)
- OSX: <your home directory>/Library/Caches/Forge/pics/tokens/
- Linux: <your home directory>/.cache/forge/pics/tokens/


- Journey into Nyx cards -
Forge now includes all of the new Journey into Nyx cards. It may take a few days/weeks before these new card pictures become available for downloading via the "Download LQ Card Pictures" button. The LQ set pictures tend to take a few more weeks/months to process before they become available for downloading via the "Download LQ Set Pictures" button. Please be patient. The Forge devs are not involved in maintaining the servers that house these pictures.


- Creature Stacking -
You can now optionally have identical creatures stack as everything else does.


- Quest Additions -
Credits are now awarded for life total differences, making more deck archetypes more rewarding. Win streaks now award cards at certain thresholds. New bazaar item allows for a greater bonus booster pack selection... for a high price.


- Random Duel Button -
If you find yourself challenging only certain opponents in quest mode, try giving this button a click. It pairs you up with a random opponent to keep you on your toes.


- Quest Draft Tournaments -
An entirely new mode has been added to quests... drafting!
Compete in tournaments to win credits and booster packs, then keep the deck and the cards you drafted to use in your regular quest duels and challenges.
Tournaments are generated every 5 regular duel wins and disappear every 15 (a tournament rotates every 5 turns).
If you get a 25 win streak or win first place in a tournament, you're awarded a token to generate a new draft right away.


- Concurrent Modification Errors Fixed (mostly) -
The most common cause of concurrent modification error has been fixed, so you should rarely encounter them anymore.
Even if you do, pressing Continue on the bug report dialog should now allow you to continue your game.


- Introducing Background Music -
Forge now supports playing background music!!!
There are 4 tracks for the menu screens and 4 tracks just for the match screen.
Tracks shuffle randomly as they finish, as well as when starting a new game or leaving the match screen.
A new "Enable Music" setting allows turning the music off, and toggling this setting can also be used to force a shuffle.
The music is paused automatically if you minimize or switch away from Forge, and resumed when it's activated again.


- Undo button in Prompt and new Floating Mana warning -
If your last action is undoable, the right button in the Prompt pane will now allow undoing it in addition to Ctrl+Z and Forge > Game > Undo.
In addition, if you attempt to pass priority with mana floating in your pool that could be lost, you'll now receive a warning.


- Flickering P/T Overlays Fixed -
Fixed bug that caused P/T overlays to flicker between their base values and their modified values from static effects.


- CardManagers now support grouping by Set -
You can now group cards by set, with the sets being sorted in reverse chronological order.
As part of this, I've also fixed it so the headers for groups with no cards in them will now be hidden instead of appearing with a "(0)" after them.
Since the groups are collapsible, this can allow CardManagers to work somewhat similar to the old "Binder View" in MTGO (may it rest in peace).


- Mana Cost Searching -
There's now a button (disabled by default) that allows you to search for cards by their mana costs. It's a little finicky right now, but improvements will happen for the next version of Forge.


- Boolean Expressions -
You can now filter cards with simple boolean expressions. Forge automatically detects when you want to use one, so just start typing away in the search box.
This is a completely optional feature and will not change the way you use the search function in Forge, unless you specifically intend to use it.

As an example,
    "warrior" || "cleric"
will find all cards with the type of either "warrior" or "cleric" (when just the type search is enabled).

You can also use an AND operator to find cards with specific mana costs:
    "g" && "w"
will find all cards with both green and white mana symbols.

You can then construct large and very specific expressions to find exactly what you need:
    ("human" || "cat") && ("warrior" || "cleric" || "soldier")
will find all humans or cats that are also warriors, clerics, or soldiers.

More improvements are on their way in the next version of Forge, including removing the need for quotation marks and adding NOT operators. 


- Improved auto-yield support - 
Pressing "End Turn" now properly skips your attack phase and doesn't get cancelled automatically if a spell or ability is put on the stack. You will still be given a chance to declare blockers if your opponent attacks, but after that the rest of your opponent's turn will now be skipped properly.
To alleviate pressing this accidentally, as long as you're auto-yielding this way, you'll be able to press Escape or the Cancel button to cancel the auto-yield and be given the chance to act again. Phases with stops and spells/abilities resolving will be given a slight delay to allow you to see what's going on and give you the chance to regain control by cancelling the yield.
Added support for auto-yielding abilities on the stack so you don't have to press OK each time.


- Improved Gauntlet Support - 
Add column to Load Gauntlet screen to display your deck for the gauntlet.
Fix so your deck is saved with a gauntlet when starting a quick gauntlet.
Instead of crashing, prompt user to select a deck if attempting to load a gauntlet that doesn't have one saved.
Make it so Last Activity column isn't cut off and is formatted properly.
Make it so double-clicking a gauntlet on the Load Gauntlet screen will launch it.
Support renaming gauntlets.
Support sorting gauntlets (and quests) case insensitive.


- Fixed loading overlay to show logo properly and have some transparency -


- Vastly Improved Boolean Expressions -
Boolean expressions no longer require the use of quotation marks around your search terms, making it a far more useful
feature. Boolean expressions been rewritten from the ground up to be faster and better at parsing your search terms.
With the new parsing also comes NOT operators (!). Place these before things to negate them. For example:

!r

will find all cards that don't have red in their mana costs (when searching by cost). These can be a bit finicky at
times since there's no order of operations yet. This will possibly be implemented in a future update. For now, be sure
to put all possibly ambiguous NOT operators within parenthesis:

!(r || g) instead of !r && !g

Unfortunately I did not have time to implement an order of operations for this release, but rest assured it's on its
way... eventually.


- Quest Draft Preferences -
You can now set how long you want quest draft tournaments to be available and how often you want them to be generated.
Existing draft tournaments will not be affected.


- Improved Commander support -
There will no longer be a black rectangle for "Commander effect" in the command zone.
The details previously available by hovering over that rectangle will now appear when hovering over the commander itself.
The dialog for the commander replacement effect will now display the commander's name.


- Momir Basic variant type -
Momir Basic is now available as its own variant option on the Constructed screen.
For this format. each player will automatically be given a deck with 12 of each basic land and the Momir Vig avatar.


- Choose value for X mana costs -
Now, when playing spells/abilities with X in its mana cost, you will now be prompted for a value for X prior to mana payment, ensuring the final mana cost is calculated properly from cost adjustment effects and allowing using the "Auto" button to pay the entire cost.
This also applies to spells with Replicate and Multikicker to allow picking the Replicate or Multikicker amount prior to paying the final mana cost.


- Auto-targeting support -
When playing spells and abilities with the text "target opponent", if you only have one opponent, you will no longer be asked to choose the opponent to target.
When triggered abilities have only one valid target, that target will now be auto-selected.


- AI improvements -
Some artificial intelligence improvements were made in this version of Forge.
The AI will now always attack with creatures that it has temporarily gained control of until end of turn in order not to miss the opportunity and thus waste the gain control spell. 
The AI will no longer bounce guild lands back to hand right after playing them, which sometimes caused the AI to lock itself on land drops completely.
The AI will now try to predict if it wants to cast a spell in Main 2 and reserve some mana for it instead of aggressively pumping creatures with all available mana. 
The AI will now also consider pumping a creature if it can predict that this creature will deal more damage to the opponent with its increased power, which should eliminate the senseless attacks with 0/1 creatures that do not get pumped even when they do not get blocked. 
The AI will no longer waste equipment on cards that are useless (e.g. are tapped and do not normally untap, or can't attack or block anymore, etc.). 
The AI can now optionally move equipment from one creature to another. For this purpose, a new AI profile variable was added: MOVE_EQUIPMENT_TO_BETTER_CREATURES. It defines whether the AI will always move equipment to better creatures if it has mana ('always'), will only move if the currently equipped creature becomes useless as defined above or because the AI loses control of the creature ('from_useless_only'), or will never move equipment around ('never'). The "Default" profile is set to only move the equipment to other creatures if the currently equipped creatures become useless for the AI, while the "Reckless" AI profile always moves equipment to better creatures when given a chance to (if it has mana and if it doesn't need to reserve mana for a future spell in Main 2).


- New Achievements -
Added new achievements for 19 alternate win conditions and 52 Planeswalker ultimates.
Added five new tier achievements.
Trophies now have slick custom art that can be downloaded separate.


- There will not be a 1.5.27 beta version -
We will not be releasing a 1.5.27 beta version and the next beta version will be numbered 1.5.28. Beta 1.5.27 was an internal test version in an effort on our part to improve the build and deploy process.


- Quest Draft Improvements -
Quest drafts have been updated to be more valuable to your quest! 
Bug fixes: Drafts now correctly rotate based on wins and quest preferences. Booster pack prices are now correctly calculated when presenting awards. No more 500+ alpha booster packs. Sorry! Other misc. fixes as well.
Now, when you place first or second, you will get to pick a rare in the drafted block's pool to keep. This is in addition to the already existing prizes.
Additionally, when you spend draft tokens, you no longer receive a random draft. Instead, you get to pick which block the new draft will be (but you still have to pay for it!), completely eliminating the game of chance.


- Boolean Expressions Finished -
Yes, again! They say the third time's the charm, and, well, it is! Boolean expressions have undergone a complete rewrite again with a slightly different method of parsing that works much better.
Parenthesis work correctly, order is preserved, and NOT operators are applied in the correct places (and also in the correct order). This means that what you expect is what you really get!
There's one big change to note: The operators have been shortened to one character. They are now: & | ! \
The only conflicts the AND operator has is a few Unhinged/Unglued cards (which aren't even in Forge), but you can use the escape operator (\) to tell it you really meant to use the & (and that's assuming these cards ever get added to Forge).
There's a couple cards with exclamation points in their names, but again, you can escape that character to search for them.

A few examples of possible expressions:

>   Search by type: All warriors or cats that aren't zombies, vampires, orcs, or skeletons.
    (warrior | cat) & !(zombie | vampire | orc | skeleton)

>   Search by mana cost: All non-red cards.
    !r
    
>   Search by mana cost: All non-red, non-black green cards that are also either blue or white, but not only blue or white.
    !(r|b) & (g & (u | w))
    
>   Search by mana cost: All red or black cards that are not also green and blue or green and white.
    (r|b) & !(g & (u | w))
    
>   Search by mana cost: All cards that cost 4 colorless mana.
    !(w | r | u | g | b) & 4
    
>   Search by text: All cards that have both Lifelink and Vigilance printed in the rules text.
    lifelink & vigilance
    
These examples should get you started with this powerful-now-that-it's-finished feature. Enjoy!


- Trigger Fixes -
The long awaited fixes to Blood Artist/Deathgreeter triggering with multiple other creatures is finally here. There may be some residual oddness with other triggers, so please report those if you see them so we can get that worked out. 


- New Floating Zone Windows -
Instead of getting a modal list view when clicking on zone icons like Graveyard or Flashback, you'll now get a modeless floating window with actual cards.
This floating window can be moved and resized as desired and can remain open while playing.
You can click cards in these windows to activate them the same way you do with cards in your hand, so long as there's an action you can take with them.
If you close the floating window and later reopen it, it should remember its location and size.


- Targeting Arrows for Stack -
When hovering over items on the stack, arrows will now be displayed between that item and all of its targets (both cards and players).
The arrow will be red if the spell/ability's activator is an opponent of the target or its controller, and blue if targeting an ally of the target or its controller.


- Smarter Card Edition Selection -
When generating random decks or viewing unique cards only in the deck editor catalog, Forge will no longer pick an edition of the card which you don't have the image for if there's an edition of the card you do have the image for.


- Improved Player Panel Display -
Players' avatars will no display larger.
Players' life totals will no longer get cut off.
Players' zone/mana counts will no longer overlap the icon, instead shrinking to fit if needed.


- Refactor attack declarations -
The game now correctly calculates whether an attack declaration is legal, based upon the restrictions and requirements present on the possible attacking creatures. AI support is not yet fully implemented, but the AI can always default to a legal attack declaration.


- Support for surrounding search expressions with quotations -
You can now wrap all or part of a search expression in the Deck Editor or other ItemManagers in quotations to prevent matching on anything that doesn't contain all words within the quotes in order.
For example, while searching for this expression:
    creatures you don't control
will match on any cards that contains all 4 of those words in any configuration (24/14330 implemented), this expression:
    "creatures you don't control"
will only match on cards that contain those exact words in that exact order with no other words in between (4/14330 implemented).


- Optimized Default Phase Stops -
The default phase stops have been reduced from all 24 to just 6:
- Player: Main Phase 1, Declare Blockers, Main Phase 2 (M1, DB, M2)
- Opponent: Beginning of Combat, Declare Blockers, End of Turn (BC, DB, ET)
This should optimize the out-of-the-box experience for users and help new users figure out when the optimal time to cast instant-speed effects is.
You can still customize these by clicking on the phase stop indicator, and your customizations will be remembered.


- Zone Window Improvements -
Popup windows for zones (Hand, Library, Graveyard, Exile, Flashback) will now remember their position and size between sessions. Human and AI zones will each be remembered separately.
Clicking the zone icon under a player's avatar will now hide the zone window if its currently open.
After the last card is removed from a zone window, that window will now automatically be hidden. An example of this would be casting the last card in the Flashback zone.
Default size of zone windows has been slightly reduced.
Prevent horizontal scrollbar appearing in zone windows.
Reduce flicker when resizing zone windows.


- Card Stack Activation Improvements -
Allow tapping multiple lands in a stack by continuing to tap on the top land of that stack.
Allow tapping all lands in a stack using Shift+click on any land in the stack.
Allow attacking with all tokens in a stack using Shift+click on any token in the stack.


- Add Shift+click support for Mana Pool icons -
You can now hold the Shift key when clicking on mana pool icons to use as much of that mana type as possible towards the cost.


- Zoom to a XLHQ card picture -
Forge now supports showing XLHQ (extra large high quality) card pictures when zooming in on a card if these pictures are available. Forge will look for XLHQ card art in the "XLHQ" subfolder of the "pics/cards" folder in Forge cache. XLHQ pictures should have the ".xlhq.jpg" extension instead of the ".full.jpg" one (CCGHQ XLHQ releases comply with this naming scheme). For example, while the regular 10th edition Blaze will be looked up as "pics/cards/10E/Blaze.full.jpg", the XLHQ version will be looked up as "pics/cards/XLHQ/10E/Blaze.xlhq.jpg". If the XLHQ picture is not available Forge will show you the regular card picture in the zoomed view, as usual. Please note that XLHQ versions of cards are *only* showed in the zoom view, regular card pictures are still used (LQ/HQ, depending on what you're using) on the battlefield and elsewhere in the game because XLHQ art is significantly more taxing in memory consumption even when compared to standard high quality (HQ) releases (and in addition to that, XLHQ card borders are not cropped the way Forge expects them in order to show them properly on the battlefield anyway). XLHQ tokens are also supported, but the naming scheme for them is a little different - they are looked up in "pics/tokens/XLHQ" and have their ordinary names. For example, the 1/1 red Goblin token from the Magic 2015 set is normally looked up at "pics/tokens/r_1_1_goblin_m15.jpg", while its XLHQ version is looked up at "pics/tokens/XLHQ/r_1_1_goblin_m15.jpg".


- Net Decks support -
On the Constructed screen, you can now select a new Net Decks category from the drop down.
Contains all decks from gos's Forge Decks subforums, broken up by the column/event they were taken from.
Won't cause startup to be slower since they are loaded on the fly.


Fix bug in default preferences causing game to crash.


- Canceling Delve now refunds exiled cards -
If you cancel casting a spell after selecting cards to Delve, the selected cards will no longer get exiled.


- Morph/Manifest images -
Forge now supports proper images for face-down creatures. In order to correctly
use these images, it's necessary to remove a file in your picture directory
(see below), then redownload token images. Alternatively, you can do this
yourself by renaming the current file "morph.jpg" to "hidden.jpg" and adding
new files "morph.jpg" and "manifest.jpg" for the morph and manifest reminder
overlays, respectively. All these files are located inside the "tokens"
subdirectory of your image cache, which can be found here:
- Windows: [home directory]/Application Data/Forge/Cache/pics
- Mac:     [home directory]/Library/Caches/Forge/pics
- Linux:   [home directory]/.cache/forge/pics


- Interface Update -
The interface has received several small changes.
- The "Players" panel has been removed. This information can now be viewed by
  hovering the cursor over a player's avatar.
- The poison counters value has been moved to next to a players life total.
  This is only visible if the player has any poison counters.
- The poison counters button has been replaced with a Command Zone button.
  The command zone panels have been removed.


- Smarter Deck Color Determination -
When determining the color of decks, colors of hybrid and phyrexian cards are no
longer considered unless they can be produced by a land in the deckOur Lawyers Made Us Do This:


-- Updated Forge Content Downloads -
Card images for the latest sets are now available for download, including
Tempest Remastered and Modern Masters 2015. All images have also been moved to a
 new server for increased reliability and performance and many previously
missing images have been added. There are still a few images missing in Forge
and rectifying that is an ongoing effort.


- Display Color Identity -
There's a new option "Display Color Identity" in both desktop and mobile Forge
that allows you to display the current color identity of cards. It's disabled
by default (set to "Never") but can be toggled to "Always" (which displays color
identity for all cards, even mono-color), to "Changed" (which displays color
identity of all cards whose color identity has been altered compared to its
"pristine" state), to "Multicolor" (which only displays color identity of cards
that are currently of two or more colors) or to "Multi+Changed" (which displays
color identity of all multicolor cards and also of all cards the identity of
which has changed). This might help with effects such as Painter's Servant which
add colors to cards and which make most cards display with the gold border. The
option is currently found under "Graphic Options" for both versions of Forge.

Starting with v1.6.0 this option has been renamed to "Show Detailed Card Color"
in order to avoid confusion (because card identity is a Magic: the Gathering
term that is not equivalent to the sum of card colors).


- New Quest Preferences -
Three new quest preferences (Playset Size: Basic Lands, Playset Size: Any
Number, and Playset Size) have been added to control the number of cards to keep
 before selling extras in quest mode. One is for basic lands, one is for
"unlimited" cards (Relentless Rats and Shadowborn Apostle), and the last one is
for all other cards. This is mostly useful when playing for antes and you want
to keep an extra couple of cards on hand, just in case, or if you want to keep
fewer copies of basic lands around.


- Display tokens on the same row as other cards / on their own row -
By default the game now displays tokens on the same row as non-token cards (and
to the right of them), which makes the game use the battlefield space more
effectively. For example, creature tokens are displayed to the right of regular
non-token creatures in the same row. If you prefer the classic Forge behavior
(when tokens are displayed on their own row), the option that controls this
behavior can be found in Forge preferences under "Graphic Options". It is called
"Display Tokens in a Separate Row".


- Land Color Filtering in Deck Editor -
When filtering colors in the Deck Editor, lands that produce all selected colors will now be shown
This means if you filter to show only green and white cards, lands that produce green and white will now be shown
This should hopefully make finding multicolor lands for your decks easier.
An attempt was made to make this option behave in a more consistent and helpful way - now lands won't suddenly
disappear when one color is filtered out, basic lands of appropriate colors will be shown, lands that feature at
least one of the colors relevant for the deck will be shown. Also, the mode to filter lands in this way is now
optional and can be toggled on or off in the Preferences ("Filter Lands by Color in Activated Abilities" under
"Deck Editor Options").


- Special Quest Booster Packs -
New booster packs have been added to quest mode that contain cards of a single
color. Blue Booster Packs will contain only blue cards, White Booster Packs
will contain only white cards, and so on. There's a pack for each color and
these new packs can be disabled by setting the "Special Boosters" quest
preference to "0". Special thanks to "P for Pizza" for the booster pack images!


- Easier creature type selection -
Now, when prompted to select a creature type for a card like Obelisk of Urd, creature types present in your deck will appear on top, sorted from most to least frequent, followed by all other creature types.
This should make it so, more often than not, you can just accept the dialog without searching.


- Add Basic Lands in desktop version of the game -
Forge now has an "Add Basic Lands" window (can be found in the deck editor next to the Main Deck/Sideboard toggle) which allows you
to easily and quickly add the needed basic lands (from any set you like and with any art you prefer) to your deck. This functionality
works in all major modes (Constructed, Booster Draft, Sealed Deck) including Quest mode.


- Quest mode changes related to basic lands -
Now that Add Basic Lands can be used to add basic lands to your deck, Quest mode underwent several changes to adapt to this new
functionality. In particular:
- Quest mode now depends on the player using Add Basic Lands to add basic lands to decks instead of buying basic lands from the
quest shop or using the generated basic lands from the initial card pool.
- Basic lands added in Quest mode using "Add Basic Lands" cannot be sold (and are not shown in the Quest Spell Shop interface)
 to avoid cheating.
- Quest mode no longer generates basic lands for the starting card pool to avoid clutter.
- Quest mode shop no longer sells basic lands (to avoid clutter; you can add any basic lands you want anyway).
- Quest mode draft tournament correctly allows to use "Add Basic Lands" only after drafting is over and deck construction begins
 (and the button is hidden during the drafting process).
- Otherwise, basic lands found normally during the quest (e.g. found in booster packs, drafted in quest draft tournaments,
purchased in preconstructed decks etc.) function as before and can be sold normally via the quest shop interface.


- Permanent locations for Net Decks and Achievement trophies -
All Net Deck categories should now find decks and won't stop returning decks when new decks are added
A new "Download Achievement Images" button has been added to Content Downloaders for downloading awesome trophies for each achievement.


- Advanced Search in Card and Deck managers -
"Filter" button replaced with smaller button with search icon
When click, Add Filter > Advanced... will open Advanced Search dialog which will allow configuring an advanced search filter using any combination of filter options and operators, connected in an easy to build boolean expression.

v1.5.58 Changes:
================

- Escape Key Functionality Change -
Forge now does not allow the player to use the Escape key as a form of an "End Turn" shortcut by default in order to avoid situations when pressing Escape recklessly can lead to missing one's own turn or other dangerous and undesirable situations. However, if you prefer the old behavior, it can be reenabled using the "Use Escape Key To End Turn" option in Forge preferences.


- Auto Yield Functionality Change -
Auto Yield is now done on a per-card basis, consistent with how it is presented in the GUI.  For example, auto-yielding an Evolve effect in the stack only affects Evolve on the card for the effect, not Evolve on all cards. Also, auto-yields are cleared between games, which gives the player more control over each decision to automatically pass priority in each game.


- Quest Mode Updates and Fixes -
It is now possible to simulate random AI vs. AI match outcome instead of playing out all AI vs. AI matches and making the player watch them. AI decks with higher total card draft ranking value have a higher chance of "winning" a random simulated AI vs. AI match. This option is disabled by default and can be enabled in Quest Preferences (set the option "Simulate AI vs. AI Matches" to 1). When using a token to create a new quest draft tournament, the player will be shown the entry fee for the tournament and will be asked to confirm creating that tournament with the provided entry fee in mind. Quest mode has become more robust and resistant to quest data corruption. Non-tournament legal substandard cards (e.g. Conspiracies) will no longer be added to quest card pool from reward booster packs and possibly other sources to prevent persistent crashes (these cards had no possible use in quest mode anyway). Quest draft tournaments with sets that have no standard draft template in Forge (e.g. Commander, Conspiracy) will no longer be created in order to prevent the game crashing when trying to start a draft tournament.


- Incremental Updates and Fixes -
This release features many bug fixes and general improvements. Multiple corner cases and card interactions were fixed or changed to conform to Magic: the Gathering rules more closely. For example, the damage subsystem has been rewritten to allow proper interaction with replacement effects and lifelink (e.g. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Kalitas, Traitor or Ghet or Ajani's Pridemate getting a counter from Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet dealing damage to multiple creatures via Chandra's Ignition). Splice onto Arcane has been reworked to make it more intuitive for the player and more rule compliant. 


- AI Updates and New AI-Playable Cards -
The AI received some fixes and updates, and there is an ongoing work on improving the simulated AI which is currently considered experimental and disabled by default.
For those of you interested in making decks for the AI, the following cards have received their own special logic and are now considered AI-playable: Black Lotus, Lotus Bloom, Chain of Smog, Donate (currently only targeting Illusions of Grandeur), Illusions of Grandeur (as a target for Donate), Living Death, Necropotence, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Timetwister, Yawgmoth's Bargain. Do not expect the AI to do miracles with them, but the AI should be able to play with these cards sensibly enough for most circumstances. For example, the AI does not know how to use Necropotence or Yawgmoth's Bargain in order to hit either of them for a big value (e.g. for 15) hoping to draw a win condition and just insta-win, but it does know how to use them as a form of "revolver reload" to consistently replenish its hand given enough life to spare.


- Desktop Forge UI Changes -
Desktop Forge UI has been updated a little bit. In the deck editor, the +/- buttons to add and remove cards (in the list view mode) have been flipped to -/+ in order to make them consistent with how they appear in the Add Basic Lands dialog (subtraction button on the left, addition button on the right), which also seems to be more intuitive. Ordering simultaneuos abilities and triggers no longer requires an additional confirmation prompt to confirm that you want to keep the same order as last time. Instead, you are presented with a dialog that starts with your previously made choice and allows you to change the order of abilities when and if necessary. Also, simultaneous abilities coming from different cards with the same name (e.g. Evolve triggers from different creatures) should no longer be automatically considered the same for the purpose of automatically ordering them. Targeting overlay underwent rather serious update under the hood and now performs much better and no longer continuously overloads the CPU whenever the targeting arrows are displayed.


- Android Updates -
Some work went into porting the remaining features from desktop version of the game to mobile Forge. In particular, it is now possible to start a match against a particular opponent in Sealed Deck and Booster Draft modes in addition to the gauntlet mode which is still default. The work to enable quest draft tournaments in mobile Forge is ongoing and should not be considered complete at the moment, draft tournaments in quest mode are still not fully functional in mobile Forge and you will not be able to complete a draft tournament yet.
The mobile port of Forge now features an option "Battlefield Texture Filtering" which smoothes out card art on the battlefield. This can help make the graphics smoother on larger tablet screens (e.g. 12") or when connected to an external monitor. This option, however, comes with a performance penalty and may blur the card art too much on smaller screens. It is disabled by default.

v1.5.59 Changes
===============

- Aether Revolt -
This release features all Aether Revolt cards that you can play with in all game modes. There are still some remaining caveats and issues that are hopefully going to be addressed soon. Please report any issues you encounter with the new cards.

- Commander 2016 -
This release features most Commander 2016 cards scripted and ready to play. The few remaining cards that are not currently supported may be scripted in the upcoming versions of Forge.

- Auto-Yielding Granularity -
It is now possible to specify the granularity level for auto-yields: it is possible to choose between yielding to each unique ability or to each unique card. The difference is that, for example, when yielding per ability if you auto-yield to Hellrider's triggered ability once, all triggers from other Hellrider cards will be automatically auto-yielded to as well. When yielding per card, you will need to auto-yield to each Hellrider separately. The historical Forge default of auto-yielding per ability has been restored, and the option can now be toggled in Forge Preferences (check out "Auto-Yield" under Gameplay) in both Desktop and Mobile Forge.
Note that in when auto-yielding per ability, auto-yields will NOT be automatically cleared between games in a match, which should speed the game up. When auto-yielding per card, auto-yields WILL be automatically cleared between games because they are dependent on card IDs which change from game to game, thus you will need to auto-yield to each card again in each game of the match.

- User interface updates and changes -
Some notable modifications were made to the Forge UI for desktop computers. First of all, many pop-up prompts have been replaced with prompt window queries - for example, Scry 1 now shows the request to put the card on the top or bottom of the library in the prompt window instead of a pop-up dialog window, and allows to view the card in question by moving the mouse over the prompt window, which is more convenient. Second of all, in both desktop and mobile Forge, there is now an option in Forge Preferences called "Preselect Last Order of Abilities" that preselects the last known order of simultaneous abilities, thus making it possible to just use "Space" once to confirm the previous order instead of having to press Space for each ability or clicking the ">>" button to add the previous order once more. This option is currently disabled by default to avoid being confusing to users who are used to doing it the way it used to be before. Also, there is now an option to view detailed spell ability descriptions in the prompt window during mana payment and targeting, which is enabled by default but can be enabled/disabled in Forge preferences ("Spell Description in Payment Prompt" under the "Gameplay" preference group).

- Targeting Overlay Optional Optimization -
Throttling-based targeting overlay optimization aimed at eliminating continuous CPU use has been made optional (but enabled by default). Most users running modern hardware will want this option enabled because it will significantly reduce CPU use when playing Forge, especially when playing with the targeting overlay always on. However, some users running older hardware at slower CPU clock speed may experience choppiness (for example, when dragging card panels in hand), in which case we advise you to try disabling the option "Enabled Targeting Overlay Optimization" in Forge preferences under "Graphic Options".

- AI updates - 
Artificial intelligence received several improvements and fixes. The AI should now be able to use mana ritual cards (Dark Ritual and similar cards), sacrifice-and-upgrade cards (Birthing Pod, Eldritch Evolution, Natural Order). AI for some other card groups has been improved. The AI should no longer animate manlands with other manlands that were animated during the same turn, it should not instantly sac Bomat Courier, no longer kill itself by activating Smallpox and Pox at 1 life. The AI should now be able to use Spellskite correctly (at least when redirecting a single targeted ability). Some other improvements and modifications were made as well, hopefully making the AI more fun to play against.

v1.5.60 Changes
===============

- New Quest World -
There is a new quest world from Xyx based around the Portal set. Here's the description from the author: "It's 1997 and Magic has become the most elaborately complex game on the planet. In an attempt to make the game accessible to a wider audience, Wizards of the Coast releases Magic's first "Starter level" product: Portal, a set of simple cards with generic fantasy flavor. Fortunately, "simple" and "generic" do not automatically translate to "dumb" or "bland". Portal is quite elegant in its simplicity, visually distinct, with resonant top-down card design. It is both AI-friendly and beginner-friendly, but because it is not immediately apparent what all the good cards and decks are, it is also "experienced-player-friendly". If you ever want to introduce a friend to Magic and/or Forge, you could do a lot worse than send them on a Portal quest!"

- New Cubes for Drafting -
Many cubes were added for cube drafting in Booster Draft mode, many of them based on well known cubes available online. Many cubes were ported over from XMage and can thus now be played in Forge against the AI. Also, a 2017 MTGO Vintage cube was added, as contributed on the forum by zookham.

- Experimental Feature: Repeatable Sequences (Macros) -
A new feature for advanced users is available for testing. During a match, you can use the default shortcut shift-R to specify a sequence of actions (mouse clicks, essentially, in the desktop paradigm). Type the IDs of cards/players you'd like to interact with, in order. Then the default shortcut @ (shift-2) will execute your sequence, one "click" at a time, repeating when it reaches the end. This is useful for executing repeated combos, such as sacrificing a recurring creature to Goblin Bombardment. You can see the IDs of cards by turning them on under "Card Overlays" in the "Game" menu.
Caveats: Only two-player Magic is supported at the moment (opponents beyond the first cannot yet be specified in an action sequence). Objects that aren't cards or players, such as the mana pool, also cannot yet be scripted (though this may be added in the future). Finally, the macro will dutifully execute your click sequence without regard to changes in game state (so if an opponent kills your specified creature mid-macro, and you continue to execute it, you will be essentially clicking on the creature in the graveyard, which may or may not be what you want).

---------------------------

This product includes software developed by the Indiana University Extreme! Lab (http://www.extreme.indiana.edu/).
