Introduction

This is a private tool not intended for use by anyone else. Don't expect sufficient documentation or any kind of support.

Setup

To generate final image outputs, you must run this workflow on a Windows platform because each platform renders the fonts differently.

1. Clone this repo to a new local folder. The easiest way is to click Code and then Download ZIP. At the same time, the preferable way is to use Git.

   You can install the Git client from https://git-scm.com/downloads (default settings should be fine). On GitHub UI click Code, then click HTTPS and copy the URL. Run Git CMD, navigate to the folder, and run the following command (don't forget the period at the end):

   git clone <copied URL> .
   

   For example:

   git clone https://github.com/seastan/lotr-lcg-set-generator.git .
   

   Later, when you want to update the code, run Git CMD, navigate to the folder, and run the following command:

   git pull
   

   If you prefer a UI interface, instead of Git CMD you may also use GitHub Desktop (https://desktop.github.com). In that case, on GitHub UI click Code, then click Open with Github Desktop.

2. Make sure there is a spreadsheet on Google Sheets (most likely, it already exists).

   If it doesn't exist yet (that means you are starting a new project from scratch), upload Spreadsheet/spreadsheet.xlsx from this repo, click Save as Google Sheets, click Share and Change to anyone with the link. Click Extensions -> Apps Script and upload the content of Spreadsheet/Code.gs. After that, re-run =SHEETS() function from A1 cell of the first - tab. Add all the sets and the card data.

3. Add the folder with the artwork to your Google Drive to be able to sync it locally. Open the folder in the browser, right-click on the folder name, then click Add shortcut to Drive. Choose My Drive and click Add Shortcut.

   If it doesn't exist yet (that means you are starting a new project from scratch), create this folder locally. Make sure that you don't reuse an existing folder from the downloaded repo. It should have the following structure:

   <set ID>/
   <set ID>/<card ID>_<"A"|"B"|"Top"|"Bottom">_<card name and artist, format is not strict>.<"jpg" or "png">
   <set ID>/custom/
   <set ID>/custom/<custom image>
   custom/
   custom/<custom image>
   generated/
   generated/<generated lightweight card image>
   icons/
   icons/<icon image>
   _Keep/
   _Keep/<card ID>/
   _Keep/<card ID>/<image ID>_<artist>.<"jpg" or "png">
   _Scratch/
   _Scratch/<backup image>
   

   For example:

   8a3273ca-1ccd-4e07-913b-766fcc49fe6f/
   8a3273ca-1ccd-4e07-913b-766fcc49fe6f/53dcedb3-3640-4655-a150-9d0dd534a126_A_Reclaim_the_Beacon_Artist_Jan_Pospisil.jpg
   8a3273ca-1ccd-4e07-913b-766fcc49fe6f/53dcedb3-3640-4655-a150-9d0dd534a126_B_Defend_the_Beacon_Artist_Skvor.jpg
   8a3273ca-1ccd-4e07-913b-766fcc49fe6f/9a677840-6c2d-4603-b2bd-c39464663913_A_Squire_of_the_Mark_Artist_Ekaterina_Burmak.png
   8a3273ca-1ccd-4e07-913b-766fcc49fe6f/custom/
   8a3273ca-1ccd-4e07-913b-766fcc49fe6f/custom/Encounter-Icons-Ambush-at-Erelas.png
   custom/
   custom/Do-Not-Read-the-Following.png
   generated/
   generated/e904fc83-7bb9-4868-8d80-60c89ade0ce2.jpg
   icons/
   icons/Vafthrudnir-Encounter-Set-01.png
   _Keep/
   _Keep/53dcedb3-3640-4655-a150-9d0dd534a126/d683951a-e2a9-4e6f-81aa-2943ff6c0a31_John_Howe.png
   _Scratch/
   _Scratch/untitled.png
   

   Make sure that top-level folders custom, generated, icons, _Keep, and _Scratch exist, even if they are empty. If you are starting a new project from scratch, copy all images from imagesCustom and imagesIcons folders in the root of this repo to custom and icons folders in the root of this folder.

4. If you are using the artwork from Google Drive, make sure that the Google Drive application is installed (install it if needed). If the artwork folder is a shortcut, click on the shortcut and copy the actual path to the virtual folder (it might look like G:\.shortcut-targets-by-id\1FY4jVevupiOL48eYOPCPAWqVZq3pQKvO\<folder name>. Use that path in the configuration file described below. Right-click on the folder, then click Offline access and Available offline.

5. If you plan to upload to Google Drive any card outputs or log files, you might need to create shortcuts for more existing Google Drive folders and use their local paths in the configuration (repeat the instructions above).

6. Install the tool and the plugin. Follow these steps:

• Make sure that Times New Roman font is installed. If you have a Mac or Linux, it may be not installed by default.
• Install the tool, Build 3970. Please note that the latest version from the site may not work as expected. Use the following links:
  • Windows (64-bit): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tqzVeZB27MC_EaOwKXipBODbRL3wBdSr/view?usp=sharing
  • Windows (32-bit): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QbruPIOyioZ4MWpLF1YUMaAgnGq8Ch_Y/view?usp=sharing
  • Mac: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QcDhm0Bv9de81DNnp0E4obMGtVBtcCnV/view?usp=sharing
  • Linux: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QeTjzV4OWdvaEP8oGGX9kIeflGdtlrzH/view?usp=sharing
• Run the tool and install The Lord of the Rings LCG plugin.
• Click Edit -> Preferences -> Language. Make sure that "English-United States" is chosen for both Game Language and User Interface Language. Click Drawing. Make sure that Text Fitting Methods is set to Reduce Line Spacing and Shrink Text. Don't change any other preferences.
• If you have any custom plugin files, do the following: Go to the plugins folder (run the tool, then click Toolbox -> Manage Plug-ins -> Open Plug-in Folder), close the tool, delete all files, whose names start with TheLordOfTheRingsLCG, and copy your custom .seext files instead of them.

7. Install the latest GIMP version from https://www.gimp.org/downloads/. If for some reason it doesn't work as expected, try to install version 2.10.20.

8. Open GIMP, go to Edit -> Preferences -> Folders -> Plug-ins, add GIMP folder from this repo, click OK, and then close GIMP.

9. Install ImageMagick 7.0.10-28 (download Windows version from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1toCZd4xaYU2ToV-_jc3xXmQW1rJcxmRK/view?usp=sharing, for other platforms look at https://download.imagemagick.org/ImageMagick/download/releases/).

10. Download USWebCoatedSWOP.icc from https://github.com/cjw-network/cjwpublish1411/blob/master/vendor/imagine/imagine/lib/Imagine/resources/Adobe/CMYK/USWebCoatedSWOP.icc into the root folder of this repo.

11. Install AutoHotkey from https://autohotkey.com/download/.

12. Install the latest Python 3 version (see https://www.python.org/downloads/). The minimum version that was tested is 3.7. Optionally, install VirtualEnv (see https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000695551-Installing-and-using-virtualenv-with-Python-3 for details).

13. Go to the root folder of this repo and follow the steps below. All commands should be run in CLI, for example, cmd (Windows) or bash (Mac/Linux). To navigate to the right folder inside your CLI you can use cd <folder> command (for example, cd Documents\lotr-lcg-set-generator).

• [skip this step, if you don't use VirtualEnv] virtualenv env --python=python3.9 (replace 3.9 with your actual Python version)

• [skip this step, if you don't use VirtualEnv] env\Scripts\activate.bat (Windows) or source env/bin/activate (Mac/Linux)

• pip install -r requirements.txt

  If for debugging purposes you plan to use Jupyter notebook, additionally run:

• pip install jupyter

14. Create configuration.yaml: copy configuration.default.yaml to configuration.yaml and set the following values:

• sheet_gdid: Google Sheets ID of the cards spreadsheet
• artwork_path: local path to the artwork folder (don't use for that purpose any existing folder in this repo)
• stable_data_path: local path to the stable data folder
• gimp_console_path: path to GIMP console executable
• magick_path: path to ImageMagick executable
• dragncards_id_rsa_path: path to id_rsa key to upload files to DragnCards (may be empty)
• remote_logs_path: path to remote logs folder (may be empty)
• octgn_set_xml_destination_path: path to OCTGN set.xml destination folder (may be empty)
• octgn_set_xml_scratch_destination_path: path to OCTGN set.xml scratch destination folder (may be empty)
• octgn_o8d_destination_path: path to OCTGN .o8d destination folder (may be empty)
• octgn_o8d_scratch_destination_path: path to OCTGN .o8d scratch destination folder (may be empty)
• octgn_image_destination_path: path to OCTGN image destination folder (may be empty)
• db_destination_path: path to DB destination folder (may be empty)
• tts_destination_path: path to TTS destination folder (may be empty)
• dragncards_remote_image_path: remote DragnCards path to image folder
• dragncards_remote_json_path: remote DragnCards 1.0 path to set JSON folder
• dragncards_remote_tsv_path: remote DragnCards 2.0 path to set TSV folder
• dragncards_remote_deck_path: remote DragnCards 1.0 path to deck O8D folder
• dragncards_remote_deck_json_path: remote DragnCards 2.0 path to deck JSON folder
• reprocess_all: whether to reprocess all cards (true) or update only the cards, changed since the previous script run (false)
• reprocess_all_on_error: whether to reprocess all cards even when reprocess_all=false if the previous script run didn't succeed (true or false)
• selected_only: process only "selected" rows (true or false)
• exit_if_no_spreadsheet_changes: stop processing if there are no spreadsheet changes (true or false)
• run_sanity_check_for_all_sets: run sanity check for all sets (true or false)
• parallelism: number of parallel processes to use (default means cpu_count() - 1, but not more than 4)
• stable_data_user: how to use the stable data: "none" (don't use stable data), "reader" (read the latest stable data when sanity check failed), "writer" (write the stable data when sanity check passed)
• verify_drive_timestamp: verify whether Google Drive is up to date or not (true or false)
• ignore_ignore_flags: ignore IgnoreName and IgnoreRules flags (true or false)
• set_ids: list of set IDs to work on (you can use all and all_scratch aliases to select all non-scratch and all scratch sets automatically)
• ignore_set_ids: list of set IDs to ignore
• set_ids_octgn_image_destination: list of set IDs to copy to OCTGN image destination
• octgn_set_xml: creating set.xml files for OCTGN (true or false)
• octgn_o8d: creating O8D and JSON files for OCTGN and DragnCards (true or false)
• ringsdb_csv: creating CSV files for RingsDB (true or false)
• dragncards_json: creating JSON and TSV files for DragnCards (true or false)
• hallofbeorn_json: creating JSON files for Hall of Beorn (true or false)
• frenchdb_csv: creating CSV files for the French database sda.cgbuilder.fr (true or false)
• spanishdb_csv: creating CSV files for the Spanish database susurrosdelbosqueviejo.com (true or false)
• renderer_artwork: creating artwork for DragnCards proxy images (true or false)
• renderer: creating DragnCards proxy images (true or false)
• upload_dragncards: uploading pixel-perfect images to DragnCards (true or false)
• upload_dragncards_lightweight: uploading lightweight outputs to DragnCards (true or false)
• dragncards_hostname: DragnCards hostname: username@hostname (may be empty)
• update_ringsdb: updating ringsdb.com (true or false)
• ringsdb_url: ringsdb.com URL (may be empty)
• ringsdb_sessionid: ringsdb.com session ID: <PHPSESSID>|<REMEMBERME> (may be empty)
• outputs: list of image outputs for each language (if you added or uncommented new outputs, you also need to set reprocess_all to true)

For debugging purposes, you may add an additional value:

• offline_mode: use a cached spreadsheet when possible (true or false)

See configuration.release.yaml for a configuration example.

Usage

To run the workflow, go to the root folder of this repo and follow these steps:

• [skip this step, if you don't use VirtualEnv] env\Scripts\activate.bat (Windows) or source env/bin/activate (Mac/Linux).
• Make sure that the tool is closed.
• python run_before_se.py.
• Pay attention to possible errors in the script output.
• Open setGenerator.seproject and run makeCards script by double-clicking it. Once completed, close the program and wait until it finishes packing the project.
• python run_after_se.py.
• Pay attention to possible errors in the script output.

For debugging purposes, you can also run the steps above using the Jupyter notebook (it doesn't use any parallelism):

• [skip this step, if you don't use VirtualEnv] env\Scripts\activate.bat (Windows) or source env/bin/activate (Mac/Linux)
• jupyter notebook
• Open setGenerator.ipynb in the browser.

To generate only a subset of cards (produce separate artifacts for each set):

• Set selected_only: true in configuration.yaml.
• Uncomment all the needed sets in configuration.yaml.
• In the spreadsheet, set Selected column to 1 for all the needed cards.

To generate only a subset of cards (produce one artifact regardless of the sets):

• Set selected_only: true in configuration.yaml.
• In the spreadsheet, on the Sets tab add a new set like Selected Cards.
• Add that new set to configuration.yaml and comment out any other sets.
• In the spreadsheet, set Selected column to the ID of that new set for all the needed cards.
• In the artwork folder, temporarily create a new folder named the new set ID and copy all images and subfolders from the folders with the set IDs that you refer to in your selected cards (there should be no naming conflicts between files from the different folders). After you finish generating the cards, you can safely delete this folder. Also, when running the scripts you can ignore any Unused image detected errors.

Automatic Pipeline

To run the workflow as one script, run:

• run_all.bat

Please note, this script is for the Windows platform only. It uses AutoHotkey to emulate UI commands and is not 100% reliable (it may be stuck on the manual step). To minimize the risks:

• Make sure the tool window was maximized when you closed it.
• Make sure the screen is not locked (and doesn't lock automatically).
• If the script starts, don't touch the keyboard or mouse.

If you need to perform any additional actions before and/or after the script starts (like restarting Google Drive), you may create two additional batch scripts with your custom code:

• run_setup.bat
• run_cleanup.bat

They will be called inside run_all.bat automatically. See run_setup.bat.example.

Also, see configuration.nightly.yaml for a configuration example.

If you want to set up a Windows cron job, do the following:

• Run Task Scheduler.
• Click Create Task.
• Set Name.
• Click Triggers -> New.
• Set up a schedule and click OK.
• Click Actions -> New.
• Click Browse..., choose run_all.bat, and click OK.
• Click OK.

Cron Job Pipeline

Of the Setup steps described above, you need only these:

1. Clone this repo to a new local folder:

   git clone https://github.com/seastan/lotr-lcg-set-generator.git .
   

2. Install the latest Python 3 version (if it's not yet installed, the minimum supported version is 3.7).

3. Create configuration.yaml. Use configuration.cron.yaml as a template. Replace /home/user/Drive/ with an actual path to a local Drive folder (create a new folder either in the root folder of this repo or somewhere else). It should have the following structure:

   CardImages/
   CardImagesTemp/
   LinksBackup/
   Logs/
   Playtesting/
   Playtesting/OCTGN Files/
   Playtesting/OCTGN Files/Encounter Decks/
   Playtesting/OCTGN Files/Scratch Encounter Decks/
   Playtesting/OCTGN Files/Scratch Set Folders/
   Playtesting/OCTGN Files/Set Folders/
   

Additional steps:

1. Install all dependencies:

• pip install -r requirements.txt
• pip install discord.py==1.7.3 aiohttp
• Patch discord.py package: find the folder where it's installed (something like /usr/local/lib/python<version of Python>/dist-packages/discord) and run: sudo cp _discord_1_7_3_patch/* <discord.py folder>/.
• sudo apt-get install nodejs npm imagemagick
• Download the latest stable wkhtmltopdf package for your platform from https://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html and run sudo apt-get install <absolute path to the package file>.
• cd Renderer/; npm install fast-xml-parser he; cd ..

2. Create discord.yaml (see discord.default.yaml).

3. Create mpc_monitor.json (see mpc_monitor.default.json), mpc_monitor_cookies.json (see mpc_monitor_cookies.default.json), ringsdb_prod_cookies.json (see ringsdb_prod_cookies.default.json), scheduled_backup.json (see scheduled_backup.default.json) and mail.yaml (see mail.default.json).

4. Setup rclone:

• curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

• rclone config

  You will need to set up the following remotes:

• ALePCardImages (points to CardImages)

• ALePCron (points to Cron)

• ALePGeneratedImages (points to CardImages/generated)

• ALePIcons (points to CardImages/icons)

• ALePLinksBackup (points to Links Backup)

• ALePLogs (points to Logs)

• ALePOCTGN (points to Playtesting/OCTGN Files)

• ALePRenderedImages (points to RenderedImages)

• ALePStableData (points to StableData)

5. In the root folder of this repo create id_rsa to upload files to DragnCards.

6. Setup crons:

• */5 * * * * <path>/check_cron.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• * * * * * <path>/check_discord_bot.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• * * * * * <path>/check_internet_state.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• * * * * * <path>/check_mail.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• */10 * * * * <path>/check_mpc_monitor.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 19 * * * * <path>/check_playtesting_sets.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 9 * * * * <path>/check_ringsdb_decks.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• * * * * * <path>/check_run_before_se_service.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 7 1 * * * <path>/configuration_backup.sh "<path to a local configuration backup folder>" >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 5 11 * * * <path>/download_ringsdb_stat.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• * * * * * <path>/env_health_check.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• */2 * * * * <path>/monitor_discord_changes.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 15 0 * * * <path>/monitor_discord_log.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 29 4 * * * <path>/monitor_images_upload.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 36 9 * * * <path>/monitor_remote_pipeline.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 36 8 * * * <path>/monitor_wordpress_site.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 36 7 * * * <path>/monitor_mpc_url_format.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 0 1 * * * <path>/monitor_wordpress_token.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 17 7 1 */2 * <path>/mpc_backup.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• */5 * * * * <path>/mpc_monitor.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 17 6 * * 0 <path>/mpc_refresh.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 7 0 * * * <path>/rclone_backup.sh "<local Drive/Playtesting/OCTGN Files path>" >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 12,42 * * * * <path>/rclone_data_remotely.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 22,52 * * * * <path>/rclone_renderer.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 0 8 * * 1 <path>/remind_backup.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 5 8 2 * * <path>/remind_monthly.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 0 12 * * * <path>/remote_player_cards_stat_monitor.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 19 8 * * * <path>/scheduled_backup.sh "<local Drive/LinksBackup path>" >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

• 0,30 * * * * <path>/utc_timestamp.sh >> <path>/cron.log 2>&1

  Replace <path> with the absolute path to the root folder of this repo. cron.log may be located either in the root folder or in some external folder (if you already have other crons). Set <path to a local configuration backup folder> to some backup folder outside of the root folder.

7. Download Vafthrudnir font from https://www.wfonts.com/font/vafthrudnir, extract the archive, and put VAFTHRUD.TTF into Renderer/Fonts folder. Find a ttf file for the Times New Roman font (you may find it in c:\Windows\Fonts folder on a Windows machine or download it from the Internet) and put it into Renderer/Fonts folder as times.ttf.

If you want to manually restart the scripts, run:

• ./restart_discord_bot.sh
• ./restart_mail.sh
• ./restart_run_before_se_service.sh

If you want to migrate the pipeline to a different host, do the following steps:

1. Set up the pipeline on the new host, but comment out all crons. You might want to adjust the hours column in the crontab according to the new timezone. Also, you may copy id_rsa and configuration files from the old host and only apply changes where needed (for example, different local paths). Instead of configuring rclone from scratch, you may copy its configuration file from the old host (run rclone config file to find its location on each host).

2. Comment out all crons on the old host and make sure all running crons have been finished (you may just wait for up to 5 minutes).

3. Run tail -f run_before_se.log on the old host. After another iteration has been finished, kill python3 run_before_se_service.py process (use ps aux | grep run_before_se and kill <process id> commands).

4. Wait until no files remain in Discord/Changes, Discord/Images, and Discord/Temp folders on the old host and kill python3 discord_bot.py process (use ps aux | grep discord and kill <process id> commands).

5. Run ./rclone_data_remotely.sh on the old host.

6. Copy mpc_monitor_cookies.json, ringsdb_prod_cookies.json and ringsdb_test_cookies.json to the new host.

7. On the new host, run ./rclone_data_locally.sh.

8. On the new host, delete env_health_check.txt if it exists.

9. On the new host, uncomment all crons.

If you want to add a new MakePlayingCards deck to monitoring, run:

• ./mpc_add.sh "<deck name>"

Outputs

The scripts will generate the following outputs:

• Output/DB/<set name>.<language>/: 300 dpi PNG images for general purposes (including TTS).
• Output/DragnCards/<set name>/<set name>.json: a JSON output file for DragnCards.
• Output/DragnCards/<set name>/<set name>.tsv: a TSV output file for DragnCards.
• Output/DragnCardsHQ/<set name>/: 480 dpi JPG images for DragnCards.
• Output/FrenchDB/<set name>/: CSV files for French database sda.cgbuilder.fr.
• Output/FrenchDBImages/<set name>.<language>/: 300 dpi PNG images for French database (the same as Output/DB, but differently named).
• Output/GenericPNG/<set name>.<language>/: a 7z archive of generic 800 dpi PNG images with bleed margins.
• Output/GenericPNGPDF/<set name>.<language>/: 7z archives of PDF files in A4 and letter format (800 dpi PNG images with bleed margins).
• Output/HallOfBeorn/<set name>.<language>/<set name>.json: an output file for Hall of Beorn.
• Output/HallOfBeornImages/<set name>.<language>/: 300 dpi PNG images for Hall of Beorn (the same as Output/DB, but differently named).
• Output/MakePlayingCards/<set name>.<language>/: a 7z archive of 800 dpi PNG images with bleed margins to be printed on MakePlayingCards.com.
• Output/MBPrint/<set name>.<language>/: a 7z archive of 800 dpi CMYK (U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2) JPG images with bleed margins to be printed on MBPrint.pl or some other printing service.
• Output/MBPrintPDF/<set name>.<language>/: a 7z archive of a PDF file to be printed on MBPrint.pl (800 dpi CMYK (U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2) JPG images with bleed margins).
• Output/OCTGN/<set name>/<octgn id>/set.xml: an output file for OCTGN.
• Output/OCTGNDecks/<set name>/<deck name>.json: quest decks for DragnCards.
• Output/OCTGNDecks/<set name>/<deck name>.o8d: quest decks for OCTGN and DragnCards.
• Output/OCTGNImages/<set name>.<language>/<set name>.<language>.o8c: image packs for OCTGN and DragnCards (600x429 JPG images).
• Output/PDF/<set name>.<language>/: PDF files in A4 and letter format for home printing (300 dpi PNG images with bleed margins).
• Output/PreviewImages/<set name>.<language>/: 600x429 JPG images for preview purposes.
• Output/RingsDB/<set name>/<set name>.csv: an output file for RIngsDB.
• Output/RingsDBImages/<set name>/: 300 dpi PNG images for RingsDB (the same as Output/DB, but player cards only and differently named).
• Output/RulesPDF/<set name>.<language>/Rules.<set name>.<language>.pdf: a PDF file with all Rules pages (800 dpi JPG images).
• Output/SpanishDB/<set name>/: CSV files for Spanish database susurrosdelbosqueviejo.com.
• Output/SpanishDBImages/<set name>.<language>/: 300 dpi PNG images for Spanish database (the same as Output/DB, but differently named).
• Output/TTS/<set name>.<language>/: 300 dpi JPG image sheets for TTS.

Please note that Output/DB, Output/HallOfBeornImages, Output/PreviewImages, Output/RingsDBImages (for English language only), Output/FrenchDBImages (for French language only), and Output/SpanishDBImages (for Spanish language only) are generated when db output is enabled in the configuration.

When tts output is enabled in the configuration, octgn_o8d, and db outputs become enabled automatically.

Supported Tags

Please note that all tags are case-sensitive.

• [center] ... [/center]: center alignment
• [right] ... [/right]: right alignment
• [b] ... [/b]: bold text
• [i] ... [/i]: italic text
• [bi] ... [/bi] or { ... }: bold + italic text
• [u] ... [/u]: underlined text
• [strike] ... [/strike]: strikethrough text
• [red] ... [/red]: red (#8B1C23) text
• [lotr X] ... [/lotr]: Vafthrudnir font + text size X (X may be float)
• [lotrheader X] ... [/lotrheader]: Lord of the Headers font + text size X (X may be float)
• [size X] ... [/size]: text size X (X may be float)
• [defaultsize X]: put it at the beginning of a field, to set default text size X (X may be float)
• [img PATH]: insert image from PATH (PATH may start either with "custom/" or "icons/")
• [img PATH Xin]: insert image from PATH and set its width to X inches
• [img PATH Xin Yin]: insert image from PATH and set its width to X inches and its height to Y inches
• [space]: horizontal spacing
• [vspace]: vertical spacing
• [tab]: tab symbol
• [nobr]: non-breakable space
• [br]: doesn't do anything, use this tag before the actual linebreak to emphasize that the linebreak was intentional
• [lsb]: [
• [rsb]: ]
• [lfb]: {
• [rfb]: }
• [lquot]: unmatched left quote
• [rquot]: unmatched right quote
• [lfquot]: unmatched French left quote
• [rfquot]: unmatched French right quote
• [quot]: "
• [apos]: '
• [hyphen]: -
• [inline]: put it at the end of the Keywords field, to place the keywords on the same line as the first line of the text
• [split]: split the text between different regions (only for Cave card type)
• [name]: this card's name (never hardcode the name itself)
• [[Name]]: reference to a different card name (allows to apply a check for unknown names)
• {Trait}: an alias for [bi]Trait[/bi]
• --: en dash
• ---: em dash

Icons:

• [unique]
• [threat]
• [attack]
• [defense]
• [willpower]
• [leadership]
• [lore]
• [spirit]
• [tactics]
• [baggins]
• [fellowship]
• [sunny]
• [cloudy]
• [rainy]
• [stormy]
• [sailing]
• [eos]: Eye of Sauron
• [pp]: per player

Card Types & Spheres

List of available card types:

• Ally
• Attachment
• Campaign
• Contract
• Encounter Side Quest (alias: Side Quest)
• Enemy
• Event
• Full Art Landscape
• Full Art Portrait
• Hero
• Location
• Nightmare
• Objective
• Objective Ally
• Objective Hero
• Objective Location
• Player Objective
• Player Side Quest
• Presentation
• Quest
• Rules
• Ship Enemy
• Ship Objective
• Treachery
• Treasure

List of available sphere values:

• Baggins
• Fellowship
• Leadership
• Lore
• Neutral
• Spirit
• Tactics
• Boon
• BoonLeadership
• BoonLore
• BoonSpirit
• BoonTactics
• Burden
• Nightmare
• Back (Rules only)
• Cave (Encounter Side Quest only)
• NoIcon (Objective only)
• Ring (Objective only)
• NoProgress (Encounter Side Quest only)
• NoStat (Enemy only)
• Region (Encounter Side Quest only)
• Setup (Campaign only)
• SmallTextArea (Encounter Side Quest only)
• Upgraded (Ship Objective only)
• Blue (Presentation only)
• Green (Presentation only)
• Purple (Presentation only)
• Red (Presentation only)
• Brown (Presentation only)
• Yellow (Presentation only)
• BlueNightmare (Presentation only)
• GreenNightmare (Presentation only)
• PurpleNightmare (Presentation only)
• RedNightmare (Presentation only)
• BrownNightmare (Presentation only)
• YellowNightmare (Presentation only)

Flags

• AdditionalCopies
• IgnoreName
• IgnoreRules
• NoArtist
• NoCopyright
• NoTraits
• Promo (Hero only)
• Star
• BlueRing
• GreenRing
• RedRing

Portrait Shadows

• Black
• PortraitTint (Quest Side A only)

Deck Rules

OCTGN/DragnCards .o8d and DragnCards .json deck files are generated automatically for each scenario detected on Quest and Nightmare cards. By default, the deck includes all cards, that share both the set and encounter set from the "parent" Quest or Nightmare card (including encounter sets from Additional Encounter Sets column). All Quest, Nightmare, and Campaign cards are put into Quest section, all Rules cards are put into Setup section, and all encounter cards are put into Encounter section. The filename of the deck is the same as Adventure value (Quest cards) or Name value (Nightmare cards) with all spaces replaced with -. The easy mode version is generated automatically if any card included in the deck has a different quantity for the normal and easy modes.

To adjust the deck, you need to describe the rules in Deck Rules column (for a corresponding Quest or Nightmare card). The rules are separated by a line break. If you want to create several decks for the same scenario (for example, a normal and a campaign deck), describe the rules for each of the decks and separate them using an additional empty line. For example:

[rule 1 for deck 1]
[rule 2 for deck 1]

[rule 1 for deck 2]
[rule 2 for deck 2]
[rule 3 for deck 2]

Each rule is a key-value pair, separated by :. For example:

Prefix: QA1.5

If you want to set a list of values, separate them by ;. For example:

Setup: Saruman; Grima; Brandywine Gate

Below is a list of all supported rules:

• Prefix: A mandatory scenario prefix. It must start with: <either "Q" (normal mode) or "N" (nightmare mode)><two capital letters and/or numbers>.<one or two numbers><end of string or dash>. For example, Prefix: Q0B.19-Standalone will result in a filename like Q0B.19-Standalone-The-Scouring-of-the-Shire.o8d.
• Sets: Additional sets to be included. For example: Sets: The Road Darkens.
• Encounter Sets: Additional encounter sets to be included. For example: Encounter Sets: Journey in the Dark.
• External XML: Links to external set.xml files (if those cards are not in the spreadsheet). For example: External XML: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seastan/Lord-of-the-Rings/master/o8g/Sets/The%20Road%20Darkens/set.xml.
• Remove: List of filters to select cards that need to be removed from the deck. For example: Remove: Type:Campaign (remove any cards with Campaign type from the normal deck).
• Second Quest Deck, Special, Second Special, Setup, Staging Setup, and Active Setup: List of filters to select cards for that OCTGN section. For example: Setup: Saruman; Grima; Brandywine Gate.
• Main Quest, Extra1, Extra2, Extra3, Extra4, Extra5, Extra6, Extra7, and Extra8: List of filters to select cards for that DragnCards-only section. For example: Main Quest: Drive Them Away. Please note that all Main Quest cards are put into Quest OCTGN section and all ExtraN cards are put into either Quest or Setup OCTGN sections, depending on the card type.
• Player: List of filters to select cards for Hero, Ally, Attachment, Event, and Side Quest sections (exact section is defined automatically). For example: Player: Frodo Baggins.

Order of rules is important. For example:

Setup: Grievous Wound
Remove: Set:The Road Darkens

First, we add Grievous Wound to Setup section. After that, we remove all other cards from The Road Darkens set.

Below is a list of all supported filters:

• [encounter set] - all cards from a particular encounter set. For example: [Caves Map].
• Set:card set - all cards from a particular set. For example: Set:The Road Darkens.
• Type:card type - all cards with a particular type. For example: Type:Enemy.
• Sphere:card sphere - all cards with a particular sphere. For example: Sphere:Boon.
• Trait:card trait - all cards with a particular trait. For example: Trait:Rohan.
• Keyword:keyword - all cards with a particular keyword. For example: Keyword:Safe.
• Unique:1 - all unique cards.
• card name - all copies of a card with a particular name. For example: Shores of Anduin.
• card GUID - all copies of a card with a particular GUID. For example: de8c3087-3a5d-424c-b137-fb548beb659e.

You can filter by an empty value. For example: Sphere: (all non-Nightmare cards).

You can combine several filters with &. For example: [The Aldburg Plot] & Trait:Suspicious means all cards with Suspicious trait from The Aldburg Plot encounter set.

Instead of selecting all copies of a card, you can specify the exact number. For example: 4 One-feather Shirriff means 4 copies of One-feather Shirriff and 1 Type:Enemy means one copy of each different enemy.

A few more examples:

Prefix: Q0B.19-Standalone
Remove: Type:Campaign
Special: Trait:Sharkey & Type:Treachery
Setup: Saruman; Grima; Brandywine Gate; Type:Side Quest; 4 One-feather Shirriff
Player: Frodo Baggins

Prefix: Q0C.19-Campaign
External XML: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seastan/Lord-of-the-Rings/master/o8g/Sets/The%20Road%20Darkens/set.xml
Sets: The Road Darkens
Encounter Sets: Journey in the Dark
Setup: Grievous Wound
Remove: Set:The Road Darkens
Special: Trait:Sharkey & Type:Treachery
Setup: Saruman; Grima; Brandywine Gate; Type:Side Quest; 4 One-feather Shirriff; Sphere:Boon
Player: Frodo Baggins

Prefix: N01.5-Nightmare
External XML: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seastan/Lord-of-the-Rings/master/o8g/Sets/Core%20Set/set.xml; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seastan/Lord-of-the-Rings/master/o8g/Sets/Conflict%20at%20the%20Carrock/set.xml; https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seastan/Lord-of-the-Rings/master/o8g/Sets/Shadows%20of%20Mirkwood%20-%20Nightmare/set.xml
Sets: Core Set; Conflict at the Carrock; Shadows of Mirkwood - Nightmare
Encounter Sets: Journey Down the Anduin; Wilderlands; Conflict at the Carrock; Conflict at the Carrock - Nightmare
Remove: [Journey Down the Anduin] & Type:Quest; Grimbeorn the Old; [Conflict at the Carrock] & Louis; [Conflict at the Carrock] & Morris; [Conflict at the Carrock] & Stuart; [Conflict at the Carrock] & Rupert; Bee Pastures; Oak-wood Grove; 1 Roasted Slowly; Misty Mountain Goblins; Banks of the Anduin; Wolf Rider; Goblin Sniper; Wargs; Despair; The Brown Lands; The East Bight
Setup: Unique:1 & Trait:Troll; 4 Sacked!
Staging Setup: The Carrock

Standalone Scripts

• copy_output.py: Script to copy all set outputs to a destination folder. For example: python copy_output.py "c:\\Output\\" "Custom Set" "French"
• make_unique_png.py: Script to make unique PNG files for MakePlayingCards. For example: python make_unique_png.py "c:\\CustomPNG\\"
• replace_cmyk_card_backs.py: Script to replace card backs in existing image archives. It expects replace_cmyk_card_backs.txt with a list of direct Mediafire URLs or local file paths to MBPrint 7z archives.
• card_stat.py: Collect various data from Hall of Beorn and RingsDB and put outputs into Output/Scripts folder.

GIMP Plugins

You may use GIMP plugins separately. See the description of each of them in GIMP/scripts.py.

Setup:

1. Install GIMP (https://www.gimp.org/downloads/).
2. Open GIMP, go to Edit -> Preferences -> Folders -> Plug-ins, add GIMP folder from this repo, click OK, and then restart GIMP.

Usage:

For a single image:

1. Open the image file in GIMP
2. Filters -> Script Name
3. Specify Output folder

For a folder:

1. Open any image file in GIMP
2. Filters -> Script Name (with "Folder" at the end)
3. Specify Input folder and Output folder

From CLI:

gimp-console-2.10 -i -b "(python-<lowercase script name with dashes>-folder 1 \"<path to input folder>\" \"path to output folder\")" -b "(gimp-quit 0)"

For example:

gimp-console-2.10 -i -b "(python-prepare-makeplayingcards-folder 1 \"Input\" \"Output\")" -b "(gimp-quit 0)"

Please note that the name of GIMP console executable on your environment may be slightly different.