here is roughly how i finally managed to get the underdogs version of the game to run in xp. no downloads of separate patches were necessary.
1. i extracted everything to a folder, it makes no difference where, and then ran magicg.part01.exe into a magicg subfolder.
2. i ran setup.bat, which is essential.
3. i ran the reg files, magic.reg and serial.reg.
4. i extracted the included manalink132.zip to a separate folder.
5. i ran the setup file for the manalink patch in that folder, making sure to specify the correct game folder.
6. i ran the reg files again, though with no-serial.reg this time. i don't think it matters much for singleplayer.
7. game worked perfectly by running magic.exe.
my girlfriend and i have also tested the multiplayer portion of the game, and it works great. click the 'nonet' box as the game starts up, then select tcp/ip and click 'connect'. in the box that pops up you should input your friend's ip, and he/she should follow the same procedure but input your ip in the box. your usernames should both show up in the network window, and you can invite or accept invitations for duels. i think no-serial.reg is necessary for multiplayer gaming, according to the nfo.
as for the deck editor, i had problems with missing text, but not my girlfriend. she has SP2 and i don't, so perhaps that is why. i solved it by setting the compatibility mode for deck.exe to "windows 95", a method that by the way does not solve the missing text in shandalar.exe. no mouse-related crashes in the deck editor, though we both have logitech mice running via usb.
the game does crash mirc sporadically, though, but the game itself seems unaffected. also, if you want to play without sound (as there are no sound settings to my knowledge), simply rename the DuelSounds and Sounds folders.
