===============================
WHAT IS YU-GI-OH! VIRTUAL DUELING (YVD)?
===============================
Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling, or YVD, is a program developed by XeroCreative back in 2003-2004 to duel online with the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Because it was geared towards Yu-Gi-Oh! rather than Magic: The Gathering, it quickly gained a ton of popularity. Up until about a year ago, Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Desktop (as Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling was once called) had one distinct flaw within its programming. The fact that you were required to hand out your IP Address to complete strangers. This is a very dangerous practice and I highly advise against it whenever possible. However, with the v9.0 release, that has changed for the better. Now instead of your IP Address, you can connect merely by using a simple username!
=================
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
=================
First off, download Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling v9.0 directly from the source. http://www.xerocreative.com/ . Once there, go to 'Downloads'. Once there, right-click on the link 'YVD 9.0' and choose 'Save Target As...' or 'Save Link As...' and then save it wherever.
Once you have successfully downloaded the installer, double-click on it and go through the installation process.
Once that is complete, start up Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling v9.0 . A note: If you run Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling v9.0 (OCG Mode), all the cards are listed by the romanized versions of their Japanese names. This does not mean that cards from future sets have been released, just that the names for the cards may be different.
Once you have started up Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling, the 'Deck Shop' window should open. This screen is used to build your decks. However, before you start building, you might want to make sure you have all the latest cards to build your decks with. That being said, there are two buttons in the top left hand corner of the 'Deck Shop' screen entitled 'Settings' and 'Update Sets'.
'Settings' allows you to change your username (How your name will appear in the in-duel chat), the location of your log folder (The folder that stores the logs of all of your logged duels), the location of your deck folder (The folder where all your decks will be saved to, loaded from, and viewed), and the location of a customized playmat that you wish to use instead of the default.
NOTE: If you wish to use a customized playmat, be sure to look for them on the XeroCreative Forums. If you wish to make one yourself, be sure to look for a tutorial on the official XeroCreative forums.
'Update Sets': On this screen, you will see two radio buttons. One says 'TCG', the other says 'OCG'. If you're running the regular version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling, you want to update using 'TCG' ticked. If you're running the OCG mode, you want to tick 'OCG' instead. Then, click 'Check For Updates'. If there are updates, be sure to click 'Install Updates'. It won't even take a second to update the sets before it tells you to restart YVD. So what you would do is close Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Dueling and then re-open it, and voila! You now have access to every card released in the TCG! If it says that updates aren't needed, you can merely click 'Exit Updater' and continue building your deck.
==================
HOW DO I BUILD A DECK?
==================
Other than the rules you should already know for building a deck, there's not much to it. To find a specific card in the thousands of cards you have access to, click on the search box at the top of the screen, type in the name of the card, and click 'Search'. Within a manner of seconds, it will show you any cards with what you typed in its title.
You can also use 'Advanced Search'. This allows you to search descriptions (Effect text or Card Lore, depending on the card), Attack Power, Defense Power, Level, Card Attribute, Card Type (Warrior, Spellcaster, Fiend, etc.), Kind of Monster (Normal, Effect, Fusion, Tuner, Gemini, Ritual, Synchro, etc.), Type of Spell (Continuous, Quick-Play, Equip, etc.), Type of Trap (Counter, Continuous, Normal), etc.
However, a quick note. If you're looking for monsters with a certain Attack power or if you're looking for just Spellcasters, be sure to uncheck 'Spell Cards' and 'Trap Cards' before you hit 'Search'. If you don't, it'll take longer to search the database and, among the specific results you searched for, you'll also find that the list contains every single spell and trap card in the game as well.
If you find it annoying that there are so many entries for the exact same card from different sets, you can also check a box on the right of the card results called 'Hide Duplicates'. This means that only one of a card will show up in the search results (For example, instead of an MRL Mystical Space Typhoon and an SDP Mystical Space Typhoon, it will only show the MRL Mystical Space Typhoon).
To add cards from the search results to your deck, simply double-click the card. The 'Deck Shop' automatically restricts how many copies of a card you can have in your deck depending on the Limited / Restricted List selected. By the way, you can change the Limited / Restricted List you wish to build your deck around. The default setting is the latest Advanced Format Limited / Restricted list, but you can change it to the latest Traditional Format Limited / Restricted list, or to have no list at all! But be warned, you should still abide by the Advanced Format Limited / Restricted List if you want to duel anyone if you don't want people quitting.
Anyway, when you have your deck made, click 'Duel'. When you get there, you should see the duel field, a chat box underneath that and, to the left of the Duel Field, you should see two buttons: 'Listen' and 'Connect'. Due to implementations in version 9.0, you can just ignore the 'Listen' button completely. Now, before you click anything, if you wish to log the duel, check the checkbox below the two buttons. Then click 'Connect'.
When you click 'Connect, there should be a dropdown menu and a text entry box. Click the dropdown menu and you will see a number of options. Now if you're connecting to someone, one of you should be the 'Host' and the other should be the 'client'. If you are the host, click on 'Server Duel: Im going to be the HOST'. If you're the client, click on 'Server Duel: Im going to be the CLIENT'. When you do either one of these, a pop-up will show up asking for a Username and Password. If it is your first time using YVD, type in anything you want for Username and Password, then click 'Verify Account'. If your username is taken, it will say so and will ask you to pick another username. When you successfully verify your account, click 'Save Settings and Exit'. Then, request your opponent's username and give your username to your opponent. PASSWORDS ARE NOT TO BE GIVEN OUT!
When you get your opponent's username, type it into the box entitled 'Enter IP', then hit connect. Your opponent should be doing the same. If you followed the instructions correctly, you should have connected to one another and be ready to duel!
=======================================
I'VE CONNECTED TO AN OPPONENT. NOW HOW DO I DUEL?
=======================================
Okay. First off, both players shuffle their decks and decide who goes first. If you prefer to use a Die Roll to determine who goes first, press Ctrl-R to roll a 6-sided die. If you prefer a coin toss, Ctrl-F will flip a two-sided coin.
When you have determined who goes first, you hit Ctrl-D to draw a card. For your opening hand, you would do this five times, six times if you're going first. Your hand will be shown to the left of the Chat box.
Now then, to the left of your hand is the duel's current statistics. Yours and your opponent's hand sizes, deck sizes, number of cards in graveyard, number of cards removed from play, and number of cards in the extra deck. Directly above these stats and your hand are the Life Point gauges. These both start at 8000 Life Points.
To gain Life Points, type the following into the chatbox:
/add
Obviously replacing
/sub
Now obviously, you would like to know how to play cards from your hand. Well it's quite simple, really.
To play any card face-up and vertical, simply double-click the card. If you want to do something with a card in your hand, simply right-click the card and a menu of options should appear. Pick the one you wish to use.
============================
WHAT ARE ALL THE SHORTCUTS FOR YVD?
============================
Ctrl-D - Draw a Card
Ctrl-S - Shuffle the Deck.
Ctrl-F - Flip a Coin
Ctrl-K - Search Your Deck
Ctrl-T - Discard the Top Card from your Deck to the Graveyard
Ctrl-O - Flip the deck upside-down. Used for Convulsion of Nature.
Ctrl-G - Search Your Graveyard
Ctrl-I - Search Your Cards Removed From Play
Ctrl-P - Change the Phase of your turn.
Ctrl-W - Draw and Show Card
Ctrl-U - Search Extra Deck
/add
/sub
There are a number of other shortcuts, but even I don't know them all. For other things you can do, check the top menu and click on 'Gameplay' for a list of other moves you can make.
================================================
I HAVE A QUESTION NOT ANSWERED BY THIS GUIDE! CAN YOU HELP ME?
================================================
But of course. Merely post a reply and myself or some other helpful member should be more than welcome to answer any questions not answered in the guide.
