Frequently Asked Questions - Cockatrice/Cockatrice GitHub Wiki

This page is a list of common questions from players on Cockatrice with appropriate answers.
If you have problems running Cockatrice check our troubleshooting page.

• Are there shortcuts for Cockatrice?
• Where are replay files saved?

• How to register an account?
• Where to enter the account activation token?
• I forgot my account password. How to reset it?

• How do I draft on Cockatrice?
• What do all the different pawn colors and combinations mean?
• I can't see a game another player made
• I'm not sure what just happened and need a judge

• What are release channels?
• How do I update Cockatrice application?
• How do I update my database to have the latest cards?

• How can I change the language of displayed card images?
• How do I add custom art for a single card?

• I want to play other game variants - am I covered?

• How does Cockatrice perform a shuffle? Is shuffling broken?
• How can I organize a tournament with Cockatrice?

• Developer cannot be verified pop up message macOS

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Yes! Check out the shortcuts wiki page to learn how to customize them.

(This just applies to downloaded replays from the server, of course!)

• Windows: Users/appdata/local/Cocaktrice/Cockatrice/replays
• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Cockatrice/Cockatrice/replays
• Linux: ~/.local/share/Cockatrice/Cockatrice/replays

First, make sure you're using a recently downloaded version of the client.
If you're on Windows/Linux, click on the Cockatrice menu and then Register to server...
If you're on Mac OS X, click on Actions and then on Register to server...

When the dialogue appears, fill out the desired server information.
You'll most likely find them on the server's website or in our list of public servers!

Some servers require the activation/authentication of accounts. They'll send you an email with an activation token that you have to enter during registration.
Make sure to also check your spam folder for that mail!

Problems with entering your activation token? Click here!

Sometimes users have an issue with activating their accounts because the window to input the activation token is already closed.

Connect to the server using the username and password you used when registering. Upon connection, you will be asked to enter your activation token.

• If it tells you that's something wrong about your credentials, than you are using the wrong password.
• If it tells you that's something wrong about your registration, than you are using the wrong username. The correct username is usually cited in the email.

First, make sure you're using the most recent version of the client.
If you're on Windows/Linux, click on the Cockatrice menu and then Connect...
If you're on Mac OS X, click on Actions and then on Connect...

When the dialogue appears, click the padlock next to the password field.

Double check that your information matches your account at that particular server.
You have to enter the email address associated with your account to verify yourself, you'll then receive a fresh activation token to your account's email address.
Make sure to also check your spam folder for that mail!

Same applies to other limited formats like Sealed, Chaos Draft or Cubes!

Currently, drafting is not supported in client, instead dr4ft.info offers a web based application you can draft in and export the deck to Cockatrice.

The advantage of dr4ft over other sites (like mtgen.net or magicdrafting.com for example) is that you can see your opponents deck hash and check it in Cockatrice to make sure they are using the same deck that they actually drafted/built and aren't cheating!

Here's a guide for dr4ft.info:

1. Go to dr4ft.info
   (This draft site is most commonly used - there might be others with different UI controls!)

2. Once in a draft, double click on a card to add it to your main board
   (single clicking it will mark it for autopick when the timer ends)

3. You can move cards around to the sideboard from the main board by clicking on them and vice-versa.
   Moving cards to "junk" is done by shift-clicking cards .

4. Export the deck:
   a) Select the "Cockatrice" tab in the "Deck Export" box
   b) Next to "Copy to clipboard" click "Copy"
   c) In Cockatrice's Deck tab, Load deck from clipboard under Deck Editor (Ctrl+Shift+v)

   Alternatively:
   a) Click the "Download" button
   b) Save the file on your computer

5. Go into Cockatrice, and when selecting your deck, select the file you've saved earlier

For the default options based on the main repository, check this page for more information.

1. In the main chat room, click on "Filter games"

2. In the popup menu, click "Show unavailable games" and "Show password protected games"

3. Click OK

4. If you still can't see your friend's game, please contact an in-client moderator (they have a black & white user icon, and are at the top of the user list).

The recommended way to ask for a judge ruling is through the Judge channel

1. Go to http://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/

2. Pick a username (You may use the default assigned randomly to you)

3. Ask your question in the chat and wait for a response from a RA or Judge

In addition, you may also ask in the Cockatrice main chat as we have a number of players who are certified Rules Advisors or Judges.

As of Cockatrice: Thopter Pie Network, release channels have been implemented into the program. These channels will allow you to choose what kinds of updates you would like to receive.

You can change which channel you are on by going to Cockatrice → Settings → General → Update Channel and selecting the desired channel from the dropdown:

The Stable Releases channel is for major releases of Cockatrice.
Stable releases are also known as named releases, which have a unique code name denoting the version (e.g. Gatewatchers and Unwrapped). You can see the full list of past stable releases here.

• Pros:

  • More stable than development builds

• Cons:

  • Lag behind in features
  • Released infrequently

The Beta Releases channel is for pre-released Cockatrice versions in development.
These pre-releases are unnamed and have a beta tag in their file name (e.g. Cockatrice-2.5.1-beta.3-win64.exe)

• Pros:

  • Up to date on the latest features of the program
  • Released every time a important fix or several other changes piled up (every now and then)

• Cons:

  • Might have bugs & unfinished features

If you want to help Cockatrice, you can become a beta tester by running on the Beta Releases channel. Every time you update, feel free to take a look at what changes have been made and test them out. If you find anything that seems incorrect, please open a ticket so we can improve Cockatrice. You will play a key role in the Cockatrice development cycle if you are on this channel.

There is an build-in client updater which checks for software updates.
Just click on Help → Check for Client Updates to run it.

Check this wiki page for details and help on the process.

Keep in mind, that this doesn't update your card database, you need to run Oracle additionally for that!

We recommend doing so after each update of Cockatrice.

You update your card database by running the Oracle application:
Inside Cockatrice, click on Help → Check for Card Updates... and "Oracle" will open.

During spoiler season, Cockatrice supports automatic pulling and updating of newly spoiled cards on each start.
You find this option in the "Card Sources" tab in settings. Enable it by clicking the checkbox.

You can change the url used to download card images to find cards in a different language. This url template will use the language cockatrice is currently using: https://api.scryfall.com/cards/!setcode_lower!/!set:num!/!sflang!?format=image&face=!prop:side!. Further details and examples can be found here.

Keep in mind that you need to delete your image cache first in order to redownload the new pictures with foreign art.

Check out this page!

We can't tell for sure, but the app itself is designed to support many different games and game variants!
Check this list to find a (incomplete) list of games and card databases created by the community.

For MtG we know about these:

• Momir Generator, created by a team member
• MoJhoSto Generator, created by a user (release announcement)

See a simple and quick answer or a more technical one.

Check out the free online service Challonge to have a transparent and easy to use way for planning and organizing your tournament.
Users can sign up in advance and you can choose from different tournament types and many other settings to help you with presenting rules or communicating with the participants.
Make sure to announce your tournament in our subreddit, our Discord server, and in the server chat to let everyone know!

Read the official support information from Apple!

Starting with macOS 10.15.x Apple introduced their "Gatekeeper" tool, and this warning is the default behavior once an app is not signed.
Unfortunately, we do not have such keys from Apple and are unlikely to get them at all as that would require us to buy a code-signing certificate with a yearly fee.

As long as cockatrice.github.io is shown as file source and you downloaded it from there (which is our official site) or directly from the Cockatrice GitHub repo, you are good and can safely run the application via right click on the file and selecting "Open".