What NeoLemmix options do you use? Let's cull the other ones!

[Nepster]

Given the statistics above, I would like to discuss the following changes:

Remove all debug options
None seem to be using them, so it seems safe to remove them completely.

Remove option "Only Cancel Replay on Cancel Hotkey"
As noone uses this option, this seems a pretty obvious candidate for culling.

Reduce options in "Manually Saved Replay Naming"
It seems that adding timestamps supersedes asking for overwriting files, so I suggest culling the option "Auto, Confirm Overwrite".
Regarding "Auto, Overwrite Old File": Exit is the only one using it. As Exit auto-saves all replays anyway and does not use the "Save Replay" hotkey, I suspect this setting gets very little usage as well. Exit, are my assumptions on your usage correct? If so, I would recommend culling this option, too.

Remove or replace option "Don't Replay After Backwards Frameskip"
Apjjm is the only one using this option. Could you please tell us how important this setting is to you?
IIRC, möbius suggested this option, but complains that it doesn't work as he expects. So perhaps instead of completely removing this option, we can replace it by something that möbius and Apjjm like better?

Improve Online options
While the basic online features seem very well-liked, the more specialized ones seem less used. So I wonder whether we should replace them by buttons on the option menu? E.g. one could have one button that displays either
- "Try downloading new NL version" (if basic online features are disabled) or
- "Download new NL version" (if basic online features are enabled and NL out of date) or
- "NL is up to date" (if basic online features are enabled and one uses the current NL version)
But this might need a longer and more detailed discussion, so perhaps this thread is not the ideal place to put this suggestion forward.

Remove option "Lemming Count Blink"
Currently only Gronkling is using this option, who I would like to encourage sharing their thoughts on this option. Personally I feel that this is a relic from the times, where only the "total-save-requirement" got displayed and not the "still-to-save" and "currently-living-lems". So depending on Gronklings opinions, we might decide that this option is obsolete now.

Disable success and failure jingle by default
Currently these jingles are enabled by default, but the majority changed this setting. So I think the default should reflect this in the future.

Reformulate option settings to avoid double negations
When compiling the results of this poll, I realized that some of the options are formulated using a negation. They are probably better understandable if we reformulate them in a positive way. To cite Microsoft's User Interface Principles:

When writing the text for a check box, make sure it is easy to know what will happen when it is selected and when it is unselected, or cleared. The recommended option is to write the text directly as the result of the check box being selected. For example, write "Send me helpful information from your partners" instead of "Do not send me helpful information from your partners." While I can imagine many marketing people arguing about this particular example, I'm sure you know what I mean.

So I propose the following changes:

OLD	NEW
Don't Replay After Backwards Frameskip	Replay After Backwards Frameskip
Disable Background Images	Display Background Images
Disable Skill Shadows	Display Skill Shadows

Moreover (but less importantly) I suggest the following changes:

OLD	NEW
Save Successful Replays Automatically	Automatically Save Successful Replays
Enable Online Features	Use Online Features
Enable Update Check	Notify me of new NeoLemmix versions

Remove some of the less-used hotkeys
Special Skip: This is a very recent addition, so let's keep it for now.
Select Unused Lem: Only namida uses this hotkey and even him only very rarely. It might be useful for talismans demanding no more than one skill per lemming, but as far as I know only 5 such talismans exist at all (and all of them in LPI-IV). So I suggest culling this hotkey.
Cheat: I am the only one using this hotkey regularly, so I say: Cull this hotkey!
Show Athlete Info: Only IchoTolot uses this hotkey. While I can see that it might be in some situations useful, it doesn't seem important to most players. So depending on IchoTolot's opinion, I would either cull this hotkey completely or at least do not assign any default key to this function.
Replay Insert Mode: At the moment only namida is using this, but this might again be due to being a relatively recent addition. So I would suggest keeping it for now, but check again after a few months, whether usage has increased or not.
Next/Prev Skill: Only Exit is using this hotkey. Given that we have specific hotkeys for skills and buttons on the screen, I wonder whether these hotkeys should be kept. Depending on Exit's opinions, I would either cull this hotkey completely or at least do not assign any default key to these functions.
Release Mouse: Given that this is only useful in windowed mode, 2 users out of 5 is not too bad. So let's keep this for now.
Nuke: Simon and bsmith are using this hotkey. Simon doesn't say anything about how often he uses this hotkey and bsmith uses it "less often but still regularly". As we have a quit hotkey and a nuke button, I would like further feedback, especially from Simon and bsmith whether this hotkey should be kept.
Inc/Dec RR: Currently these seem barely used. I would suggest keeping them, but not assigning any default hotkeys to them. See also the next suggestion.
Cancel Replay: Honestly, this surprised me! Given that the corresponding option is not used at all, there are still users who prefer to cancel replays via a hotkey instead of clicking on the screen. bulletride, Gronkling and Dullstar, please correct me if I misunderstood something.

Add a hotkey to wap between the minimum and maximum RR
There has been a discussion in IRC some days ago, how to make the RR hotkeys more useful. One suggestion was to have hotkeys that  jump to the most frequent RRs, namely the minimum and the maximum 99. To avoid having too many hotkeys, I therefore propose to combine these two hotkeys, which jumps to RR 99 whenever the current RR is less, and it jumps to the minimum RR if the current RR is 99.

Rename "Select Walker" to "Select Walking Lemming"
Given the new walker skill, I feel that the current name is ambiguous and should be more clearly distinguished from "Select Skill: Walker".

[nin10doadict]

Add me to the list of people that cancel replays with a hotkey. I do that all the time, it's actually right next to my pause button. That way I don't step forward one frame by clicking the screen.
Sometimes I use next/previous skill buttons, but I find myself just clicking on the skill bar quite often too. I'm kinda indifferent about this one.
I like the success/failure jingles, at least enough to use custom ones in my pack. Then again, turning them off by default seems to be a fine idea if most people have it off anyway.
I always manually name my replays, so I'm indifferent in this regard as well.
As for a release rate hotkey, I don't use it now that I figured out you can max/min the release rate with a right click on the -/+. If the hotkey did that as well I think it would be better.
I'm fairly indifferent about the others that were mentioned.

[Apjjm]

Remove or replace option "Don't Replay After Backwards Frameskip"
Apjjm is the only one using this option. Could you please tell us how important this setting is to you?
IIRC, möbius suggested this option, but complains that it doesn't work as he expects. So perhaps instead of completely removing this option, we can replace it by something that möbius and Apjjm like better?

Edit: On second thought i don't think i care too much for this option. I use click to cancel replays. I prefer not having to click to cancel after a single backwards frameskip though, as i only ever do that if i intend to edit the replay. If i could bind back 1 frame and cancel replay to the same key (never tried) i guess that would work.

[exit]

Reduce options in "Manually Saved Replay Naming"
It seems that adding timestamps supersedes asking for overwriting files, so I suggest culling the option "Auto, Confirm Overwrite".
Regarding "Auto, Overwrite Old File": Exit is the only one using it. As Exit auto-saves all replays anyway and does not use the "Save Replay" hotkey, I suspect this setting gets very little usage as well. Exit, are my assumptions on your usage correct? If so, I would recommend culling this option, too.

You are correct, so go ahead and remove the option. I set this setting so that I wouldn't have to save replays manually, thinking I would need them, but I don't do much with replays anyway (or at least not enough to need to save one for each level I play ).
 

Next/Prev Skill: Only Exit is using this hotkey. Given that we have specific hotkeys for skills and buttons on the screen, I wonder whether these hotkeys should be kept. Depending on Exit's opinions, I would either cull this hotkey completely or at least do not assign any default key to these functions.

I actually often find myself using the mouse to select skills, so this hotkey would not be missed. I would suggest outright removing this option.

Add a hotkey to w[r]ap between the minimum and maximum RR
There has been a discussion in IRC some days ago, how to make the RR hotkeys more useful. One suggestion was to have hotkeys that  jump to the most frequent RRs, namely the minimum and the maximum 99. To avoid having too many hotkeys, I therefore propose to combine these two hotkeys, which jumps to RR 99 whenever the current RR is less, and it jumps to the minimum RR if the current RR is 99.

If very few people use the hotkeys to increase and decrease the release rate, wouldn't adding this be somewhat pointless? Since most people use the mouse to interact with the skill bar, I don't think this would see much use. If it is added, I would suggest not having a default binding like you proposed for the increase/decrease RR hotkeys.

[Proxima]

Cart before horse. I don't use a hotkey to control release rate because the ability to jump to the maximum is lacking. Adding it would be a very nice timesaver. I don't mind whether it's a separate key, or just something that happens when you press the "increase RR" key twice (although you'd have to be careful that it doesn't get annoying if you're trying to set a precise RR and keep jumping to the maximum instead).

I would like the ability to assign keys to next/previous skill to remain, even if nothing is assigned by default. I am never going to learn individual keys for NL's 17 skills on top of learning a Lix layout. I appreciate this isn't an essential thing to have, as usually the skill you want will be a few buttons along, so a next/previous hotkey ends up being not much faster than using the mouse. Still, it's nice to have the option.

[namida]

Remove option "Lemming Count Blink"
Currently only Gronkling is using this option, who I would like to encourage sharing their thoughts on this option. Personally I feel that this is a relic from the times, where only the "total-save-requirement" got displayed and not the "still-to-save" and "currently-living-lems". So depending on Gronklings opinions, we might decide that this option is obsolete now.

I believe Flopsy uses this option too? I swear I remember seeing it in his videos.

Select Unused Lem: Only namida uses this hotkey and even him only very rarely. It might be useful for talismans demanding no more than one skill per lemming, but as far as I know only 5 such talismans exist at all (and all of them in LPI-IV). So I suggest culling this hotkey.

I think this needs to stay unless these talismans are also culled (which could be a seperate discussion). These talismans can become a huge hassle to try and achieve without such an option, which is why it was introduced in the first place. On the other hand, it may be worth removing this from the default layout.

[Simon]

Select Unused Lem:

I think this needs to stay unless these talismans are also culled
may be worth removing this from the default layout.

Mere brainstorming: Since the talisman requires select-unused-lem throughout the level, offer to attack the level in a separate mode where select-unused-lem is always on. You select this mode from the level browser and free the hotkey.

Maybe analyze the talisman-heavy packs for how common this talisman is?

-- Simon

[Nepster]

Thanks nin10doadict, Apjjm and exit for the further infos. Taking this into account we have:
Hotkeys to cull: Select Unused Lem(?), Cheat, Next/Prev Skill
Hotkeys to remove default keys: Show Athlete Info, Nuke, Inc/Dec RR, perhaps some of the skill selects for less used skills(?)

I would like the ability to assign keys to next/previous skill to remain, even if nothing is assigned by default. I am never going to learn individual keys for NL's 17 skills on top of learning a Lix layout. I appreciate this isn't an essential thing to have, as usually the skill you want will be a few buttons along, so a next/previous hotkey ends up being not much faster than using the mouse. Still, it's nice to have the option.

The whole point of this poll was to avoid arguments like "this hotkey sounds nice", but see whether the hotkeys are actually useful in game-play. We had this hotkey for over two years now (probably since around V1.16, when namida introduced the new skills), so chances are that you won't use this hotkey if you haven't used it yet.
Moreover you don't have to remember all of the 17 skill hotkeys (I don't either). Knowing and using the 8-10 most important ones already helps a lot.
On a side note, I dare say I smell a carrot here...

I believe Flopsy uses this option ["Lemming Count Blink"] too? I swear I remember seeing it in his videos.

From chat:

<Flopsy> I did use it at some point but I think since I've been on my new laptop, I didn't bother turning it back on

I think this [Select Unused Lem] needs to stay unless these talismans are also culled (which could be a seperate discussion). These talismans can become a huge hassle to try and achieve without such an option, which is why it was introduced in the first place.

I just solved the talismans for LPI (Danger 30), LPIII (Timid 5), LPIV (Smooth 3) and LPO (Breezy 8, Breezy 28) all without using this hotkey. I did not try to remember every lemming that already had a skill, but assigned skills to lemmings which probably haven't had any other skill before. In particular I always assigned the skill to a random lemming when facing a crowd. The only talisman which I didn't get on my first try was Breezy, because I used an overly complicated solution which needed roughly 10 skills more than necessary. After simplifying my solution, I got also this talisman on my first try.

Mere brainstorming: Since the talisman requires select-unused-lem throughout the level, offer to attack the level in a separate mode where select-unused-lem is always on. You select this mode from the level browser and free the hotkey.

Then we reintroduce gimmicks. I would rather keep the hotkey than do this, because hotkeys are the less intrusive solution.

Maybe analyze the talisman-heavy packs for how common this talisman is?

In LPI-V, LPO, LPOII there are in total 109 talismans of which only 5 use the "only one skill per lemming" restriction. NepsterLems has 12 talismans, none of which uses this restriction. IchoTolot's Lemming Reunion and Wafflem's LemmingsBytes don't have talismans at all.
I haven't checked any other packs.

EDIT: namida notified me that I misread one of the talisman descriptions and corrected the version number for inclusion of the new skills.

[Proxima]

We had this hotkey for over two years now (probably since around V1.28, when namida introduced the new skills), so chances are that you won't use this hotkey if you haven't used it yet.

That's entirely specious, since I only really started playing and solving levels in NL a few days ago, not nearly enough time to get used to it and know what I prefer. I used these keys all the time back when I played Mac L1 as a kid (which I know doesn't count for much, as the style of gameplay is so different now).

I know the better argument is that the feature isn't pulling its weight if only one person is using it. Still, I'm not sure what harm it does to anyone to keep it as an option hotkeys can be assigned to?

[Nepster]

Sorry, I thought you used NeoLemmix for a longer time. Then I would suggest that we keep these hotkeys for the next few weeks to give you time to see whether you like them or not. Please share your experiences afterwards and then we can make a final decision whether to keep the prev/next skill hotkeys or not.

[mobius]

To reiterate about the backwards framestepping. [can this be given a shorter name?]

The reason namida instituted this option was because at least me and Flopsy complained that when you backup (at least for my own case) I usually back up a couple frames to fix a mistake, therefore I DO NOT want the game replaying, in this case I'm always having to cancel the replay. If I want to go back further or restart I will use replay or save state or some other feature. If I want to replay, I have the replay button. So I'm very happy the option was made, because apparently people want to replay on Backwards framesteps, which is fine. But the way the option currently works doesn't seem to work that way;

-leaving this unchecked [Which upon reading it a user would assume means Replay WILL happen on a backwards frame skip] no replay happens on backwards frame skip.
-Checking doesn't effect backwards frame skip at all; but rather makes no replay happen on restarting.

Here's how I would word and work it;

check for replay on backwards frame skip. (no check means replay does not start on a backwards frameskip.

I entirely agree with Nepster on removing things that clutter the program. I think there are already too many but in cases like this where if there are people really getting use out of one item and people getting use out of the opposite there should be an option.

[Nepster]

check for replay on backwards frame skip. (no check means replay does not start on a backwards frameskip.

The suggestion to rename the option to swap the meaning of checked vs. unchecked is already in my list above, cf. "Reformulate option settings to avoid double negations".

-leaving this unchecked [Which upon reading it a user would assume means Replay WILL happen on a backwards frame skip] no replay happens on backwards frame skip.
-Checking doesn't effect backwards frame skip at all; but rather makes no replay happen on restarting.

Sorry, but I cannot really reproduce the (wrong) behavior. The behavior I see is the following:
a) Backwards frameskip 5 seconds when option unchecked: The replay starts if (and only if) there has been some skill assignment during the last 5 seconds.
b) Backwards frameskip 5 seconds when option checked: The replay never starts, regardless whether some skill assignment has been done during the last 5 seconds or not.
c) Restart level when option unchecked: The replay starts if (and only if) there has been some skill assignment during the current try.
d) Restart level when option checked: The replay never starts, regardless whether there have been some skill assignments during the current try or not.
(and similar for other time periods instead of 5 seconds)

I gather that a), b) and c) are how you like the option to behave, even though for some reason you cannot observe a) in action. But this shouldn't be too much of a problem as you prefer the behavior b) anyway?
I take you don't like the behavior d). Is that correct?
Just to confirm: Assume you assigned a skill during the first 3 seconds, and at second 4 you press the "5 seconds backwards frameskip", which takes you back to the very beginning of the level. Although this is essentially the same effect as restarting the level, you still don't want to replay the skill assignment? Correct?

[namida]

Just to confirm: Assume you assigned a skill during the first 3 seconds, and at second 4 you press the "5 seconds backwards frameskip", which takes you back to the very beginning of the level. Although this is essentially the same effect as restarting the level, you still don't want to replay the skill assignment? Correct?

There is already some distinction between these, if the "Pause on backwards frameskip" option is on. Both would take the player to frame 0, but the restart key would leave the game unpaused, while the backwards skip key would leave the game paused. There is no difference when the "Pause on backwards frameskip" option is off.

EDIT: No, on second thought, there is still a difference. The backwards skip key would leave the game state (paused, normal or fast forward) as-is, while the restart key would leave the game at normal speed, unpaused.

[Dullstar]

Cancel Replay: Honestly, this surprised me! Given that the corresponding option is not used at all, there are still users who prefer to cancel replays via a hotkey instead of clicking on the screen. bulletride, Gronkling and Dullstar, please correct me if I misunderstood something.

I think the reason I didn't use the setting for the corresponding option had something to do with it interfering with something else I also did, but I can't remember what. I'll test it shortly and edit this post with the results. Also, since I don't ever have a reason to click on the screen during a replay, the option to disable the effect seemed unnecessary. Basically, I greatly prefer cancelling with the hotkey, but never had a specific reason to disable clicking to disable.

Back when the option existed, I did disable selecting skills cancelling the replay; I think that's when I developed the habit of using the cancel replay key. That said, to me, it feels a lot more natural than clicking on an empty portion of the screen. Usually I only click on something if I want to interact with it.

[namida]

I'll look through this thread more thoroughly at some point to decide on other changes to be made. However, in the meantime, I've removed the debug options for the next update, as they do actually complicate the code quite a bit so it'll be good to get rid of them (whereas most others don't have such a significant impact, so it isn't such a huge deal if they're still there for now).

Regarding the Cheat key in particular - I remember that I removed it once in the past, only for it to be requested that I re-add it (which I did). Are we sure it should be removed then?