Encore 05 is broken due to the gliders not reaching the 2nd platform anymore.
Thanks for informing me! I've had to move and even erase a bit of terrain to make it work again, but it should be barely noticeable. The version with the fixed level is attached.I had only checked up to the end of the Legend rank, i.e. the main pack, so far. Meaning,
no guarantees yet for the Groupie rank. But I will take a look at those as quickly as possible.
Solved the Encore rank ... I would have liked to say, but it seems like you still haven't done that mass replay check
As I've told you above, I've actually done a mass replay check already. It's just that the output file is pretty useless.
I have done a mass replay check
The reason being that a lot of replays in the folder fail not because the level is unsolvable, but because they are Old-Formats replays. There are a couple of levels for which I had to create new replays in New Formats: Levels formerly featuring radiation and/or slowfreeze, some levels requiring a hand-made terrain ceiling (because of the switch from solid to deadly ceiling), and then there were also some levels for which the solution is the same, but slight unknown variations during conversion caused the original replay to fail.
Thus, those replays are in the New-Formats folder. For all the other levels, however, whenever I change something, I do so in Old Formats first, re-run the replay, then either manually implement the change in New Formats or, if I want to be on the safe side, quickly re-convert the level again. Then I run the exact same Old-Formats replay over the New-Formats version, thus ensuring that the same solution works in both versions.
Consequently, when I run a mass replay check over the Old-Formats folder that contains all the LWT replays, of course this results in a bunch of failed messages for Replays from Paralems and Pit Lems, as well as for Old-Formats LWT solutions that don't work in New Formats, but are still perfectly fine replays for the Old-Formats version.
I maintain those in parallel (e.g. Arty already told me he's going to continue playing the pack in Old Formats), and therefore of course don't delete those replay files from the Old-Formats folder. And especially with the Encore rank, there is even more overlap with replays for Paralems and Pit Lems.
In short, the mass replay check file on the Old-Formats replay folder gave out so many errors that I would have to re-check a ton of levels again manually anyway, because these failures can be caused by a multitude of reasons listed above, and only a fraction of them is due to the Glider-Faller physics change. And most of these are issues that I have of course already fixed in the New-Formats version - it's just that those fixed levels have dedicated New-Formats replays as a consequence, which are not in the Old-Formats folder. The few levels that are affected by the Glider-Faller physics change are thus a needle in a haystack of replay files failing for various other reasons.
Instead of manually identifying and copying all the 320 Old-Formats replay files to the New-Formats replay folder, I went the faster opposite route and copied the few replay files which are dedicated New-Formats replay files to the Old-Formats folder. Now I could run a second mass replay check over the entire Auto folder once again, so there should be at least one solving replay for every New-Formats level in that folder. This will take a while, though, because there are obviously still a bunch of replays from other packs in that folder.
Otherwise, we've got an exit which trigger area is not visible due to water and you need to keep guessing where it actually is with your stoners. (Encore 13)
Yep, this is always the issue with underwater levels - be the water real or an updraft, like in Arty's tileset - it's trigger areas covering traps and/or exits that's the problem in general.
Perhaps it would be a worthwhile suggestion to have trigger areas of different types of objects change colour in true-physics mode whenever they overlap? Meaning, two overlapping updrafts / water / fire areas etc. would not change colour, but an exit inside an updraft, a trap inside water etc. would (e.g. one could be pink, the other one green, to create a strong contrast).
Note though that "Dark fate of Atlantis" used to have a hidden trap, which is set to overwrite / on terrain now.
So with all the water that the level calls for, it's as fair as it can currently get.
Speaking of hidden traps, though...
An invisible trap (Encore 33)
I don't know what you are referring to here. The smasher trap on "We are the Lempions" is clearly visible above the water. The levels before (Lost in Space) and after (Fire in the hole) don't even have any traps, just fire areas, and those are also visible.
Are you referring to a different level, maybe? Or is there something different in your version of the level compared to mine?
"We are the Lempions" is from Pit Lems, after all, and in that pack I tried to be as mechanically fair as possible (even fairer than on some select LWT levels featuring a certain octopus
).
And a level where you know it's just annoying to play (see postview text of Encore 39) and just blame it on the hard-worker removal. Instead you just could have done one of the following possibilities which would spare the players nerves:
1.) Just making the level smaller with only 1-2 stacker gaps.
2.) Think of an alternative solution to the level and enforce that.
3.) Leave the level out of the pack and put it in Lemmicks instead.
All these options would have been better than a postview text shifting the blame!
The level "Brothers in arms" actually already is part of Lemmicks (on the Eternal rank featuring the hardworkers gimmick, obviously). This was just the best way I could re-create it in 10.13 and New Formats, given that "Brothers in arms" is a very famous song that I hardly wanted to leave out.
The original plan in Lemmicks was to have a Basher bash alongside with a Platformer platforming - hence the level title. Didn't quite work how I wanted it to, even in Lemmicks, but the title remained.
And thus, now it's here on the Encore rank.
Now you know what I meant when I said in the opening post that the Encore levels were not selected for quality - only because they happened to be previous levels that had also been named after songs. That said, I obviously wouldn't have included the rank if I hadn't had the impression that a good amount of them are at least worthwhile. Some I even really like quite a lot (e.g. "Na zdorovje Lem" and "That's the name of the game").