WARNING: This is still an experimental version and any of the shimmier physics may still change! Do not complain if they break the levels, you create with this version.

After the usual warning, here is the good news: This experimental version allows you to test the shimmiers. It should not crash every ten seconds and shimmiers might even somewhat behave like you would expect them to.

Installation:
Although the stable version should have no problems with the modified graphics for the shimmiers, I still recommend starting with a new installation of the stable NeoLemmix version (or a copy of your current one). Then extract the attached zip file in the folder, replacing the older files with the ones in the zip file.

How can I create levels with shimmiers?
The zip file also contains a new version of the editor, that supports shimmiers. Alternatively open the nxlv file and add among the other skills a line like "SHIMMIER 20".

What should I look for in this experimental version?
1) Crashes: I might have overlooked some places, that have to be adapted to the existance of a new skill.
2) And equally important: Anything that didn't feel right or suprised you. I would like the shimmiers to be as intuitive as possible, and we are now in the unique situation, that there are a lot of players with a fresh mind and without preconditioning by previous shimmier versions. So please report anything that caused a raised eyebrow.
3) Whether the animation looks good. For the shimmier itself I used Raymanni's sprites, so I am less worried there. But the reacher animation might very well be something that can (and should?) be improved upon. As I mentioned frequently, I am not really good at creating sprites, so if you can improve the sprites yourself and post the new ones here, it would be much appreciated. (But even comments like "Frame 5 of the reacher animation looks out of place" do help).

What is left on the ToDo-list?
- Hunting for glitches (though this will have to wait until the main physics rules have stabilized)
- Adapt the pickup-skill sprites for non-default graphic sets. Currently you can only use shimmier pickups, if the graphic set uses the default pickup sprites.
- Add support for shimmier talismans. The player should already be able to handle them correctly (though I haven't tested it yet), but the pack toolkit doesn't allow creating such talismans. 
- Fix all the issues you will find.

Sometimes the location zoomed into does not coincide with the cursor location, when using the mouse wheel. I tried fixes in the previous editor versions 1.8-1.10, but it still doesn't work.

PS: This post is basically just a reminder for me to fix this.

Currently we tag our lemmings level packs with the platform name [Lix] or [NeoLemmix], they are created for. However with the change from the old-formats NeoLemmix to the new-formats one with their incompatible pack structure, this creates questions:
- How do we distinguish packs made for the old formats NeoLemmix from the ones made with the new formats version?
- How can a user, who has only one of the NeoLemmix versions, see what level packs are available for them?

My suggestion would be to split this board into three subboards, one for Lix, one for old-formats NeoLemmix and one for new-formats NeoLemmix. Packs for Lemmini or vanilla Lemmix may stay in the main board.

Do you think the questions above are actual problems, or is this just a pet peeve of mine? Would such a split help you to find the packs you want to play? Do you have better suggestions?

After about 5 months of testing, I think the new-formats version of NeoLemmix is ready to be released as a stable player.

If you not yet have a new-formats player, then please download the attached installer (version 1.1), make sure you have internet connection and run the installer. It will download the main game (in the version available on the NeoLemmix homepage), editor and styles together with a few example level packs.
Alternatively you can download the same stuff directly here:
- The player, editor, ...: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p9a6iewz4841039/NeoLemmix_Full_2018-10-21.zip?dl=1
- All the new styles: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rzea4tapto1kr72/styles_2018-10-21.zip?dl=1
This contains NeoLemmix V12.4, the Editor V1.11, the Pack Toolit V1.6 and the GraphicsTool V1.3. It no longer contains the conversion tools for old styles and level packs. If you need them, they are still available on the NeoLemmix homepage.

There are still some missing features and originally I wanted to implement at least some of them before the first stable release, but sometimes there is a slighty difference between wish and reality. The main ones are:
1) No automatic download of missing graphic styles, but you have an installer instead, that automatically download them.
2) No shimmier and no jumper skill yet.
3) No exits with resticted number of lemmings allowed to enter.
4) No terrain piece grouping for level creators.

EDIT 2018-10-21: The links in this first post now point to the latest version again.

Assume the following situation happens in a thread: The first post has the title "Beginning", while for the second post the author has changed the title to "No longer a beginning". Then I want to reply to it and write the third post.
Expected behavior: My third post has the title "No longer a beginning" (unless I change the title again)
Actual behavior: The third post has the title "Beginning".

As usually the latest title describes the current discussion topic better that the original first title, I suggest changing this behavior. As Flopsy mentioned in chat, the current behavior is especially annoying when having a thread for multiple graphic styles: Every time a new style gets added, one has to modify the very first post instead of simply posting a new post with an adapted title.

<GigaLem> Well Until I can get someone who can perfectly port to the new format, I'm not upgrading

I know that your levels using the Freedom planet styles need a lot of work. I can totally understand if you don't want to do this yourself, especially as I am the reason for this high workload (with me merging lots of pieces). So if you would like to have new-formats versions of your levels, you can send them to me and I will convert them. I will even fix the ceiling issues.
The only changes you really have to make yourself is fixing levels that currently use radiation or slowfreeze objects.

<GigaLem> is the Starport set available in new format yet?

Yes, it is. I have converted all of your Freedom Planet styles.

<GigaLem> also, you'll need to get the entrances back into the dreadnought set because, they're needed for it
<GigaLem> I'm too affraid to talk to nepster about the dreadnought entrances, because im expecting a big "NO"

I checked again today, but the "gigalem_dread.dat" file does not contain any hatches. If you send me the hatch sprite, I will add it to the "gigalem_dread" style with the next update.
And I never removed anything that cannot easily remade with the remaining pieces, mostly be rotating/flipping the still existing piece correctly.

<GigaLem> I feel like nepster's making the update for him and only him sometimes, and it just ticks me off

If I did that, I would not have asked anyone for their opinions on the forums, and I would have removed backgrounds, disarmers, splat-pads and a lot of other stuff, which I personally don't like but that is still rather simple for new players to understand. And please don't confuse "many posts with one opinion" with "many people having one opinion": We have some very vocal members here (including me sometimes), but I try to balance the opinions of everyone, even if they only posted once.

Finally: If you have problems with anything I do, then please tell me! I might say "no", I might not agree with your point and I might decide against you, but I want to hear your opinion! Ranting in chat, especially when I am not there at that time, doesn't solve any issues!

Given the frustration several members of this community voice regarding the removal of several features, I feel the need to present my philosophy about where NeoLemmix should head to.

My main guideline is: How does a change affect the user, who plays a level or a pack?
The reason for my decision to focus on players, not on level designers is actually very simple: Every single level is created by only a single user, but played by a lot of others.

This has a few consequences:
1) All rules should be easily discoverable and if one knows the behavior in similar situations, the player should be able to correctly guess the behavior in the current situation.
2) Ideally all levels should be playable without any of the helps that NeoLemmix offers. The helping features like clear-physics or frame-stepping should never be necessary.
3) All player styles should be viable, be it that they test a lot of things explicitely or be it trying to solve the level in the head first.
4) Already existing levels are unimportant: If a level does not use player-confusing features, then it will automatically work in the future, too. If it relies on edge-cases that change now, then it either can be saved by small changes or it's not a big loss. This is a very harsh point of view, but actually based on two reasons:
- Removing some levels (be it because they don't fit the current culture or have become impossible) is an absolutely normal procedure. This has happened when moving from Lemmix to NeoLemmix, and even at various points during the existing NeoLemmix development (not only due to the removal of gimmicks, but at a lot of other updates, too), and it will continue to happen in the future.
- The given feedback to level packs has (at least up to now) definitely favored levels that use the behavior players expect and know, but do so in interesting, unexpected or new ways. On the other hand levels relying too much on the fine points of the game mechanics or the terrain layout usually generate not quite as enthusiasthic feedback.
5) The amount of code necessary for a feature is absolutely unimportant: If a useful feature needs a lot of code (but is still managable for me), then it will be added. If a feature only needs a single line of code, then that doesn't mean that it should be added or be kept.