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Messages - RavenNine

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46
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 09, 2021, 10:27:13 AM »
I have almost finished documenting all of the Lemming animations and frame start/end for the segments within each animation.
From what I can tell, most animations are broken into several parts; (Majority just have the first 2 segments)

  • Left facing
  • Right facing
  • Floor aligned
  • Ceiling aligned
  • Sequence of frames relating to an Angle e.g. 0-90, 0-360 etc

I have come across 1 animation where for the life in me I cannot remember or find where it is used. Anyone able to shed some light on this please? (See .gif)

Many thanks

47
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 08, 2021, 01:58:37 PM »
@geoo - I have updated the l2save.txt with some of my own findings and to make it more complete. (See attachment)

Thanks for the file. I can now load/edit L2 save games :)

48
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 07, 2021, 02:59:35 PM »
Nice. Thanks for that.

I think maintaining L2 save game compatibility would be a good feature. I'll have a read through your spec.

As for sourcecode, it will be an option down the road once I have laid out the groundwork for sure :)

49
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 07, 2021, 12:23:10 PM »
Does anyone have a Lemmings 2 MS-DOS save game with all the levels unlocked they are willing to share please?

@namida - Just been playing with NeoLemmix. Some fun levels in there. Although I had to enable online features for the Omega pack as it was complaining about missing styles. (Seemed to sort it). Was also having a dig through the bitbucket sources to see how you handled frame stepping and the skill projection overlay. (Very clean and readable code :thumbsup:) Pascal brings back some old memories. I moved away when they became embarcadero.

50
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 06, 2021, 11:57:33 PM »
An analogy, or an idea for a Lemming skill? :laugh:

The bulk of my time has been spent doing the groundwork for the unpacking/caching system. Now it's full steam ahead on the core game itself.

So far I have;

  • Level loading and selection (Selection screen currently cycles through all 120 levels showing the correct skills, title, time, style and level preview.
  • State serialisation (Basic framework)
  • Fixed update physics loop (Supports fast-forward and pause)
  • Basic UI support
  • Stage/bitmap supports layers (Background/Foreground), collision detection, removing terrain using brushes, marking terrain regions as read-only (steel), animated tiles and objects with hierarchy support.
  • Chain simulation
  • Basic Lemming entity with walk/fall/pop/bash abilities (Animations are all over the place atm until I finish compiling a list of what each one is)


Now I have the basic game loop, I'll be focusing on the Lemmings animations and skills. Logically, I am going to work through each level from 000, adding the required abilities to complete that level as I go.

Progress preview: https://youtu.be/Q20FKMVnS9c

51
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 06, 2021, 05:31:28 PM »
Sorry if I wasn't being clear. I was meaning the world bitmap is the reason behind the interval as its the largest data element. I wasn't meaning
Quote
as it needs to store the state of the world bitmap.
in the literal sense of it being the only thing to save :). I appreciate the example of how others have done it so I can compare. The other addition I can think of is the state of the particle shower when lemmings explode in the Classic style.

As for the fan, I think storing the current fan speed would maintain consistency in expected behaviour when rolling back. Just so you don't lose as much altitude while waiting for the fan to spin back up again. Or it being abused by reverting while fan is at full speed.

So far, I have been making all of the gameplay objects serialisation aware, to help facilitate this.

Also, Zombie lemmings? Sounds like an interesting, but fun addition to Lemmings 1 :laugh:

52
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 06, 2021, 11:43:09 AM »
@Simon - Thanks for the support. As for source code, it's currently not published. However, it is built as a self contained package including .NET runtime that will "just work" as long as OpenGL 4.1 and OpenAL is available on the system. Mono isn't used. Instead it is .NET Core 3.1. Testing how well this method works on other distros will be useful. Currently running on Ubuntu 20.04.

@namida - That sounds like a more sensible option. In terms of performance and reliability, I think 10 second snapshots are going to be the way to go as it needs to store the state of the world bitmap.

I have only just recently join this community and I'm finding it very welcoming and supportive :)

53
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 04, 2021, 10:28:14 PM »
In that case, seeing as I'm not familiar with DOS era assembly, I will be relying on frame analysis and using that to derive physics behaviour. So, to clarify on your original point. It is probably safe to say it won't be wise for me to frame it as being like Lemmix if exact accuracy derived from asm, was its defining feature.

Also, I will be looking to avoid the original L2 glitches.

For geoo - Removed all Windows dependencies. Now running on Linux (Surprisingly with higher framerates :thumbsup: - capping at 5k instead of 4.5k with vsync off)

Only dependencies are OpenGL 4.1 and OpenAL.

54
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 04, 2021, 12:31:32 AM »
Thank you :)

Any info you have on known glitches would be fantastic. I have pulled pieces together, but don't like to miss stuff ;)

I have managed do an initial implementation for the chain simulation. Just making sure it's stable at any simulation speed.

55
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 03, 2021, 09:03:39 PM »
The .ANM files are for the intros and seem to be keyframe based. I've done about 30% of the work for it. But, as it's not critical, it's moved down the to-do list :)

I have been reading into and watching videos on known glitches. From my own experience there are quite a few undesirable quirks. I think you maybe right in that it would be better to make some deliberate choices about what is replicated.

Savestates are on the list. Not sure about rewinding, but it can go on the nice to have list :) (Savestates would help with that in the near term)

As for Linux support, it would work as its .Net Core 3.1 which works on most distros. I think the only snagging point would be the audio library. (I'd be happy to find a suitable cross-platform alternative, just need to dust off my Ubuntu VM)

Apologies, but the link you referenced is discussing L2 style limitations. Is this the right link?

I'm now at a point where all style, level objects and animations are working ( Just chains to go :) )

56
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 02, 2021, 10:01:23 PM »
It's a fair point. My intention from the start is to recreate the physics exactly (As far as possible). As to if I achieve that, is another matter entirely, given the number of skills to replicate. Currently using frame-by-frame analysis to determine physics.

The last thing I want to do is misrepresent or mislead.

How would you suggest I categorise it, if exact physics replication is a primary goal but not a certainty?


57
L2Player / Re: Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 02, 2021, 09:15:59 AM »
The goal is to initially host the OG. However, all of the data is unpacked, converted then cached into something more friendly and modern to facilitate easy modding/addition of styles/levels/animations/sound and graphics data etc.

The player and tools will be windows initially and run on .NET Core. Aside from a thin wrapper around OpenGL to push the frame buffer, it's all managed. All rendering is done in a custom and fast blitter.

As for QOL elements, I am open to suggestions. I like the idea of storing replays :) (I'm already considering multiple fast-forward speeds for the impatient of us)

Now that I have all of the data caching working, I am underway with the player.

Progress: (A little rough around the edges)

- Menu/UI rendering
- Level rendering inc. objects with sub-components
- Rudimentary AI (They just get a random animation on spawn currently - red dot is collision)


58
L2Player / Lemmings 2 Data Formats
« on: December 01, 2021, 12:22:35 PM »
I'm currently working on something similar to the Lemmix player for Lemmings 2: The Tribes. (MS-DOS Version)

It's in the early stages so far, so still working on parsing the various file formats.

I have managed to fully parse and load the following data types; (With help from various notes/docs by geoo89 and GuyPerfect - Much appreciated)

- IFF Files
- RAW Bitmaps
- Styles
- Levels
- Non IFF Form files
- SBLAST.VOC
- All UI related files

I was wondering if anyone had done any work parsing .ANM files? (e.g. ARK.ANM)
Any info, would be greatly appreciated :)

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