So, I've stated that I plan to make the skill panel much more customizable. The question though is - how much?

Some things I've considered are:

1. User's choice of what information is shown, and where, on the panel. Possible things to include are everything on the current one, with both cloner-adjusted percents and lemming counts as an option where relevant (I'll probably drop the absolute percents, and just leave the cloner-adjusted ones). That aside, other common suggestions are the save requirement, the total lemming count, the killed count, etc. Feel free to suggest as many ideas as you like; the goal here is that you can pick and choose which ones (and where) are displayed so it isn't a huge issue if there's a million options.

2. Custom skill ordering, options to display all 16 skills (or at least empty slots where they'd be) regardless of what's used in the level.

3. Buttons for other features, such as restart, save replay, etc.

So - let me know what your ideal skill panel would look like! If you feel like doing a mock-up of it, even better - in this case, keep in mind that the skill panel should be one of the following sizes:

320x40 (Low-Res, Non-Widescreen)
640x80 (Hi-Res, Non-Widescreen)
424x40 (Low-Res, Widescreen)
848x80 (Hi-Res, Widescreen)

Additionally, each element should start at a position where both coordinates are divisible by 8. Essentially, think of it as being made up of 8x8 cells, with each element taking up one or more of these. A single letter or number would take up one cell (other than skill counts, where both digits could presumably fit in a single cell - I haven't worked out exactly how these will work yet, so for now just go with the assumption that they'll remain the same size they currently are, but don't have to be aligned to the 8x8 positioning); other elements (such as buttons) could take up multiple.

Final decision: Due to difficulties in compiling a Linux version that works of even just a small test app, I do not plan to proceed with cross-platform. Sorry.

So, in doing the V2.00n mostly-rewritten code, I'm wondering whether people feel it's worthwhile aiming for cross-platform? I will stress that this won't be a matter of "every system in existance" - I don't at all plan to target Android, or homebrew-capable consoles, for example. I have my doubts about even going for Mac, for the simple reason that I will most likely never own a Mac myself and thus will be unable to test. However, Linux is a realistic possibility; I now have a secondary PC, which runs Ubuntu, so I am able to test a Linux version. If I switch over to Lazarus - something I'd quite like to do regardless, if possible - then it shouldn't be too difficult to also create and support a Linux version.

On the other hand, the benefits of such aren't too huge, since WINE exists.

How many of you's use Linux, and if so, do you think that a native Linux version of NeoLemmix would be a good thing to aim for? I will stress that the Windows version will always remain the primary version.


(If there's much benefit to be had, a native 64-bit Windows version is also a possibility, though I don't see much need for this as the 32-bit version runs fine on 64-bit Windows.)

Final decision: 2x resolution will be supported (except in the unlikely event that a decision is made to up both physics and display to work off a base of 3x resolution). Whether or not to change gameplay physics' resolution can be discussed in this topic, although the decision is semi-finalized as that physics will remain at 1x and only display will operate at a higher resolution (if the user chooses to do so).

Currently, all the internal rendering (except the menu screens) is done at 320x200, before being resized to fit the actual resolution in play. While I will most likely keep gameplay physics at this, I'm thinking of using something a bit higher for the actual rendering, so that the graphics can be a bit more detailed, and optionally, the skill panel can fit more stuff (I have some pretty bold plans for this in itself, too).

In regards to this, what should I aim for? In order to keep the gameplay area neatly lined up with the skill panel, the width would have to be a multiple of 320. The most obvious choice would be 640 - double the area, while still small enough that any display will be able to fit it. Although it doesn't strictly have to be so, the logical follow-on from this is that the overall screen area (before resizing to fit) would be 640x400. However, an issue that comes to mind here is that those on resolutions of 1024x768, 1366x768 or 1280x720, this can't be resized larger for the screen without distortion (due to non-integer resize factors) - the current 320x200 display can be resized to 960x600, exactly triple.

While the gameplay area would have to be an integer multiple of 320x160 (so, in this case, 640x320), the skill panel does not nessecerially have to keep its current proportions. If we use the lowest height here (1280x720), then the gameplay area alone resized would be 1280x640; leaving 80 pixels at that size - or 40 pixels once it's downsized. Whether this would be enough or not is another matter... and there would also be width issues in the case of 1024x768. If we were to keep the current proportions, this would mean a very small screen size (although, it'd be the same as Lemmini without using zoom, so maybe not too bad?) for anyone playing on a screen resolution of less than 1280px wide and/or 800px tall. It's also possible (though it may not look great, and could especially be problematic in levels where pixel precision is needed) to not strictly require integer resizing factors.

So - what kind of resolutions are people using? Especially, how many people use the three that I mentioned may be problematic? Or, are there any other solutions people think could be workable?

So, you've seen NeoLemmix, maybe even played a couple of NeoLemmix packs. You might've noticed some new elements, or perhaps just heard they exist, and be wondering about them. Well, this pack is for you!

The NeoLemmix Introduction Pack is designed for players who are experienced with Lemmings in general, but new to NeoLemmix. It consists of four ranks, each one focusing on a specific element:

Mechanics - This rank focuses on familiar elements that work in slightly different ways in NeoLemmix.
Skills - NeoLemmix has 8 new skills in addition to the 8 you're used to. This rank introduces you to them.
Objects - NeoLemmix has several new types of objects. This rank teaches you about these.

The Skills and Objects rank also feature some extra puzzles at the end, focusing on the elements introduced in those ranks.

This isn't a small pack, so don't expect to complete it in one go - it contains a total of 49 levels, making it comparable in size to some of the smaller fangames. But it covers the majority of NeoLemmix features that you need to be familiar with.

So, where can you get this pack? Here:
http://www.neolemmix.com/download.php?program=31




The introduction pack has been updated to correspond with the changes in NeoLemmix V1.47n and the addition of a Fencer skill in NeoLemmix V10.12.XX.

For those who don't want to read this whole post: The gist of it is, do not keep graphic sets in the two-file (groundXo.dat+vgagrX.dat, or g_XXXX.dat+v_XXXX.dat formats). Replace them with their single-DAT-file format versions. In the case of Cheapo-origin styles that you've converted yourself, be sure to reconvert from the source Cheapo style, rather than converting the existing g_XXXX/v_XXXX files to a single-DAT-file graphic set.

It seems I'm getting several people asking about (or reporting issues caused by) old-format graphic sets, particularly those that are converted from Cheapo.

So, I'd like to point out:
If you have any NeoLemmix graphic sets that are in a two-file format - whether that's groundXo.dat + vgagrX.dat, or g_<name>.dat + v_<name>.dat, delete them (obviously, if they're custom-made ones, use the Graphic Set Tool to convert them to the new format first). For a while now, copies of NeoLemmix (and its editor) have only included new-format graphic sets, the Cheapo conversion tool only works with (and creates) new-format graphic sets, and so on.

For graphic sets that were made for NeoLemmix, but predate the existance of this format (such as the official Lemmings ones, or the Lemmings Plus graphic sets), this is a minor issue. While it's preferable to upgrade, it isn't 100% essential. The new Flexi Toolkit only works with new-format graphic sets, but since it includes a copy of all of them (addable via the "Add Defaults" button on the graphic sets tab), it isn't too critical whether your editor copies are in the new format, however do keep in mind that the old format probably won't be supported forever. Chances are support will remain in the NeoLemmix V1.xx branch, but I plan to not support it in NeoLemmix V2.00n. The editor has been changed to no longer support the old format graphic sets as of V1.35n-B, in an effort to cut down on issues relating to them.

Where this is particularly important is with graphic sets converted from Cheapo. The Cheapo format and the NeoLemmix format have in common that there's no restriction on the size of pieces, whereas the old two-file format does have two major limitations - a single terrain piece (or object) cannot exceed 248x255 in size, and the width must be divisble by 8. The latter in particular causes a lot of problems when someone who has them in the correct format tries to play the levels - any horizontally-flipped pieces will be out-of-place. The effects of this can range from simply looking weird (objects with no effect), to minor disparities in the level (most other objects), to potentially having a serious impact on the level (terrain).

If the graphic sets in question are the default NeoLemmix ones, or the Cheapo equivalents of the Orig / OhNo graphic sets, simply delete your existing copies of them; the new versions of the editor include these in the correct format. If they're from the addon style packs, redownload those; they've long since been updated to have the new formats. If they're ones you've converted yourself, use the Graphic Set Tool to convert them to the correct format, starting from the original Cheapo file (NOT the g_xxxx/v_xxxx files).


Once you have the graphic sets in the new format, be sure to check all levels you've made that use these graphic sets, because it's very possible that some pieces will now be out of place due to the difference in widths of some pieces. In the event that some of your levels do have the out-of-place issue, you do not need to manually fix every occurance of it; here are the steps to automatically fix these levels:


Do not run those steps on any levels that are not affected by these issues.

(It is possible that the issue may also arise with Lemmini styles that were converted into the old format, though this is probably rare as the new format already existed before any capability to convert Lemmini styles to NeoLemmix did. On the offchance that anyone does have Lemmini-origin-graphic-set levels that exhibit the same problem, they can be fixed in the same way.)

This issue has now been fixed.

An issue has been noticed recently where for some users (including myself - which at least means I can test any fixes without too much hassle), any PM attachments that are plain text - most notably Lemmini or Lix levels / replays - are becoming corrupted upon download, with the last part of the file being cut off. This is on the download side, so the files stored on the server are not corrupted, nothing has been lost.

I'm not able to look into this right away, but I'll be able to within the next few days. In the meantime, please be aware of this issue, and if sending any text files via PM, please either:
a) put them inside a ZIP / RAR / 7Z / etc file
or b) copy / paste the actual text of them into the message (put it in [tt][/tt] or [code][/code] tags if preserving whitespace is important)

As far as I can tell, this does not affect non-text files (such as (Neo)Lemmix levels, archives, images, etc), nor does it affect attachments to regular posts (only to PMs).
EDIT: Seems to be confirmed that it's PM only.

This topic is for discussion of the levels, feedback, posting replays, etc. For creators wishing to post updates, or if you're looking for the latest updates, please check this topic instead.

So, entries have finally closed, after a very long entry period due to updates / new submissions coming in at the last minute - and this contest also has the largest number of submissions yet! The theme was to design a level with a save requirement of no more than 10%.

Our entered levels are (in alphabetical order by author name):

<V4> "Lemming Mashed Potato Facility" by bsmith (NeoLemmix)
<V7> "Tough Call" by Crane (NeoLemmix)
<V1> "Minefield" by geoo (Lix)
<V1> "Teleporters of doom" by GigaLem (NeoLemmix)
<V1> "Escape From Lemlab" by IchoTolot (NeoLemmix)
<V4> "Electroshock" by Nepster (NeoLemmix)
<V2> "Palmtree Pile-up v1.2" by Simon (Lix)

The levels are in an attached ZIP. To play the levels:

NeoLemmix: Run NeoCustLemmix, press F6 on the title screen, and select the LVL file. Alternatively, open them in the editor, then press F2 for playtest mode (requires a copy of NeoCustLemmix in the same folder as the editor). I have checked all the levels, and none of them should require NeoLemmix V1.35n; they should all work fine with the slightly-older versions (at least V1.33n).

Lix: Copy the level into the /levels/single/ subfolder, then select them from the "Single Player" menu.


Updates to the levels are possible until whichever comes last: the 27th of June, or 72 hours from the last update (by any author). After this, the levels will be finalized; and voting will open 5 days after updates close. There is a seperate topic for level creators to post updates in; they will also periodically be updated here. However, until it is announced that updates are closed, you should also keep an eye on the updates topic to ensure you have the latest version.

Updates are now closed. All levels can now be considered finalized as far as the contest is concerned. Voting will open around July 5th.


The winners will be decided by voteoff once the playing phase ends. 1st and 2nd place may choose one prize each out of (first place gets first pick, they cannot both choose the same):
The prizes available for this contest are:
- US $12.50 (via PayPal or Bitcoin, can also opt to have something up to that value purchased on your behalf, or to have it donated to a charity)
- One month's advertising for a project you're creating (or involved in creating), whether lemmings-related or not, and whether free or not, in the forum's news ticker
- A Two new gimmicks of your choice added to NeoLemmix (within reason)
- A new object type of your choice added to NeoLemmix (within reason); this only includes supporting it in-game and in the graphic set editor, and does not include actually creating a graphic set (or expanding an existing one) to include the object
- Your choice for the next contest's rules (within reason)

Levels ZIP last updated: 26 June, 22:57 UTC
(Note: Do not use this timestamp to determine when the update phase ends; use the time of the most recent post in the updates topic. This timestamp is just when I actually got around to updating this post's attachment.)

Player V1.35n is here! This will probably be the last major update for a while, though minor updates (bugfixes and perhaps some new gimmicks) may happen in the meantime if nessecary.

There's a handful of new gimmicks, several bugfixes, and an improvement to the replay checking algorithm (which detects if a replay is for the correct level) so that it can now be used for NeoCustLemmix levels (even single level files!), and won't detect a level as incorrect just because its position has changed. Additionally, a replay detected as being for the wrong level will no longer refuse to load; it will just give a warning. Do note that V1.35n replays cannot be played back on older versions (but older version replays can be played back on V1.35n). Also, the remaining two LPIV graphic sets have now been added to NeoCustLemmix.

Player V1.35n
-------------
* Cust and Flexi now include all four Lemmings Plus IV graphic sets.
* Dumped levels now include the extended information that support was added for in V1.34n-B.
* Replays made with V1.35n onwards will not fail to load just because the level has been moved
  to a different position. They can now generally still be confirmed as the same level. Older
  version replays will still be detected as invalid if the level has been moved.
* If a replay appears to be from a different level (but is not corrupt / invalid otherwise),
  it will no longer refuse to play altogether, but will simply give a warning.
* NeoCustLemmix now supports replay checks, though this will only apply to replays made with
  V1.35n or higher.
* QuikPack in the Flexi Toolkit has been replaced with the NeoLemmix DAT Manager, which is
  more powerful and more user-friendly. The old Flexi Toolkit has been replaced altogether.
* Added some new gimmicks:
  > Invert Fall Fatality. This gimmick makes fatal falls survivable, while non-fatal falls
    result in death. Floaters and gliders will still survive any fall, provided they fall for
    long enough to pull out their parachute / glider.
  > Clone On Assign. This gimmick causes a lemming to be cloned any time they're assigned
    most skills (it doesn't apply to bombers, blockers, stoners, diggers or cloners).
  > Instant Pickup Skills. This gimmick causes a lemming to use a pickup skill immediately
    upon picking it up; it is only added to the skillset if the lemming is unable to use it.
  > Zombie On Death. This gimmick, when used in combination with zombies, causes any non-zombie
    lemming to become a zombie upon dying.
  > Permanent Blockers. This gimmick causes blockers to, if the ground they're standing on is
    removed, become blockers again when they land. They can only be un-blocked by killing them,
    by the walker skill, or by (if they're a swimmer) falling into water.
  > Release Rate Fluctuation. This gimmick causes the release rate to be unchangeable manually,
    and instead alternates between minimum and 99 every time a skill is assigned.
* Fixed the following bugs:
  > One pixel of blocker trigger areas may remain after a blocker's removal under very
    specific circumstances
  > Oddtabled levels load some data that they shouldn't from the copied level, in particular
    the music track
  > Talismans involving only assigning skills to a single lemming do not trigger if any
    cloners were assigned to the one lemming except as its first skill
  > Talismans involving assigning only one skill to each lemming trigger even if multiple
    skills had been assigned to some lemmings, as long as all such lemmings were clones
  > Multiple sound effects cannot be triggered in the same frame, except in some rare cases
    while the game is paused
  > Specified music tracks are ignored in levels that aren't in the variable-sized LVL format.

NOTE: V1.35n replays will not work on previous versions of NeoLemmix (previous version replays
      will work on V1.35n).

V1.35n-B
--------
* Made some slight tweaks to how traditional Lemmix levels or older-format NeoLemmix levels
  are loaded, which should greatly reduce the number of issues that occur with these formats
  but not with the current format
* Fixed the following bugs:
  > Some gimmicks are carrying over between levels
  > Martian style's exit trigger area is slightly off
  > Not-immediately-usable skills are wasted instead of being added to the skillset under
    the Instant Pickup Skills gimmick
  > Bombers / Stoners used as a result of Instant Pickup Skills have a one-frame delay, during
    which a 1 appears above them

V1.35n-C
--------
* Fixed various trigger areas in the official, LPII and LPIII graphic sets
* MAIN.DAT no longer needs to be specially made to handle the Center Single-Digit Skill Counts
  option.
* Added a "Relative In Count" option, which makes the IN count displayed during gameplay relative
  to the goal. It works best with lemming counts, but can work even with percentages. For example,
  if the level requires 10 lemmings saved, the IN count will initially display as -10, then count
  upwards; zero represents reaching the goal exactly.
* Removed the "Automatic Gimmick Musics" option, as this is a decision that should be more for the
  pack's designer (and needed config screen room for the above option...)
* Fixed a LOT of bugs:
  > If two pieces of steel are exactly 5 pixels apart vertically, a basher will continue bashing
    between them even if there is no terrain for him to bash
  > Walkers that are assigned as a result of instant pickup skills act glitchy during replays
  > Pickup skill Cloners are not taken into account for the Lemming Count flash
  > When Karoshi is used together with Zombies + Zombie on Death, the lemming is not counted as
    killed even prior to becoming a zombie
  > In some cases (particularly where backwards frameskip is involved) particles end up moving to
    the top-left corner of the level
  > There are some oddities with the "Secret Levels via Cheats" option, and secret ranks with the
    "Unlock All" option
  > 10KB levels sometimes give errors relating to the graphic set not being found
  > Some kind of Window Order bug, possibly related to clearing the window order between levels
  > A highlit lemming who is later de-highlit will, if the level is restarted or backwards skipped,
    be re-highlit, unless a different lemming has been highlit since.
  > If more lemmings are saved than the level has, the "rescued every lemming" message appears,
    even if the save requirement is not met (this is relevant on levels with Cloners)
  > The status (on/off) of cheat mode does not get properly saved / loaded in Flexi-based packs
  > Miners can sometimes survive falls of exactly the minimum fatal fall distance, depending on
    when during their mining animation they transition to fallers
  > Flexi-based packs crash (whether using the standalone player or a toolkit-built EXE) if the
    rank names have spaces or commas in them
  > Lemmings move left one pixel when splatting
  > Strange behaviour occurs when lemmings get 2 pixels or less from the top of the level
  > Strange behaviour occurs when a rank has only one level and the player tries to push left or
    right to go to a different level
  > The cloner-adjusted percentages still don't take pickup skills into account when playing the
    level (only on the preview/postview screens)
  > In a vertical-wrap level, if a climber wraps around from top to bottom, then hits his head,
    he will be instantly transported back to where he started climbing from

Downloads:
DropBox
NeoLemmix Website: Players | Cust | Flexi

---

For the editor, the main highlights are that the settings for post-secret-level redirects, the Clock Gimmick, and Bait-and-Switch, can now be set independantly, instead of overwriting other settings; and that the Gimmicks menu has been redesigned to be a bit tidier. And, of course, the remaining two LPIV graphic sets.

As a reminder: If you're installing this over an old copy of the editor, check your styles/Cheapo folder, and delete any graphic sets that are in a two-file (g_xxxx.dat and v_xxxx.dat); this is an outdated format and levels made using graphic sets in this format may have issues when loaded with those in the newer format. This is not so important for graphic sets that aren't converted from Cheapo. <EDIT: V1.35n-B now ignores these old-format graphic sets; but you should probably still get rid of them anyway.> If you have levels that you already made using these older-format graphic sets, and they're now having issues (slightly out-of-place terrains or objects) when loaded with the new format, see the instructions in this post (from the release of the first editor version that had an option to fix these) on how to automatically fix the affected levels. Do *NOT* follow these steps with any levels that are not affected by this issue.

Editor V1.35n-A
---------------
> Completely redesigned the gimmicks menu.
> Supports some new additions in player V1.34n-B onwards, such as clock gimmick and bait-and-switch
  settings being seperated from the main settings.
> Preserves (and sets) a level ID, used as of player V1.35n to identify whether a replay is for the
  correct level even in test mode, single levels, or if the level is repositioned.
> Added a menu to more easily select music tracks. This is only applicable to NeoCustLemmix; it cannot
  currently be customized for Flexi-based or other packs.
> Fixed the bug where new-format level titles wouldn't display properly in the DAT level pack manager.
> Includes the remaining Lemmings Plus IV graphic sets (Space and Wasteland).

Please note: NeoLemmix levels created with this version (including when using playtest mode) require a
             recent version of NeoLemmix.
             V1.33n or higher is required to play them at all.
             V1.34n-B or higher is required for secret levels with specified redirects, or levels using
                the Clock Gimmick or Bait-and-Switch.
             V1.35n or higher is required for levels using Invert Fall Fatality, or any gimmick listed
                after Bait-and-Switch in the list.

V1.35n-B
--------
> Will no longer load older-format NeoLemmix graphic sets; this is due to repeated cases of issues
  caused by the use of them. (They're still supported for traditional Lemmix levels obviously.)
> Has an updated version of the Martian graphic set with a fix to the exit's trigger area.

V1.35n-C
--------
> Fixes a bug where most VGASPECs were unusable in NeoLemmix levels
> The name of the Disarmer skill no longer displays as its old name "Mechanic"

V1.35n-C Re-Release
--------
> Contains updated versions of almost all NeoLemmix graphic sets to fix trigger area issues

V1.35n-D
--------
> Fixes the bugs with the Validate Level option
> Fixes the bugs with setting the Bait & Switch levels
> Fixes the bug where Oddtable rank / level settings didn't become enabled when Oddtable was
  checked / disabled when Oddtable was unchecked

V1.35n-E
--------
> Fixes a bug where some older levels may not load, depending on the exact combinations of previous
  formats they've been saved in, graphic sets they use and editor versions they've been edited in.
> The "Ghosts" and "Ghost on Death" gimmicks are now always selectable in the Gimmicks window without
  having to reveal the hidden gimmicks.

Downloads:
DropBox
NeoLemmix Website

Remember, if you have a custom "styles" folder set up, you can maintain it, by only replacing the EXE instead of the entire contents of the download. However, I do recommend you also overwrite the style files in the "NeoLemmix" style folder (but do not overwrite the styles.ini file if you have customized it; just the DAT files).

If you're updating from a really old editor version, you might want to simply delete the default styles folders and replace them with those from the new update (while keeping your custom folders and modified "NeoLemmixStyles.ini").