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 entrants to post updates to their levels only. Any posts in this topic, other than for the purpose of entrants posting updates to their levels, will be deleted. If you are simply wanting to discuss the levels, please use this topic instead.

So yep, as the above notice suggests, level creators may post updates to their levels here.

Some quick rules:
1. Please don't leave multiple versions of your level in this topic. When you post a new version, remove the old one.
2. Don't edit your old post to attach the new update. Make a new reply and attach it to that; this makes it easier to find.
3. Any posts that have had the attachments removed (due to being superceeded by a new update), I'll delete eventually. (Any other mod/admin is also free to do this.) So don't leave any important details in them; or copy the details into the newer post.

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.)

NOTE: This topic is no longer being updated. New versions will be posted in topics relating to releases of new NeoLemmix versions.

So, here's a tool that greatly simplifies the creation of custom games on NeoLemmix. Instead of the runaround with manually gathering files, using a resource hacker to put them into an EXE, and so on that was previously nessecary, this tool does pretty much everything for you except creating the levels!

Current Tool version: V1.02
Included NeoLemmix player version: V1.35n-C

Download: NeoLemmix Website
Tutorial: Part 1 (Beginner) | Part 2 (Intermediate) | Part 3 (Advanced)
Source Code: In the tool sources folder on my DropBox

NOTE: The "Build EXE" function uses Windows API calls that do not exist prior to Windows 2000 as far as I can tell, so most likely the "Build EXE" function will not work on Windows 95 / 98 / ME (though is anyone really still using those?). It has been tested and works under WINE. The rest of the app should work properly in any, though.

---

So, as anyone who's tried (or at least read about it) is probably aware, the current version of the Flexi Toolkit isn't overly easy to use. So, I'm planning to replace it with an improved tool that can both:
- more conveniently manage the data files, rather than having to do it manually (whether simply for preparing to build an EXE, or for use with the non-toolkit Flexi player)
- build the all-in-one EXE without the need for Resource Hacker

On top of that, it'll also contain a mini SYSTEM.DAT editor. This won't be fully-featured like the one in the NeoLemmix Editor (but you can always import a SYSTEM.DAT file created with that), but will just contain the most important options for quick access; any options outside these will be limited to preserving them and having a "reset to default" button.

This tool will not be able to do anything that existing tools can't already do, it'll just make it a lot easier to do.


So far, the mini- SYSTEM.DAT editor and the Levels tab are fully functional (the levels tab allows for reordering levels / ranks, and adding / removing / extracting levels). The other tabs are just blank at the moment. Most should be self-explanatory what they're planned to do, the "Other Data" one is mostly for MAIN.DAT and TALISMAN.DAT. (It'll most likely be limited to import/export of files, and not have any actual editor for them).

EDIT: I'll get screenshots up tomorrow, but the Graphics Sets tabs is almost complete (just need to decide if I'll add support for mapping numbers to graphic sets - probably unnessecary since the editor has used graphic set names rather than numbers for AGES now; and if I do do so, do it - if I don't, it can still be done via the NeoLemmix Editor's SYSTEM.DAT editor and preserved by this tool, so it won't be an impossible-to-do thing), and I've started on the Musics tab. Going to add support for actually previewing the musics in the tool, since unlike graphic sets, they don't actually have names.


(If you're wondering why the screenshots show the data for GigaLems, it's because I happened to have a non-compiled copy of it handy from when GigaLem was asking me some questions about how to use the Flexi Toolkit, so I figured it made sense to use what's already there rather than try and create entirely new data just for the purpose of testing it. My own level packs are compiled from source rather than using Flexi, so using one of those wasn't an option.)

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").

So, someone was having trouble with QuikPack (which I don't really blame them for, it's a horribly outdated tool with many options that are mostly irrelevant now, and isn't very user-friendly, not to mention its DAT compression isn't very efficient either). So, I put together a new tool for managing DAT files; primarily those containing levels.

http://www.neolemmix.com/old/lemtools/DatPacker.exe

It's primarily designed for use with DAT files that contain level packs, but it works with any compressed DAT file, and any contents in them. It can add and remove sections, reorder them, and extract them. Although designed with NeoLemmix in mind, it should work perfectly fine for DOS / traditional Lemmix DAT files too (with the caveat that each section in the DAT file must not exceed 64KB in the case of DOS, and there's probably some upper limit on the DAT file's total size there too; there are effectively no limits when using with NeoLemmix or with recent versions of regular Lemmix).

Hope you guys find use for it!

So, the last voteoff! (not including the grand final, which'll put the winners of the four voteoffs against each other)

This one is for the Extra Levels, which are basically all the official levels that come from versions with DOS-like mechanics, but were not included in any DOS version of the game. The overwhemling majority of these are from the Genesis version, but some are from other sources such as demo levels that didn't make it into final games, variations of the games on Amiga, or other versions.

All the levels in this voteoff are included in the Extra Levels Lemmix Player, although not all levels in that player are included. Those that will be included in this voteoff are (based on their classification in the Extra player):

- The levels from the "Genesis" rank, except the two test maps. This includes the alternate versions of the special graphics levels.
- The levels from the "Present", "Sunsoft" and "Other" ranks.

The two-player levels from the various versions, and the Master System and PSP levels, will not be included.

Throughout the voteoff, levels will be referred to by their position in the Extra Levels player, not their position in the version they come from. This is because generally, the Extra Levels player is the easiest way to play these levels, so it makes sense to describe how to find them in that player. Remember - you can quickly get to any level by first activating cheat mode (type "CHEATCODES" as a password), then typing that level's rank and number (eg: GENESIS01) as a code.


As usual, the rules for qualification to the next round are:
1) All levels in first place qualify, no matter what.
2) If the limit has not been reached, all levels in second place qualify, no matter what.
3) If the limit has not been reached, then 3rd, 4th and so on are considered, but *only* if (a) including them won't cause the limit to be exceeded, and (b) they have at least one vote (first round) or half as many votes as the first place levels (any other round).

And as usual, each set is open for 48 hours, except the final which is open for 72 hours. And, in the case that levels cannot be dividied equally into the number of sets specified for a round (or the number of levels per set specified), the earlier rounds get an extra level each until all levels are included.

And again as usual - remember, do not discuss in this topic any level that's in the set currently being voted on. It's perfectly fine to discuss levels that are in this voteoff but aren't in the current set, or to discuss them elsewhere on the site, of course. General comments (along the lines of "this was a hard set to choose from", etc) are fine.


So, the round breakdown - this may of course be subject to change depending on how many levels get through to the rounds.
Remember; as always, the number of votes is a maximum, not an exact requirement. You may vote for less levels if you like (eg: if the round allows voting for 3 levels, it's fine to only vote for one or two instead).

Round 1
Levels are divided into sets of 10 levels. Each user is allowed 3 votes, and the qualifying levels limit is 5.

Round 2
Levels are divided into sets of 6 levels. Each user is allowed 2 votes, and the qualifying levels limit is 3.

Round 3
Levels are divided into sets of 4 levels. Each user is allowed 2 votes, and the qualifying levels limit is 2.

Round 4
Levels are divided into three sets. Each user is allowed 2 votes, and the qualifying levels limit is 2.

Round 5
All levels are played in a single set. Each user is allowed 2 votes, and the qualifying levels limit is 2.

Round 6
All levels are played in a single set. Each user is allowed 1 vote, and this round determines the winner.

So, what would you like to see in V1.35n?

One of my main goals for it is to reduce the font size for the text above the skill panel, and thus include some more information there. Proposals for what to have, so far, include always displaying information on which permanent skills a lemming has (not possible due to space limits with the current font size, hence the system of "hold alt and highlight a lemming to display it"), how many lemmings have been lost, and how many lemmings need to be saved to pass the level. One other thing I was thinking was the time taken so far - although this could instead be done similar to Lix, in that on levels with time limits it stays exactly how it is now, while on levels without them it displays a counting-up timer that shows how long you've taken so far.

Aside from that, I also hope to replace the MAIN.DAT format, similar to how I've done with levels and graphic sets, to be more flexible (and support 32-bit images, although like with graphic sets NeoLemmix will probably not implement support for alpha values other than "fully transparent" or "fully solid" for now). It'll be done in such a way that future additions to it don't require losing support for older files; aside from that, one thing I was considering adding is supporting (but not requiring) seperate lemmings graphics for zombies - at the moment, zombie graphics are based on a hard-coded recolor. One thing I'll need to think about is how to handle the effect seen in the MAIN.DAT files of LPIII / LPIV / LPOmega, where the color of certain elements of the skillbar changes between different graphic sets. The hardest part will be how to edit this in a user-friendly way, more than simply how to make it work in NeoLemmix. As you probably know, I plan to make a better MAIN.DAT editor than LemMain, similar to how I replaced LemSet with a more user-friendly graphic set tool; but I'd like to actually have the new format implemented (rather than just planned) before doing this.

Another thing that one person has been repeatedly requesting is an option (for custom packs) to disable direct-drop. While I don't particularly like the idea of having those kind of mechanics-options (indeed, I was reluctant to even add a "timed bombers" option), I do see how constantly designing levels to avoid the possibility could be a pain in the ass, so I might look at adding such an option.

Needless to say, it makes sense to introduce these two changes at the same time, since changing the font size itself would require modifications to MAIN.DAT's structure.

So, it's finally here! The latest entry in the Lemmings Plus series, Lemmings Plus IV, has arrived!

Lemmings Plus IV consists of 80 levels, spread over four ranks (Smooth, Bumpy, Twisted and Insane). Unlike LPII and LPIII, there's no secret levels or gimmick levels this time - just plain old puzzles! That's not to say that there aren't a few levels based on unique and unusual concepts, of course.

As with LPII and LPIII, there's a few new graphic sets here - the four sets are Candy, Space, Clockwork and Wasteland. For the first time in Lemmings Plus, these are not palette-based with a very small number of colors, but full 24-bit color graphic sets.

Lemmings Plus IV continues to make use of new NeoLemmix features - many new object types are used, including some that are completely new to Lemmings Plus IV. The new NeoLemmix skills are also used. And, from day one, Lemmings Plus IV has talismans - there's a total of 15 of them for you to try and obtain!

Huge thanks to DynaLem, exit, IchoTolot and Nepster for pre-release testing.

Download LPIV from this page
http://www.neolemmix.com/?page=lemmingsplus

The cheat code, for those who want it, is...

Spoiler

RIVERSTONE

So, time for a new contest!

Let's start with the general rules. Again, there's been some slight changes, specifically relating to how updated versions of the levels are handled. Apart from this, they're the same as before. To be precise - during the playing phase, until the "update deadline", you may post updated versions of your levels as often as you like. Initial submissions (during the creation phase) are still via PM. No new levels may be submitted during the playing phase, only updates to existing submissions. There'll be two seperate topics during the playing phase; one for general discussion / replay posting / etc of the levels, and the other one only for creators to post updated versions of the levels; this is to keep them easy to find (any other posts in that topic will be deleted). And just for reference, the update deadline is subject to the same 72 hour rule as the main submissions (ie: even if the deadline has passed, updates only close when no updates have been submitted for 72 hours).

Spoiler

Note that if the rules of the individual contest conflict with these standard rules, the contest-specific rule has priority.

1. Each person may only enter a single level into each contest.
2. All levels entered into a contest must be never-seen-before. This means that they can be completely new levels created for the contest, or not-yet-released levels from a future pack, but you cannot just enter a level from a pack you've already released, even if you modify it slightly. Levels may be released publicly elsewhere once they are no longer eligible to win (ie: the voting doesn't have to have finished, but the level in question must have been eliminated).
3. Anyone caught trying to manipulate the voting or otherwise cheat will be disqualified from the contest, and may be disqualified from future contests.
4. Entries must be submitted via private message to the staff member running the contest.
5. The staff member running the contest has the final say on whether or not a level meets the contest's criteria; however, you will be informed within a reasonable timeframe if not, and will be allowed to resubmit an altered version of the level (or an entirely new level) that does meet the criteria.
6. If you are using a graphic set that is not included by default with the engine you're using, you must include a copy of it with your submission.
7. Any Lix levels entered into the contest must be single-player levels.
8. Monetary prizes are payable only via either PayPal or a major cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Litecoin or Dogecoin; and possibly others on request). You may also ask for a purchase to be made on your behalf with the prize money directly from a website that accepts one of those options, or for it to be donated to a charity.
9. All deadline dates/times are in UTC. If you haven't customized your display settings, this is the time displayed in the top-right corner of the forums.
10. Even if a deadline has passed, entries will not close until 72 hours has passed since the last submission was received (or one week since the last submission was received, if there are less than four received entries). This applies to both the initial submission deadline and the update deadline.
11. If less than three entries have been received when entries close, the contest is cancelled.
12. During the playing phase, you may submit revised versions of your levels by posting them in the "levels update" topic, as long as the update deadline has not passed. The host of the contest will periodically update the main download, including as soon as possible after the update deadline passes.
13. Any received updates will only be accepted if the updated version still meets the contest criteria.
14. Both first place and second place get a prize; they must choose two different prizes (first place gets first choice), unless a prize is specifically marked that it may be selected by both winners. In the event that only three entries are received, only first place gets a prize.
15. If the staff member organizing the contest enters a level and places first or second, they do not get a prize. The prize is not "passed on", but instead only one prize is awarded for that tournament; however as a special case, if there is only one prize available (due to only three entries being submitted), the prize is passed on to second place.
16. The winning level will be determined by a voteoff after the playing phase has ended, unless the winning criteria is purely objective.

---

Contest #5

These rules were picked by Nepster, as a prize for the last contest. As such, any questions on the exact details of the rule will need to be answered by him, too, unless the questions relate to general contest rules.

For this contest, your goal is to design a level with a save requirement of no more than 10%. Remember that all engines that use percentages round down, so the same will be true here - 2 out of 19 lemmings equates to 10.5%, but since this would be rounded down and displayed as 10% in-game, that's acceptable. Likewise, in a level with 200 lemmings, a save requirement of either 20 lemmings or 21 lemmings is fine, because both would be displayed as 10% (but do keep in mind that traditional Lemmix would accept 20 lemmings as a pass in this case, even if the requirement is actually set to 21, because both calculate to 10%; NeoLemmix does not have this issue (20 lemmings would equate to failure in this case)).

Allowed engines: Lemmix, NeoLemmix, Lemmini, SuperLemmini, Lix

Engine-specific rules:
NeoLemmix: The "10%" should be according to Cloner-adjusted percentages. If you're calculating by hand, this means you should treat the total number of lemmings as (number of lemmings + number of cloners in skillset + number of pickup skill cloners in the level). More reliable would be to simply ensure you've set NeoCustLemmix to use the Cloner-Adjusted Percentages (run it directly rather than playtest mode, and in the settings menu, check that Use Percentages is set to "ADJ") and check what it says there.

Timeframe: Entries will close on 16th June 2015, 4:07 PM (UTC) (subject to general rule #10).
The update deadline will be announced when the playing phase begins, but will be at least 10 days.

The prizes available for this contest are:
- US $10 $12.50 (see general rule #8) <Will be increased to $15 if we reach 10 entries>
- 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 <Will be increased to a month and a half if we reach 10 entries>
- 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)

* "One month" refers to a calendar month; not specifically "30 days" or "31 days".

---

Entries received: 7
bsmith
Crane
geoo
GigaLem
IchoTolot
Nepster
Simon

So, this contest has ended! The second round of the votes was a tie, which means the tiebreaker is which one did better in the first round.

1st Place
IchoTolot's True Grid
Prize: 1 month advertisement on the news ticker, reserved for future use

2nd Place
Nepster's Fourtissimo
Prize: Picking the next contest's rules

Well done to the winners, and thanks to all entrants for participating!

I'd like suggestions on how better to handle athletes; since unlike traditional Lemmings where there are only two permanent skills and thus you know that an athlete is Climber + Floater; under NeoLemmix there are a total of 5, of which any one lemming may have up to 4 at a time (a single lemming cannot be both a Floater and a Glider).

Since the addition of these new skills, the system has simply been to use fancier names when they have multiple skills - two gives "Athlete", three "Triathlete", and four "X-Athlete", no matter what those skills are. However, the problem is precisely that - it doesn't indicate what permanent skills they have, just how many. I would guess in a lot of cases this could be deduced from the available skillset, but in complex levels, or levels that have lemmings which spawn with permanent skills already assigned (in which case they don't nessecerially have to be skills that appear in the skillset), this may lead to uncertianty.

So, I'm wondering if there's any suggestions on how to better handle this, or if everyone thinks it's fine as-is.

One method I did briefly experiment with was appending a string to the normal skil name, or to Athlete, which would show a dash for any skill they don't have, and a single letter for those they do; for example, for a climber + glider + disarmer (mechanic), it'd show C-GD (with the dash being where an S would appear for Swimmer). Since Floater and Glider are mutually exclusive, I didn't see the need to have five spaces; the third one would change to either F or G as appropriate. The problems with this is that it looks a bit untidy, and also that it barely fits - the "1" (or whatever quantity number is correct) is literally right next to the O in "Out" (see attached screenshot). The problem is even worse if the normal name (rather than always using "Athlete") of their action is used, particularly if the lemming happened to be a Platformer at the time.

Of course, it could be argued that the font is probably larger than it needs to be, and that a smaller one should perhaps be used in order to put more information on the skill bar. In this case, a system like this one would be less problematic.

Anyway, what are your suggestions?

So, as you probably know, by default NeoLemmix includes the Amiga version musics. Music packs are also available to instead give them the Master System, Genesis or DOS musics (and others could be made too).

However, the question is - each version has a different track order. So far, in the case of DOS and Master System, the ordering has been consistent with the order in these versions (Genesis has simply used the Amiga order, since the Genesis version doesn't have a track order as such); but should this be changed so instead the music packs are consistent with each other? (In which case, the most likely candidate would be to follow the Amiga order in all packs).

Alright so, the main update here is obviously the new Talismans feature. It hasn't been added to the official games yet - further discussion on these is needed. Nor has it been added to Copycat Lemmings yet; I'm mostly waiting to hear Essman's ideas on this one. They're being added to the Lemmings Plus series, and official updates being made for such. However, they can be used in custom Flexi-based packs!

Please note that these cannot be added to NeoCustLemmix level packs. I do not plan to support this.

V1.34n
------
* Added a "Talismans" option (basically just achievements with a Lemmings-themed name).
  So far, these have not been added to the official games, but can be used in custom
  packs on the Flexi player and are in the process of being added to the Lemmings Plus
  games.
* Copycat Lemmings now uses new-format graphic sets, and levels are adjusted accordingly.
* Fixed the bug where pickup skill cloners were not taken into account for Cloner-adjusted
  percentages.
* Mayhem 26 in Orig has had its blockers re-added.

V1.34n-B
--------
* The Mechanic skill has been renamed to Disarmer
* The Shift key can be held while selecting a lemming to ensure that only a lemming with no
  previous skills assigned to it will be selected
* The Alt key can be held while selecting a lemming to replace the normal action display
  (eg. walker, builder, climber, etc) with one which shows which permanent skills it has.
  The display will show six dashes, which will be replaced with letters if the lemming has
  certain permanent skills:
    - "C" for a Climber (1st dash)
    - "S" for a Swimmer (2nd dash)
    - "F" for a Floater (3rd dash)
    - "G" for a Glider (3rd dash) - shares Floater's space since they're mutually exclusive
    - "D" for a Disarmer (4th dash)
    - "Z" for a Zombie (5th dash)
* Holding Ctrl while clicking a skill panel button has the same effect as right-clicking it.
  This can be used when selecting the buttons via keyboard shortcuts, too; so for example,
  you can press Ctrl+F2 for an instant release rate 99, or Ctrl+F3 to assign a climber to
  the highlit lemming.
* Supports loading some extended header information from levels; it does not currently write
  this extended information when dumping levels, nor does the editor save it. (The reason for
  this is to have player support for it well before any levels using it exist.)
* When auto-save replays is enabled, the automatic filenames will now include the seconds
  in the timestamp as well as the hour and minute; this virtually eliminates the chance of
  one auto-save replay overwriting another one.
* Fixes the following bugs:
  > Locked exits may unlock prematurely and/or fail to work if multiple lemmings hit a single
    unlock button in the same frame
  > Replays from the first rank can be loaded on the same level number in any rank, while replays
    from the first level of a rank can be loaded on any level in that rank (with the first level
    of the first rank being loadable in any level in the same pack)
  > The LPIV Candy graphic set has a minor graphical glitch on the one-way-down arrows
  > If a lemming is highlit, it becomes un-highlit when a backwards frame jump, load state, etc
    is performed, even if the lemming still exists at the point jumped to
  > The game crashes when a level starts if the level uses an entrance which only has a single
    animation frame

V1.34n-C
--------
* VGASPEC files can now have defined autosteel and one-way areas. To do this, they should
  be in the new format (ie: graphic sets without objects); the first terrain piece should be
  the level image (including the steel / one way areas!), the second piece should be only the
  steel areas, and the third piece should be only the one-way areas.
* NeoCustLemmix and Flexi now include the LPIV Clockwork graphic set.
* Fixed the following bugs:
  > A lemming that falls a fatal distance onto terrain, where that terrain is also the top
    pixel of a water trigger area, while assigned the swimmer skill, will become stuck in
    that position while doing nothing
  > A moving background object placed far outside the level's boundaries may suddenly appear
    out of nowhere after enough time has passed during play
  > Oddtabled levels weren't working at all in V1.34n-B.

Downloads:
DropBox
NeoLemmix Website: Players | Cust | Flexi

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The LemMain update adds support for the Talisman graphics. When extracting a NeoLemmix V1.29n+ MAIN.DAT that doesn't contain talisman images, they'll just be blank. The included MAIN.DAT file does contain them, so you can extract that to get a copy of them. (Remember, you can use the override images + the "extract and rebuild" features to easily add them to an existing MAIN.DAT). Sorry, there isn't a new and more user-friendly MAIN.DAT tool yet; it's still on the todo list.

Downloads:
DropBox
NeoLemmix Website

---

There's also a BETA version of the Talisman Editor available, so that you can add talismans to your custom packs. The generated TALISMAN.DAT file should be included in the same way as any other DAT file. When creating talismans using this, be sure to use the "Import LVL" button (or manually copy the level's normal save requirement, time limit, skill limits etc - but that's the much harder way to do it); this will copy the level's regular save requirement and so on into the talismans' requirements. This is important because forced skillset, challenge mode and timer mode do not prevent talismans from being received - this is by design; although I don't plan on doing so for my own packs, it's to allow people to make talismans that go outside the normal skillset / time limit and have the player use these modes to get them. When you import a level, it does not have to be in the LookForLVLFiles-style filename, but if it is, the level's rank and number will also be automatically set.

For reference, a "Hidden" talisman won't show up in-game; the purpose of it is that you can still use these to unlock secret levels.

I'll explain better how to use this tool at a later point, but for now, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

EDIT: I should probably explain the "Signature" field. This is just a unique reference number for each talisman, used so that they can be kept track of even if the ordering and/or parameters change. It's a hexidecimal value, and can be anywhere between x00000001 and xFFFFFFFF; all that matters is that it's unique for each talisman. Zero is not a valid value, so any that are set to zero will be assigned one automatically when you save the file. Thus, you pretty much can ignore this field; but it's there just in case.

Download:
DropBox
(For now, I haven't uploaded it to the NeoLemmix website.)

---

There is no editor update, as there is no new V1.34n feature that requires an editor update. Thus, if any further bugfix / feature improvement updates do occur, at this point they'd be labelled V1.33n-D and so on rather than V1.34n-A (This is in keeping with the main version number being the lowest player version that fully supports the level and graphic set formats and features it uses; not nessecerially the most recent player version.)

So, you all know how this works by now. Vote for your favorites; the highest scoring ones will go into a smaller final round. Don't discuss the levels anywhere on the board while voting is in progress (discussion by PM or off-site is fine, but obviously avoid the whole "vote for my level!" type stuff - this is more to allow people to discuss with the creators whether certain solutions are backroutes etc).

A copy of the levels is attached to this post, for anyone who doesn't already have them. One level uses a custom graphic set; a copy of the graphic set has been included (although recent versions of NeoCustLemmix / NeoLemmix Editor include this graphic set anyway). All others use graphic sets that are included with their respective engines.

For those who need help with how to play them:

NeoLemmix levels - Easiest way is to put them in the same folder as NeoCustLemmix, run it, and press F6 on the title screen to load a single level file. Alternatively, you could open them in the editor then use the Playtest option.

Lix level - Put it in the levels/single/ folder (or a subfolder thereof) and navigate to it through the Play Level menu.

There are no Lemmix, Lemmini or SuperLemmini levels in this contest's entries.

Good luck to all entrants!

So, I'm sure most of you have at least heard of the Flexi player. For those who haven't, it's basically a NeoLemmix player that's designed for use with custom level packs (the difference between it and NeoCustLemmix is that Flexi is designed for entire games, not just small packs that are essentially just a collection of a few levels); there's also a toolkit that allows creating an all-in-one EXE like the NeoLemmix players of official games and the Lemmings Plus series.

So at the moment, a fair few things can be customized, but I was wondering what else people would like to see added to its options? EG: At the moment, some of the texts cannot be customized, but they're also ones that when designing Flexi I felt were unlikely there'd be much interest in customizing, such as skill names etc. One thing that did come up in PMs a while back was more control over the configuration screen - currently, it's mostly pre-set, with just the ability to remove certain options such as LookForLVLFiles, challenge/timer modes, etc.

Just for the record, talismans are going to be supported in the next update, so no need to ask for those.

I also realise that a simpler method of using it - particularly for when it comes to building the all in one EXEs - would be quite desirable. It's on my to-do-eventually list. But, for now, what I'm more asking is what you'd like to be customizable, rather than how it's done. Feel free to throw any ideas, and those that have a lot of interest and seem reasonable I'll try and work into it at some point. (Obviously, things such as configuring game mechanics is unlikely, since ideally they should be consistent between all NeoLemmix packs; currently the only mechanics-related option in there (and even this I felt a bit uneasy about adding) is to revert the bombers back to being timed.)

I was recently wondering if this skill's name should be changed.

The two reasons for this are:
1. It sometimes feels weird when talking about it - am I referring to "Mechanics" as in the skill, or to the gameplay mechanics?
2. It's the only skill that doesn't end in -er.

So, I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks on this, and if there's any other suggestions for it.


EDIT:

For those who haven't encountered this skill yet (since it's a NeoLemmix-exclusive skill that so far has only appeared in Lemmings Plus Omega, Doomsday Lemmings and a few small custom packs mostly by DynaLem); a Mechanic is a permanent skill like climber/floater/etc, the lemming that has it will, upon encountering a trap (provided he's not mid-fall or anything like that), disable the trap instead of being killed by it. It takes them about 2 seconds to disable the trap (though from the instant they start, all other lemmings are safe from the trap).

So, generally in NeoLemmix-ised levels, I've removed blockers where their primary purpose previously was to time bombers (since NeoLemmix bombers are instant, not timed). For most levels, this is quite clear whether to leave them or remove them. However, Mayhem 26 is a somewhat special case; because while the primary purpose of the blockers is bomber timing, they can also serve other purposes. At the same time, under NeoLemmix, this level is still possible - and much more suited to its position - without them. Currently, that level has no blockers in the NeoLemmix version. (It's also based off the Amiga version, which means you can only lose 10 lemmings, and only have 10 each of the other two skills.)

Do you think the blockers should be re-added to this level, or should it be kept as is? (In the case they're re-added, if I ever get around to adding achievements, it's also a possibility that an achievement could be added for completing that level without them.)

Alright so, the major update here is, say goodbye to the limit of 128 objects, 1000 terrains and 128 steels per level. And no, I haven't just increased it to some even larger arbitrary number - there's no limit now! Additionally, most level files are likely to be smaller than 10KB now; some very simple levels may even be smaller than the 2KB size of a traditional Lemmix level.

The "mass level dump" feature saves in this new format, so levels dumped by it will not be compatible with older versions of NeoLemmix.

On the other hand, the NeoLemmix 2KB level format is no longer supported by the player. It's very unlikely that any levels are in this format - it became no longer the primary format as of V1.16n-B, and as of V1.25n the editor no longer supported saving this format; back at this time I was pretty much the only one making NeoLemmix levels, and I've long since upgraded all my levels to newer formats. In the unlikely case anyone does still have levels in this format, the editor does still support them, so you can load and re-save them with the editor. If you have a large number of them, you might want to use the Mass Convert feature; just choose NeoLemmix for both the source and destination formats. 2KB DOS or traditional Lemmix levels are still supported.

At least for now, there's no official update for any of my games. I might do one later, but since there's no bugfixes or new features that'd affect them, I didn't see the need. Unofficial updates are provided, of course (these are only on the DropBox link, not the NeoLemmix Website one).

Player V1.33n
-------------
* A new level format which removes all of the following limitations is in use:
   - Limit of 128 objects
   - Limit of 1000 terrains
   - Limit of 128 steel areas
   - Limit of 32 entries in the window ordering
   - Piece IDs cannot be higher than 255
* Levels are no longer limited to 32 functioning entrances
* The very first NeoLemmix level format (DOS / traditional Lemmix format with the
  unused bytes) repurposed is no longer supported; any such levels must be upgraded
  by either mass-dumping from an older-version NeoLemmix player, or opening and
  saving them in the NeoLemmix Editor. *Actual* DOS / traditional Lemmix levels
  can still be used. The not-as-old 10KB level format is still supported, although
  all of the players have been upgraded to the new variable-sized format.

Downloads
(DropBox)
NeoLemmix Website: Players | Cust | Flexi

---

Editor-wise, the obvious addition is support for the new format. That aside, you can FINALLY edit the window ordering in NeoLemmix and SuperLemmini levels!

Please note that you must use at least V1.33n of NeoCustLemmix to use the editor's playtest mode with this version (you can use existing versions of traditional CustLemmix and SuperLemmini; no problems there). Likewise, at least V1.33n of NeoLemmix is needed to play levels made / edited with this version.

Also, the Candy style from Lemmings Plus IV has been added to the included graphic sets. (The other LPIV styles haven't been yet.)

Editor V1.33n-A
--------------
> Window ordering can now be edited, rather than just preserved.
> An unlimited number of window ordering entries is now supported in both NeoLemmix and SuperLemmini
  levels, rather than only 32 in NeoLemmix or 128 in SuperLemmini
> Due to use of a new level format, NeoLemmix levels are no longer limited to 128 objects / 1000
  terrains / 128 steel areas

Please note: NeoCustLemmix V1.33n or higher is required for NeoLemmix playtest mode with this version.

Editor V1.33n-B
---------------
> Fixes a bug with negative object coordinates in NeoLemmix levels.

Editor V1.33n-C
---------------
> Fixes the bug where graphic sets would not be found when loading levels if their filenames (or foldernames
  in the case of Lemmini/SuperLemmini) were not all-lowercase.

NOTE ABOUT CHEAPO STYLES: If you have old versions of the Cheapo styles (as two seperate files, eg "g_orig-dirt.dat" and "v_orig-dirt.dat" rather than just a single "orig-dirt.dat" file), DELETE THEM!

Downloads
DropBox
NeoLemmix Website

The NeoLemmix 2KB level format (the one based on the DOS format but with the unused bytes repurposed) is no longer supported from V1.33n of the player. Actual DOS / traditional Lemmix levels continue to be supported; and this old NeoLemmix format will for now continue to be supported by the editor. NeoLemmix features in these levels that were back-ported to traditional Lemmix (ie: custom music track selection and oddtabling) will also continue to be supported.

I don't think any levels still exist in this format, but if you have any, please upgrade them (by loading and saving in the editor, or re-dumping them from a player via the "Dump All Levels" option) to a newer format; the new variable-sized format is ideal, but the 10KB format is also remaining supported for the forseeable future.

The most obvious way to identify such a level would be if its filesize is 2KB rather than 10KB. Otherwise, assuming they haven't been upgraded since, levels are likely to be in this format if:
> They were made with NeoLemEdit
> They were made with a NeoLemmix Editor version prior to V1.16n-B
> They were made with a NeoLemmix Editor version prior to V1.25n-A and the "Extended Format" option was not selected

If they've been made or edited with NeoLemmix Editor V1.25n-A or newer, made or edited with NeoLemmix Editor V1.16n-B or newer and the "Extended Format" option was used, or mass-dumped from a NeoLemmix player V1.16n-B or later, they'll be in the 10KB format. This covers all NeoLemmix levels I've ever seen released, but in case anyone has any that they haven't released but want to keep, I'm making sure this is well known. As mentioned - the editor will continue to support such levels for now.