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#31
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: LemFan's various packs
Last post by JawaJuice - November 25, 2025, 12:34:07 PM
@Plodderuk Cheers, your first hint helped - dunno why I didn't think of that, but the second... not so much.

Spoiler
If you make the third lemming out of the hatch a climber, you actually end up only losing a single lemming before the platform is complete. However, I'm still faced with the same problem for the rest of the level and saving the extra lems doesn't seem to help any. I suspect I'm just not aware of this trick you mention. One of the few tricks I know that fall into the 'shouldn't work but does' category is the basher/blocker trick (which LemFan has used elsewhere). This is one of my gripes with his levels actually - there is the odd one that can only be completed by knowing some obscure trick. That's poor level design imo. I'd personally be happy for you to post your replay of this level so I can learn a new trick!
#32
In Development / Re: Levels by Crane
Last post by JawaJuice - November 25, 2025, 12:20:08 PM
Weirdly, that update did break my old replay for Part 1, but I was able to execute it the same way and provide a new replay (attached).

I suspected Part 2 would be a backroute - I didn't see that being your intended solution! I'll look at it again when I have time - solving the 'Denial' level you sent me probably took me the best part of two hours lol
#33
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: LemFan's various packs
Last post by Plodderuk - November 25, 2025, 11:03:30 AM
JawaJuice: you're on the right lines with Intruders in the Antarctic. I struggled with this for exactly the reasons you mention. In the second Spoiler below there's a vague hint.
Intruders in the Antarctic
Early on you should be able to lose only 2 lemmings as you platform.
Spoiler
After that, the solution relies on one of those Neolemmix tricks of the trade, where something that arguably should not be possible actually is. I won't be more specific now, as that would give the game away.
#34
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: Lock and Key [Difficulty: ...
Last post by kaywhyn - November 25, 2025, 08:26:48 AM
Hi @Dexter,

I've solved all of the pack! :thumbsup: My replays are attached :)

Also, link to my LP: Kaywhyn's LP of Dexter's Lock & Key Pack

Enjoy! :P

General Feedback

As the OP mentions for the pack's description, every level spawns only 1 Lemming from the entrance, though some levels still feature multiple Lemmings via cloners provided in the skillset or having neutrals, zombies, or both. In addition, every level except one features a locked exit, meaning the button(s) need to be activated in order to unlock the exit. Several levels also make use of the new objects added to NL in v12.13. I would have to agree with Armani here in that the levels that do feature the new objects make really great use of them! :thumbsup:

Dexter's warning of the pack being quite hard is very accurate here! Except for Solitude 8 which I consider the easiest level of the entire pack, all others are quite challenging, though both Solitude 6 and 7 aren't as hard as they should be due to what I'm very certain are backroutes I found on them :P Hence, this pack ended up whooping me very badly in my behind in multiple places. My entire LP was very slow going since the start, as I generally could only solve 1-3 levels at a time while recording. My huge struggles throughout the pack definitely show in the LP!

IMO, both Solitude 4 and 5 are too difficult for their position. I do acknowledge that moving them to later in the pack very well could disrupt the continuous flow of the plot via the pre-texts and post-texts, which would be a case against moving the levels. For sure without the narrative I definitely feel moving them to later in the pack would be justified. Granted, the former has a solution quite similar to one of Dodochacalo's levels from Fiat Lem! which also happened to stump me for a while, so apparently it wasn't obvious to me here at all! :-[ For the latter, save for one part of the solution which is quite sneaky and the player has no chance of passing the level if it isn't spotted, it really isn't too hard of a level and fortunately at least has a very clean solution.

Except for criticism on a few levels that demand too much precision in the solution and hence my suggestion of either reducing or eliminating it, I absolutely enjoyed this pack of Dexter's! :thumbsup: Let me make it clear that the pack stumping me in so many places is not necessarily a bad thing, since I love hard levels in the game of Lemmings, but the real truth is that I enjoy levels of all difficulties, so easy and medium levels included. Hard levels are just simply the kind of levels I prefer in NL, which this pack definitely fits the bill. I do admit it wasn't fun at times being stumped for a while, but that's just simply due to me not being used to that. In particular, for the first time in the longest time, there was a level where I had two recorded unsuccessful attempts and hence switched to off-camera time to work on getting the level solved if that happened. I kind of joked that struggling with this pack was kind of my punishment for getting through both STOKEAPE JUMBLE and ScottyLems pretty quickly! :laugh:

Feedback on the levels:

Spoiler
Solitude 1 - Prologue Nice level to start off the pack but much harder than I expected despite the 1-of-everything skillset! It's not very obvious at all what skills go where. That jumper assignment is a bit too precise IMO

Solitude 2 - Maverick Somewhat hard level that looks a bit intimidating due to the splitters that makes nice use of the stacker which needs to be placed precisely so that it's a splatform for the Lemming regardless of which direction he enters the portal from. Makes use of the fact the stacker is a few pixels wide. I think it's also due to being shifted over a pixel when popping out of the portal, but I'm not certain.

Solitude 3 - This Erosion Nice tribute to Wicked 3 of ONML. Fairly easy level, with the main catch that you must take care where to bash as you can't necessarily just bash anywhere you want. Bashing in the wrong spot(s) can render the level unsolvable.

Solitude 4 - Building, Fencing Here, I'm referring to building from both sides that Dodochacalo makes use of on one of his levels in Fiat Lem! That apparently completely escaped me here in order to deal with splatting issues in the huge pit at the bottom just to the left of the exit. Very nice level but as mentioned one I feel is too hard for its position. Also the only level to not have a locked exit.

Solitude 5 - Autopilot It should had been clear that the mess of cables around the middle area are all to block backroutes, but nope, I didn't catch on apparently! :-[ Solution is quite sneaky with that part on the far right in the starting area, where you need to realize to shimmy and then dig down enough before platforming twice to close the gap so that placed this way it doesn't block the climber from getting back into that area later on in the end once he becomes a neutral and hence cannot be assigned skills anymore. Definitely reminds me of one of Armani's contest levels! Great level here that has quite a well-hidden solution!

Solitude 6 - Bugs in the System Most definitely a backroute :P

Solitude 7 - The Split Same as the previous level, though not as severe of a backroute it looks like ;)

Solitude 8 - Hanging Gardens Easiest level of the pack IMO, but only because I've seen this kind of solution so many times by now :P The only hard part here is realizing to bash out to the left at the start so that you can get underneath to do the shimmying.

Solitude 9 - Top of the Ladder Wow, I totally didn't expect to get hung up for a while on this level! :-[ Not sure why it took me a while to figure out the multiple platformers to be splatforms that are made by the clone while the digger keeps going. I definitely remember seeing the intended solution to a LemRunner level requiring this. This solution currently seems to require a lot of precision for the splatting to not happen each time, so perhaps consider easing up on it ;) Great level, though!

Solitude 10 - Pillarist Was a big dummy here due to never considering that the laser needs to be fired facing the right rather than the other way, which I was completely fixated on! :forehead: Needless to say, I essentially had the solution in so many of my attempts but the importance of the direction when assigning skills completely escaped me here! Excellent level with figuring out how to make the path all ready for when he becomes a neutral at the end! :thumbsup:

Solitude 11 - Blockhead Another level that I didn't expect to be so difficult! :XD: Seems the most important thing here is realizing which buttons need to be gone for first before certain others. I figured my solution is way more overcomplicated than it needs to be, and this was confirmed when I checked Dexter's intended solution after I got the level solved. It's definitely much easier on the timing than mine, where I squeezed out a lot of precise jumping so that he doesn't get delayed by hoisting each time. I do like how two of the buttons require multiple neutrals to be close to one another in order to have one get past the traps guarding them! :thumbsup:

Solitude 12 - Undertow Another level that took me a while. The most difficult part is definitely figuring out how to overcome the forcefield in order to collect the swimmer pickup. Another thing that can trip players up is not knowing if you need to dig and then jump twice once low enough after getting the button, or if you can afford to use a builder to turn around instead. Nice level, and another one where I remember a solution to a LemRunner level that requires bunny hopping but to avoid a huge splat pad area instead. This element of the solution took me a while to figure out here!

Solitude 13 - Drowned Rat Another level that is harder than it looks. It's not obvious at all where the builders need to go in order to make a path for the neutral to reach the swimmer skill adder. Also not sure why it took me a while to figure out you can fence to free the blocker and then build to make him turn so that it's impossible for him to get back up later, as well as being too far from the neutral so that he can't get past the trap that's in the water. Nice level!

Solitude 14 - Bell Toll I thought this would take me a while since I tend to struggle a lot with zombie levels, but this honestly wasn't that bad at all. The hardest part would be to make sure you don't block the way to the exit later on with the platformers. It would seem that it's impossible to exit if not swimming due to all of the trigger being in the water.

Solitude 15 - Diving Chamber I consider this the hardest level of the entire pack. I kept running out of skills here and plenty of red herrings the player can fall for here all make for a very hard level. For a very long time, I kept thinking two stackers are needed in the starting area, when in fact only one is needed in order to stop the zombie climbers from going out to the right and infecting the neutral later. In the end, I made my solution far harder than it needed to be, as it requires a very precise jumper assignment to get over all the zombies, though it also saves a stacker. I checked the intended solution after I finally got the level solved and I had a feeling that the laser to make an escape for the Lemming was intended. Similarly, I thought it would be possible to break through both barriers with one laser from the bottom right, I just thought it didn't work at all when I kept seeing it not work :forehead: I apparently didn't try all possible positions for the laser before and hence it took me a while to finally see that what I thought works does indeed.

As the intended way doesn't require any jumping over any zombies, my suggestion of reducing the zombie amount to just 6 for the one-time mine traps isn't needed at all. Instead, maybe the opposite of increasing the amount of zombies to clearly make my element of jumping over the zombies impossible can do, though of course that's up to you :P My solution is probably impressive enough to be acceptable though :laugh:

Solitude 16 - Disjoint Disunion Nothing hard about this level other than realizing that the key here seems to be to delay the cloning assignment for as long as possible so that the one who goes to the exit chamber doesn't go past the exit before all buttons are activated to unlock it, as he won't be able to come back later due to passing through the skill remover and hence will drown.

Solitude 17 - Babel Not a very hard level either, though here I suggest making the neutralizer near the exit more visible, since it currently looks like it could be mistaken for a trap that would kill Lemmings instead. Of course, I brought this on myself of wasting so much time when I could had simply activated CPM much earlier, but I honestly like the challenge of sending a Lemming over to the right spot to see what happens :P After a while, I turned on CPM just to make sure what I was seeing in the level are indeed what I think they are, in particular the splat pads were as I thought they are. I happened to mouse over the object in the very narrow gap near the exit to see that it's a neutralizer. Even then, I still didn't make the connection that you're supposed to ignore the Lemming that becomes a neutral and disarmer once you reach the button near them at the top. Funny thing was that shortly after I exited out of NL I then realized the importance of the neutralizer near the exit :laugh: But yea, I would definitely make it more visible ;) Granted, it might make it more obvious to players that you can ignore the objects at the very top, but honestly I don't think it makes it that clear in any way ;)

Solitude 18 - No Looking Back Not a really hard level but still a well-hidden solution makes it fairly challenging. Took me a while to realize you're supposed to platform at a spot so that when fencing to the top from the left that he'll be able to platform twice in order to reach the platform and turn around, since the way it currently is the platform with the skill remover is lower than the platform on the left and hence the platform bridges won't touch it. Very nice! :thumbsup: I also like the added touch of the skill remover taking away the floater skill of the zombies so they can't swarm the exit later. Great level! :thumbsup:

Solitude 19 - Silver Mines Ok, this level currently demands way too much precision in the starting area with the builder bridges. I thought this was the solution, but I was quick to dismiss it when I saw it wouldn't work. Thus, that made me think that making a splatform on the bottom left was the solution for a while :forehead: The solution really reminds me of an old version of tan x's Jungle World 10 from LemRunner which I know Icho criticized. So, my suggestion of reducing the precision required applies for this level as well ;) I honestly don't see how the level can be backrouted with the precision reduced or eliminated and hence why the demanding precision confuses me greatly. Keep in mind that requiring a lot of precision in solutions isn't necessarily the best way to increase the difficulty of levels, especially on an engine where the difficulty should come from the puzzle, not the execution ;)

Solitude 20 - Daybreak One of the best levels of the pack IMO! :thumbsup: The main trick here is mining to get under the triggers of both teleporter and buttons in order to make a turnaround point but cancelling with a shimmier at the right spot under the triggers in order to still reach and activate them. Nice! :thumbsup:

Solitude 21 - New Leaves Contender for hardest level of the pack along with Solitude 15. It's essentially Solitude 2 but with terrain changes and a different skillset to indicate the passage of time since the original level it's based on. Not sure why it took me a while to realize that one can use a jumper instead of a walker to turn around on the top left even though I realized the jumper to turn around somewhat quickly for the top right side :forehead: The splitters on the level can be intimidating here as well! Great level but another one in which I would suggest reducing the precision needed for the jumper/shimmier transition on both sides! ;)

Solitude 22 - Epilogue Just like the previous level, this one is based on the layout of Solitude 1 but once again with terrain changes and a different skillset, as well as the permanent skills are provided in the form of pickups. Another level I say is a contender for hardest level of the pack along with Solitude 15 and 21. As it turns out, I made a few incorrect assumptions which definitely got me into a lot of trouble here and hence prevented me from getting the level solved. For example, I'm not sure why I thought you're supposed to fence through the wall next to the bottom left button when you can just climb back up from the other side just like the way he climbs over to get to the button :forehead: Similarly, I'm not sure why I never considered just building over each gap the Lemming comes to at the start instead of making him a slider to get down safely :forehead: Once I started looking at the level differently, then the solution naturally came slowly piece by piece as I saw new stuff I hadn't tried before and eventually culminating into a solve! :thumbsup: This level does a great job of teaching you how important it is on when to assign the permanent skills so that you don't lose them to the skill removers before you need them to be taken away. Another level which I consider one of the best of the pack and an excellent one to finish the pack on! :thumbsup:                         

Thank you so much for this pack @Dexter and hope you're doing well! :thumbsup:       
#35
Contests / Re: Level Design Contest #33 -...
Last post by Armani - November 25, 2025, 05:43:43 AM
#36
NeoLemmix Main / Re: kaywhyn's and Icho's Advic...
Last post by Armani - November 25, 2025, 05:24:53 AM
afaik, the impossible talisman that kaywhyn pre-tested wasn't because the author intentionally added an impossible talisman to their level, but rather because a bug fix ended up breaking the talisman. (Previously, Lemmings were able to step up higher than 6 pixels under very specific conditions.) Fortunately, that bug was fixed before the deadline, but since the level had been created before the fix, this issue occurred.

QuoteAnother idea might be to require the presence of a working .nxrp file in order to load a level. On first loading the level, we run the MRC for just that level and its detected replay (this would take milliseconds and would happen silently). If it passes, we can display "Verified Solvable" on the preview screen. If it fails or the replay is missing, we display "Unverified" instead.

To me, this sounds like: If you don't provide solution replays when publishing your level, your level will be given a "Unverified" label on the preview screen.

I don't intend to release all solutions at the same time I publish my levels. (For all my previous level packs, I've always released the solution replays after some time had passed.) So I also don't want my levels to be marked as "Unverified" just because I didn't include the solutions right away.

QuoteBetter yet, adapt the .nxlv format to contain replay data.

To me, this basically means the same thing: requiring authors to provide a solution together with the level, unless the replay data is somehow encrypted.

People on the Lemmings Forum have done a great job ensuring that their published levels remain solvable. The honor system has worked well so far.(outside of the broken talisman, it's just one person so I think it's more likely on their end) I believe we should continue trusting level authors to ensure their own levels are solvable, rather than enforcing something systematically.
#37
NeoLemmix Main / Re: kaywhyn's and Icho's Advic...
Last post by WillLem - November 25, 2025, 03:56:19 AM
The three engines I currently maintain (SuperLemmix, RetroLemmini and NeoLemmix CE) can all be hard-coded to autosave successful replays. It's already default behaviour for all, but maybe we should just go a step further and make it non-optional?

Another idea might be to require the presence of a working .nxrp file in order to load a level. On first loading the level, we run the MRC for just that level and its detected replay (this would take milliseconds and would happen silently). If it passes, we can display "Verified Solvable" on the preview screen. If it fails or the replay is missing, we display "Unverified" instead. The user can still play the level if they wish.

Better yet, adapt the .nxlv format to contain replay data. The loading procedure then reads this data directly, and tests it to see if the level (and its talismans) are solvable. Getting the data into the level file would be easy enough: each time the level is played and solved, add the data to the level file. If data exists already, overwrite it. Create new sections for talisman data. Don't overwrite if the level isn't solved.
#38
Editor Bugs & Suggestions / Re: [+][SUG][ED] Config settin...
Last post by WillLem - November 25, 2025, 03:21:11 AM
Implemented in commit 834bc1b2.
#39
In Development / Re: Levels by Crane
Last post by Crane - November 25, 2025, 02:58:35 AM
That was a backroute actually!  Updated the level, and keeping with the original contest rules, updated "Outside the box" part 1 too (although it doesn't change your solution on that one).
#40
Editor Bugs & Suggestions / Re: [?][SUG][ED] Min/Max Zoom ...
Last post by WillLem - November 25, 2025, 01:15:28 AM
OK, I've gone ahead and added a zoom factor indicator to the corner text (where the X/Y co-ordinates are displayed):



It's relatively unintrusive so there's probably no need to make this optional. It shows the current zoom level (and users will get to know what is the min/max possible allowed by their monitor/screen res), so this should serve as an indicator of whether zoom in or out is possible from the current factor.

I'll keep the topic open in case anyone has any ideas/suggestions, but this should otherwise be considered resolved.

Implemented in commit 8d1441b.