So, the decision has been made that a NeoLemmix update will be made, even though the overall new format setup is not ready yet. Instead, this update will for the most part use the older formats, but include all the newer performance improvements, bugfixes and features.
There's honestly too much stuff for me to list it all, without going through the commit history with a fine-toothed comb, so I'll just go over some of the main points.
An entirely new replay formatInstead of the old LRB format, the new version will use the NXRP format, which is one of the few new formats that
is going to make it into this release. The main advantage is that this is a text-based format, meaning it can be manually modified or analyzed. It's also easier to expand in the future, if a need arises.
Lemming HighlightingNeed a better way to tell which lemming will be selected when you click? In this version, the prioritized lemming will change to a red color so that he stands out. How about keeping track of lemmings with permanent skills? These lemmings will swap their hair and clothes colors, making them stand out too.
Skill shadowsWhen you have a destructive or constructive skill selected, and you mouseover a lemming, shadows will appear of what area the skill will cover. While these are not always 100% accurate, they are good enough for most cases and can help aim that miner, or see if that builder will reach.
Graphic set mixing and other new design featuresPending a compatible editor update, it'll be possible to mix and match graphic sets in a single level. In addition to that, objects can now be rotated.
Panning soundsSound effects will now pan to the left or right, depending on where in the level they occur relative to the screen position.
Physics bug fixesThere have been far too many fixes to physics bugs - from the glaring well-known ones, to some so obscure they probably would never have been found if the code hadn't been closely analyzed - to even begin listing them.
This release will be compatible with existing content (though re-testing is recommended), as long as it doesn't use any of the features that are being removed. A rebuilding of NXP files with the updated Flexi Toolkit version will be highly recommended, but apart from re-testing levels, no other action should be nessecary. (Based on a quick test, using Lemmings Plus Omega and Lemmings Plus V, it would appear that about 20% to 30% of replays will need redoing for this update. Of course, it depends on the exact nature of your levels and replays.)
Of course I can't give an exact date for the release, but it shouldn't be too far off. If you want, you can turn the "Check for updates" option on in NeoLemmix, then you'll get a notification the next time you run NeoLemmix after the update is released.
To keep things simpler, I'm also going to re-version the Flexi Toolkit and Graphic Set Tool to be in line with the corresponding NeoLemmix versions, similar to how the editor is. So, the next updates for these will also be V1.47n rather than V1.19 and V1.04 respectively.
Experimental version download linksEditor*:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ditkyiemhm93ss7/NeoLemmixEditor.exe?dl=1The player and the other tools have now had stable V1.47n releases.* See this post for info on how to set up the editor experimental versionNOTE: In order to use playtest mode with the experimental editor version, you must also use the experimental player version (and vice versa). Playtest mode will not work properly with stable editor + experimental player, or experimental editor + stable player.
