Graphic set not found/All folders are empty

[chrisleec728]

I don't know if this has been answered or not (didn't feel like sorting through all of the comments), but I'm still having trouble getting Superlemmini to work on my desktop (extracting the files and all that). For one thing I think I keep getting an error message that says "The graphic set .dat could not be found" or something like that. I use Windows 7, I do know how to use NeoLemmix and I do have the Windows CD. Is there any way I can get detailed step-by-step installation instructions on how to install Lemmini and/or Superlemmini? The actual Lemmini website doesn't seem to do that.

[Tsyu]

Before you can set up SuperLemmini, you need the Windows version of Lemmings. If you don't have it, then you can either get it through sites like eBay or find the files somewhere (sorry, I can't tell you where).

Once you have it, you need to follow these steps:

• If the game files are in a ZIP file or some other kind of archive, extract them somewhere, preferably to a folder called WINLEMM. You should now have a folder named WINLEMM that at least contains folders named GFX, LEVEL, MUSIC, SOUND, and STYLES.
• Run SuperLemmini.
• You should eventually be prompted to enter two paths. For the "Lemmings for Windows (WINLEMM) Path," enter the folder that contains the five folders that I mentioned earlier. For the "Destination Path," enter where you want to install the SuperLemmini files. (If SuperLemmini is not already installed, this should be a folder that either is empty or only contains superlemmini.jar.
• Click the Extract button.

If you still get an error, please tell me the exact error message so that I can figure out what's going wrong.

[chrisleec728]

As I said before, I have the CD, but after I try to extract them to the WINLEMM folder (which already existed with the CD with the other five folders you mentioned), it spits out my CD tray and tells me to "please insert a (writable) disc into drive E:."

[Tsyu]

What exactly do you mean by "extract them to the WINLEMM folder"? If you're entering the WINLEMM folder into the "Destination Path" field, then please read and follow my previous post carefully. When SuperLemmini asks for paths, the "Lemmings for Windows (WINLEMM) Path" needs to be the WINLEMM folder, and the "Destination Path" needs to be a separate folder specifically for SuperLemmini (not the WINLEMM folder!).

[chrisleec728]

First off, by the "game files" I'm assuming you're referring to the ones on the Windows CD rather than SuperLemmini. By "extract them to the WINLEMM folder" I'm referring to what you said in step 1, not step 5. Attempting to complete that step is where it spits out the tray and tells me to insert the disc, and I therefore don't get to step 2 (run SuperLemmini) or step 3 (entering the two paths). It appears that I already have the WINLEMM folder with the five subfolders that came with the game, so it seems like I ought to just go right to step 2. Do I have to create a new folder with the same name? I'm sorry I'm so confused.

[Tsyu]

Step 1 applies only if you downloaded the Lemmings for Windows files. Since you have the CD, you can just skip that step and work directly from the CD.

[chrisleec728]

Oh ok...but I'm still getting either the "graphic set .dat could not be found" error message or another one that says "Unable to open file gfx\icons.bmp, Error Code=ffffffff" instead of being prompted to enter the two paths. I'm attempting to open it with either the Windows game or NeoLemmix. Is there a different program I need to open it with? Windows Explorer perhaps?

[Tsyu]

Yeah, you seem to be doing it wrong. SuperLemmini is an application, not a mod or patch; you're supposed to open it by double-clicking superlemmini.jar, not with the Lemmings for Windows program, and certainly not with NeoLemmix! After you do that, you should see a disclaimer, followed by a prompt for two paths. (If double-clicking superlemmini.jar only produces an "open with" dialog or a window showing its contents (as though you opened a ZIP file), then make sure the latest version of Java is installed.)

[chrisleec728]

I think I was aware that SuperLemmini was an application. Also, I may have gotten a step further; it turns out I didn't have the latest version of Java installed, so I went ahead and did that with no problem. But I still don't seem to be getting a prompt for two paths. I am double-clicking superlemmini.jar (though I've been opening the initial download with Windows Explorer first in order to do that), but it still appears to be producing an "open with" window instead of the two paths prompt.

[Tsyu]

Sounds like the Java installer failed to associate JAR files with the Java Runtime Environment, which sometimes happens. Try restarting your computer to see if that fixes anything. If it doesn't, follow these steps:

• In Add/Remove Programs, uninstall Java. (If multiple versions are listed, uninstall all of them.)
• Restart your computer. (I doubt this is necessary, but it doesn't hurt to try.)
• Install the latest version of Java.
• Restart your computer.

If that doesn't help, follow those steps again, except run the installer by right-clicking it and clicking "Run as administrator" instead of just double-clicking it. If that still doesn't help, you will need to associate JAR files manually; I will try to provide instructions in that case.

[chrisleec728]

Well...I tried everything, but nothing worked. I Googled instructions on associating the files manually, but can you provide them anyway just to be sure?

[Tsyu]

Try performing those steps again, but with an administrator account and with your antivirus disabled (at the same time, not one at a time).

If that doesn't work and you don't run other JAR files, then you can create a batch file that opens the JAR file with Java. Here's how to do it:

• In the same folder as superlemmini.jar, right-click an empty area, then click New -> Text Document.
• Name the file superlemmini.bat. (If you don't see the ".txt" extension, you will need to show file extensions, then name the file. Otherwise, you'll end up naming it "superlemmini.bat.txt", which you don't want.)
• Open the file by right-clicking it and clicking Edit, or by opening it in any text editor.
• Add this line to the file: javaw.exe -jar superlemmini.jar
• Save the file, making sure you actually overwrite the original rather than making a new file.
• Double-click the newly created batch file, and SuperLemmini should start.

If that's not satisfactory, then you will have to associate JAR files manually. I don't currently know of a good way to do this without messing with the registry; you can't simply tell Windows to open the file with javaw.exe, because then Windows will not use the "-jar" parameter that Java needs.

[chrisleec728]

Gah, nothing. All that happens when I double-click the batch file is a message that pops up for a fraction of a second that I'm unable to read. (The same thing or something similar has been happening when I try to run superlemmini.jar.)

[Tsyu]

Open the batch file again (as you did in step 3) and add the word "pause" (without quotes) to a new line. This won't fix the problem, but it should at least let you read the message.

[chrisleec728]

I don't know if this makes a difference, but I was unable to create a new text document within the same folder as superlemmini.jar; I had to do it outside the folder instead. But I'm pretty sure I overwrote the original even though I was expecting it to clarify it somehow.

I wasn't sure how to mess with the registry either, but when I double-clicked the batch file it gave me this message: "Error: Unable to access jarfile superlemmini.jar".

At this point I wish this was as simple and easy to run as NeoLemmix was. It's as if I need to be an expert computer programmer in order to know how to do so.

[Simon]

Try the batch file in the attachment. Put into same folder as superlemmini.jar.

(Source of the idea: https://stackoverflow.com/a/36002043 -- the JRE seems to choke on spaces in the absolute dir, even when the jar is given with a space-free relative path. That's insane, but plausible from the reactions in that thread: One dude got it to work by moving everything into different dir. The attached batch file resolves the path as absolute: javaw -jar "%~dp0\superlemmini.jar")

At this point I wish this was as simple and easy to run as NeoLemmix was. It's as if I need to be an expert computer programmer in order to know how to do so.

Yeah, getting started should be as simple as possible -- everybody here is aiming for that.

If you trip on problems that we haven't seen before, that's unfortunate, but it can happen with these hobby projects, absolutely. It's good that you ask for help then! Maybe we'll find a simple permanent solution.

-- Simon

[Tsyu]

Where do you have superlemmini.jar? Some folders, such as Program Files and Windows, are protected folders on which Windows imposes various restrictions. Among these are preventing files from being created/modified/deleted, and not allowing new files to be created via the right-click -> New menu. I suggest moving superlemmini.jar to an unprotected location like C:\superlemmini (create the folder if it doesn't exist) to avoid these problems.

[chrisleec728]

Well...I'm happy to report that I've finally made it to step 3 (entering the two paths)! It didn't occur to me that I had to put the batch file in the same folder as the JAR file. (As I said before, I had to do it outside the folder first, but I realize now that I still could have put it in the folder immediately afterwards.)

Tsyu - As I said before, I open the Superlemmini ZIP file (what I downloaded at the beginning) with Windows Explorer to get to the JAR file. I hope this is acceptable; it at least appears to work this way because I finally got it to prompt me to enter the two paths like I said. The WINLEMM path was easy enough to figure out (E:\WINLEMM, correct?), but for the destination path you told me to enter a folder that either is empty or only contains superlemmini.jar. The folder I'm aiming at right now doesn't ONLY contain that; it also has the batch file, a license text document, a changelog and two folders named "docs" and "lib" (the same things that the ZIP file contains). Is this okay or should I create a new folder that only contains the JAR file? I just want to make sure before I proceed to complete the process.

[Tsyu]

Oh, yeah, the destination folder can and should also have everything else in superlemmini.zip as well as the batch file; sorry about that.

If you can't use Windows Explorer to create a new text file where SuperLemmini is installed (without creating it elsewhere first), where do you have SuperLemmini installed? Do tell me, even if it doesn't seem like a big deal; I'm asking because you might have installed SuperLemmini to a protected folder (such as anywhere within Program Files or Program Files (x86)), which I strongly recommend you avoid doing.

Also, the Windows Lemmings folder is usually WINLEMM (one N), not WINNLEMM. ("WINLEMM", of course, stands for "Windows Lemmings".)

[chrisleec728]

I downloaded the ZIP file from the Dropbox link on the Superlemmini forum on this website and then from there opened the file with Windows Explorer (to get to the JAR file). The ZIP file is currently located in the "Downloads" folder on My Computer.

I did see a folder called "WinLemm" (not all caps) within the "Program Files x86" folder, but it says it was modified as late as February of this year, long before the last time I downloaded the ZIP file. It contains a data base file called "usr00000.db" and an application called "wlvsun10.exe". I think I remember creating it back then for some reason (maybe from an earlier attempt to download something), but now I get the feeling that it's useless and I just never got rid of it. Does this answer your question?

Also, yeah, the "WINNLEMM" was just a typo on my part which I actually noticed the second time around; my bad. I've modified my previous post accordingly.

[Tsyu]

I'm not asking where the ZIP file is located; I'm asking where you extracted that ZIP file to. I just want to make sure it's not a protected folder like Program Files.

(And, in case you don't know, it's generally a really bad idea to run programs directly from ZIP files or other archive files like RAR and 7Z. When you do that, that program, and only that program file, is first extracted to a temporary folder and is then run. If it's a batch file that you're opening, then likewise only that batch file is extracted. In either case, you will likely run into problems like important files not being found and such. Windows may say that ZIP files are "compressed folders", but they're really not folders. Always extract programs from their ZIP/RAR/7Z/whatever files before running them!)

I did see a folder called "WinLemm" (not all caps) within the "Program Files x86" folder, but it says it was modified as late as February of this year, long before the last time I downloaded the ZIP file. It contains a data base file called "usr00000.db" and an application called "wlvsun10.exe". I think I remember creating it back then for some reason (maybe from an earlier attempt to download something), but now I get the feeling that it's useless and I just never got rid of it. Does this answer your question?

I believe that's where Lemmings for Windows stores its settings. It's not relevant to SuperLemmini anyway. Don't worry about it.

[chrisleec728]

Here's everything I think I did: I created the batch file and put it into the ZIP (download) that contained superlemmini.jar as instructed. I then double-clicked the batch file within the ZIP and it prompted me to extract the files first (I assume within the ZIP), which I then did. That created a new folder that has pretty much the exact same contents as the ZIP, except superlemmini.jar actually does something when I double-click it within that folder (specifically, it prompts me to enter the two paths). I'm pretty sure I'm not extracting anything to either of the "Program Files" folders; the only thing I found in those folders worth mentioning is the "WinLemm" folder that I mentioned before (which I'm assuming I might as well delete since you say it's irrelevant). I'm also not convinced I'm doing anything wrong since it so far appears to be getting me where I need to be.

Sorry if all that was confusing.

[tor]

All of the folders inside my SuperLemmini folder are empty (No files). The folders are "gfx" and its sub folders, "levels", "music", "sound" and "style". There are no files inside them, in contrast to the equivalent folders of Lemmini.
This prevents me to apply mods such as Green Lemmings add-on in SuperLemmini.
How to solve this?

[Tsyu]

Here's everything I think I did: I created the batch file and put it into the ZIP (download) that contained superlemmini.jar as instructed. I then double-clicked the batch file within the ZIP and it prompted me to extract the files first (I assume within the ZIP), which I then did. That created a new folder that has pretty much the exact same contents as the ZIP, except superlemmini.jar actually does something when I double-click it within that folder (specifically, it prompts me to enter the two paths). I'm pretty sure I'm not extracting anything to either of the "Program Files" folders; the only thing I found in those folders worth mentioning is the "WinLemm" folder that I mentioned before (which I'm assuming I might as well delete since you say it's irrelevant). I'm also not convinced I'm doing anything wrong since it so far appears to be getting me where I need to be.

As long as you're not running SuperLemmini directly from the ZIP and it's not located in the Windows or Program Files folder, you should be fine (although I wouldn't run it from the Downloads folder either, in case that's where you have it). And if you don't play Lemmings for Windows, it should be safe to delete the "WinLemm" folder that you mentioned.

All of the folders inside my SuperLemmini folder are empty (No files). The folders are "gfx" and its sub folders, "levels", "music", "sound" and "style". There are no files inside them, in contrast to the equivalent folders of Lemmini.
This prevents me to apply mods such as Green Lemmings add-on in SuperLemmini.
How to solve this?

The files that you need to modify are in root.lzp, which is just an ordinary ZIP file. You want to open it and copy the contents of its "levels" folder to the empty "levels" folder. (If you must, you can make a copy of root.lzp and rename the "lzp" part of the copy to "zip".) Then you can edit the files as you please, and SuperLemmini will use those instead of the ones inside root.lzp.

[tor]

All of the folders inside my SuperLemmini folder are empty (No files). The folders are "gfx" and its sub folders, "levels", "music", "sound" and "style". There are no files inside them, in contrast to the equivalent folders of Lemmini.
This prevents me to apply mods such as Green Lemmings add-on in SuperLemmini.
How to solve this?

The files that you need to modify are in root.lzp, which is just an ordinary ZIP file. You want to open it and copy the contents of its "levels" folder to the empty "levels" folder. (If you must, you can make a copy of root.lzp and rename the "lzp" part of the copy to "zip".) Then you can edit the files as you please, and SuperLemmini will use those instead of the ones inside root.lzp.
[/quote]
I meanwhile, managed to apply that patch of Green Lemmings, by copying the contents of its zip file, to gfx and styles folders manually, rather than using the root.lzp file. But thanks.

[tor]

Thanks you for the help. I created a zip copy of the root.lzp, copied the levels folder to the one inside the SuperLemmini folder, and changed the settings inside levelpack.ini, according to the readme.txt file, and it working.

[chrisleec728]

Tsyu - I have not been running it from the ZIP, Windows or Program Files folders, but I have been using the Downloads folder to get to the extracted folder which contains the app, and it seems to be working nicely that way. Is there a better method?

[tor]

All of the folders inside my SuperLemmini folder are empty (No files). The folders are "gfx" and its sub folders, "levels", "music", "sound" and "style". There are no files inside them, in contrast to the equivalent folders of Lemmini.
This prevents me to apply mods such as Green Lemmings add-on in SuperLemmini.
How to solve this?

The files that you need to modify are in root.lzp, which is just an ordinary ZIP file. You want to open it and copy the contents of its "levels" folder to the empty "levels" folder. (If you must, you can make a copy of root.lzp and rename the "lzp" part of the copy to "zip".) Then you can edit the files as you please, and SuperLemmini will use those instead of the ones inside root.lzp.

Update: I discovered that after I did this, most of the levels has been corrupted, resulting in SuperLemmini crashing with the error that it can't find the .ini file of the level I enters into, and requires re extracting:

[Tsyu]

Tor, what happens if you delete everything in your levels folder (the real one, not the one in root.lzp or root.zip)? Are the levels no longer corrupted? If so, then what happens if you extract the levels again (without editing anything)? Are they corrupted once more?

[tor]

When deleting the files in the Levels folders, the levels returns to normal and aren't corrupted. When extracting them again, they become corrupted again.

[Tsyu]

It sounds like either the copy that you made of root.lzp got corrupted, or whatever program you're using is corrupting the files during extraction. I suggest deleting that copy, making a new one, and then extracting the levels from that new copy. If that doesn't work, PM me one of the corrupted levels and the levelpack.ini from that level's folder.

Are you working on flash media by any chance? If so, and if it's a super-high-capacity device that you obtained for an excellent deal from eBay or a similar site, it might not have as much storage as it claims. (And I don't mean it's just labeled as having a higher capacity than it really does; I mean the drive or card thinks it has a very high capacity when it really doesn't.) If this is the case, then anything that gets written beyond the device's actual storage will get corrupted. You can find more information here: http://www.ebay.com/gds/All-About-Fake-Flash-Drives-2013-/10000000177553258/g.html

[Tsyu]

I managed to reproduce your problem on my end. Once I figure out what's wrong, I will release an update.

[Tsyu]

SuperLemmini 0.103b has been released to fix the problem that Tor was experiencing, as well as to update a few things:

• Fixed the way that sibling files are loaded. Previously, SuperLemmini would incorrectly try to load such files from its root folder unless they were external levels or were in an LZP file; now, they're loaded from the correct folder.
• Updated the IBXM and Apache Commons Lang libraries.
• On macOS, the property "apple.laf.useScreenMenuBar" is now set instead of "com.apple.macos.useScreenMenuBar". (I think this is supposed to prevent a warning from being triggered. In any case, Lemmini 0.87 did it, so I'm doing it too.)

(For those of you wondering: The levels that Tor was having problems loading were "oddtable" levels, which use terrain, object, and other data from another level file. For these levels, SuperLemmini was trying to load that other file from the game's root folder instead of where the "oddtable" level's file was located, but only for levels not loaded from LZP files or as external levels.)

[tor]

All of the folders inside my SuperLemmini folder are empty (No files). The folders are "gfx" and its sub folders, "levels", "music", "sound" and "style". There are no files inside them, in contrast to the equivalent folders of Lemmini.
This prevents me to apply mods such as Green Lemmings add-on in SuperLemmini.
How to solve this?

The files that you need to modify are in root.lzp, which is just an ordinary ZIP file. You want to open it and copy the contents of its "levels" folder to the empty "levels" folder. (If you must, you can make a copy of root.lzp and rename the "lzp" part of the copy to "zip".) Then you can edit the files as you please, and SuperLemmini will use those instead of the ones inside root.lzp.

Update: I discovered that after I did this, most of the levels has been corrupted, resulting in SuperLemmini crashing with the error that it can't find the .ini file of the level I enters into, and requires re extracting:

SuperLemmini 0.103b has been released to fix the problem that Tor was experiencing, as well as to update a few things:

• Fixed the way that sibling files are loaded. Previously, SuperLemmini would incorrectly try to load such files from its root folder unless they were external levels or were in an LZP file; now, they're loaded from the correct folder.
• Updated the IBXM and Apache Commons Lang libraries.
• On macOS, the property "apple.laf.useScreenMenuBar" is now set instead of "com.apple.macos.useScreenMenuBar". (I think this is supposed to prevent a warning from being triggered. In any case, Lemmini 0.87 did it, so I'm doing it too.)

(For those of you wondering: The levels that Tor was having problems loading were "oddtable" levels, which use terrain, object, and other data from another level file. For these levels, SuperLemmini was trying to load that other file from the game's root folder instead of where the "oddtable" level's file was located, but only for levels not loaded from LZP files or as external levels.)

Problem solved in the new version. I deleted the root.lzp, to force SuperLemmini, to re-extract the folders and root.lzp file, and all of the levels working correctly after extracting the levels files from the new root.lzp to the Levels directory.