[✓][CE] Can CE and NL 12.14 run from the same directory?

[Guigui]

Hey there WillLem and Simon. I would like to try the CE, but do not feel like having a folder for regular NL and another for CE. That would mean having duplicates of all levels, styles, and music (often heavy) folders ... a big mess for my ocd brain.

Is it possible to just put the NeoLemmixCE.exe file in the same folder as NeoLemmix.exe and have everything work for both CE and regular with a single folder ?
I tried it but I guess it creates a conflict because of the bass.dll which is not the same for CE and regular. Maybe just rename the bass.dll for CE and everything will work ?

[WillLem]

Is it possible to just put the NeoLemmixCE.exe file in the same folder as NeoLemmix.exe and have everything work for both CE and regular with a single folder ?
I tried it but I guess it creates a conflict because of the bass.dll which is not the same for CE and regular. Maybe just rename the bass.dll for CE and everything will work ?

I can't replicate this. Adding CE to the NeoLemmix 12.14 folder, or vice versa, allows both programs to work just fine. Try it again - the bass.dll error that you may have seen is actually fairly normal when running NeoLemmix (or CE) for the first time; sometimes, bass.dll doesn't fully initialize. Running the program again fixes this.

The only thing you might encounter is the "It appears you have installed over an earlier version" error message when opening NeoLemmix after opening CE. This is because CE will have reset the config file with a different version number. A fix would be for us to simply rename the settings file something else for CE, which we may end up doing anyway at some point. That way, NeoLemmix and CE settings can be kept separate.

[Guigui]

Thank you for your answer WillLem, and for moving the question to an adequate place.

So I did some tests :

* NeoLemmixCE.exe in its own folder (the one included in the .zip file) : everything works fine. I get the welcoming message telling me to set some graphic options for the first time. I also note that the title screen has a special CE background. Options, Level Select and Play menus work correctly.

* NeoLemmixCE.exe in the NeoLemmix.exe folder : title screen launches correctly. Access to Options menu works fine.
But the Play menu gives a single "Invalid pointer operation" error. Then the program closes by itself.
The Level Select menu gives a window with a list of my installed packs, but no screenshots appear. I also get about 30 "Invalid pointer operation", then the program closes by itself.
I also note that the CE does not have its special CE background, but the background I chose myself for the regular NL.


Could it be that some settings I chose in regular NeoLemmix.exe cause the CE to crash ? Also it may be worth noting that I run all those programs on Ubuntu OS, via Wine.

[Simon]

My money is on missing images/resources that CE expects and that aren't in namida's NeoLemmix download. I too run the binaries in Wine, on Arch Linux. I can't build from source.

I've looked through my trees for some candidates, and the following files exist in CE that are not in a fresh extraction of namida's NeoLemmix:

• sketches/diagonal_line.png
  
• sketches/glider.png
  
• sketches/vertical_line.png
  
• Many files in sound/
  
• ... and maybe more, I didn't scan exhaustively.
  

WillLem: Is missing file likely here? You tried dropping CE's executable into a fresh extraction of namida's download and it worked; have you tested only the main menu, or also the level selection and the play? I don't know if CE crashes with nice error on missing file; if it does, then the null pointer crashes must come from something else. Do you see CE as a drop-in replacement for namida's NeoLemmix or as a fork? Is your vision of CE so that dropping the executable into namida's tree is enough, or do you recommend more directories to come from CE?

I deem null pointer crashes always a bug. Even if we consider this a user error by Guigui, CE should produce a better error message.

CE has different settings than namida's NeoLemmix. I don't know if settings can produce crashes.

Guigui: You can work around this: Extract both games, delete levels/ in one, and create a symlink to the other game's levels/. Then do the same for music, and again for tilesets.

-- Simon

[Guigui]

Guigui: You can work around this: Extract both games, delete levels/ in one, and create a symlink to the other game's levels/. Then do the same for music, and again for tilesets.

-- Simon

Thank you for the advice Simon. I think I understand what you mean : run CE from its own folder, but direct it to regular NL for the levels, music and styles folders that I do not want to have duplicates of on my machine.

Though I dont know how to "create a simlink to the other game's folder". Sorry, kind of newb here.

[WillLem]

But the Play menu gives a single "Invalid pointer operation" error. Then the program closes by itself.

This is most likely due to the Sleeper sprite, which is present in CE but not in NL.

The easiest fix is to copy the default style from CE\styles to NL\styles. All other sprites are identical, only the Sleeper has been added. When prompted, choose Merge or Replace.

That should do the trick. Let me know if it doesn't.

NOTE: Simon's suggestion of making symlinks is usually done using a .bat file or similar. It's a decent idea for keeping the directories clean, and may come in handy later. We can also add an instruction to automatically copy the default style across as well.