[NeoLemmix v1.43] Resident GigaLems 0 - Public Release

[GigaLem]

Attention!
The ghost gimmick will be going away once v1.44 rolls around
you need any version of v1.43 to run this .nxp, once the non-experimental version releases, i'll supply a V1.43 Neolemmix.exe for you to play this

So how bout we say good bye to the ghost gimmick?
with what you may ask

A pack of 28(+17) levels that come from, the Upcoming RGL2, and the defunct Doomsday Lemmings II (though not all of mine made it)
plus some new ones
However because this is a short level pack, it'll not be easy, the difficulty will pick up by the end of the first rank

Silent

"Spirit of the lost"
This will ease you into the ghost gimmick. Difficulty: Fun-Tricky

Eerie

"New Scotland Haunt"
The difficulty will pick up, starting with this rank Difficulty: Taxing-Crazy

Ghastly

"45 high, 30 low, 15 dead"
Thought the last rank teased ya brain enough? this will do it harder, and the levels will get bigger thats what she said Difficult: Mayhem

Phantasmal

"Ghost Pirate ships"
Now for you worst nightmare, this path will not let up at all, good luck Difficulty: Havoc

Abandoned

This is basically my recycle bin containing Gimmicks and Rejects, (and you'll know when a level is a reject because of a backroute) Difficulty:Varrious



Download (Updated 9-10-16)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/25aaem7qyxad4lc/Resident_GigaLems_0-_public_release_v2.0.zip
Version Needed to play this
http://www.neolemmix.com/old/NeoLemmix143n-F.exe

Special Thanks to
Namida for the tools possible to make this
Matt for the Lix tileset (marble)
Woofle, Plom510, IKARUS, and 40nix For the following Remixes
Dragon Valley 2 Genesis/Megadrive, and Ice Climbers stage remix by Plom510 (no video or sound cloud link)
Pangu Lagoon 2 16bit arrange by Woofle

Spoiler

https://soundcloud.com/leila-wilson-woofle/plz16-s2-5

Power of Neo "IKARUS remix" by Ikarus and blast processed

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI0CxTgpA6Q

Warning this song is a spoiler

Spoiler

Final stage music
Rokko Chan - Dr.Mad stage 1 rock arrange https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-AqRIV3pq4

[GigaLem]

Here is the Marble set from Lix in NeoLemmix form
the file is name is that way because i only converted the set, not made it myself

[GigaLem]

Before i jump ship into V1.48
I'll be taking all gimmick levels i have made and put em into an extra rank
"Obsolete"
So expect to see the Gimmick levels from
Scrapped projects and Holiday GigaLems 2015 as well as RGL2 (A total of 1 gimmick level came from there)
Once that's done i say finally farewell to V1.43, it was nice working with you
Expect to see it sometime soon

[GigaLem]

Alright its updated, new download link.
and with that said i am jumping ship to v1.48

[kaywhyn]

Hello,

The game crashes when I try to access Abandoned 14. It crashes with the error message in the attachment below. Then the game exits when you press "ok." According to the results when the pack is run through the nxp extractor, there's apparently 17 levels in the final rank, and so there's still a few levels past Abandoned 14. So, it would appear when loading the Abandoned rank starting with the first level and then pressing the left arrow the game also crashes on Abandoned 17, I'm guessing also with the same error message as Abandoned 14. How does one fix this error?

[GigaLem]

Considering I've deprecated this project im not sure how to help you with this one, Flexi Lemmix seems to give me the worst luck with sets and such. Giving me errors that im not sure how to fix.

[kaywhyn]

If it helps, I have the two problem levels extracted. Triple threat is Abandoned 14, while Blow out your candles is Abandoned 17. Both of them throw the error message in my previous post when trying to load them in the NL player. The latter says there's a problem with piece 6, which I believe is why the game crashes when it loads. It might be the same with the former, since both levels throw out the exact same error code. I just don't know how to load them in the editor and playtest. The purpose of doing so is so I can get a replay of both by playing your levels. If I can't do that, then I'll just post my entire replay collection minus these two levels.

[GigaLem]

Oh yeah, They used a set called epic, which was used in lemmings reunion when sets weren't mixable. I don't remember if having it in the same place as the exe or having in a styles folder will work but it's worth a shot

[ericderkovits]

Thanks, those 2 levels now work, I just added it to the styles folder of this pack. I also just found out it was in your regular Resident Gigalems pack also. So this could have saved time.

[kaywhyn]

Oh yeah, They used a set called epic, which was used in lemmings reunion when sets weren't mixable. I don't remember if having it in the same place as the exe or having in a styles folder will work but it's worth a shot

Yes, your epic.dat file worked! I was trying to look for this, but the closest I had to this file was an epicspecial.dat, which I got when I used the nxp extractor for this pack, but this is not the same file. Before I saw your post with the attached tileset file, I was able to open the level files with the v1.47 NL player, but the trigger areas for traps seem to be completely misplaced and messed up. Here in v1.43, they work properly. I can confirm all that's needed is to simply put the epic.dat file in the same directory where your v1.43 NL player is. No need to put it in a styles folder. Nothing else is shipped with the Neolemmix.exe file, so that makes it easy in that it's not necessary to create a styles folder and then stick the epic.dat in there. Speaking of which, the NL editor was complaining that it couldn't open the levels due to the epic style missing, and so I realized that I could had just simply asked if you had a copy of the tileset file. Too bad the error message in the screenshot doesn't really help in saying that it's actually due to the epic tileset missing when loading up the level with the NL player, so I had no way of knowing that it was due to the tileset missing that was causing the error message in the screenshot I attached without attempting to open up the .lvl file with the NL editor. Thank you so much for this, and so all levels now open properly, including Abandoned 1, although it appears that epicspecial.dat was enough to load up the level properly.

Thanks to you, I now have all replays for your ghost pack, including Abandoned 14 and Abandoned 17. Here is my complete set of replays for all 49 levels of the pack. Just like your zombie pack, this is also for very old formats, so once again the replays probably won't be of interest to anyone but you. Although, you did mention that you have "deprecated the project," which sounds like you're not interested in maintaining/fixing up the pack. Not a problem at all. I'm simply posting my replays for completeness due to how I eventually plan to post my replays to all level packs I play here on the forums. It's simply for historical and bookkeeping purposes so that the replays are safe somewhere.

Just like your zombie pack, I also played through this pack many months ago, but once again I didn't have the setting for replays to be saved if successful enabled, so again I came back to replay this pack and get my own replays. Because this pack increased in difficulty much faster than your zombie pack, I definitely remember some extremely annoying levels that I wasn't looking forward to solving again after the first time. Nevertheless, here we are, and I still endured the entirety of the pack regardless of the frustration with some of the levels due to the ghost gimmick. Regarding the gimmick, the ghost gimmick isn't anywhere near as annoying as zombies, especially since the biggest difference is they don't kill your lemmings. Instead, everyone, including zombies, flee from them if they come towards them or are nearby. Due to this unique behavior, this can cause problems, such as when your lemmings turn around when you don't want them to because of the "scare" factor. Thus, there is perhaps way more timing elements involved and as a result can end up with extremely fiddly and annoying to execute solutions.

Feedback on the Pack

Even though this is a very small pack, I absolutely agree with your assessment that this pack is not an easy and quick solve at all. Similar to Doomsday Lemmings with the zombies gimmick, the difficulty starts picking up near the end of the first rank, Silent. In particular, I would say that Silent 6 - The afterlife will save you is the hardest of the rank. Builders may seem plentiful, but they run out very fast. I think I ended up using all of them. However, the save requirement is lenient, so the main challenge is just figuring out the solution with the given tools. It's a nice puzzle, but IMO is fiddly. The rank finisher, Silent 8 - A bone to pick with you, is probably a close second for hardest of the rank. I think there's not enough tools to avoid the many snake traps at the bottom, but I believe that's why the save requirement is the way it is. At least in my solution, my lemmings get killed in them but losses are minimal thanks to the ghost gimmick of compressing lemming groups. Still, just like your zombie pack, the Silent rank for the first rank does a pretty good job in easing one into the pack and understanding the ghost gimmick. The big difference is that this pack immediately starts difficult due to skillsets being very tight throughout the rank, whereas in your zombie pack a lot of the first rank levels were open-ended, perhaps due to how each rank has 20 levels compared to 8 levels in each rank in your ghost pack.

Eerie, the second rank, has some really good puzzles in here. While they weren't overly hard, a lot of them were extremely annoying to execute. I say a good example is the rank starter, Eerie 1 - Dangerous with a capital "D". It's very difficult to pull off correctly, and the spacing between the zombies and the regular lemmings has to be quite exact. Even 1 or a few pixels too far and the lemmings won't be able to get past the traps after they have each killed a zombie. Thus, getting the setup is very frustrating. Eerie 3 - Return to skytown is probably the hardest of the rank and was one of the levels I was not looking forward to doing again. Once again, builders may seem plentiful, but they are very tight. It's a very difficult solution to figure out, especially with saving both very high entrances on each side from splatting with the ghosts with the given tools. Even after you manage to figure this out, the level's still no cakewalk, as there are two other entrances, one far on each side, to save. The other skills are also very tight. Eerie 6 - An Awesome Menacing Beast! isn't a hard level, but it's extremely annoying to execute. In my solution, I released climbers to block to turn the miner at the end of each tunnel with the platform at the very top. Figuring out when to release the climbers to achieve this is very annoying. Then again, I might had overcomplicated my solution. Also, for this level, are the climbers supposed to die when they touch the flamethrower guns in the middle area? They slip by without dying when climbing, but they do die to them when they are coming back to the right and they fall and touch them. Finally, Eerie 8 - Ghost in the machine is probably a close second for hardest of the pack. Once again, the solution is quite difficult to figure out, and especially to avoid very long falls the crowd might end up falling from due to the "scare" factor from ghosts. Thus, the main challenge appears to be to prevent lemmings from turning around or at least make holes to prevent lemmings from climbing up very high/falling very far and splatting as a result. This level therefore has high annoyance potential along with being a hard level.

The third rank, Ghastly, has more great puzzles. The difficulty here doesn't seem to be much higher than the previous rank, although these are still tough to figure out. In particular, I was NOT looking forward to doing Ghastly 3 - Egyptonite. I remember it was a very hard and extremely annoying to execute. I think this time around it took me just as long to figure out and solve as it did the first time I played the level. Again, I might had overcomplicated the solution. There's probably much better and easier ways to do the level. The end part I say is the hardest to figure out. This level is probably the hardest of the rank. The next two levels were easier. Ghastly 6 - Metal Melodies is probably a close second for hardest of the rank. The solution is somewhat difficult to figure out, although it's pretty obvious where most of the skills go. I remember struggling with this one a lot the first time I played it months ago. It's still a really nice puzzle, though, with a great solution, and I kind of enjoyed it somewhat. Finally, Ghastly 8 - Cathedral of the lost can also be difficult, although I think I had a slightly easier time with it this time around. Still a very nice puzzle which I kind of enjoyed too.

The final main rank, Phantasmal, I would say is where the difficulty really hits. The entire rank is very hard. The puzzles are great, but the fact that a lot of them used very heavy pixel precision made the levels less enjoyable for me. The rank starts off with Phantasmal 1 - Lemming Phantom, which is a hard level, but I would say the execution is even harder. The end part was especially frustrating to pull off correctly. The builders, basher, and blocker have to be placed in very specific spots in order for the solution to work, and so the level is very frustrating to pull off. Phantasmal 2 - Ghost pirate ships is probably the most difficult and the most annoying to execute. While it's still a hard level, it's not a very hard level, just extremely difficult and annoying to execute. This was probably one of the very few levels that had me rage, especially in regards to the first basher/miner going through the first staircase to the right from the leftmost ghost ship. If that gets messed up, then I would have to rewind a lot in order to readjust either the builder bridge going to the right, the one going to the left, or both, which further amplifies the rage. Most of the time, that also causes the other builder placements to get misplaced and therefore one might have to readjust them too. All of this causes the frustration to be extremely high. This was a level I definitely was NOT looking forward to doing again, because I absolutely remember being very frustrated the first time I played the level.

The following level, Phantasmal 3 - Radical Outbreak is also a really hard level. Here, there's still a lot of pixel precision, but fortunately no very precise tricks are needed, and so the execution isn't anywhere near as bad as the previous level. Instead, it's a very hard solution to figure out. The beginning is difficult, figuring out how to get all the entrances down safely. Even after that, the level's no cakewalk. I relied on the solid ceiling in my solution, but I think that and the resulting miner placement are very precise. It took me quite a while to find the solution. I certainly couldn't remember how I solved the level previously for a long time while playing.

The rest of the rank weren't as difficult, but they still took a lot of time to figure out. Phantasmal 4 - Maybe, not such a dreadnought is much easier than the first 3 levels of the rank, and so this level can be said to be a bit easy for its position, as the ones before are much harder. I believe the title is a reference to one of the final 5 levels of your Gigalems pack? Phantasmal 5 - Grape Lolipops of Wrath is probably the easiest level of the rank due to the somewhat open-ended skill set. As usual, not running out of builders is the main challenge. Phantasmal 6 - Ghost of Christmas Future is definitely the hardest of the trio consisting of the past, present, and future. The solution is quite difficult to figure out and spot, and there are some pixel perfect assignments needed, most notably the miner going to the right at the top of the OWW, as well as the basher going to the right at the bottom. I think there's only one position for them that will work. Phantasmal 7 - This is the wrong engine isn't hard but at the same time it's not trivial either. The solution is a bit difficult to figure out, and while the save requirement appears lenient, it's not. I believe compression is needed to minimize losses to the traps at the bottom. Finally, Phantasmal 8 - Final Frustration...IN SPACE! can be difficult, but it's all about being economical in your skill usage in each area. The biggest thing you can take advantage of on this level is how one can use two bombers in order to get rid of a lemming for good while only losing one lemming. The first bomber is to turn a lemming into a ghost, while the second bomber is to kill the ghost/lemming permanently, all while only losing 1 lemming. The only disadvantage is that it uses up two bombers at a time, but this is still very useful to know. Once again, the skillset may look open-ended, but all resources are tight. The only skills I had so much left over are the climbers/gliders. Clearly, the level title is a reference to the final level of Nepsterlems, with this one taking place in space. This one is a great looking level, though.

Regarding the bonus Abandoned rank, the levels here were really good and are far easier than the levels of the main pack. They were also far more enjoyable than the bonus levels from your zombie pack. I got to say it was really nice to see some of the removed gimmicks again, although some took some time to readjust to. That's because I played through Lemmicks earlier this year, and so I have already had exposure to each of the gimmicks present. Only the Superlemming gimmick is used in two separate levels. Abandoned 5 - Under the Missile-turn uses the turn on assign gimmick, which made an otherwise easy level a bit frustrating to solve. The solution is easy, just figuring out how to do it due to the challenge of the gimmick is the hard part. Abandoned 7 - I forgot to pay the gravity bill uses the no gravity gimmick, which I personally am not a fan of. It makes the levels confusing and can make it hard to plan out the solution. This one is mostly a builderfest, but how to navigate through the level without going into any zombie infected areas can be tricky. The hardest part is definitely getting through the very thick ceiling in the middle Once again, builders may seem plentiful, but they run out surprisingly fast here.

The rest of the rank after the 7th level had no gimmicks present, and so they're just normal levels that you can solve under the very familiar rules/mechanics. They're levels that were considered by you to not be good or were too backroutable to patch up properly. In the remaining batch of levels, I say the hardest one is definitely Abandoned 15 - Othello, Doomsday style. Not only is the solution difficult to figure out, you also have a time limit to add to the challenge. I only had about 10-15 seconds remaining. I also ended up using all the builders, and so the most difficult part is knowing how to use the builders both to prevent splatting and to make the exit still accessible by not blocking the path from both sides with builders. Abandoned 16 - Super Synchronized Lemmings can definitely be frustrating and stressful, but it's certainly far from being the hardest level. I probably could had made my life a bit easier by zooming out so I can see the hatch spawn order, but that will probably make it very difficult to assign skills, and so there probably would had been a lot of zooming in/out, which can probably get annoying quite fast. Your pre-text was still hilarious, though, especially since I ignored your advice and still played and solved the level. Finally, for Abandoned 17 - Blow out your candles is quite a nice puzzle/level to finish off the pack. There appears to be an issue with one of the traps, though.

Spoiler

The bottle cap stomper trap near the top exit cannot be avoided at all. It always triggers and kills lemmings no matter what. It appears to be using the trigger area of traps from Lemmini. Even if it's possible to avoid it, the lemmings cannot use the top exit anyway, since the trigger is probably buried deep in the steel.

Overall, despite the frustration with the execution on many levels, I still enjoyed this pack as much as I did your zombie pack, so you get a great job from me with this pack too. The frustration with execution was kind of mitigated with how this pack is much smaller than your zombie pack. Just like zombies, I don't mind the ghost gimmick either, but I can understand why this community wanted it removed (or did Nepster just want to remove them without much community input?) due to how solutions can be fiddly and annoying to pull off. There was another pack I played that featured ghosts that had far more annoying levels, but at the moment I can't remember what pack it was. I think it was one of Strato's packs? Or it might had been your pack Gigalems. I can't remember right now.