jLevelBuilder 1.88 (june, 9th 2021)

[LJLPM]

one month after the initial release of jLevelBuilder, here comes the version "beta 1.61", and a lot of work have been done on it!

new features:
- improved overall speed of the editor when manipulating items
- added "Enable/Disable Real-Time Refresh of Entity List" option (when disabled, spares some CPU resources)
- added "Freeze" option
- added "Selection Mode", "Layer Mode", "Map Mode" options in top menubar
- added new options in "Command Menu"
- added the possibility to load custom tilesets when designing Lemmini's levels (.ini files)

1) the overall speed of the editor has been improved.
However if you still want to gain more speed, go to "Options > Enable/Disable Real-Time Refresh of Entity List", and uncheck the checkbox (or also uncheck the checkbox just below the actual list: it's the same thing).
And if you know your keyboard shortcuts, then you can really maximize the speed improvement by closing the GUI's bottom panel (keyboard shortcut = "NUMPAD_0", or press "SPACE > Edition Tools Panel") => doing this disables stuff that is auto-refreshed, and therefore it spares CPU resources.

2) If you ever experienced clicking and manipulating wrong items instead of the ones you actually wanted to move (hard-to-see eraser pieces, for example?), then you'll be pleased to welcome the new "Freeze" feature! http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" />
When you're done with designing some parts of your level because things are exactly where they have to be, then you'll be able to "freeze" the relevant entities in order to prevent them from any unwanted modifications (position or attributes)!
Frozen entities have a light-blue border and a "F" (for "Frozen") next to their ID.
In the "Options" menu, you also find a checkbox to fully fill frozen entities with a blue color (nice to instantly see where they're, as seen on the screenshot below).
- "Lock Selection" had the "l" shortcut.
- Since, freezing is kinda locking, then the keyboard shortcut for freezing also uses "l": it is "l+SHIFT" ("f" is for making Favorites)
- And "l+CTRL" is used to switch between the visual displays of frozen entities (fully filled or not)
When there's at least 1 frozen entity in your current selection, all the options that allow entity changes are disabled (except "Freeze/Unfreeze", of course)
One last thing, feel free to use the "All but Frozen" selection-mode to perform selections ignoring the frozen entities http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" /> (see point #3, below)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/mu23.png/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1152/mu23.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />


3) Convenient options such as "(de)Selection Mode", "Layer Mode" and "Map Mode" that were previously available through keyboard shortcuts only (and hence might be a little tricky to find) have now their dedicated entry in the top menu bar.
Use these options to apply a filter on what's displayed on screen (Layer Mode) or on what you can select/deselect ((de)Selection Mode).
If you don't know these options, well, check'em out because they are very handy to perform precise/complicated selections!

- in the screenshot below, layer mode = "Terrains", so everything which isn't a Terrain isn't displayed (do you see the doors or the 1-way arrows around?)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/801/hqff.png/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/5838/hqff.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />


4) The command menu (which appears by hitting "SPACE", or by clicking "Command Menu" in the "Edit" top menu) has gained new options.
You just have more options right under your mouse's cursor! (including the new "Freeze" option)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/7/iueh.png/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6442/iueh.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />


5) Create your custom graphics/tileset, place your tileset in the "resources/tilesets/Lemmings/" dir, and use it as any classic Lemmings's tileset for your Lemmini's levels (.ini files only).
http://imageshack.us/a/img266/494/pb78.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

I guess that's all for today!!!  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

As usual, you can download jLevelBuilder on my website:
http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/jlevelbuilder.html" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/jlevelbuilder.html

... and why not try my reflexion game, too?
http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/powablox.html" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/powablox.html

[namida]

Come across a very annoying problem... it appears your editor restricts objects to having a Y coordinate divisible by 4. While the trigger areas will be rounded off to the nearest 4 pixels, the object positions themself are *NOT* restricted on the Y axis. This is extremely annoying when working with straight-edged tilesets (pillar, brick, etc), not such a problem when working with the rougher ones.

I guess you might have done this intentionally because of how the trigger areas snap to a 4x4 grid even though the objects themself can be at any Y coordinate (only their X is restricted - even then though, it's not a limitation of the file format, Lemmings just rounds the value off when it loads it); but if so, could we at least have an option to turn it off for the more-advanced level designers who know what they're doing? Otherwise, looks like it's back to LemEdit...

[LJLPM]

Yes, these default autosnap values are set for common level-edition. You can freely modify them to suit your needs.

could we at least have an option to turn it off for the more-advanced level designers who know what they're doing?

It's already there (http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=794.msg17576#msg17576" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=794.msg17576#msg17576).
Just open the "Options" menu, and you should find the option you're looking for.

The editor allows you to freely set any auto-snapping value you want for the X and Y axises and for any type of items: Terrains, Objects, Steel, and even Helpers. And you can also configure your own keyboard shortcuts to instantly enable/disable your favorite auto-snap settings.
It's very versatile.

Advanced users can also freely edit the "config.ini" file to set a new default config for auto-snapping (for your needs, you may want to set "AUTOSNAP_OBJECTS_X=1" and "AUTOSNAP_OBJECTS_Y=1"). However, if you target DOS Lemmings (not Lemmini) for your levels, you may want to use autosnap values of "2" (instead of "1") because when you're saving a .lvl file, coordinates are divided by 2 (since the editor uses a x2 scale, as Lemmini does): doing this will maintain your item's coordinates right when loading and saving .lvl levels (-> no odd coordinates will be divided by 2 before being saved).

Last thing, when you select items whose auto-snapping mode is activated, you'll see some dots next to the relevant item counter (first dot = "autosnap activated on X", and second dot = "autosnap activated on Y").

- in the screenshot below, Terrains aren't auto-snapped, while Objects and Steel have auto-snap mode activated on X and Y axises
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/6579/ano.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[namida]

Where exactly do I find that setting?

EDIT: Ah, autosnapping will do the trick. Since it's double resolution... 16 x 2 for objects, 2 x 2 for terrain, and 8 x 8 for steel.

By the way - not a huge deal, it's most likely just a result of me being used to LemEdit, but I find the way your editor handles steel to be somewhat odd. Additionally, at least one of the default steel pieces has a horizontal size that's not a multiple of 4 (or rather, of 8, since double resolution) - 62, IIRC.

[LJLPM]

Since it's double resolution... 16 x 2 for objects, 2 x 2 for terrain, and 8 x 8 for steel.

Yes, that's it.
If needed, you can also set GUI's "Increment on X" and "Increment on Y" to 2 (instead of "8" by default): doing this would allow you to move items 2px by 2px using keyboard's arrows (useful to perform precise moves!).

By the way - not a huge deal, it's most likely just a result of me being used to LemEdit, but I find the way your editor handles steel to be somewhat odd. Additionally, at least one of the default steel pieces has a horizontal size that's not a multiple of 4 (or rather, of 8, since double resolution) - 62, IIRC.

I didn't try LemEdit. I should give it a try.
And about Steel pieces, it's pretty much useless to have many actually, since I always resize them with mouse's right button, when I use them (= having a single "Steel piece" template would be enough I think).

Please let me know if you find any bug. Thanks!

[namida]

LemEdit was the first Lemmings editor (at least, the first for the original games). The majority of the community consider it to have been made redundant by the Lemmix editor (and Lix?), but personally, while I freaking love the Lemmix players, I can't stand the editor - I find it to be very user-unfriendly. As for Lix, I'm not even entirely sure if it can edit the original game levels (I've heard stuff that implies it) - I've had no luck even getting Lix to run. For anything that's not Cheapo, LemEdit has been my editor of choice for as long as I've known it existed - which is almost as long as it *has* existed. jLevelBuilder is honestly the first editor that's given it a run for its money - at the present time, I'm switching back and forwards between both of them at different times.

I've even considered attempting to write a Windows "remake" of LemEdit, to be able to use the same basic interface without having to use DosBox and all that crap (as well as add features like VGASPEC support).

[LJLPM]

The next version will include :
- a "Invert Selection" option
- a "Select Same Entities" option (you select entities in the level, then use this option to auto-select all instances of the same entities in the level)
- a "Select Random Entities" option
- a new entity-selection tool using the mouse wheel

And when using a collision mask (SHIFT + v), then :
- the "Select All", "Select None", "Select Random", and "Invert Selection" options will only handle entities which are within the mask's range.
- and you'll also be able to restrain entity selection on the entities that are fully displayed within the mask's range (= ignore partlially-displayed entities).

- the "Invert Selection" option is available in the "Edit" menu, or by using the "SHIFT + i" keyboard shortcut.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/29/ws08.png/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/2426/ws08.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[namida]

Here's the largest level I've made in a long time. It was created using both LemEdit and jLevelBuilder.

[LJLPM]

Very nice work!

Just to know, what parts of the level were made using LemEdit?
(maybe I can improve some things that you still prefer do in LemEdit?)

By the way, I see parts of your level that use repeated tiles, I hope you used the "Fill Area" brush for that http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" class="smiley" /> (SHIFT + b, or also available in the "Command" menu by pressing SPACE).

[namida]

It's not so much that I preferred to do things in one or the other, it's just I stopped workign in LemEdit then when I started again I loaded it up in jLB instead.

And nope, I haven't actually tried using the special features (except grid snapping and hiding/showing layers) yet.

[LJLPM]

I found a bug in beta 1.61. I fixed it, and I'm running some tests which seem ok.
I'll upload beta 1.62 within the next hours (I'll keep you informed when it's done).

beta 1.62 will also come with new interesting features dedicated to selections, and explained here:
http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=794.msg17810#msg17810" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=794.msg17810#msg17810

[LJLPM]

New version has been released: http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/jlevelbuilder.html" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/jlevelbuilder.html
I recommend to update your version of jLevelBuilder to "beta 1.62" because of the bug fix.

contents of beta 1.62:
- fixed a severe bug with entity-selections/creations
- added "Invert Selection" option (press "SHIFT+i", or option to be found in the "Selection Mode" menu)
- added "Select Same Entities" option: you select entities in the level, then use this option to auto-select all instances of the same entities in the level (press "h", or option to be found in the "Selection Mode" menu)
- added "Select Random Entities" button next to the already-existing "Lazy"/"Shuffle" buttons (also available by pressing "*")
- added "Contract/Expand Random Selection" tool using the mouse wheel
- when using a collision-mask (SHIFT+v), entity-selection/deselection options now deal only with the entities which are within the mask's range. In the "Options" menu, you can choose to deal with fully-visible or partially-visible entities within the mask range. By default, you can select/deselect fully-visible entities only.

- use your mouse wheel to contract/expand your current selection with some randomly selected entities.
(see the new option in the dropdown list below)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/443/03mj.png/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/429/03mj.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

- when using the collision-mask (SHIFT+v), entity-selection/deselection options only deal with entities within the mask's range.
(in the screenshot below, the "select partially-visible entities" option is enabled)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/i615.png/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5897/i615.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[grams88]

Hi everyone

I think it would be a good idea to make this thread a sticky one as I've noticed a lot of interesting information that level designers could use for future use.  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />

[LJLPM]

beta 1.63 is available:
- minimum value for Terrains' Y coordinate has been lowered.
(see this post for details: http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=870.msg18090#msg18090" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=870.msg18090#msg18090 )

[LJLPM]

beta 1.64 is available:
- fixed Steel pieces' bad dimension in .lvl files (Steel's width & height missed 4 pixels).

Many thanks go to namida who reported the bug!  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" />