Converting Lemmings Reunion From Lemmini to NeoLemmix

[IchoTolot]

I've been trying a bit around to see the main problems that will come with converting Lemmings Reunion to NeoLemmix in the future.

Conclusions after viewing a few test levels:

- I don't see a very huge problem with converting the "classic-tileset" levels. The overall level size needs to be adjusted, as it covers in "NeoLemmix mode" just 1/2 of the standard height now (just one number to be changed ) and the trap triggers need to be "armed" again as most of them aren't triggering anymore and after a test run they should be alright. Of course there are a few levels need to be reworked mostly because of the different blocker behavior.

- Now the big problem: The custom tileset ones!
I've managed to convert the Lemmini tilesets into NeoLemmix "g_xxx" and "v_xxx" ones (with the new Graphic set editor) and they are recognized by the editor (Creating new lvels works), but some tiles are converted false (some solid pieces from the Castle set for example have holes now and the Shadow ones have the altered background on the regular one overlapped). Furthermore the sizes seemed to be doubled ---> The hatch and all the other tiles are double the size (funny to see the tiny Lemmings come out there ). This leads to that loading already existing levels will end up in a mash up of the tiles as their size are now doubled.

Possible solutions that come to my mind:

- "Try" to rebuild the levels in a different NeoLemmix tileset (in the best case with a similar theme).
- Wait for the release of the L2 tilesets for NeoLemmix and rebuild the levels again (Pieuw's Castle tileset levels could be medival ones then).<---would love to see that

and of course the final levels with the "all in one" or "epic" tileset need to be rebuild as well.


When I am making progress with the converting I will let you know

[namida]

Use the NeoLemmix format (ie: File -> Save, which gives just a single DAT file) rather than g_ and v_. That will fix your size issue. (This will only work if you import the Lemmini graphic sets again; if you load your existing g_ and v_ graphic sets, you'll also need to change the resolution setting to "Double". Whereas when loading a (Super)Lemmini graphic set, it automatically sets this option.) Note that when doing this, no graphic data is actually lost - it saves the full-size image in the output graphic set file, and only resizes them at runtime; this is why the graphic set files may be a larger filesize than average ones.

I'll look into the issue with solid / nonsolid pixels converting weird. This is probably an issue with the GIF loading code. (If SuperLemmini versions, ie. using PNG files, of the graphic sets exist, try converting from those instead and it should work a lot better.)

In regards to the "all-in-one" tilesets; just take the PNG / GIF image of the entire level layout, and make a graphic set with a single terrain piece (and no objects). Save it the same way, but put "x_" at the start of the filename. Then, you can use it just like any other special graphic (eg. Beast / Awesome / Menace etc). When doing this, be sure to select the "double resolution" option in the graphic set editor (unless you manually resize the level image to half its size), otherwise you'll have the same double-size issue you're currently having.

[IchoTolot]

Ty for the Tip   (single .dat's and an editor update did the trick)

All custom tilesets are now fully operational and all test levels are succesfully loaded (even the final "epic" ones with a fully functional tileset now instead of the suggested special level one)!

Problems left:

- Some tiles in the Castle tileset are not working aka still have holes. (It seems I need to rework them in a different tileset. hopefully L2 Medival ) Converting them to SuperLemmini seems to work at first, but loading them again to convert them further to NeoLemmix gives out an error (Index list out of bounds (9))
- The custom Shadow and Sports background on the objects in there is still on top of the standard black one (Like in my preview pics in the past, but now even in the actual player, too). The level still works though, the objects just look a bit ugly. If I could somehow set the in game background to standard black or the customised one.

[namida]

Those two factors are most likely issues with the graphic set tool itself. I'll try to look into them today; if I don't get it done today I probably won't be able to until sometime next week.

If you don't mind doing it manually, it might be sortable by Export - > INI / PNG (be sure to give each graphic set a dedicated folder, as it exports it as many files in this case; and use Full, not Lemset-Compatible) and manually modifying the PNG files, then re-importing it. But of course, the ideal solution would be for me to find and fix the issue with the graphic set tool.
If you are doing this, be sure to use a graphic editing program that properly supports transparency (ie: NOT the built-in Paint app in windows), and save them as 32-bit PNG files (24-bit is also fine for pieces that don't have any transparent pixels).

There's currently no plans to support custom background colors in NeoLemmix, either on a per-graphic-set or per-level basis, though one possible workaround is to use a large, single-colored object and place it with the No Overwrite flag on. Perhaps I should consider adding such an option...

[IchoTolot]

As it is still a "future profect" I will wait for a graphic set tool update that can fix the converting of the Castle tileset. If it is not fixable I try to recreate them.

The Shadow and Sports tilesets don't have a single-colored object that I can lay over nearly every edge (yes they seem to be also a problem) and the objects  *sigh*. Such a custom option for objects and tiles would create the standard black background though and the problem will be gone.

[namida]

Okay, so I looked into what's causing these issues.

For the Castle set issue, I notice it only happens with pieces that don't have any transparent pixels. Those that do have transparent pixels work fine, but those that don't, one color ends up getting treated as transparent. So, I need to modify the GIF loading algorithm to properly detect pieces that shouldn't have any transparent pixels.

For the Sports set, the issue seems to come from that the transparent color isn't being detected correctly, and thus no color is being treated as transparent. Interestingly, it only happens on the objects, not the terrains, which may suggest the issue is somewhere other than the loading of GIF files itself (perhaps in the seperation into individual frames).

Shadow seems to be showing some kind of combination of both issues.

Just to confirm - if you edit them in the NeoLemmix Editor (not the converted graphic sets, but using the original Lemmini graphic sets, for a Lemmini level), you have no problems, right?
I do remember making adjustments to the GIF loading code in the editor to fix some issue along these lines at one point. For a while now the two have used the same loading code as each other for both PNG and GIF files, but it's possible I didn't copy the most up-to-date version of it into the graphic set tool's code. It's also possible that the fix for the editor does something post-load (in which case I'd need to make the graphic set tool do the same thing), or that something post-load in the graphic set tool "unfixes" them.

[IchoTolot]

The original ones are no problem!

Just need to readjust the levelsize a bit as I described earlier, but that's just changing two numbers.
I made an own Sega and Christmas port though, because the tiles themself are in a different order, but they are also are working fine!

[namida]

Okay well - Castle issue is fixed! Still need to look more into the issues with the other two, though. In the meantime, here's a fixed version of the graphic set itself. (If you need to make further modifications, just load it into the graphic set tool from this file itself.)

[IchoTolot]

It works! Ty very much!

One problem terminated.

[namida]

Make that "all problems terminated". I didn't give it a new version number, but I updated the graphic set tool with these issues fixed. Enjoy! And thanks for pointing these issues out!

The issue with the Shadow set fixed itself once I fixed the other two graphics sets issues; confirming my guess that it was a combination of the two that was having the effect there.

[IchoTolot]

Simply amazing!

Tested it, works perfectly! Now the converting process will be simply a matter of mechanics adaptation, new "NeoLemmix" improved level sizes and getting it all together with new and better music in OGG format with LemMain.

[namida]

I would strongly advise against using OGG music as your "default" music. The approach I generally use - and recommend - is to use lower-quality (but MUCH smaller filesize) MOD, IT, or similar files for the game itself, then offer a seperate music pack with the high quality OGG musics.

I really need to write a tutorial (or better yet, an app) on how to do all this, but for now, when you're up to that part let me know and I'll help you through it.

[GigaLem]

I can make the logo if you want

[IchoTolot]

I can make the logo if you want

I will come back to that offer, thanks

But first I must wait for the last feedback from the nightmare levels and finish fixing the Lemmini version. I will think about a logo though. I let you know when I have sth specific in mind (and make a little "first drawing" of it with my non-existend drawing skills ).

[IchoTolot]

Another problem has appeared. Or an old one actually just with another custom set: The conversion of the Egyptian L2 Lemmini style to NeoLemmix still creates (as with Castle before the fix) black holes within blocks. (Shame on me to forgot to put one of these style in the test program.........it could have been delt with at the same time )
As you described the castle problem, it may be just as easy to fix this as the other problem.