What to do about old packs that can't/won't be upgraded to NXP?

[namida]

We have a few NeoLemmix EXEs around by authors that are either no longer active in the community (or at least haven't been active for a while), or are active but have no interest in maintaining their older packs. (There's also some that haven't been upgraded yet, but in all likelihood the author will once they get a chance to do so; those are not the focus of this topic.)

I'm wondering - what's the community consensus on what should be done about these packs? The way I see it, the options are:

1. I upgrade them to NXPs myself, and host the upgraded versions on NeoLemmix.com
2. I list these packs seperately from those that have been upgraded, with a note about their status as older version packs. This option should probably wait until most packs are upgraded (or the number of new packs, which are already NXPs from the start, is greater).
3. I create a tool which extracts data from older EXEs, to allow end-users to convert them to NXPs
4. Simply leaving them as-is

I like the sound of Option 3, as it allows any pack to be NXP-ized for people to use, without anyone needing to host modified versions of other people's content (even though the modification would merely be a format shift). However, this does mean an extra tool to download, and extra steps when using an old pack, unless one is willing to simply play it on the old version (in which case they can run the EXE directly).

Any input here?

[ccexplore]

Sounds like you'd probably want to do #3 anyway as you could use the tool yourself if you decide to also do #1?  It also provides for the possibility of someone else volunteering to do #1 for you.

[namida]

Sounds like you'd probably want to do #3 anyway as you could use the tool yourself if you decide to also do #1?  It also provides for the possibility of someone else volunteering to do #1 for you.

There's only a small handful of packs, which makes it not worth writing a tool for. The files being built into the EXE in previous versions can be extracted with a resource hacker (and another, Lemmix/NeoLemmix-specific tool that I already have handy); once this is done, they're just like any other set of source data files that the Flexi Toolkit can build into a pack. If there was a large number of these, this may be a different story. Off the top of my head, GigaLems and maybe GeoffLems (maybe bsmith's pack too? Haven't seen him around in a little while) are the only ones that are unlikely to see the authors themself do any update, excluding demos (which will probably be replaced by full versions soon enough).

[Wafflem]

These packs are the ones that need upgrades (aside from the Cheapo-to-NeoLemmix conversion packs and my Other Gimmicks Pack, all of which will be updated eventually):

bsmith's first level pack by bsmith
GeoffLems by Geoffster
GigaLems by GigaLem
Holiday GigaLems 2015 by GigaLem
Revenge of the Lemmings compiled by möbius

So far, I seem to prefer Option 1. I don't think a lot of people are willing to play older versions of the packs listed above without the new features like the more user-friendly icons above the skill bar, and I don't think any end-user will want to go through the trouble of converting the packs themselves in Option 3.

The conversion is merely EXE to NXP. No levels are affected (except for GigaLems due to the change in bomber mechanics). The only thing that's affected is the newer, more user-friendly features added in v1.37n and above.

[namida]

I've done bsmith's pack and GigaLems (posted the links in their relevant topics, as well as put them in the Level Pack list on neolemmix.com). I forgot that Holiday GigaLems 2015 had already been released; no doubt GigaLem will never touch it again so I guess I'll have to get around to upgrading that one at some point (fortunately, with a pack this recent, it's a very easy task). Geoffster doesn't seem to have been here in a while so I'll get GeoffLems upgraded at some point too.

GigaLems might be affected by the mechanics changes, but I doubt it. The newer packs - most (if not all) of which were on V1.35n-C - almost certianly won't be affected unless they relied on glitches, which is a very bad idea to rely on in NeoLemmix for obvious reasons.

EDIT: GeoffLems done.

Revenge of the Lemmings, I'm guessing mobius will take care of that one himself at some point soon.