NLEditor - a new file-type NeoLemmix editor - Test version

[Nepster]

NLEditor - A new file-type NeoLemmix editor

Download it from the NeoLemmix homepage

Important comments:
- The current editor is version 1.3.
- This editor requires the new file-type styles and must be placed in the same directory as the player, so that the "styles" folder is an immediate subfolder.
- If you want to playtest levels, you need player V11.15.22 (or newer).

I am looking forward to your feedback, suggestions, bug reports, ...

[Nepster]

FAQ

Why did you create this editor?
I was looking for a project that lets me learn more C#. And the existing editor had some quirks that annoyed me, while namida complained about the bad code quality of the existing editor. So writing a new editor was a natural choice. At first I expected that this editor stays my own private editor and did not get released, but due to a lack of other editors that can save new nxlv files, this changed.
All of this however has the consequence, that my focus lay on some parts I deem important while other features are not or only badly implemented. If you miss anything, please tell me - but I make no guarantees that I will actually add it.

Which OSs are supported?
The NLEditor.exe is a Windows executable. The code should compile to Linux and Mac, too. If you are interested, please contact me. But there are two parts of the editor, that won't work on anything but Windows, because they rely on the NeoLemmix player:
1) Playtesting a level.
2) Loading old .lvl (or other) level files.

Help! My level looks differently or plays differently!
Yes, that can happen. This editor does not support all options that the player or the old editor have, for example:
- This editor only uses AutoSteel, not Simple AutoSteel, steel areas, ...
- This editor does only support rotated objects for certain types.
- This editor has only very little support for moving background objects.
And then there are a parts, where the editor rendering displays something slightly different compared to the player. For example the theme colors don't (yet) get applied to the pickup skills in the editor.

Can I load old .lvl file? How about other old level files?
Yes, loading .lvl level files is supported. For this the NeoLemmix player (version V11.14.19:1cf3523 or newer) must be present in the same directory as the editor. In the same way you can load old (Super)Lemmini levels (.ini files) or old Lemmins levels (.lev files).
Other types like Lemmix packs (.dat) are not supported.

Can I save levels as .lvl files?
No.

There are Group/Ungroup function. What do they do?
Currently: Nothing! The player does not yet recognize grouped pieces and grouped pieces cannot yet saved in nxlv files. So these functions have been disabled, even though the editor can handle grouped pieces internally. 

Why are the buttons moving the bottom piece selection bar so slowly?
Try right-clicking on the buttons and the you should notice a considerable speed-up.

I want to reorder the styles in the style lists. How can I do that?
Put a style.ini file in your "styles" folder. This has to be a text file, with groups per style as follows:
  ["Name of style folder in directory"]
  Name="Name of style in editor"
  Order="Index of style in editor"
(slanted parts and quotes around them are place-holders). This is the same syntax as the styles.ini file for the old editor, so you could have simply copied your old styles.ini file, if it weren't that all styles have been renamed. You can download my own styles.ini file here.

[GigaLem]

I see the words "Test Version" And I can't help but feel that it falls into the "Experimental" Category, Is that the case?
and if there is a like a "Non-Test" Version and that's like a "No duh", Will it get some of the remaining features leftover from the old format? (stuff missing from the old editor ,because I don't my levels breaking during the conversion process)
Otherwise I guess I have little time left with my current editor
plus I do like the GUI im seeing right now

[namida]

GigaLem: NeoLemmix itself still supports options even if they're missing from this editor. Nepster might add it if requested; I will probably make an official new-formats compatible editor at some point (although since Nepster's one exists, it won't be high priority); and if all else fails the NXLV files are a text-based format, so you can open them with any text editor (such as Notepad) and set the missing stuff yourself. Try it, open an NXLV file in a text editor and see for yourself.

The tools for converting old format content support everything. This should include the code in Nepster's editor to load LVL files, as it uses the same conversion code that new-formats NeoLemmix itself uses when loading LVL files.

[mobius]

I'll give it a try at some point and offer any comments I might have. Does this have any hotkeys for things like making a piece an eraser, etc? (something that is currently broken/lacking on NL)

[Nepster]

I see the words "Test Version" And I can't help but feel that it falls into the "Experimental" Category, Is that the case?

Exactly.

Will it get some of the remaining features leftover from the old format?

As namida said, this depends on what you need. I don't intend to spend time coding options that noone is ever going to use and clutter the GUI with them (especially as it's already more cluttered than I prefer it to be). So I plan to wait for complains about missing features to determine what else I have to add.

Does this have any hotkeys for things like making a piece an eraser, etc? (something that is currently broken/lacking on NL)

Yes, for all of this there are hotkeys, all of them on the left side of the keyboard. To get a complete list of all hotkeys, press F11 in the editor.

[Colorful Arty]

This looks nice. C# is a fun language to program in, especially for making GUIs. This GUI looks similar to what I'm doing at my internship.

I'll have to give this a try over the weekend.

[Ryemanni]

I love working with 8x8 or 16x16 tiles, so it would be cool if the editor had a possibility to set up a grid. I don't know if that feature was in the old editor though, I might have just never found it...

[Nepster]

I love working with 8x8 or 16x16 tiles, so it would be cool if the editor had a possibility to set up a grid.

I would like some clarification here: Do you want to have...
a) ...just a grid displayed on the background, so you can place the pieces better.
b) ...a way to move pieces by 8 pixels a time, while the piece's coordinates can be arbitrary.
c) ...a way to force the piece coordinates to multiples of 8?

@everyone else: Who else would like to see this feature?

[Proxima]

I would. Snap-to-grid is essential in Lix editing, where nearly all blocky terrain has multiples of 8 for dimensions. That isn't true in NL, but even so, it would be a welcome convenience any time I am working with a tileset with appropriately sized tiles. (Also, something that may just be my own personal preference -- for placing rocky terrain, I like the way snap-to-grid narrows down my options, so I can just look at a few placements for one tile relative to another and choose the one that looks best, rather than spend a long time trying to place it perfectly.)

[Ryemanni]

c) ...a way to force the piece coordinates to multiples of 8?

Definitely, a snap-to-grid kinda thing.

b) ...a way to move pieces by 8 pixels a time, while the piece's coordinates can be arbitrary.

This was the method in the old editor if I'm not mistaken. It is tiresome in the long run, especially if you want to place a block in the middle of nothing but still maintain it in a grid with the other tiles.

[IchoTolot]

a) would be enough for me personally, but I am fine when an option for b) or c) exists and would sometimes make use of it.

[Nepster]

Version 0.7 is out!

Changes:
- Force piece snapping to a grid is supported. You can enable this via the settings menu (F10).
- Adding new pieces by dragging them from the bottom panel is supported. Thanks to kieranmillar for this idea.
- Adding new pieces by double-clicking on the level area got disabled, because the editor now features a superior way to place new pieces at the mouse position.
   (@IchoTolot: Please try the new method and give feedback!)
- Loading old (Super)Lemmini and Lemmins levels is supported. Note that this requires the most recent experimental version of the player (i.e. version V11.14.19:1cf3523).
- Roughly a dozen of other small bug-fixes.

[namida]

Please note that this latest version does not directly load levels (other than NXLV ones) itself, but rather gets NeoLemmix to convert them to NXLV, then loads the result.

As such, any issues with loading levels from old formats should be reported as a NeoLemmix bug, not an NLEditor bug.

[IchoTolot]

I will try out the new version (also the new player) over the weekend and give some more feedback, as I have more spare time now.

As I am reading the FAQ again: Will there be support for rotated objects in the future? Because I don't really see the reason why there shouldn't be support for that until now