Music fix for ONML (DOS)?

[Stu]

Hey guys,
I've recently done a playthrough recording of Lemmings 1. I've used lem-fix2.exe to make sure every level had different music.
In ONML, the music changes whenever you beat a level, and whenever you start up the game you start with song 1 regardless of the level you select. This would be bad for a playthrough recording because e.g. if I only recorded 1 level per play session every level would have the same music. Is there something like lem-fix for ONML?
The only other workarounds I could think of would be leaving on my PC for weeks or replaying some Tame levels to "catch up" on the music.

[namida]

You could use Lemmix. https://www.neolemmix.com/?page=download_list&program=42

Lemmix is a clone of DOS Lemmings, made for Windows. Its most notable feature is that it reproduces the physics of the DOS games perfectly (or at least, there are no known differences - and trust me, this has been examined to an extremely deep level). It does have some extra features like rewind, replay and fast forward, but you can choose to simply not use those if you want an authentic experience. And yes, it does keep the correct music for the level.

The one difference that's blaringly noticable - it has the Amiga musics rather than the DOS ones. You can fix this by downloading the "Lemmix DOS Musics" on the same page and placing them in the same folder as the Lemmix EXE. They're not included by default for file size reasons - Lemmix can natively use Amiga's music format, using the original 10KB or so files. It can't natively use DOS's format, it had to be converted to OGGs, which are relatively large (they're generally slightly smaller than an equivalent MP3).

That aside, DOS level codes don't work on Lemmix and vice versa. Instead of remembering level codes, just enter "CHEATCODES" as a password. Then you can enter eg "TAME15" as a password to go to Tame 15. This way, you only have to remember which level you're on.

(If you aren't overly concerned about having an exactly DOS-like gameplay experience, consider NeoLemmix instead. It's a fork of Lemmix which does away with "replicate DOS perfectly" and instead fixes all the glitches, and adds a bunch of new features (as NeoLemmix's primary intention is for custom levels, but you can play the official games on it too), while retaining a DOS-like visual appearance for the most part.)



If you insist on authentic DOS ONML, as far as I know there's no music-fix version (though someone else might correct me here). One workaround you could do is, before you start recording, go solve the first few Tame levels (off-camera) until you're up to the correct music.

[Stu]

Hi namida, thanks for the info!

I think I've found a reasonable solution: With the "SLAMRACING" cheat, you can instantly beat a level by pressing Num5. That way I can cycle through the songs quickly.

Cheers.

[DoubleU]

(If you aren't overly concerned about having an exactly DOS-like gameplay experience, consider NeoLemmix instead. It's a fork of Lemmix which does away with "replicate DOS perfectly" and instead fixes all the glitches, and adds a bunch of new features (as NeoLemmix's primary intention is for custom levels, but you can play the official games on it too), while retaining a DOS-like visual appearance for the most part.)

What are the "glitches"? Some things that I've heard called "glitches" are bad, and not things I'd want kept (like the direct drop or ability to bash through steel), and some are not so bad (like floating at the last instant, maybe).

[namida]

(If you aren't overly concerned about having an exactly DOS-like gameplay experience, consider NeoLemmix instead. It's a fork of Lemmix which does away with "replicate DOS perfectly" and instead fixes all the glitches, and adds a bunch of new features (as NeoLemmix's primary intention is for custom levels, but you can play the official games on it too), while retaining a DOS-like visual appearance for the most part.)

What are the "glitches"? Some things that I've heard called "glitches" are bad, and not things I'd want kept (like the direct drop or ability to bash through steel), and some are not so bad (like floating at the last instant, maybe).

Generally only things that are clearly glitches. The determination is conservative enough that direct drop was still a thing in NeoLemmix for a very long time, though it did eventually get removed. Your example of the last-minute floater (or glider, that works too) is still possible even in the newest NeoLemmix versions.

[Strato Incendus]

Noob question: What is direct drop?

[Simon]

In Lemmings 1, floaters exit, and splatters exit too. Fallers cannot exit, but at least one of these is true in Lemmings 1:
    a) Fallers splat and then exit on the same frame. (likely)
    b) Fallers exit when they feel ground before they splat. (unlikely)
Unsure which of the two behaviors it is. This difference matters only for design/coding. Observing the exiting cannot distinguish between a) and b). Direct drop in Lemmings 1 means to take advantage of exiting splatters (or fallers with ground, depending on what the physics really do).

In early NeoLemmix, everybody could exit unless they're dying (?, but irrelevant anyway because fallers can exit). Direct drop meant letting fallers and floaters exit. Fallers meet the trigger area in an earlier physics update than when they would splat on the land.

In 2015, there was popcorn (long heated enjoyable technical discussion) whether this should become optional physics in NL, and then whether it should be cut entirely. Reason to cut: level designers and level players forgot about direct drop all the time, it produced backroutes and looked unintuitive on most exits. Reason to keep: Sky set has exit that looks like floating in mid-air.

-- Simon

[Proxima]

Direct drop (splatters can exit due to a programming oversight) exists in DOS and Genesis L1, but is absent in Amiga and Mac. I don't know off the top of my head about other versions, but this info is collected in some of the glitch lists in Tech & Research.

Notably, Genesis includes the level "Rules to fall" where the only skills are a digger and 20 floaters, showing that the designers didn't know about direct drop. Its repeat, "Acrophobia", is an interesting puzzle that is completely trivialised by direct drop.

I don't know about non-DOS versions regarding floaters entering a mid-air exit.

[Strato Incendus]

Thanks for the info, guys! Yes, I remember this being mentioned in context of the Sky tileset a couple of times.