Questions about the default GUI

[DragonsLover]

Hello again!

There was something I've been wondering about NeoLemmix: why does it use the standard VGA style for the GUI in-game (the skill bar especially)? Why not using the better High Perf style instead, or the Amiga style to some extent? Is it because of nostalgia? Simplicity?

I wanted to bring the changes on my own, but it appears I couldn't find the red digits for the game timer, only the green ones. I assume it's something handled by the game code? Does that mean that it's not possible for me to customize it?

Thanks!

[IchoTolot]

I wanted to bring the changes on my own, but it appears I couldn't find the red digits for the game timer, only the green ones. I assume it's something handled by the game code? Does that mean that it's not possible for me to customize it?

Customising the default GUI:

styles/default/panel

There you can replace the default pngs you want to change.

For the red timer digits: I think they were added when people missed to recognise the timer. I don't know if they are hard-coded or just an automatic recoloring of the current default ones.

For now basically you can change everything else to your preferred style though.

why does it use the standard VGA style for the GUI in-game (the skill bar especially)? Why not using the better High Perf style instead, or the Amiga style to some extent? Is it because of nostalgia? Simplicity?

Originally old Lemmix was basically a copy of the DOS (VGA) version, so this was set as the standard. I think it comes down to personal preference on which is better and you can make arguments for every GUI. I wouldn't simply call the Amiga variant better for example.

A ton of packs have customised the skill panel and large parts of the GUI to a unique (non Lemmings) style though. You can download the packs and look into their folder to see which modifications they use.

[Nepster]

I wanted to bring the changes on my own, but it appears I couldn't find the red digits for the game timer, only the green ones. I assume it's something handled by the game code? Does that mean that it's not possible for me to customize it?

Yes, the red digits are just created in-game by recoloring the green ones. If you replace the sprites for the green digits, the red ones will change as well, but no guarantees that the resulting digits look even half-decent.

why does it use the standard VGA style for the GUI in-game (the skill bar especially)? Why not using the better High Perf style instead, or the Amiga style to some extent? Is it because of nostalgia? Simplicity?

Because it is almost impossible to reach an agreement on what is the best style for the skill bar. So keeping the current one is the best way to proceed, especially as everyone can now change the skill bar to their preferred one themselves.

[DragonsLover]

Thanks for the info. I already knew about the styles/default/panel folder.

Considering the recolouring is hard-coded, wouldn't that be preferable to use an additional file for the red digits so that it could be easily customized as well? That would be a nice touch.

[Nepster]

This is really a matter of taste: At the moment, we try to reuse as many sprites as we can (e.g. recoloring the lemmings sprites for climbers, zombies, ... as well), because this ensures that players will always see a consistent look. Otherwise one might forget to change some types of the sprites and suddenly when you do a certain thing in-game, you will be presented with a totally different sprite.
In short: While having separate sprites adds more flexibility, is is also more error-prone.

And if I remember correctly, we implemented the recoloring of the time digits in a halfway sensible way by exchanging the red and green values of the RGB-representation of the sprite, instead of just replacing a few fixed colors by others. So there is actually a pretty decent chance, that replacement digits don't look too bad. But please don't blame me if I misremembered this point