[Sug.] [Player] Remember last played pack

[Proxima]

Currently, when I start a new NL session, it puts me in the first pack in alphabetical order, which is very unlikely to be the pack I want to play. Remembering which pack I was in last, while it might not be the pack I want to play this session, has a much better chance. I can't see any reason not to make this change and I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been suggested before.

[namida]

I could've sworn I replied to this. Maybe it got lost during the upgrade. Anyway, this should be easy enough to implement and it's a good idea, so I'll look into it next time I'm working on NL code.

[SQron188]

I second this notion, especially with growing numbers of folders in my "levels" directory.

[Strato Incendus]

Yeah, I always have to click my way out of Clammings when opening NeoLemmix - it's nice to have all packs in one place without having to restart NeoLemmix when wanting to switch. But for everyone who sticks to a specific pack, in Old Formats you could click and start that specific pack directly, so it would be more convenient to have that option in New Formats as well, rather than simply starting NeoLemmix as a standalone programme. I know this might be more difficult now that levels aren't complete pack files anymore, but maybe it is possible to point the game to one specific level folder right at the start?

[namida]

I know this might be more difficult now that levels aren't complete pack files anymore, but maybe it is possible to point the game to one specific level folder right at the start?

Would Proxima's request alone be enough to satisfy what you want here, ie: if you were playing SEBLems last time you were in NeoLemmix, it'll be on SEBLems next time you start? Or would you like a way you could eg. have a shortcut you click that opens Lemmings Plus I, another shortcut for Lemmings Reunion, etc?

[Strato Incendus]

That depends on how frequently most players here switch packs. I tend to switch pretty often because I usually get stumped by an individual pack pretty fast - so I take a break on pack A and play something else for a while to come back later with a fresh mind.

But of course, for anyone who likes to bang their head against one specific pack until they make progress, and if that's true for the majority of forum members, the feature proposed by Proxima should suffice as well .

[namida]

It wouldn't be too much extra work to implement a feature that allows shortcuts to a specific pack. On a technical level - the shortcut would just need to include command line arguments something like "-pack [name of pack's folder]". NeoLemmix can probably even be made to generate these shortcuts, perhaps a "Create shortcut to this pack" button in the level select menu that creates such a shortcut in NeoLemmix's folder, and you can then copy / move that shortcut to wherever you like.

[namida]

Commit 96a2c97 implements Proxima's suggestion of remembering the active pack - or rather, I decided to go even more precise and remember the exact level - and 1468e5e implements an improvement, where if the individual level has been removed, it'll go to the first unbeaten level (or first level, if all of them are beaten) in the same rank; if the entire rank is gone, the first unbeaten level in the pack. (In the case of ranks inside other ranks, it goes up one parent level at a time until it finds one that does exist.)

Commit dfc41be implements Strato's suggestion of being able to have a shortcut to individual packs. Shortcuts can be made to the pack as a whole, a rank, or even an individual level - this is a side effect, of that the most efficient way to write this was to re-use most of the code from Proxima's suggestion. If you've organised your "levels" folder into multiple subfolders with packs inside those, you can have a shortcut to one of these subfolders too*. Commit 639a886 adds a button in the level select menu, that can be used to create a shortcut to the currently selected level / pack.

What isn't going to happen: The option for a shortcut, that takes you to the last level you played in a specific pack. It's too much work to track this on a per-pack basis. The options are - you open NeoLemmix via the EXE file, and go to whichever was the active level last time you played. Or, you open NeoLemmix via a shortcut, and are taken to the first unsolved level in the target pack / rank (or an exact level, if the shortcut was created to a specific level).

* I would agree that this feature - including just the "you can organise inside subfolders" itself - is not a worthwhile feature to make a special effort to implement. However, this capability exists and should be (close to) 100% reliable, simply as a side effect of how pack organisation works.

[Strato Incendus]

Great, thanks a lot, namida!

And no problem, simply having the right pack displayed at startup is already a huge convenience - no need to remember the last-played level. Anyone can open the level selection menu for that; apart from that, I like how the game reminds you of yet-unsolved levels by taking you to any preceding levels you might have skipped.

[Simon]

even more precise and remember the exact level

Good!

-- Simon

[jamesleemorgan]

I had to Frankenstein a huge set to play one after the other in succession. Had to make it begin with the letter "A" to make it boot first. Sorry about that.