NeoLemmix V12.6.5, Editor 1.14 Release

[namida]

Alright - it's been a long time, but it's finally here - the stable release of V12.6.0, with some exciting new features!

First, let's get the negative stuff out of the way.

Firstly, until further notice (ie: if either Nepster returns, or someone else takes over maintanence of them), the graphic set tool and pack toolkit will no longer be updated. Instead, these files will need to be modified by hand, or where suitable, with older versions of the tools. There are explanations of the file formats - which are quite simple and can be modified with a text editor such as Notepad - over in the NeoLemmix Tutorials boards; these guides have been written to account for V12.6.0 changes.

Secondly, no new custom pickup skill objects will be accepted in custom styles for now. Existing ones may be updated - and they will need to be, to account for the shimmier. Nepster has updated some of these, but not all, and even these will have the shimmier in the wrong position in the order. The reason for this is precisely because of the situation where existing objects lack some skills or have them in the wrong order - in the near future, as in, ideally for V12.7.0, I intend to implement proper, official support, in a way that averts this problem (by automatically adding the skill graphic, instead of relying on a pre-made graphic that includes it), but until that happens, no new ones will be accepted.



Now, let's get a neutral - but important - change out of the way:

Starting with the V12.6.0 release, sounds are no longer included with the main NeoLemmix download. Instead, sounds will be provided in the styles download. This is because sounds are closely tied to styles; and it doesn't make sense to ship new sounds only when there's an NL update, and leave new styles waiting for them. For the same reason, if you're submitting custom styles that use custom sound effects, please include those with your submission. WAV is preferred if it doesn't give a file that's too big; otherwise OGG is the preferred format.



And with that out of the way, let's talk about the new features!

We've got a new skill, the "Shimmier". Those of you who are familiar with L2 will already have a fair idea of what this skill does.
Entrances and exits can now have a limited number of lemmings that are able to use them.
Objects can have multiple animations - no longer do you need two separate objects to make a locked exit that also has animating flames.
Object graphics can also be nine-sliced, giving them nice borders. You no longer need to have separate edge pieces for resizable objects.
Alpha blending is now officially supported for terrain.
And, a single level can now use up to 10 different skills, instead of only 8!

Also, terrain grouping, similar to Lix. However, we don't have editor support for this yet - but when a future editor update adds it, V12.6.0 is ready to handle it!

Full changelog

New Major Features
------------------
> Added a new skill, "Shimmier"
> Alpha blending of terrain is now officially supported (though editor support will be lacking for the forseeable future)
> Custom digit graphics can be used with custom pickup skill objects - this is mostly as a side effect of the same feature existing for lemming-limited entrances / exits which are new
> Entrances and exits can have a limited number of lemmings allowed to use them
> Objects can have multiple, semi-independent animations
> Resizable objects can be "nine-sliced", basically, when resizing, a certain border region is not tiled (see eg. default:updraft)
> Terrain grouping is supported
> Up to 10 different skills can be used in a level, instead of 8

New Minor Features
------------------
> A username is stored to replay files, and replays that don't match it will not overwrite your records / progression
> Failed skill assignments from replays are queued instead of discarded (Reverted in V12.6.1)
> Last-played level is remembered between sessions
> Shortcuts that start NeoLemmix with a specific pack (or even level) can be created

Fixed bugs
----------
> Backgrounds are discarded when importing old-format levels (also requires changes to translation tables; all included translation tables are fixed)
> If some lemming sprites are missing in a custom spriteset, NeoLemmix falls back to default sprites instead of crashing
> Level select menu can no longer be opened while in-game; as fixing the bugs that occur from doing so would have required significant rewriting
> Multiple skill assignments can be made in one frame via editing replay files (V12.6.1)
> Some sound effects are only played on the left channel
> Various oddities with the permanent skill icons on preplaced lemmings at the start of levels have been fixed / improved

Style changes
-------------
> Secondary animations added to all official styles, and all of namida's styles
> Sounds are now included with styles download

Changelog: V12.6.1 to V12.6.2

> Shimmiers now have skill shadows.
> Fixed bug: The initial direction of splitters in level data was ignored.
> Fixed bug: You can now have a "select Shimmier skill" hotkey.
> NeoLemmix is now compiled using Delphi 10.3 instead of XE6.

Changelog: V12.6.2 to V12.6.3

> Restored the open / save dialogs as they were in V12.6.1 and earlier.
> Replays can now be loaded on the preview screen.
> Fixed bug: Recolored objects (eg. one-way arrows in the default style) don't display correctly when flipped, inverted or rotated.
> Fixed bug: Can reach the main menu from testplay mode by pressing Esc on a pretext / posttext screen.

Changelog: V12.6.3 to V12.6.4

> Fixed bug: Recolored object animations that are colored to 0xFFFFFF are instead invisible.

Changelog: V12.6.4 to V12.6.5

> Added extra protections to avoid your settings / hotkeys / progress being lost if errors occur during loading.
> Support for placeholders in preview texts to indicate hotkeys.
> Fixes around windowed mode, and switching between fullscreen and windowed.

I'm not sure exactly what Git commit corresponds to the last release of the editor, so I can't provide an accurate changelog for V1.11 -> V1.12. However - most new V12.6.0 features are supported, moving background properties are now preserved (but not editable) if I remember correctly, and the bug where you wouldn't get the "Do you want to save?" prompt if you haven't already saved the level at least once is fixed.

Editor changelog: V1.12 to V1.13

Fixed bug: Editor fails to load levels that contain nine-sliced resizable objects, if an instance smaller than the original size exists.
Fixed bug: Resizable objects can't be resized larger than the level's dimensions. (...I have no idea why this was the case in the first place. There are obvious practical uses - doubly so now that nine-slicing exists - and it's a completely arbitrary restriction.)
Fixed bug: The Bomber is referred to as the "Exploder" in some places.

Editor changelog: V1.13 to V1.14

Fixed bug: Error messages often occur when editing a pickup skill count or a lemming limit and then selecting a piece that doesn't support those values. Note that I am not 100% confident in this fix, but haven't been able to reproduce the issue so far anymore.
Fixed bug: Editor reverts to default directory in Open / Save dialogs after opening a level that isn't a current-formats NeoLemmix level.
Fixed bug: Many object types are artificially prevented from being flipped or rotated. For a few types, this restriction is still in place for technical reasons, but it's been lifted for most types.

Download: https://www.neolemmix.com/download.php?id=323 (Permalink to V12.6.5)
Styles / Sounds: https://www.neolemmix.com/download.php?id=326 (October 2019. Earlier V12.6.X styles: August 2019 | September 2019)
Editor: https://www.neolemmix.com/download.php?id=319 (Permalink to V1.14)

The styles download is required in full if updating from V12.4.1 or earlier. If updating from V12.6.0, you only need a small update to styles posted later in this topic. If updating from V12.6.1 or later, the styles are unchanged.

As usual - please report any bugs you find, with the new features or otherwise, in the Bugs & Suggestions board.

(For those of you wondering about neutral lemmings or antisplat pads, V12.7.0 will likely bring those. I can't say for sure on the Jumper, but I'm currently thinking V12.9.0 is the most likely timing for it.)

[namida]

One new feature is that NeoLemmix will now tell your replays apart from someone else's, and only update your records based on your own replays. (If you interrupt a replay and take some action that changes it, it will at this point count it as your replay, even if it was based off someone else's as a starting point - but not if you just watch the replay, or run it through the mass replay tester.)

To add your name to existing replay files, first, run V12.6.0 once to configure a username. Then, download the attached utility, place it in your NeoLemmix folder, place the replays you want to add the name to to a "ReplayFix" folder (or a subfolder thereof), and run the utility.

Source code, for Lazarus, is included.

EDIT: The new Replay Refresher tool is superior for this: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=4378.0

Alternatively, you can temporarily bypass this for old replays with no username by starting NeoLemmix with the "-match-blank-replay-username" command line parameter. For that session, replays with no name in them will be treated as if they're your own replays, rather than as if they're someone else's.

[NieSch]

Great work!

[Strato Incendus]

Awesome! Thanks a lot for all the work, namida! Can't wait to try it out!

I have been using the Shimmier for a while in the experimental version, of course, and also started toying around with 9 or 10 skill types per level. But limited-number entrances and exits are definitely yet another exciting new toy!

[namida]

Split off the discussion about the new replay behaviour into a separate topic: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=4341.0

Quoted below are the parts that were not about the replay behaviour:

Alright time to report some problems I found:

1.)
I was greeted upon checking United with the following error:
TBaseAnimationSet: Error loading lemming animation metadata for REACHER. Falling back to default lemming sprites.

I think I know why: It was a highland level and I never used any of the custom sprites for highland,shadow,.... now they seem to be seeked out as default and I don't have the animations. Proposed solutions: Either don't treat them as default or include the nessesary animations in the main download.

With regards to the missing Shimmier (and Reacher) sprites: Yep, some people still haven't brushed up on their custom sprites, sadly. It's definitely true for Nessy's sprites (Highland, Shadow, and Machine), maybe also for Arty's (Underwater and Silhouette)? Christmas sprites don't have Shimmiers, either, because those require more work than merely recolouring standard lemmings.

Since I did my reshadings with ancient Photoshop 7.0, I can only use the "replace colour" feature in a way relative to the original colour schema, rather than picking a specific colour with the colour picker tool from an existing image of, let's say, Nessy's Highland sprites, to recolour the Shimmier and Reacher in exactly the same shade of red.

Though I remember someone here told me about a software a while ago that can indeed replace a colour with an existing colour (aside from manually using the "fill" tool with literal pixel precision), and I also remember installing said software. I think it was Paint.Net?

EDIT: Yes, it was! So if Nessy can't find the time to include Shimmiers and Reachers into his three sprite types, maybe I can take a look at this. I would refrain from creating the Christmas Shimmiers, because require actual spriting by hand, but if it's merely about recolouring and then submitting the .pngs, as long as it doesn't take ages to figure out how this is done in Paint.Net compared to Photoshop, I should be able to do that.

With regards to the missing Shimmier (and Reacher) sprites: Yep, some people still haven't brushed up on their custom sprites, sadly. It's definitely true for Nessy's sprites (Highland, Shadow, and Machine), maybe also for Arty's (Underwater and Silhouette)? Christmas sprites don't have Shimmiers, either, because those require more work than merely recolouring standard lemmings.

Highland has shimmier graphics, but the relevant metadata in scheme.nxmi is missing. This should be a simple copy-paste from a scheme.nxmi that does have them, so I'll sort this out later today - this will only require a redownload of the styles. I can probably even just make a small patch download that just overwrites the relevant scheme files, instead of requiring a full redownload of the 36MB styles ZIP.

The Xmas style has shimmier sprites, no worries there. As it's an official style, it falls on NL's developers (in this case, myself) to create the sprites for it where needed. If you're getting issues with the Xmas lemmings sprites, please double-check that you've downloaded the styles update.

Yes, Paint.NET can do this - there's an option on the fill tool to make it "global" rather than just "local", which will cause it to recolor every pixel in the graphic of the source color, instead of just the continguous ones. Make sure to turn antialiasing off when doing this. Although - as mentioned, I think this is just an issue with the scheme.nxmi files (it definitely is for Highland, haven't checked the other custom sets).

[Strato Incendus]

I have updated Nessy's Machine sprites with Shimmiers and Reachers now. Highland and Shadow had actually been completed already in the styles download I got?

So maybe IchoTolot had just forgotten to download the styles. I remembered the Highland and Shadow sprites being missing from a while ago, and so I thought that was still the case. I take back two thirds of what I said, Nessy!

Still, Machine was incomplete in the styles download. Now that I've added the Shimmiers, all custom sprites should have Shimmiers, to my knowledge, including Arty's, and also Christmas Shimmiers are present already.

[IchoTolot]

So maybe IchoTolot had just forgotten to download the styles.

Downloaded the whole styles archive. I have gotten everything available here.

[namida]

I have updated Nessy's Machine sprites with Shimmiers and Reachers now. Highland and Shadow had actually been completed already in the styles download I got?

So maybe IchoTolot had just forgotten to download the styles. I remembered the Highland and Shadow sprites being missing from a while ago, and so I thought that was still the case. I take back two thirds of what I said, Nessy!

Still, Machine was incomplete in the styles download. Now that I've added the Shimmiers, all custom sprites should have Shimmiers, to my knowledge, including Arty's, and also Christmas Shimmiers are present already.

As mentioned above - Highland (and probably Nessy's other styles) have the actual graphics for the shimmiers and reachers, but they don't have the corresponding data in the scheme.nxmi file - this should be easily fixed, though. Since they're just recolors, copy-pasting from default's scheme.nxmi should do the job. I'll get around to doing a style update (/ patch download, for those who already downloaded the styles) a bit later today.

[namida]

I've uploaded a new copy of the styles zip, that corrects the Shimmier issue with l2_highland and l2_shadow.

All other styles with custom lemming sprites either haven't yet been given Shimmier sprites at all (GigaLem's and Plom's styles), or had no issues in the existing download (default, xmas, Arty's styles, and l2_beach).

For those who already downloaded the main styles download for V12.6.0, here's a patch that contains just the changed scheme.nxmi files, so you don't have to download the entire thing again. If you haven't downloaded the main styles download yet, just download it as normal - you don't need this patch, the main download has been updated.

[namida]

Uploaded the V12.6.1 update. The only change is that this reverts the new replay behaviour (of queueing rather than discarding invalid assignments), otherwise it's identical to V12.6.0 - including that duplicate assignments on a single frame in a replay are treated as invalid (but are now discarded, not queued).

If you already downloaded V12.6.0, instead of a full redownload, just replace your EXE with this updated copy. You do not need to redownload the styles if coming from V12.6.0 to V12.6.1 (but see the post immediately above this one if you're getting errors with Highland and Shadow levels).

[namida]

I've written a new installer, which is attached to the main Welcome To NeoLemmix post.

It's written from scratch, but the main differences from Nepster's is that you can pick and choose what you do and don't want to install, including choosing individual packs to install or not. We can also update the pack list without having to release an updated build of the installer.

[Minim]

I'm just in the middle of downloading all the styles for 12.6.1. It's too loooong. I wonder if it's possible to reduce the size and thus, the length of the download. One possibility maybe is to only include the official graphic sets, and put all the custom ones in a separate thread.

[IchoTolot]

I'm just in the middle of downloading all the styles for 12.6.1. It's too loooong. I wonder if it's possible to reduce the size and thus, the length of the download. One possibility maybe is to only include the official graphic sets, and put all the custom ones in a separate thread.

I think we are past the point where the original ones are enough. Seperate downloads will only result in the reappearance of posts and topics of the type: "I am getting this error that this file is missing". And we link the full styles download.

If NL can fetch missing styles automatically from the site in-game when it notices missing ones then I would consider this a good option. How long does the download take for you btw? I just tested it and it is <10 secs for me.

[namida]

For me, it's about 3 to 4 mins to download, and about double that to upload.

Restoring the online functionality is on my to-do list, although a relatively low priority. (This is a bit better than when it wasn't even planned to happen, I guess.)

[Minim]

If NL can fetch missing styles automatically from the site in-game when it notices missing ones then I would consider this a good option. How long does the download take for you btw? I just tested it and it is <10 secs for me.

I think I should've used the word "extract" rather than "download" and I apologise for that. Downloading didn't take too long, but extracting did, and that took about 30 minutes.