NeoLemmix: Other challenges

[Proxima]

This topic collects results for pass/fail challenges, i.e. ones where we ask "Which levels are possible with a given condition?" and don't have a numerical component to the results. These tend to give rise to shorter topics than numerical challenges, simply because there is no room for improving on existing results, so after a discussion on discord we decided to combine them into a single topic. If any of them become popular enough to move on to other packs beyond Redux, we can split them out into separate topics, but for now, we'll combine them and see how it goes.

Links to pass/fail challenges for DOS Lemmings

Which levels are possible assigning skills to only one lemming?
Which levels are possible with one skill per lemming?
Which levels are possible with one of each (classic 8) skill?
Which levels are possible only assigning skills to lemmings facing in one direction?
Which levels are possible with no lemmings turning around?
Which levels are possible with undamaged terrain?
Which levels are possible with fixed RR 99?

For now, I am excluding the following challenges:
* Which levels are possible to solve in under one minute? -- This is tracked in Fastest Time Records.
* Which levels are possible with one type of skill? -- For NeoLemmix, this is tracked in Fewest different kinds of skill.
* Which levels are possible with destruction only? -- This challenge was proposed but never really got off the ground.
* Which levels are possible with all skills used? -- Same applies to this one.
* Which levels are possible without changing the release rate? -- All levels that were impossible for this challenge were only impossible because of time. Redux has removed the time limit on 90% of levels, so the challenge is no longer interesting. (For the record, "Flow Control" is possible without changing the release rate, both in DOS Lemmings and NeoLemmix.)

And now, on to the results!

Assign skills to only one lemming - Lemmings Redux

Gentle: All except 3, 4, 6, 28, 30, 32
Quirky: All except 2, 3, 10, 13, 15, 20, 21, 24, 28, 29
Zany: 1-4, 6-10, 16, 18-21, 24-26, 28, 31
Manic: 7, 13, 16-19, 21, 22, 24*, 25, 29, 30
Lunatic: 1, 9, 15, 25, 30

* theoretical but not confirmed yet

One skill per lemming - Lemmings Redux

Gentle: All except 4, 18, 23, 28, 29, 32
Quirky: 1, 2, 4, 11-13, 16, 19-21, 25, 27, 28, 32
Zany: 2-10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 30
Manic: 15, 17, 18, 28
Lunatic: 2, 6, 7, 11, 25, 31

One of each skill - Lemmings Redux

Gentle: 1-12, 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 27, 30, 32
Quirky: 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, 20, 25
Zany: 6, 7, 9-11, 19, 20, 24, 28, 30
Manic: 6, 7, 12, 17, 20-25, 29
Lunatic: 1, 3, 4, 21, 25, 27, 31, 32

Undamaged levels - Lemmings Redux

Gentle: 2, 3, 7, 9-14, 19, 20, 22, 24, 27, 30, 32
Quirky: 8, 16, 18, 20, 26, 32
Zany: 5, 10, 12, 16, 21, 24, 25, 30
Manic: 2, 7, 14, 23, 30-32
Lunatic: 10, 11, 18, 26, 27

Fixed RR 99 - Lemmings Redux

Gentle: All levels solved!
Quirky: All except 2, 13, 28
Zany: All except 27 and 30
Manic: Al except 9
Lunatic: All except 3, 5, 12, 13, 20

[Minim]

Nice idea! We never really followed the pass/fail (Or maybe we could call it fixed) challenges; therefore they're the ones that fall towards the bottom the quickest because it's either yes/no. To collaborate the more interesting ones together is a brainwave indeed in terms of keeping the board tidy. I'll keep an eye on these challenge topics, maybe except for the one I'm about to explain below.

The only dilemma however is the Classic 8 skills challenge. Apart from "It's Hero Time" somebody will need to convert these levels and upload an attachment upon request. Redux is a huge pack and there could be a case of "Repeat Level syndrome". Maybe select some of namida's LP packs as an example? Most of his levels are short and compact and could make good one-per-skill levels. You'll also need to watch out for long/multiple gaps, and bottom-to-top levels, as these are usually regarded as impossible.

[namida]

Apart from "It's Hero Time" somebody will need to convert these levels and upload an attachment upon request. Redux is a huge pack and there could be a case of "Repeat Level syndrome".

1. Download Notepad++ (or any other text editor with a "Replace In Files" function + regular expressions support).
2. Create a copy of the pack you want to make this change to.
3. Modify the info.nxmi to add a "(1 of each)" or whatever note to the title, so you don't get confused about which one is the normal one vs modified one in the Level Select menu.
4. Run the following Replace In Files on the pattern "*.nxlv", making sure to set the correct path, enable the "Include subfolders" option, and enable the "Regular expressions" and ". matches newline" settings:
From: \$SKILLSET.*?\$END
To: \$SKILLSET\nCLIMBER 1\nFLOATER 1\nBOMBER 1\nBLOCKER 1\nBUILDER 1\nBASHER 1\nMINER 1\nDIGGER 1\n\$END

This will change the skillset of all levels in the pack to 1 of each traditional skill.

[Minim]

OK, just downloaded the latest Notepad++ version today, but because this is new to me, I haven't got the hang of it. I was able to run and open up the document, but couldn't find anything to configure the "Include subfolders", "Regular expressions" and ". matches newline" buttons.

Maybe a video tutorial will help me with this? I'll keep trying.

[namida]

Sure, here you go: https://youtu.be/qYYmd9XQnQQ

The first 12 minutes show you how to do it, while explaining in some depth how it works - which is useful if you want to understand the general idea so you can expand it to other things (like doing your own custom skillsets instead of just copy-pasting a formula that someone else gives).

Alternatively, if you just want a crash course on "where exactly do I enter the settings I was given", start at the 12 minute mark. (Even if you watch the full video, it's probably useful to watch the post-12-min section just as a quick recap of "here's everything that's actually part of the "how to do it" rather than just "why does this work" stuff".)

[Minim]

OK, I saw the video this morning and managed it! I nearly confused the front slash for the back slash as you wrote slash in. Also, a level could've been tested on the NeoLemmix player itself as well as the document, but thanks for the help.

The 1 of each pack has been uploaded for anyone interested.

[namida]

I've made a tool which makes this even easier: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5382.0

Also, a level could've been tested on the NeoLemmix player itself as well as the document, but thanks for the help.

I don't see this as necessary. I can already tell in the text editor that the correct change has occurred, and the viewer knows what should happen; why do I need to specifically add to the video to show it? I could understand this if it wasn't clear exactly what I was describing, but I think this is a simple enough case that it's not needed.

[Proxima]

Here's the modified version of Lemmings Redux for the 1-of-each challenge, based on today's update to the Redux pack.

[Proxima]

We did the 1-of-each challenge in discord yesterday. Here are my interesting replays from the session.

Gentle 14 "CindyLand" (namida had done this in a previous challenge, but it was new to me)
Quirky 1 "PoP YoR ToP!!!"
Quirky 6 "Just a Quicky"
Manic 24 "The race against cliches" (tricky to get the timing of releasing the crowd, but I happened to get it first try and hit the time limit exactly )
Manic 29 "Just a Minute (Part Two)"

[namida]

My interesting replays from that. I personally haven't looked at Lunatic yet.

EDIT: Had a look through and all the remaining ones seemed clearly not doable.

[Minim]

Right, I've gone all the way through the "One skill per lemming" challenge. Here are my final results. Most results are attached with a replay in a zip file, with comments on some of the levels.

Gentle: 1-3, 5-17, 19-22, 24, 26-27, 30-31.
Quirky: 1-2, 4, 11-13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 25, 27, 28, 32
Zany: 2-10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 30
Manic: 15, 17, 18, 28.
Lunatic: 2, 6, 7, 11, 25, 31

Quirky 1 (Pop yor top) is similar to Gronkling's time solution, just swapped roles for the last bomber.

Quirky 13 (Haunted botanical garden) is simply the 2-skill method.

Quirky 28 (Speed Trap) is the same as the published fastest time solution.

Quirky 31 (Cascade) is out of reach because of NL's deadly ceiling.

Zany 22 (Snow Joke) was an unexpected success. I used the RR's of the fastest time solution and just bashed under the one-way to save the climbers. I was lucky that the next basher was able to get through the ice blaster and stop just before it bashes the tall clump of snow towards death. I had plenty of builders left for them to do the crucial last part.

"Poles Apart" and "Lunch Time" are not possible thanks to different digger mechanics for five pixel walls.

Manic 28 is easy as the main solution doesn't involve run-off areas.

Lunatic 31 (Which is literally the level that requires action from several lems) is the same as the published 8-digger solution.

[Proxima]

Nice work!

Here's Gentle 25, The Crankshaft. It does look like remaining levels in Gentle are impossible for obvious reasons.

[Minim]

Thanks, I also had one-lem results for Manic and Lunatic, and with no improvements it appears that I did far worse than you. Nice job on Manic 7, 21 and 22 though. Do you have replays for those?

The last rank is tough! I solved only five levels so far in Lunatic: 1, 9, 15, 25, 30 (Replays for last three)

Unfortunately Lunatic 2 and 28 are impossible solutions to copy from DOS thanks to differing jump mechanics.

[Minim]

So, after over a week and a half, I've been doing the "directional" challenges for both ways. So far I've done all the ranks for the left side, but just the first four for the right. Here are my results so far. I'll post some of my replays in a bundle soon.

Gentle
L: 1, 4, 6, 8-17, 19-21, 23, 27, 29
R: 1, 2, 4-14, 16-22, 24-26, 28, 31

Quirky
L: 1, 6, 8, 14, 23.
R: 1-5, 8, 10-12, 15, 16, 19, 20, 25, 27-31,

Zany
L: 4, 6, 7, 13, 20.
R: 1, 3, 6-8, 10-20, 22-27, 29-32.

Manic
L: 1, 7, 18, 24
R: 3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14-17, 19, 21, 22, 27-29,

Lunatic
L: 2, 6, 12, 16, 17.

Zany 20 Left is the same as the published Skills per lemming solution. Manic 14 Right, Zany 1 Right, Manic 1 Left, Quirky 28 Right and Quirky 4 Right are the fastest time solutions. Manic 24 Left is similar too, but swapped a right builder for a left builder basher. Quirky 19 right is similar too, but has a basher left over for me to bash through the wall trap. Hard to believe I solved more Lunatic than Manic levels going left. Zany 5 right needs verifying, as it's a tedious challenge. On the plus side, "Down the tube" is now possible. Have a guess what it is...

The one that also needs verifying (And that is close to solving) is Lunatic 4 right, a.k.a. the famous Fun 4 remake. I jigged around with the release rate to get everyone through the miner, now it looks like I'll need another miner to break the stair without anyone else in the crowd falling with him. Here's the replay of my progress so far.

[WillLem]

I'm redoing Don't Turn Around! but with the condition that under no circumstances can any lemming face any direction other than that in which they originally spawn. A few of the other versions of this challenge that I've seen allow turning in digger pits, and Proxima's version allows lemmings to turn a maximum of 1 time.

So, here are my results for No Turning At All:

Unless noted (in brackets), all levels are solved with 100% saved.
Results in grey = Blockers used for crowd control (*see spoiler below for details).

Lemmings
Fun: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 (-5), 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
Tricky: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13 (-10), 14, 15 (-3), 17 (-2), 18 (-1), 19, 20 (-1), 21, 24 (-3), 25 (-90), 26, 28, 29, 30 (-1)
Taxing: 1, 5 (-2), 10, 12, 14 (-1), 15, 19 (-5), 20, 22, 25 (-8), 27 (-22), 29 (-3), 30
Mayhem: 4, 8 (-4), 13, (14?), 17, 22, (26?)

Oh No! More Lemmings
Tame:
Crazy:
Wild:
Wicked:
Havoc:

Redux
Gentle:
Quirky:
Zany:
Manic:
Lunatic:

*Blocker trick used for crowd control

For levels that are greyed out, the following trick (or a variant thereof) has been used to make the DTA solution possible:

Assign a Digger, then turn him into a Blocker as soon as the pit is deep enough that lemmings cannot step out of it. Ensure that the oncoming lemmings can drop into the pit such that they land directly above or after the Blocker. They will be contained between the Blocker and the wall of the pit, continuously Walking in the direction they were originally facing.

NOTE: This trick is only possible in NeoLemmix.