[FEAT] Re-inroducing Superlemming!

[WillLem]

Re-inroduce Superlemming mode
- The mode will be available as a checkbox option in the Editor: "Activate Superlemming mode"
- Player-side, when active the framerate cap will increase to {?}, and all physics will move at {?}FPS | OR | the fast-forward button will be activated (least favourable option due to varying speeds)

Where I'm up to with this:

Superlemming mode successfully reinroduced!



Archived:

Thinking that it might be worth looking at how Superlemming mode worked in Lemmix, old formats NeoLemmix and SuperLemmini, and also have a look at how Lix handles the variable fast-forward speeds.

Here is a useful document about how the application handles when not processing code. This may come in useful when looking at implementing Superlemming mode.

[Simon]

how Lix handles the variable fast-forward speeds.

The gist is:

    while true {
        if normal speed {
            advance physics only if it's been >= 1/15 of a second since advancing
        }
        else if normal fast-forward {
            advance physics
        }
        else if turbo-fast-forward {
            advance physics 9 times in a row
        }
        draw to screen
        wait, to heed the desired framerate of 60 fps
    }

The code for this is spread across different areas: The loop is the outermost game loop that runs independently from those speed decisions that only make sense while playing a level. If you'd like, we can look at it together while voicechatting in Mumble.

-- Simon

[WillLem]

Interesting reply, Simon. Thanks!

advance physics only if it's been >= 1/15 of a second since advancing

Since advancing what?

else if turbo-fast-forward {
            advance physics 9 times in a row

How does this translate to a particular speed, though? Something could be done 9 times in a row but very slowly.

If you'd like, we can look at it together while voicechatting in Mumble.

This would be amazing! We'll sort out a date & time to do this, I'm sure it would be incredibly useful for me and hopefully at least mildy interesting for you

[Simon]

advance physics only if it's been >= 1/15 of a second since advancing

Since advancing what?

Since the most recent physics update, regardless of what caused that previous update.

else if turbo-fast-forward {
            advance physics 9 times in a row

How does this translate to a particular speed, though? Something could be done 9 times in a row but very slowly.

It isn't guaranteed to translate to a fixed real-time speed. The unlikely extreme case would be when a single physics update takes longer than drawing everything to screen.

Most people will manage 60 fps even at turbo-fast-forward, and then it will translate to 9 * 60 = 540 physics updates per second. When you don't manage 60 fps, it's still faster than anything else, and I hope it's sitll fast enough then to not bore anyone.

Singleplayer Lix isn't a dexterity challenge, and the fast-forwards aren't designed to run at a fixed real-time speed. Their speed merely caps at 60 or 540 physics updates per second. If you need to maintain a minimum speed, you'll have to do something else, e.g., frameskipping, than Lix does.

Multiplayer Lix is only runs at normal speed, never at fast-forward. Normal speed in multiplayer features speedup/slowdown to keep the players largely synched with each other, but that's beyond what I explained in the gist.

date & time to do this, I'm sure it would be incredibly useful

This Sunday, February 19th, in the evening? I can manage any of 16:00 UTC, 17:00 UTC, 18:00 UTC, 19:00 UTC, 20:00 UTC.

-- Simon

[WillLem]

This Sunday, February 19th, in the evening? I can manage any of 16:00 UTC, 17:00 UTC, 18:00 UTC, 19:00 UTC, 20:00 UTC.

That would be great, thanks! Let's start early, I've put 16:00 UTC into my calendar

[Simon]

All right, 16:00 UTC this Sunday!

-- Simon