Dos Lemmings Clone for Windows

Started by EricLang, September 15, 2006, 07:41:03 AM

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ccexplore

Quote from: Jason on December 22, 2006, 06:26:29 AM
How come everyone goes on about the DOS version not being as good when Mike said the DOS and Amiga versions were in development at the same time??

Huh? :huh: :huh: :huh: Unless by "everyone" you mean "DragonsLover", I don't know what makes you think we hate the DOS version.  Especially since most of us have only played the DOS version anyway!

QuoteIn certain circumstances, it runs faster than Lemmings running in Dosbox. Just brilliant. By the way, I like the DOS toolbar in boring old dumb mode. Lol. I agree, the Amiga one is too dark.

Well things like this should be customizable in the future.  If someone want their toolbar to look like the Mac version (say), why not?

PIGSgrame

I've just downloaded the original and ONML remakes and really love them! However, here are some thoughts and points I'd like to tell:


  • On the Lemmix homepage, it is said that "the real levelcode system has to be worked out". You probably know, but just in case you don't: There is a program called Lemmings Code Generator which comes with source code (BASIC) and excellently describes how the levelcodes are calculated.
  • If you stille need the screenshots of the ending sequenzes (after Mayhem30 / Havoc20) you mentioned above, I can provide you with them.
  • There is one small bug I've found: If you are, let's say, in Fun2, then exit to the title screen and select onother rating (let's say Taxing), you start in Taxing2 insted of Taxing1 which would be the original games' behavior.
  • Finally, I've got one question: Are you going to release a remake of Xmas Lemmings also?

Again, thanks for your work, I really enjoyed your remakes!

EricLang

@PIG:

Thanks for the reaction.

- I know the Code Generator. Looked at it briefly.
- The finaly screenshots will be more than welcome!
- I will have a look at the bug you mentioned
- I am going to do the Xmas + Holiday Lemmings as well in the near future.

I have to check if there is music for these Lemmings.

PIGSgrame

Glad to hear that, looking forward to the Xmas release!

There is another thing I found out: Level Wicked2, "Introducing Superlemming", has no super lemming. The speed is as usual, making this level rather simple... Any chance to adapt this to the original game (don't know whether it's double or triple speed or even faster there).

Then, as I promised, here are the screenshots:
- Original Lemmings ending screen:


- More Lemmings ending screen:



In case you need them, here are the ending screens for Xmas Lemmings:
- Xmas Lemmings 1994 after completing the Blitz levels and Xmas Lemmings 1993:


- If you complete the Hail levels in Xmas 1994, a special "cut screen" appears:



I can also upload ending screens of Xmas 1991/1992 and of the demoversions, if you want them.

EricLang

Thanks for the screens! The spacing between the lines was unknown to me.

I am busy with the holiday/christmas clones. Have to check some colors yet.

Finally hope to implement the explosionparticles. Hope to get an answer too from the original makers for the exact algortihm (see other thread http://lemmings.isamedia.org/index.php?topic=132.31)

Also planning to use DirectX or OpenGL for better screen-output. This needs its time though.... No experience at all with it.

EricLang

Finally did some work again.
Uploaded beta 0.6.0.0 of the clones.
Included is now the Holiday 93 clone too.
Scrolling credits added (not exactly cloned yet, but better than nothing). Please report if the animation is slow or "blinking".
I know the final screen of Holiday 93 Lemmings is the wrong one. This has to be fixed yet.
The other final screens have the right text but not as shown below.
I am working on the other clones as well as a lot of other things.
Have fun

ccexplore

Quote from: EricLang on January 15, 2007, 10:08:34 AMFinally hope to implement the explosionparticles. Hope to get an answer too from the original makers for the exact algortihm (see other thread http://lemmings.isamedia.org/index.php?topic=132.31)

Ok, forget Mike and the gang.  I finally got around to disassembling the explosion particle code in DOS Lemmings.

It's actually not really an algorithm; turns out they pre-computed the list of particle positions and simply store that in a giant table, and at run-time the code simply lookup the table to figure out where to draw the particles for each frame of animation.  The lookup table is embedded in the EXE.

The table has enough entry to track up to 80 particles per frame (though obviously as time passes, there are less and less particles remaining on-screen), and there are 51 frames total of particles.

I will provide the table later this weekend.  I might also try to perform some numeric analysis on the particle positions, so that you can use a formula + smaller table to compute particle positions.

PIGSgrame

Thanks for the updates and especially for relasing the Christmas clone! Also great to see that you managed to fix the speed in Wicked2 (Introducing Superlemming).

One thought about cheatcodes: You probably know that the original DOS games had some codes that allowed to jump to the next level using the [5] key on the numpad. These codes are BILLANDTED for the original game, SLAMRACING for Oh No! MORE Lemmings, SNOWFLAKES for Holiday Lemmings 1991 and 1992 and used to be ENTERPRISE in Holiday Lemmings 1993 and 1994, but for these versions, the cheats were removed from the final version. Will you implement this into future releases?

Again, big thanks for your clones, I really love them and hope you keep up your excellent work!

EricLang

I will create the other clones as well in the near future.

Actually the cheatcodes are already implemented in secret. I will clone the behaviour too.

ccexplore, that really would be great!!!
I hope the graphic engine (plain windowed mode) can draw all the pixels in time :)

PIGSgrame

There is another thing I've found: When raising the release rate from 01 to 99 in the original games, this takes exactly 5 seconds. To do the same in the clones, I need exactly 6 seconds. Maybe you can clone the duration, as there are levels where this is important (e.g. Havoc 10, "Flow Control").

Apart from that, you managed to recreate the look and behaviour of the original games very well, far better than the official Windows version of Lemmings! This can be seen in levels where most precise timing is required, such as Crazy 6, or in levels that contain hights Lemmings barely don't survive, such as Mayhem 1. I'm truly impressed! :thumbsup:

[edit]
And one minor issue: The arrows which block bashing into one direction are originally red in this theme:

whereas your clone draws them blue.

Same goes for the Xmas clone starting screen - some parts which should be red (such as the santa caps, see screenshaot below) are blue in your clone.

[/edit]

DragonsLover

Is that will be possible to have "High Performance PCs" graphics instead of "PC Compatibles" ones for the skills bar (or is it already implemented)?
I like dragons! They're the center of my life! I'll never forget them...

ccexplore

Quote from: EricLang on April 17, 2007, 10:52:27 PMccexplore, that really would be great!!!
I hope the graphic engine (plain windowed mode) can draw all the pixels in time :)

Ok, I uploaded the table of particle positions here:

http://it.travisbsd.org/lemmings/lemmingswelt/index.php?cmd=get&file=/explode.dat

This is the raw binary data from the EXE.  For an explanation on on how to use the data to draw the explosion particles, see the accompanying readme:

http://it.travisbsd.org/lemmings/lemmingswelt/index.php?cmd=get&file=/explode_readme.txt

-----------------------------

I wrote a program to test the positions and colors and they work correctly.  I also chart the particle positions through Excel, and the particle trails are indeed parabolas as I expected, so in principle, you could, for each particle, use a simple formula to calculate the positions.  But it takes some effort to go from the positions back to the formulas, so I'm not doing that for now.

EricLang

I'll try and implement it this weekend. Thanks very much in advance.

@Dragon: I will have a look if I have enough information to implement the other skillpanel.

EricLang

Uploaded new beta
http://home.hccnet.nl/ericenzwaan/lemmix/lemmix.htm

# Included the particle-explosions. No speedproblems on my 5-year old computer. If you already have a previous beta version and there are no explosions visible then change one line in the inifile
ShowParticles=1
or just delete the inifile

Thanks again ccexplore, this really is the finishing touch!

# holiday lemmings colors not yet adjusted

Any comments welcome





PIGSgrame

Great to have the explosions implemented now, and they look exactly as in the original games!
Now I'm looking forward to the Xmas 1994 clone and the Xmas music ;)

I found that in your clone's Mayhem 4, there are 50 Lemmings and 80% to be saved (which is rather easy and not really Mayhem-like, I think), where in my original DOS version, there are 80 Lemmings and 100% to be saved (which makes this level noteably more difficult). Is this a mistake or did you use a reference version where this level indeed has 50/80%? Even if it's the latter: Can you change it to 80/100% anyway?

[edit]
It would also be nice to have the time it takes to change the release rate form 01 to 99 cloned, as posted above.
[/edit]