Converting .lvl to .nxlv (for NeoLemmix & SuperLemmix)

[WillLem]

So, you want to convert your old (or new!) pack of .lvl levels to new-formats NeoLemmix, namely the .nxlv format, so that they can be played in NeoLemmix or SuperLemmix.

There are a number of ways this can be achieved, but here's the way I do it. Everything you need for this method is attached to or linked in this post:

1. Create a backup of the .lvl levels that you want to convert

2. Create a New Folder on your Desktop and name it "Converted Levels" (or something you'll remember later)

3. Move all of the .lvl files that you want to convert into the "Converted Levels" folder

4. Open the NeoLemmix 12.9.4 directory (download it here if you don't already have it)

5. Move your "Converted Levels" folder from the desktop to the "levels" folder in the NeoLemmix 12.9.4 directory

6. Open NeoLemmix 12.9.4

7. Press F2 to navigate to the level select menu and select "Converted Levels" from the list

8. Press OK. This should load the first level, so hit Esc to back out to the NeoLemmix menu (you may get a "Could not find logo.png" error - just ignore this and hit "OK")

9. Once you're at the main NeoLemmix menu with your levels loaded, hit F8. This will run the Cleanse Levels process. You'll know it's happening if the scroller lemmings stop moving. Once the process is complete, a dialog box will pop up to let you know it's completed, and if there were any errors (hopefully there aren't! See troubleshooting if you're having problems).

10. Go to the NeoLemmix 12.9.4 directory - there should new be a folder in there titled "Cleanse". Inside this folder will be a folder containing your levels in both .lvl and .nxlv format! You're done

11. (Optional) If you don't want to keep the .lvl copies, you can use this purpose-built DuplicateDeleter to find and delete any .lvl files that have a corresponding .nxlv file in the same folder - this can save some time if you have a lot of them (particularly if not all levels were converted successfully)! N.B. This program only moves the files to the recycle bin, so they can be recovered later if necessary.

[WillLem]

Troubleshooting

If you get errors, here are some things to check:

1. Make sure that all style pieces (object, terrain, etc) in your original levels have a corresponding piece in the NeoLemmix 12.9.4 styles folder

2. If you need a quick way to isolate any files that weren't successfully converted, I'd recommend running this DuplicateDeleter on the folder containing the Cleansed levels - this will leave only the successfully-converted .nxlv files and the un-converted .lvl files together in the same folder for easy reference and access

[namida]

You can also use the same process on 12.9, or a similar one (the only change is that Cleanse Levels is now a button in the level select menu, rather than a "secret" hotkey on the title screen) on more recent versions, to update existing NXLV files to the latest version of the format. NL itself doesn't mind older versions of the NXLV format, but the editor is not so tolerant of them so this can be useful for that.

It's also possible to use a similar process on 12.9 (this will NOT work on newer versions) to mass-convert (Super)Lemmini or Lemmins levels; the only difference is that you need to create a levels.nxmi file in your temporary pack as NL doesn't automatically look for INI or LEV files; it only automatically looks for NXLV or (prior to 12.10) LVL files.

I've attached a graphic I just made of exactly what formats can be loaded by which NL versions. I forgot to note versions between 1.47 and 10.10, but those have the same compatibility as 10.10 ~ 10.13. "DOS compatible" refers to of course DOS itself, but also Amiga, Genesis, WinLemm... basically, if a version reproduces DOS/Amiga pretty accurately in terms of graphics and level layouts (at least on the levels that it has in common with them), it probably falls under "DOS compatible" (once decompressed if necessary).