Lemmings DS

Mathew Carr

Lemmings DS Amigalemm Level Convertor - June 2007

lemmings_amigalemm_lvl_to_lds is a commandline utility used to convert Amiga (and Windows) standard 2kbyte .LVL Lemmings (and Oh No! More Lemmings) levels into Lemmings DS v7 .lds levels.

It takes the following parameters:

   lemmings_amigalemm_lvl_to_lds SOURCE-LEVEL-TYPE SOURCE-LEVEL-RATING SOURCE-LEVEL-LOCATION [N]
   
   SOURCE-LEVEL-TYPE is either LEMMINGS or ONML depending on the game from which the level file was originally retrieved.
   
   SOURCE-LEVEL-RATING is the Rating string the level should be given. (This information is not contained in the level file)
   
   SOURCE-LEVEL-LOCATION is the location of the .lvl level file to convert. The converted level will be placed here.
   
   If the optional flag N is specified, then the converted level filename will include the level
   name ripped from the original level description.
   

The program requires that the 'texture_archives', 'windows_lemmings_terrain_images' and the 'graphical_objects' directories be in the same directory as the executable. The information within these directories is used to convert the levels accurately.

The do_everything.bat batch file calls a series of batch files in order to recreate the entire Lemmings and Oh No! More Lemmings level series from a given set of original .lvl files:

• clean_up_final_lds.bat deletes all of the .lds files in the Lemmings/ONML difficulty output directories ready for a fresh conversion.
• replace_missing_levels.bat uses lemmings_replace_bytes to make altered copies of specific Lemmings to fill in the blanks where DMA reused level scenery without creating an alternate level file.

  lemmings_replace_bytes can alter some of the information contained within a level and create a copy of it with different level statistics.

              lemmings_replace_bytes  DESTINATION_LEVEL  SOURCE_LEVEL  NO_LEMMINGS  TO_BE_SAVED  RELEASE_RATE  TIME
                                      NO_TOOL_1  NO_TOOL_2  NO_TOOL_3  NO_TOOL_4  NO_TOOL_5  NO_TOOL_6  NO_TOOL_7  NO_TOOL_8
                                      NEW_LEVEL_NAME
              

  replace_missing_levels.bat uses lemmings_replace_bytes to make altered copies of specific Lemmings to fill in the blanks where DMA reused level scenery without creating an alternate level file.

  The simplest example of this is in the 'We all fall down' series of levels: There are four 'We all fall down' levels each with identical scenery, name, time and release rate. They only differ in the number of lemmings and the number of Diggers you have. replace_missing_levels.bat duplicates this level and alters the statistics accordingly.

  If you open replace_missing_levels.bat, you can see which levels have been duplicated and altered, and what statistics they have been given.

• convert_all_levels.bat creates a complete Lemmings DS copy of all the Lemmings and Oh No! More Lemmings levels by converting all of the .lvl files it can find in the various difficulty directories into Lemmings DS .lds files, and then copying the specially prepared 'unique' levels from another directory.
• individually_copy_damaged_levels.bat copies preprepared .lds levels from the 'individually_fixed_levels' directory into the difficulty output directories. This step is necessary because certain levels do not convert cleanly due to differences between the two level formats.
  This does mean that if and when the level format is updated, the levels will have to be refixed and the 'individually_fixed_levels' directory updated.