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saving levels in native format

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 4:17 pm
by Martijn
I had an idea: wouldn't it be nice if levels (level collections) were saved in their native formats when you select another engine in the level editor? for instance, that supaplex levels are saved as *.dat files (or *.l00) and emerald mine levels are stored in the way the emc level files look like?

currently, all levels, regardless of which game engine you select, are saved in the 'RnD way'. it would be a cool option if this were changed!

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 5:19 pm
by Holger
You are absolutely right that this would be a great option in R'n'D! The main reason why this is currently not supported from the level editor is because some of these native level formats only support a fixed or limited playfield size. Of course, it would be possible to crop levels that are too large for a native level format, and warn the user before doing that.

So in general, this is a very good idea, and it would allow to use the level editor of R'n'D to create native levels that then could be played in the original game (for example, to do some tests in the original game engine).

For Supaplex levels, this is already possible using a hidden cheat: Create and save your SP level as usual (which saves it as a R'n'D level) and go back to the main menu. Optionally: Play the level and record a tape for it. Back in the main menu, blindly type ":save-native-level" or just ":snl". This will save your SP level together with the tape as a Supaplex demo in a Supaplex style "*.sp" file in the current level set directory (for example, as file "005.sp").

A functionality to also save other native levels (like Emerald Mine, Diamond Caves or Sokoban levels) would be similarly possible, but does not exist yet.

Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:46 am
by Martijn
OK great! So you say you like the idea, does that mean that it's on your TODO-list for the future, to select this just in the level editor (instead of using codes)? :P

Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:05 pm
by Holger
Yes, I think this belongs to the level editor (or maybe to the setup menu, something like "save native levels: on/off").

Even if this would be accessible from the level editor, the "cheat" would still be useful to store the tape/demo part of a native SP level.