EMC levelsets use incorrect artwork definitions

[Algebroot]

When playing EMC levelsets, I've noticed a few issues with the artwork:
• Graphics are defined to EM Exit, but sounds are defined to RND Exit.
• There are only two kinds of Steel Wall defined. (EMC uses 3)
• There is only one kind of Slippery Wall defined. (EMC uses 2)
• Even though Letter "Copyright" is defined, it's never actually used. (Levelsets instead use Wall 8)
• The Android's diagonal movement graphics are in reverse order. (It's "entering space" animation is its "leaving space" animation, and vice-versa)

[Holger]

I've done some tests with the Emerald Mine Club level collection (version 2.1.1, which is the one you can download from the "Levels & Artwork" page) using the very first level set (Ace Mine 1) and the level editor (to directly test the issues), and I have some questions about your observations:

• Graphics are defined to EM Exit, but sounds are defined to RND Exit.

As far as I can see, I can confirm this!

• There are only two kinds of Steel Wall defined. (EMC uses 3)

The level editor offers four types of EMC style steel wall -- where did you see two kinds of steel wall where it should be three?

• There is only one kind of Slippery Wall defined. (EMC uses 2)

Yes, I know of only one kind of slippery wall -- do you have an example of an EMC level set and level where there are two different kinds of slippery wall?

• Even though Letter "Copyright" is defined, it's never actually used. (Levelsets instead use Wall

Do you have an example of an EMC level set and level which uses the copyright sign in the original game? Then I can check it in R'n'D.

• The Android's diagonal movement graphics are in reverse order. (It's "entering space" animation is its "leaving space" animation, and vice-versa)

I've just checked this with an android element placed into the first level of "Ace Mine 1", and the animations for diagonal movement seem to be correct. Which level set and level in the EMC level collection can I check where you have noticed this issue?

Hope to get all those issues fixed soon!

[TheOnyxGuy]

• The Android's diagonal movement graphics are in reverse order. (It's "entering space" animation is its "leaving space" animation, and vice-versa)

That's actually true, some of levelsets has android shrinking and growing animations swapped. And I mean swapped because they are literally swapped: when android moves, for example, to the up left, shrinking animation is growing from the bottom right corner and growing animation is shrinking to the top left.
One of these levelsets with that error is Amiga Mine.

Honeycam 2018-09-17 04-12-52.gif (166.35 KiB) Viewed 24916 times

Funny, though, "Emerald Mine Club (ECS)" gfx set has this issue too.

ckzh.png (20.49 KiB) Viewed 24916 times

[Holger]

Oops?!

That's exactly what I expected to see when I read Algebroot's initial post, but I just wasn't able to reproduce it. So thanks a lot for a bit more detail on this issue (and the example animation and image) -- I will go and check it with the level sets you mentioned!

BTW: Algebroot, could you please give some hints on some of your other findings as well?

[Holger]

OK, I've debugged and fixed this case (which indeed existed in two different artwork sets). And found another (minor) bug which affects "Forgotten Mine 2" (which used the same (AGA) artwork for ECS and AGA mode).

I hope I will manage to release an update to the Emerald Mine Club collection soon ... which will most probably then contain some more EMC disks which were missing in the currently released package.

[TheOnyxGuy]

It would be also better to convert all PCX files to PNGs after the support of more image file types was added to optimize the size of EMC collection weight. The size of archive will be 3 times lighter than the original one. I just converted "emc_objects.pcx" and "emc_objects.png" and compared their sizes: 55,4Kb and 19,5Kb. Same goes for "emc_players": 11,4Kb and 3,58Kb and others.

[Holger]

Good point -- didn't think of that!

This should be easy to accomplish when I update the EMC collection, as all stuff is automatically created by a script anyway.

Thank you for reminding me of this issue!

[Holger]

OK, I've changed the image format for the EMC collection from PCX to PNG.

Interesting result: This increases the size of the resulting 7zip archive (from ~20 MB to ~25 MB)! The reason is apparently that re-compressing already compressed files with a strong compression algorithm (like 7zip's LZMA algorithm) gives better results for weakly compressed files (like PCX files, using a simple RLE compression) than for files using a much better compression algorithm (like PNG files).

However, the size of the uncompressed directory of the EMC collection will in fact decrease when using PNG instead of PCX: From around 300 MB to around 270 MB.

Summary: Switching from PCX to PNG will slightly improve the disk usage, but will in fact hurt the archive size.

[filbo]

I would say that in 2018, bandwidth is generally more precious than local disk space, so this is probably the wrong tradeoff...

[Algebroot]

I apologize for the late response.

The level editor offers four types of EMC style steel wall -- where did you see two kinds of steel wall where it should be three?

Tool Disk V6.03, Level 5.

Yes, I know of only one kind of slippery wall -- do you have an example of an EMC level set and level where there are two different kinds of slippery wall?

Tool Disk V6.03, Level 6.

Do you have an example of an EMC level set and level which uses the copyright sign in the original game? Then I can check it in R'n'D.

I meant that some graphics sets seem to have graphics for wall #8 mistakenly defined to the copyright symbol. Young Denmine 3, Level 8 has a lot of usage of wall #8, which here uses the default RND graphics. Checking in the editor shows that there is a wall where the copyright symbol should be, indicating it may have actually been intended for wall #8 even though it's used for the copyright symbol.

I have also found something else: The graphics for the apostrophe are mistakenly defined to the quotation mark. (Tool Disk V6.03, Level eight)

There may be other graphics sets that share similar issues to any of the ones listed above.

[Holger]

Thanks a lot, Algebroot, for the details and examples you provided regarding these issues of EMC level sets!

I've recently done quite some work on incorrect artwork of converted EMC level sets (well, it's more about authenticity of the graphics that should ideally be identical to the graphics of the original EMC disks), with good progress, so the release of a completely reworked EMC level collection is coming nearer (more level sets, better conversion of graphics sets, highly improved sound quality, offering two alternative sound sets which either do or do not emulate the low-pass filter of historic Amiga models for the true sound experience, plus the already released, more compatible EMC game engine which makes many levels solvable which did not work before, which should all result in a much improver overall EMC playing experience).

I will check out your examples with the latest R'n'D version and my latest working version of the upcoming new EMC collection!