I test my battle levels online often, edit them after and as some of you may know when you ctrl+f4 downloads the first instance of the level which then gives you some half-made fak or something even just empty space with one polygon
so i made two zips, one with fast made bad levels (mostly) and one with maybe decent ones, j2ffm first finish levels are nice at least and some others in maybeok.zip
this is not nearly all levels i made, just the ones i had in folder currently, little over 300 levels total
download here: http://www.jappe2.net/elma/mylevs/ i try to remember to update those but not very often i think, 6months to 1 year most likely
FinMan wrote:Ye, have the levels locked in the first place. Not that hard, really.
Think mans are doing it on purpose? Or that they should just stop making mistakes? O wait, this is probabli one of those jokes I'm missing. I think it's very ez to make mistake occasionally if hev to do sach comand twice for every balle. I just test in internal editor like kuchi.
then again i don't know anything maybe easier not to think abouut alöl things thought than not things thought ... or something..=?
Dunno, I'm just very used to checking shift-F3 before entering a lev I'm making every single time. I guess that's what FM means with "it's not that hard". Of course mistakes can still be made, I occasionally make them too, but you can cut them down significantly if you pay some attention. And well, it's quite a pain in the ass for moderators to lock/unlock big amounts of levels so the right ones are downloadable, even though at least I will gladly do it.
Team MiE - MiE Cup 1
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Well, I don't mean to be mean or anything. Of course it's fine if it is just something that happens every now and then. Just that a topic like this shouldn't really require its own topic, for the reason it should only happen once in a while, really. I am fine with getting the level through the site every now and then but it really is frustrating to have to do that every level, especially when it's such an easy job to avoid these things.
Doing this on almost all levels (no idea how frequently jappe does it but i'd guess often because this topic was made) just doesn't seem right from players who have been a part of the scene for a decade. They should know the stuff or be able to get to know the stuff in no time.
I wish there was a way to lock levels permanently and maybe lock your levels (i.e. levels you uploaded). That would make all this so much easier, unfortunately none of us found a convenient way to do this. Though, I will also gladly lock the wrong versions. Note that if you want your wronglevelnumber.lev unlocked, it's much easier to lock the wrong versions if you tell which level ID is the correct one btw.
Lousku: I am sorry if you or anyone else understood me that way. I didn't mean to call anyone stupid or anything, just wasn't in the mood to explain all these (basic) things I guess. Also should have explained my thoughts behind the thoughts better. My mistake.
It may not work perfectly, but since it's pretty much impossible to come up with a perfect solution that fits all, and also since we don't really have the option of actually making any changes to how it works, I can only urge people to try and work with the system, so we get the best experience possible.
Since we're on the topic, for anyone reading who might not be aware: If you turn on lock levels before playing a new level it won't be available for anyone to download (unless they have it through other means) and will be unlocked when (if ever) you or anyone else play it with locking off. You can turn on locking in eolconf or with shift+f3. If you're in the progress of making a level and testing it (like if you use an external editor) best to turn locking on or play it through editor (or offline).
Sorry for hijacking thread that jappe maybe didn't mean to be about this, but there tend to be many who don't know of the features of EOL, so taking any opportunity.
kuchitsu wrote:But it will unlock by itself when the battle starts? Or what? Why are battle levels sometimes locked?
You need to unlock the level (with shift+F3) before the battle starts, when the final version of the level is ready. Basically, every time you make a change in the level and enter the level, a different version is saved into the database. Shift+F3 downloads the first unlocked version of the level that is saved. Therefore, when only the final version of the level is unlocked, there are no problems, and if there are no unlocked versions of the level, nobody can download the level.
Team MiE - MiE Cup 1
Prestigious member of 14.6x Tutor14 club
Perfect solution would be to disable the automatic upload of all levels you enter and only upload those that are battled. After all, pretty much all levels you make are intended to be battled, aren't they? If not, why would you need anyone else to download it?
kuchitsu wrote:But it's farer from arrows than enter((
I agree. If you need to use your left hand to press a key on the left side of the keyboard (ctrl for turn in my case) + press two or three arrows with your right hand, then the only way to press P at the same time is to use your nose, which is not very convenient.
I hate locking/unlocking levels, and int editor doesn't work for me with ddraw, so I've made 3 separate folders:
- ElmaOnline: norm folder, for playing eol.
- ElmaOffline: this is only for testing ballelevs, basically a duplicate of ElmaOnline folder, but with offline setting in eolconf. So, I never have to use eolconf if I want to switch to offline mode, I just go to this directory and start Elma from here. With ddraw, it's even possible to run an instance of eol.exe in online mode and another one in offline, simultaneously. I test my latest lev here until it's completed. Then I copy it into the next folder,
- ElmaOnline_battles, which contains nothing but the final versions of my battle levs. I load them to startballe.exe from here.
iCS wrote:I hate locking/unlocking levels, and int editor doesn't work for me with ddraw, so I've made 3 separate folders:
- ElmaOnline: norm folder, for playing eol.
- ElmaOffline: this is only for testing ballelevs, basically a duplicate of ElmaOnline folder, but with offline setting in eolconf. So, I never have to use eolconf if I want to switch to offline mode, I just go to this directory and start Elma from here. With ddraw, it's even possible to run an instance of eol.exe in online mode and another one in offline, simultaneously. I test my latest lev here until it's completed. Then I copy it into the next folder,
- ElmaOnline_battles, which contains nothing but the final versions of my battle levs. I load them to startballe.exe from here.
Ha, mine is somewhat the same, just without ElmaOnline_battles. The ElmaOnline folder contains my final levs and it's norm folder for playing EOL. I have ElmaOffline for testing.
Jappe2 and I did some testing tonight and confirmed something I was told the other day (by fm(?)). There seems to be a lot of confusion about locking levs and then starting them as battles, so I thought it was a good idea to clear it up. We learned a few things:
1. If you enter a lev while in locked mode (shift+f3) other mans can't download it.
2. If you start a battle while in locked mode everybody can download without issue.
3. If you enter the level while it's in the queue, it will get locked and people won't be able to download it.
I can't really see a reason not to lock levels now, just stay away from the queued ones.
EDIT: I'm assuming this is common knowledge to many, but to many others (including me) it has been the source of much confusion.
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
The step 3. is not consistent at all, no idea what happens there and why. Most probably it is to prevent people from being able to play the levels even beforehand even if the designer wants to play it before the battle started, and there just happens to be a bug that locks it for the duration of the battle too.
FinMan wrote:The step 3. is not consistent at all, no idea what happens there and why. Most probably it is to prevent people from being able to play the levels even beforehand even if the designer wants to play it before the battle started, and there just happens to be a bug that locks it for the duration of the battle too.
It's probably related to 1, where it's overwritten in the database with a "locked" tag or some such while in queue. The starter has to overwrite it again while not locked to fix it. Lazy coding most likely. It's not really a big issue, but it's nice to be aware of it.
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
When it comes to my balle levels. I never lock anything. I just make sure to test them in editor untill they are done, then I add to queue. While they are in queue, I start playing them online, but not always. And I have never had any problems with that my balle levels could not be downloaded by others.
Sometimes I make levels halfway and forget about them, and accydently play em online. Then I go and copy the level and rename to the next number in the pack and finish it. Just to make sure that the right verson of the level will be available. The halfinished level will forever be half finished.
Still I also make mistakes. So really hard to avoid it completely. Mans are not focused all teh time...
[13:22:24] (bEAT) blaz super pro
[17:06:15] (Ramone) ok I suckj. blaz rules
BlaZtek wrote:When it comes to my balle levels. I never lock anything. I just make sure to test them in editor untill they are done, then I add to queue. While they are in queue, I start playing them online, but not always. And I have never had any problems with that my balle levels could not be downloaded by others.
Sometimes I make levels halfway and forget about them, and accydently play em online. Then I go and copy the level and rename to the next number in the pack and finish it. Just to make sure that the right verson of the level will be available. The halfinished level will forever be half finished.
Still I also make mistakes. So really hard to avoid it completely. Mans are not focused all teh time...
We didn't test this, but I'm fairly certain it will be downloadable even if you enter the lev while in queue, as long as you don't have locked levs.
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
If I already fucked up, how do I make the battle lev downloadable again? Is it possible to fix it before the battle begins? Or do I need for the battle to start, do the Shift+F3 thing and then enter the level or something?
kuchitsu wrote:If I already fucked up, how do I make the battle lev downloadable again? Is it possible to fix it before the battle begins? Or do I need for the battle to start, do the Shift+F3 thing and then enter the level or something?
Seems like we should have done more testing You could try unlocking levs and entering lev while in queue, dunno if that helps at all. If that fails and the battle starts with locked lev, it's just a matter of relogging, making sure levs are unlocked, and entering ballelev. That should unlock it.
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
Ruben wrote:Seems like we should have done more testing :mrgreen: You could try unlocking levs and entering lev while in queue, dunno if that helps at all. If that fails and the battle starts with locked lev, it's just a matter of relogging, making sure levs are unlocked, and entering ballelev. That should unlock it.
No need to relog, just switch locking off and re-enter the lev.
then again i don't know anything maybe easier not to think abouut alöl things thought than not things thought ... or something..=?
I always enter my levels before they start (to be able to feast my eyes on them and admire the view, to be ready to spy etc.), so I never lock them and there's sometimes like 20 different versions. Seems like a lot of space could be saved if this got fixed.
My style: playtest levs locked, unlock when lev finished, add balle, enter the lev again while making sure unlock is on.
Doesn't spam versions to database and lev is always downloadable (unless make human error, happens lajk once per 100 balles).
Team MiE - MiE Cup 1
Prestigious member of 14.6x Tutor14 club
just press P and play in editor, ez. doing it since i remember, no problems with wrong versions EVER.
never understood why people prefer to
1. exit editor
2. press up arrow 5 times
3. press enter 2 times
4. search for level in the list
5. then go back to editor with 10 keypresses to move vertex by one pixel
instead of simple
1. press P
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
(Devann) u are the master of your own universe. remember that
I think they're talking about using external editors.
When I use an external editor, I test in internal editor too. So the keypresses are x, enter, enter, p. Also very quick to do. If I test outside editor, I'm way too likely to forget locking. A lot of my earlier EOL levs hev many versions in database :/
then again i don't know anything maybe easier not to think abouut alöl things thought than not things thought ... or something..=?
jblaze wrote:just press P and play in editor, ez. doing it since i remember, no problems with wrong versions EVER.
never understood why people prefer to
1. exit editor
2. press up arrow 5 times
3. press enter 2 times
4. search for level in the list
5. then go back to editor with 10 keypresses to move vertex by one pixel
instead of simple
1. press P
1) F1 + enter doesn't work in editor, so I can't eye test/view the level without playing.
2) When the level is finished, I often want to wait in the level before it starts so that I'm ready to spy.
3) I don't need to press up arrow twenty times in a row because here in the west we have keyboards with a "Page up" button.
my problem is most oftenly i make a lev untest then decide ye it's finished but find potential in it while just playing teh for fun so i go back to editor make it better somehow then boom wrong level in db if ctrl + F4 but if anyone wants my levs can just write pm or something i give right versions
bEAT) blaz super pro
Ramone) ok I suckj. blaz rules
You could try unlocking levs and entering lev while in queue, dunno if that helps at all. If that fails and the battle starts with locked lev, it's just a matter of relogging, making sure levs are unlocked, and entering ballelev. That should unlock it.
