54 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
54 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
# TestLevel (world 9)
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The game has a hidden ninth world, **TestLevel**, with 49 chapter slots – but the retail CD ships
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no data for it. It is the natural home for custom levels: originals stay untouched, and the world
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map can reach it once a save game unlocks it. Every LlamaMod level mod, the Test World and the
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Alligator Arena are installed as `wads/T1L9M0nn.wad` with a loading picture `T19n.COR`.
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Code: [`save/TestLevelChapters.java`](../../src/main/java/com/eliasmueller/llamamod/save/TestLevelChapters.java),
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lab notes: [notes/testlevel-chapters.md](../../notes/testlevel-chapters.md).
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## Use chapters 1 and 32–49
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The game keeps per-chapter coin counters and flag bytes in arrays that only have rows for worlds
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0–8 (index `world · 6 + chapter`). For world 9, chapters 2–31 land on **other game variables**:
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| Chapter | What its coin counter / flag byte overwrites |
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|---|---|
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| 1 | nothing (free) |
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| 5–8 | the last played tribe/world/chapter/map |
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| 6–9 (flags) | the **language index** |
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| 9 | the **furthest progress** – the world map breaks |
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| 10–31 | options, HUD state and tables used by the original levels |
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| **32–49** | tables of tribes 2 and 3, which the game never uses – free |
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So custom levels use **chapter 1 or 32–49**. The editor only offers these, new projects take the
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first free chapter from 32, and old projects on other chapters are moved automatically.
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LlamaMod additionally relocates both arrays to a 128-entry buffer in unused space of `groove.exe`
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(base exe patch, revision 2), so even picking an empty chapter on the world map is harmless with
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LlamaMod's executable. Mods still keep to 1 and 32–49 so they also work with an unpatched exe.
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Save games are unaffected: a save after finishing a normal or TestLevel chapter is byte-identical
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with and without the relocation, and only the 54 entries of worlds 0–8 are saved.
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## Making world 9 reachable
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* **Empty chapters must exist.** Finishing chapter *n* unlocks chapter *n* + 1, and the world map
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crashes ("Couldnt load wad") when a selectable chapter has no file. LlamaMod links every missing
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`T1L9M002…049.wad` to an installed world-9 WAD and `T192…T1949.COR` to `T191.COR`.
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* **Never exit to (7, 7, 7).** "World finished" in world 9 unlocks a world 10 that has no name;
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the game crashes after saving. Exits in TestLevel point to (1, 9, chapter).
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* **Get there:** set a save game's map cursor to world 9 (`llamamod --unlock <slot> 9 <chapter>
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--cursor`, the launcher's *Save games* tab), or use the *Boot to level* mod / the editor's
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play-test, which start the game directly in the level.
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## Tally totals
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The tally screen after the exit shows "coins collected *x* / *total*". *Total* is not counted by
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the game – it is the **LNFO** chunk (`u32 coins, u32 secrets`). A new level built on the village
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would show the village's 55. LlamaMod recounts it for new levels (Coin = 1, Coin5 = 5, Secret
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objects; the arena adds its dynamic coins).
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Cosmetic leftovers: the world map shows no background for world 9 and a garbage coin target, and
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the loading screen says "TestLevel Kapitel *n*".
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