Editing original levels

Besides building new levels you can change the game's own 31 levels: add coins and checkpoints, move platforms, change the fog and music, open up new paths. Your project stores only the changes; the original files on the CD and in LlamaMod's game copy are never modified.

Opening an original level

File → Open original level… (Ctrl+Shift+O, or Open original level on the start page) shows every level of the CD by name, with its loading picture as a preview:

Village – Chapter 1 … Lab – Chapter 5, sorted by world and chapter. The worlds are Village, Jungle at Night, River, Jungle by Day, Mountain, City, Catacombs and Lab.
Chapters marked (unused) exist on the CD but are not reachable from the world map.
Other – … entries are the front-end and demo files (menus, attract demo); they are listed for completeness.

Pick a level and click Open. Loading takes a moment; the level appears exactly as on the CD.

Tip: you can also start the editor straight into a level from the command line: LlamaMod --editor t1l1m001 (the file name of the level: t1 lworld mchapter).

What you can change

Everything the editor shows can be edited in an original level, with the same tools as in a new level:

objects – move, turn, delete, add any type of this level, change parameters (Objects);
waypoint chains of enemies, cameras and respawn points (Waypoints and paths);
tiles – move, turn, paint with other tile models, repaint textures, paint collision (Building geometry);
new brushes and imported meshes on top of the original geometry;
zones, fog, music, lights, vertex colours and visibility regions (Environment, Visibility regions);
textures – import new ones or replace pixels (Textures).

The base level of an edited original is the level itself, so all object types of that level are available.

The project stores only differences

When you save, the .llamalevel file contains only what you changed compared to the original level, plus imported meshes and textures and a thumbnail. Projects are usually a few kilobytes and contain no game data, so you may share them freely.

Building is reproducible: the same project and the same CD always give the same level file, and an unchanged project builds a file that is byte-for-byte identical to the original.

Keep tile numbers stable

Some object scripts address tiles by their number in the level, for example doors or bridges that swap their model. Deleting an original tile shifts the numbers of all tiles after it, and such a script may then move the wrong tile.

Prefer moving an unwanted tile out of the way (for example below the ground) or painting another model onto it with the Tiles tool – painting onto a tile at the same height replaces its model instead of adding a tile, so the numbering stays.
New tiles are added at the end and never shift existing numbers.

Note: Edit → Hide selection (H) only hides things in the editor's viewport. Hidden tiles and objects are still built into the level and appear in the game.

Playing your changes

Play (F5) builds the level, installs it as a LlamaMod mod and starts the game directly in the changed chapter. Play from camera position (Shift+F5) puts the llama on the ground in the middle of your view. See Building and play-testing.

While the level mod is enabled in LlamaMod, your version replaces that chapter of the game: you reach it on the world map as usual, and it uses your save game's progress.

Note: with Play from camera position the level's intro fly-by is skipped – the original cut-scene camera is tied to the original start position.

Conflicts with other mods

Only one mod can provide a level file. If two enabled mods change the same original level – for example two edited versions of Village chapter 1 – LlamaMod stops applying with a message that names the file. Switch one of them off.

Mods that work on all levels are applied after level projects and include your changes: Mirror mode, the Randomizer, Draw distance and the Debug wireframe (see LlamaMod mods).

Known oddities

Exit floor check: in 8 original levels Level → Check for problems reports that the LevelDoor has no exit floor (material 16) in its cell. The original exit floors decode one cell off the door (for example, door cell 42,49 and floor at 43,48 in the Village). The exits work in the game – ignore this message for original doors. Exits you build yourself are checked correctly.
Snap to floor on original levels uses the same collision data, so objects may occasionally land a little off near those exit floors.
Environment zones of original levels are mostly house doors: their trigger cells hold exit floors. Moving a door without moving its zone breaks the teleport (see How the game uses zones).
Coins near the start of Village chapter 1 are not drawn at the very beginning, also in the unmodified game, so changes there are hard to see right after loading.

Tutorial

Tutorial: Edit an original level walks through a complete example: moving coins, adding a checkpoint and changing the music of Village chapter 1.

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