Apoplexy crashes when going above level 14

[Stephen Clareson]

I have hooked up David's 'morelevels' and 'princelv.exe' files with their complete files to apoplexy by replacing the old ones in the 'prince' folder. In the editor, all levels are visible and editable up to level 14. When switching to level 15, apoplexy becomes unresponsive for a moment and promptly crashes. All the levels in 'princelv.exe' are fully playable (not completable). Kindly help.

[fp]

Now, I'm not a hex-editor expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I don't believe that apoplexy really knows what to do when loading a level that doesn't exist, and it doesn't have a template level to load in a case like that, so it would just explode. Assuming that the EXE and apoplexy can actually handle going past level 14 in general, I think what you could do is graft more level data on top by hand, and then open them in the level editor. If it is still exploding (or if you already tried that), do the levels work in game just fine, just the editor causes problems? What you could do is make another separate mod, I suppose, and make the levels in those, replacing levels that do work just fine, then throw them on top via a hex editor.

[Stephen Clareson]

Thank you so much man. If I open the levels through the cheat parameter and LEVEL, the levels are functional and do load. Though, if I load level 14 and edit it to make it completeable, completing the level makes the screen black and gives a copy protection code that doesn't exist. I don't really know anything about hex editing too.

[Norbert]

Hi Stephen, I see you've asked some questions related to apoplexy, of which I am the author.

In August 2023, I archived ('inactive-closed') the GitHub repository of apoplexy, the same month I wrote in the "Community (Re-)Building" topic:

Not much of a community left, unfortunately.

I am, however, still open to expanding the functionality of apoplexy. As I wrote in December 2021 in the "New tile ideas" topic:

I'm waiting to see what ends up in official SDLPoP releases, and will add support for that in apoplexy.

There are, in my opinion, many interesting customizations and expansions of PoP1 possible using SDLPoP, but we depend heavily on David's (or Falcury's) willingness to implement them. That has generally been how new modding options have arrived. I'll comment on the idea of allowing more levels later in this post. But, for now, let's look at, for instance, tile customizations. I created a "New tile ideas" topic, in which I mentioned "teleporting (potion and entrance/exit)" in January 2021, then later in the same topic Shauing brought up the "teleporter" again, which made David start coding. Similarly, after posting about a Russian mod, I suggested colored torch flames could be added to SDLPoP, including a feature request on GitHub, which David implemented. Then there are the fake tiles, that I asked about in August 2015, which Falcury shortly thereafter implemented in steps (e.g. here and here). Currently, apoplexy supports all these tile customizations. Pending new tile customizations, I've essentially been on stand by. Early 2021, I did try to push local 'multiplayer', by modifying apoplexy to support adding multiple princes (kids), including a feature request. But this - the other way around, implementing in apoplexy first - doesn't really work, as all still hinges on David's (or Falcury's) willingness to implement this in SDLPoP. Or Bruno (oitofelix) implementing it in MININIM; same thing.

For hex edits, the situation is generally similar. Someone makes a request, David figures out the hex edits, and then I can allow easy modification options for these edits in apoplexy. In theory, these could also be added to CusPop, but its popularity waned. You can think of allowing more levels as an expanded 'hex edit'. Last May, you started asking about this, which prompted David to post about the required hex edits. So, earlier today, I have responded by asking him some things, and the next step could be for me to implement support for more levels in apoplexy. In all honesty, personally, I don't see the appeal of more levels, as there are already plenty (10+) per mod, and multiple mods could be made. Also, most mods already go virtually unplayed. Maybe fewer levels with fewer rooms is generally the way to go. But that's my thinking as a mod author and player. As the author of apoplexy, I'm generally interested in implementing what is in demand. In fact, I created an entire level editor of a PoP1 port simply because a single person asked for it (via email IIRC) - although I don't remember which editor. If I decide to implement more levels, there would be no time frame. So many more interesting things, see all the suggestions in the "New tile ideas" topic I mentioned above.

[Norbert]

Stephen, you can give this a try:
viewtopic.php?p=35730#p35730