namida's Lemmings Page

NeoLemmix MAIN.DAT Format

MAIN.DAT consists of planar bitmap images. For those who aren't aware, unlike a normal bitmap in which each pixel is stored in order, in a planar bitmap, the first byte contains the lowest bit of the first 8 pixels (in the usual left-to-right, top-to-bottom order), the next byte contains the lowest bit of the next 8 pixels, and so on. Once all pixels are covered, the next byte contains the second-lowest bit. This is repeated until every bit is covered. If the image has more than one frame, each frame is stored as a seperate image, so after the highest bits of the first frame, the next bytes are the lowest bits of the second frame, and so on. The images in MAIN.DAT vary as to their bit depth, so pay careful attention to this.

A MAIN.DAT file contains 7 sections, each with different images. The menu palette or in-level palette should be used as appropriate; these palettes are identical to those from regular Lemmings. In the case of masks, an active bit means a pixel where the mask is applied to, and an inactive bit is one where it is not. Non-mask 1-bit images are usually black (or transparent) for an off bit, and white for an on bit.

There are some images (which LemMain will pick up on, and are listed here) that remain in NeoLemmix MAIN.DATs but are not actually used by NeoLemmix. It is not a problem if a MAIN.DAT is missing these images; just fill them in with blanks (if they are at the end of a section, make sure you at least include a blank image; do not just end the file without them).

Note that V1.29n and onwards use different offsets, do not contain blank spaces at the start of some sections, and all images have a bit depth of 19. This is read, as with all 19-bit images, as the lowest 6 bits being blue, the next 6 green, the next 6 red, and the last one a transparency bit (although the transparency bit may be ignored on certain images, it is still present in the data).

Please note that NeoLemmix V1.29n+ cannot load MAIN.DAT files from NeoLemmix V1.28n and earlier.

Section 1
The first section contains the lemming images.

Offset V1.28n-	Offset V1.29n+	Image	Width	Height	Frames	Bit Depth
0x0000	0x000000	Right-Facing Walker	16	10	8	2
0x0140	0x000BE0	Right-Facing Jumper	16	10	1	2
0x0168	0x000D5C	Left-Facing Walker	16	10	8	2
0x02A8	0x00193C	Left-Facing Jumper	16	10	1	2
0x02D0	0x001AB8	Digger	16	14	16	3
0x0810	0x003BF8	Right-Facing Climber	16	12	8	2
0x0990	0x004A38	Left-Facing Climber	16	12	8	2
0x0B10	0x005878	Drowner	16	10	16	2
0x0D90	0x007038	Right-Facing Hoister	16	12	8	2
0x0F10	0x007E78	Left-Facing Hoister	16	12	8	2
0x1090	0x008CB8	Right-Facing Builder / Stacker	16	13	16	3
0x1570	0x00AB98	Left-Facing Builder / Stacker	16	13	16	3
0x1A50	0x00CA78	Right-Facing Basher	16	10	32	3
0x21D0	0x00F9F8	Left-Facing Basher	16	10	32	3
0x2950	0x012978	Right-Facing Miner	16	13	24	3
0x30A0	0x0157C8	Left-Facing Miner	16	13	24	3
0x37F0	0x018618	Right-Facing Faller	16	10	4	2
0x3890	0x018C08	Left-Facing Faller	16	10	4	2
0x3930	0x0191F8	Right-Facing Pre-Floater	16	16	4	3
0x3AB0	0x019B78	Right-Facing Floater	16	16	4	3
0x3C30	0x01A4F8	Left-Facing Pre-Floater	16	16	4	3
0x3DB0	0x01AE78	Left-Facing Floater	16	16	4	3
0x3F30	0x01B7F8	Splatter	16	10	16	2
0x41B0	0x01CFB8	Exiter	16	13	8	2
0x4350	0x01DF28	Fire Death Animation	16	14	14	4
0x4970	0x01FC40	Blocker	16	10	16	2
0x4BF0	0x021400	Right-Facing Shrugger	16	10	8	2
0x4D30	0x021FE0	Left-Facing Shrugger	16	10	8	2
0x4E70	0x022BC0	OhNo-er	16	10	16	2
0x50F0	0x024380	Bomber Explosion	32	32	1	3
0x5270	0x024D00	Right-Facing Platformer	16	14	16	3
0x57B0	0x026E40	Left-Facing Platformer	16	14	16	3
0x5CF0	0x028F80	Stoner Explosion	32	32	1	3
0x5E70	0x029900	Stoner Terrain Image	16	11	1	3
0x5EB2	0x029AA2	Right-Facing Swimmer	16	10	8	2
0x5FF2	0x02A682	Left-Facing Swimmer	16	10	8	2
0x6132	0x02B262	Right-Facing Pre-Glider	16	16	4	3
0x62B2	0x02BBE2	Right-Facing Glider	16	16	4	3
0x6432	0x02C562	Left-Facing Pre-Glider	16	16	4	3
0x65B2	0x02CEE2	Left-Facing Glider	16	16	4	3
0x6732	0x02D862	Mechanic	16	14	16	2

Section 2
The second section contains the countdown digits and destruction skill masks (except digger which doesn't use a mask). Note that in the case of NeoLemmix V1.29n+, for masks, any non-transparent pixel is considered to be part of the mask.

Offset V1.28n-	Offset V1.29n+	Image	Width	Height	Frames	Bit Depth
0x0000	0x0000	Right-Facing Basher Mask	16	10	4	1
0x0050	0x05F0	Left-Facing Basher Mask	16	10	4	1
0x00A0	0x0BE0	Right-Facing Miner Mask	16	13	2	1
0x00D4	0x0FBC	Left-Facing Miner Mask	16	13	2	1
0x0108	0x1398	Bomber Mask. Note that unless the "disable bomber mask adjust" is set (in Flexi players), NeoLemmix only loads the left half of this mask, and creates the right half by duplicating and mirroring the left.	16	22	1	1
0x0134	0x16DC	Countdown digits. This includes a 0 even though this is never used.	8	8	10	1
0x0214	0x1CCC	Highlight Lemming Arrow	8	8	1	1

Section 3
The third section contains skill panel digits. Note that it has a lot of empty space at the start; the standard Lemmings MAIN.DATs contain graphics here that are never used by NeoLemmix and the space has not been re-used for other purposes. (There is also extra at the end in standard Lemmings MAIN.DAT files, but NeoLemmix does not expect anything to be here so it does not need to be filled in with blanks. LemMain will not attempt to load or save either of these parts when handling a NeoLemmix MAIN.DAT, unlike other unused images.)

Offset V1.28n-	Offset V1.29n+	Image	Width	Height	Frames	Bit Depth
0x1900	0x0000	Skill panel digits. Each digit has two frames; the first frame contains the image for the tens position and the second contains the image for the ones position.	8	8	20	1
0x19A0	0x0BE0	Infinity symbol.	8	8	1	1

Section 4
The fourth section contains some of the title screen graphics.

Offset V1.28n-	Offset V1.29n+	Image	Width	Height	Frames	Bit Depth
0x0000	0x000000	Menu Background	320	104	1	2
0x2080	0x0134C0	"Lemmings" Logo	632	94	1	4
0x9488	0x035BE6	Menu signs. One of these is currently unused in NeoLemmix, except in NeoCustLemmix where it's used for the "Load Single Level" sign.	120	61	6	4
0xEA50	0x04F35C	Sound option icons. These are unused in NeoLemmix.	64	31	2	4

Section 5
The fifth section contains more title screen graphics.

Offset V1.28n-	Offset V1.29n+	Image	Width	Height	Frames	Bit Depth
0x0000	0x000000	Lemming blink animations. 7 animations of 8 frames each. Unused in NeoLemmix.	32	12	56	4
0x2A00	0x00C780	Left-side lemming on the main menu scrolling text.	48	16	16	4
0x4200	0x013980	Right-side lemming on the main menu scrolling text.	48	16	16	4
0x5A00	0x01AB80	Scroller section graphic.	16	16	1	4
0x5A80	0x01ADE0	Menu font. Contains 94 different characters.	16	16	94	3

Section 6
The sixth section contains the rank images. All 15 must be present even if some are unused; fill them in with dummy images (LemMain just repeats the last rank image to fill them up, but blank images are fine too). Note that unlike in a standard Lemmings MAIN.DAT, these are not in backwards order.

Offset V1.28n-	Offset V1.29n+	Image	Width	Height	Frames	Bit Depth
0x0000	0x0000	Rank Sign Images	72	27	15	4

Section 7
The final section contains the skill panel graphics and the in-game font (the one used to display lemmings in/out and remaining time).

Offset V1.28n-	Offset V1.29n+	Image	Width	Height	Frames	Bit Depth
0x0000	0x0000	Skill Panel. Unlike with standard lemmings, the graphics for the various skills should not be drawn-on; instead the graphic here should have all 8 skill slots as they should appear if there is no skill in them.	320	40	1	4
0x1900	0x76C0	In-Game Font. Contains 38 different characters.	8	16	38	3
0x2020	0xA3E0	Skill Icons. Contains the graphic for the icon of each skill. The order is Walker, Climber, Swimmer, Floater, Glider, Mechanic, Bomber, Stoner, Blocker, Platformer, Builder, Stacker, Basher, Miner, Digger, Cloner.	16	23	16	4