For a while, I have been organizing levels into folders, mainly the "cache" folder that online levels download into when you join and play on a server, since it frees up space in the main JJ2 folder.

However, when using the in-game level browser via Home-Cooked levels or by selecting to play on custom levels in Multiplayer, it only supports viewing the main Jazz Jackrabbit 2 folder/directory, with no option to (from what I know) choose a folder in the directory and browse the levels in those folders.

For this, I was thinking that there could be the option to show folders in the level select, and then by choosing a folder, you open that folder in the in-game level browser and can pick a level like normal, or return to the previous folder by scrolling up to the very top of the list and choosing "Back". All folders would appear at the very top of each folder's level list, followed by the actual level files.

UP! This is an awesome feature idea! An additional idea to this would be the ability to download online levels from that same menu without having to exit jj2 or restart jj2, And possibly, the list could be from J2O with some sort of API!

I concur.

An additional idea to this would be the ability to download online levels from that same menu without having to exit jj2 or restart jj2, And possibly, the list could be from J2O with some sort of API!

Obviously this is a much different and much more complicated suggestion, so trying to discuss both in this same thread won't be very helpful. But Superjustinbros' idea sounds easy enough. It's not going to give you the full power of AdditionalFileFolders, because it only extends to subfolders of the JJ2 folder, but it could still help.

I spent my weekend on this and I've got it roughly working, but I haven't tested it very much because I never actually use the Home-Cooked Levels menu myself, so I'm not the best person to make sure everything is working properly. The only thing changed here compared to regular 5.12 is the Home-Cooked Levels menu, this should be fully compatible with all other uses.

One unfortunate detail is that I had to disable saving for levels loaded from subfolders, because there's no way to include that information in a save file.

Tested and works out great, would love this addition to be official. I also tried breaking it by giving weird folder names, but it seems to work out well.

Three small nitpicks:
1) Visually it could be a nice touch if the map icon jumps in similarly like the jazz2 font. The staticness of the map icons frame 1 of entering home cooked levels feels uncharacteristic for JJ2.
2) It would be nice to see your current folder you are looking into at all times to not get disorientated, maybe next to the "../"?
3) I found myself keep pressing escape to intent to go back one level in the folder, especially when scrolling somewhere midway through, but it goes back to the episode select.

Thanks, that's good feedback! I've implemented #1 and #3. For #2, your current folder (if any) is already displayed in the bottom right corner in big rainbow letters.

I forgot to reply to this completely. Thanks for implementing #1 and #3, that works great!

I found a new bug though: If you use the @ in your filename, it skips lines and blends with your other options: https://i.imgur.com/4cmLsZv.png

For #2 I will still want to still strongly advice to move the folder name to the top, because:
1. This is very much in line with how the file explorer works for home computers and what people are familair with.
2. The context of the bottom right corner changes and is different than any other menu screen standard, which I don't really like. This confused me because it's somewhere you only look when not really familiair with the option given. For any other screen gives extra context, most often being a description of the selectable actions, such as: "Choose game type", "Choose connection", "Press enter to start". The only odd ones I found are "Main Menu" (but I understand main menu doesn't really need a description), "Players on this computer" which should ideally be "Set player amount", "Video options" which should ideally be "Set video options" and "Active server list" which should ideally be "Select a server". (The fact you can see them, makes it kind of obvious that they are "active").

As for "Select a Level" in HCL, going down a folder doesn't really change that you well... still have to select a level. I like to emphasize again that in no other menu step it's ever required to look in that corner once you understood the menu step. After playing jj2 for so long, I frankly even forgot there was text there.

That's reasonable, I've moved the folder name upwards. I'm not going to touch the @ symbol because that's always been how the HCL menu works, so it's not related to this particular branch, and changing the details of text drawing in menus is harder than it sounds.

Awesome. Yeah don't mind the @ too much, nobody in their right mind will use it.

Here's some more feedback:

1. Whenever I use the find function, but end up with no results, there's the jump cut prompt with "No User levels available". I know this is a classic feature, but it's always been a bit jarring. Maybe it's possible to add a "Press Select, Escape or Fire to return"? or "Press action key to return?" underneath. Or put it in the bottom corner where 'Select a level' is actually a bit pointless? Taking it one step further for a real QoL: Let searching a level not interrupt you by taking out of the HCL menu and resetting your page scroll, but flash a red text with folder font size above the folder name in red with "||File not found!"

2. This text overlaps with other text anyway as shown here https://imgur.com/tUvuIDY . However to reduce clutter it would be nice if the word "list" didn't clip with the 'g' of "longer" so a little more vertical spacing. Secondly, it would be nice if the shadow would drop on the grey text, instead of behind the grey text, this would set apart the message and the greyed out text strings below more proper.Thirdly, the level i'm hiding has the filename highlighted, but the levelname greyed out. I would suggest highlighting both (the whole row) and bounce the text a little. Lastly, While this menu is open there is a shift in layout. There's very much larger indents for the folder names, and a tiny bit larger indents for favorited levels.


Edit: Oh and one last thing still, hiding or deleting a level does not seem to save whatsoever. Once you go back to episode select and into HCL, it's there again and functional.

3. Changing the 'sort by: " while in a custom folder gives an AV. You can still view both options in a custom folder as long as you make the change in the main folder though.

Edit: Changing this while a custom folder is highlighted also gives you an AV, except when you do it on the first folder, but this also only works if you haven't used an action from the top right before that while being in HCL, or you also crash on the first folder. Everything together means that I've only been able to test the sort by function while being on a folder on the first folder and only from file name > level name. For some odd reason this moves you all the way to the last page, probably some bug because while on a level it stays on that level when changing the sort feature, while on folder it should probably do nothing and stay on that highlight.

4. New request to make Shift + up and down arrow keys move pages instead of per level. Maybe add a greyed out text "Hold shift to move per page" underneath "Delete level" or while on a folder

5. New request to make the left arrow key move you back to the very top folder map while being highlighted on on the level list.

6. The find function for whatever reason doesn't seem to be very accurate. I can sometimes search levels by their literal filenames and get no results, at the same time other filenames are read halfway. Example: I typed "eztubo" and didn't find it despite it being listed.

7. Whenever you go right from a levelname, it's highlighted red. Whenever you go right from a folder, it's highlighted green. Maybe also make folders turn red for visual consistency.

Can you clarify whether you're talking about stuff unique to this branch, or whether they're preexisting behavior of the home-cooked levels list? For the most part, the HCL list is Seren's code and I don't want to mess it up too much, I just thought I could do the folders bit because multiple people were interested in it.

1. New QoL request, unrelated to version
2. This branch breaks deleting/hiding levels, it worked fine before in the current 5.12 version. (Upon deletion there is a short music pause in 5.12 though?) Upon trying again today, I can only reproduce this when searching up a level first, having a selection on the screen, and then highlight on a folder and change the sortation.
3. Is a bug related to this brancho only because it's for folders only
4. New QoL request, unrelated to version
5. New QoL request, unrelated to version
6. This branch breaks accurateness of finding levels by name, it worked fine before in the current 5.12 version. (eztubo gives results). Upon trying it again today, I can't seem to reproduce this at all.
7. New QoL request, unrelated to version