The VideoGame MegaPack 4 (SUBMISSIONS CLOSED)!

[macgravel]

Originally Posted by James May

Changed the ending completely (mainly due to a few ghost notes I saw that ruined the ending for me), rearranged a few patterns along the file (slight PR purpose), and added/removed some mines/holds (specifically the intro and ~45-50% through the song, you'll know where I mentioned in it). I might make a few more changes in it though so if you want, you could wait until I decide on making the last final changes before sending it again.

I played it. Definitely a fun chart (it would be an Insta-yes from me if it weren't released already). With the changes you've made, does it feel like a new file, or a v2? Also, I've gotta ask; Why are there no stops? D:

[James May]

Originally Posted by macgravel

I played it. Definitely a fun chart (it would be an Insta-yes from me if it weren't released already). With the changes you've made, does it feel like a new file, or a v2? Also, I've gotta ask; Why are there no stops? D:

I don't like to use stops x: (love to experiment with mines though huehue) and a v2 imo (I have a file that it's literally on v4 atm lmao). Is there anything that felt off in that chart that you'd want me to adjust?

edit: I'll probably change some more now zzz, maybe after a few more changes it'll feel like a brand new car file

edit 2: bluh, only been able to add one or two arrows to this ever since I sent you the file lmao

[kommisar]

i'm planning on sending in a song i stepped already, but re-doing it and adding an index chart for brownie points

[macgravel]

Akubyou Taisan (porkypink): Fun, solid chart. My only complaint would be measures 36-40. I don't understand what the mini jacks are going to. IMO, I would have used 8ths to accent the ticking instead. Regardless, it's a yes.

Answer (YTY's SimFails): No H-Game music allowed u dormis.

Kuon no Hate (Codcrille): No H-Game music allowed u dingus

Madness (Little Fugue) (porkypink): (Expert chart) Lots of fun. I really like the 16th jacks following the hats about halfway through (it feels really fun to play). Yes.

My Delightful Spec (Yulanik): Very fun chart and a nice song to boot. No complaints from me. Yes.

Sayounara (YTY's SimFails): No H-Game music allowed u dungo.

SCARLET TEMPEST (CBR): Dude, solid chart. Measures 41-49 felt really good and fun to play. No complaints from me! It's a yes.

Tal Tal Heights (Reshiram): (Hard chart) My favorite chart of the file. Lots of fun with a nice little difficulty boost towards the end.
(Expert chart) It flows well IMO. Overall, no complaints. Yes..

Yuki no Hane, Toki no Kaze (YTY's SimFails): No H-Game music allowed u drambo.

Working Together (porkypink): I'm really loving this file. It's enjoyable and a lot of fun. No complaints from me! Yes.

Originally Posted by James May

Is there anything that felt off in that chart that you'd want me to adjust?

Nope (aside from adding stops <3). It's a really good chart.





(When I get home from work tonight I'm going to make some changes to the main post to include submitted songs along with lists of all of our judgements so far so they can all be in one place rather than scattered throughout this thread.)

[James May]

Originally Posted by Buta-san

Working Together - I have changed one pattern on Working together. Heres a pic for you guys to change or I can send just the .sm.
Im afraid to send another piano file because I probably used up all my patterns on this one haha..

@ M61-M61.5 starts 95.318 sec

Dude, I need to look for a wip that I made for this file x3

If I find it I should work on it...

[Arntonach]

I thought that since it's no longer released I thought it would be okay, but that's all right. I have a ton of pad files from video games I can rework into kb files as well as some music I ripped from a video game. This pack'll have exclusive vgm music. o:

[Buta-san]

Originally Posted by James May

Dude, I need to look for a wip that I made for this file x3

If I find it I should work on it...

I always hate when I try to look for a file I started working on over a year ago.
Definitely go for it though!
I have that deep in my wip folder too but not planning to complete it anytime soon.

[James May]

Originally Posted by Buta-san

I always hate when I try to look for a file I started working on over a year ago.
Definitely go for it though!
I have that deep in my wip folder too but not planning to complete it anytime soon.

lmao, true. Though tbh that wip is ~2 years already x: I have Roxas stepped but too zzz

[AlexDest]

Originally Posted by macgravel

Guys, you can't submit already released files. However, I'll be okay with it as long as you make enough changes to warrant it as a NEW file. If not, it's out. That means these files:

Crocodile Cacophony (AlexDest)
Pepper Steak (James May)
Thunder Plains (Antronach)

Let me know if any of you are going to make changes. James May, I know you said you already made some changes, but how drastic?

making changes right now

prepare ur anus

[James May]

Originally Posted by macgravel

Nope (aside from adding stops <3). It's a really good chart.

welp, I have officially ran out of ideas what to do with Pepper Steak ;_;

[DigitalS3r4ph]

Maybe someone can collab with me on a Grim Fandango song. Might need a little help on the sync at least.

[James May]

Originally Posted by DigitalS3r4ph

Maybe someone can collab with me on a Grim Fandango song. Might need a little help on the sync at least.

I could give a hand if you like

[rCaliberGX]

2 things:

1. why no rolls? there is absolutely 0 reason anybody should be using 3.9 at this point. it's either 3.9+ or 3.95, both of which support rolls. sm5 supports them too

2. how are the difficulty scales being worked out? nps+fudge factor, ancient DCP/xoon scale? should we bother putting a difficulty number in if they're going to be adjusted anyway?

[DigitalS3r4ph]

In terms of difficulty, how easy or how hard, I wouldn't put so much worry into that. Based on my reviews so far, I would say that a ridiculously hard chart can stand perfectly fine on its own as long as it is fun. If it is only hard, to the point to where it is stepped intentionally for the sake of being extremely difficult to pass, then I would like the file to have easier versions of the charts to allow for a wider appeal. Let peeps enjoy the journey with the song from easier to extreme.

Rolls are just no. You can either make it a jackstream, stream, or freeze. No rolls, or you pay the toll (Of file not being accepted. :P)

[bmah]

Originally Posted by rCaliberGX

2 things:

1. why no rolls? there is absolutely 0 reason anybody should be using 3.9 at this point. it's either 3.9+ or 3.95, both of which support rolls. sm5 supports them too

Whether or not there's "absolutely 0 reason anybody should be using 3.9", people still use 3.9. It'd suck to have part of the pack inaccessible to some players.

[Gundam-Dude]

Originally Posted by rCaliberGX

how are the difficulty scales being worked out? nps+fudge factor, ancient DCP/xoon scale? should we bother putting a difficulty number in if they're going to be adjusted anyway?

Originally Posted by DigitalS3r4ph

In terms of difficulty, how easy or how hard, I wouldn't put so much worry into that. Based on my reviews so far, I would say that a ridiculously hard chart can stand perfectly fine on its own as long as it is fun. If it is only hard, to the point to where it is stepped intentionally for the sake of being extremely difficult to pass, then I would like the file to have easier versions of the charts to allow for a wider appeal. Let peeps enjoy the journey with the song from easier to extreme.

I think you misunderstood his question about difficulty scale ratings. What will be the "formula" to figure out what arbitrary number should define how hard each chart is? Regardless of what method you guys choose, there is always going to be an entire subjective factor to the numbers which does leave a margin for error and fuck ups.

With the examples listed, the chancellor scale runs between ratings 1 through 10, with the latter being the absolute hardest. The chancellor scale is a really stupid way to rate because it's impossible to rate files with multiple difficulties in a manner that seems acceptable, so I wouldn't recommend this one at all. Also, beginners or people new to this game will be scratching their heads because there would be an absolute massive difficulty gap between each level, which is a real downside to difficulties being limited to being whole numbers.

The old school "keyboard scale" used in the previous VGMPs and other packs is quite frankly just as awful of a scale because you're essentially slapping a bullshit number to a file with no reason other than simply, "it feels like a #" from playing it once or a couple times. And using DDR/ITG difficulty scale as a basis to this formula doesn't apply well to keyboard files in the case that spread charts are typically way more densely layered and have too many contributing factors that can immediately increase the difficulty of a chart via pattern usage (jacks, jump/hand/hold-stream, trills, etc.), colour note gimmicks, bpm gimmicks, mines, holds, etc.

Notes Per Second scale, isn't that great of scale to use either because there is always a margin for subjective error when deciding on how much to "fudge" (add or subtract from the raw calculated NPS of a chart) when applicable. For example, a very short song of < 1 minute will typically always yield a fairly high raw calculated NPS whereas at the opposite end of the spectrum, long songs yield fairly low numbers, which is where "fudging" comes into play. But I guess this scale is acceptable in the way that it produces objective numbers from calculating raw note density in a file, which gives you something to work with when deciding on an arbitrary number to slap onto a chart, and it's flexible enough to work with multiple difficulties.

NPS formula is as follows:

total tap notes in song / [(time of last note - time of first note) + 0.875 (1/8th note)] = raw NPS (0-0.499 is rounded down, 0.5-0.999 is rounded up)

1/8th note is added to balance out extremely short songs. If a song is ended on a hold, the time used is the start of the hold.

And there's some really complicated formula that Stargroup devised that supposedly works better from an objective standpoint, but it's a really time consuming calculation involving a fuckton of numbers. And I'm pretty sure absolutely no one uses this formula other than him, rofl.

But yeah, enough ranting about this subject—whatever method used to calculate the difficulty of charts is completely up to you guys, lol. Just wanted to I guess clarify on what rCaliber was aiming at.

[Dynam0]

My two cents: Make the difficulty range from 10-15 feet (and 16 for the boss file(s) in the pack). Glove did this with ODI3 and it works fine since it gives a GENERAL idea of difficulty based on a relative scale among files in the pack. No need to split hairs and go with a bigger interval since nobody would ever completely agree on a rating at that point anyways.

Just play the damn files and if they feel like "X" difficulty, then rate accordingly; you'd want multiple people to play the files and agree on a rating. Nothing complicated about that and it's the closest approximation we have. As GD said, difficulty is highly subjective and going into a formula to calculate it is counter-productive imo

Also it's Stepmania and no one makes much of a fuss over difficulty since it's so far from standardized between packs it's hilarious

[macgravel]

I'm going to rate every chart's difficulty on every file a 1.

[Wayward Vagabond]

1-5 based on how good the file is

1 being good and 5 being good

[ilikexd]

Use ffrs rating scale 1-100