How to: Get started on solo (KBO crosspost)

[Patashu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdxny6M0mqs

Solo basically owns, the extra two columns vastly increases the number of different patterns and will expose your hands to all new kinds of motions. (If you're not convinced, think about how few patterns 3 columns has compared to 4)
It will be rough at first, but persevere! Play things that challenge you but do not overwhelm you, and you will learn bit by bit. Chords are difficult, but there are only so many of them (15 pairs, 20 triples, 15 quads, 6 quints) and you can learn to recognize them or break them into left hand/right hand components in your mind.

0) If you don't have stepmania yet, here's where you get it. I recommend 3.9, but keep in mind that themes and noteskins made for 4.0 might not work for 3.9 and vice versa.
You'll want to change a couple of options, under options/settings: Go into coin options and turn event mode on, then into machine options and turn menu timer off, finally create yourself a profile and assign it to the player 1 slot so your mods and scores are saved to it. Whatever else you want to change is up to you - I like having background brightness low, for instance.

Also, you can use Alt+Enter to quickly switch between full screen and windowed, and holding Tab will fast forward through any animations.
While on the song selection screen, double tap up or down to change between its difficulties. Alternate left and right several times in a row to change what songs are sorted by.

1) Set up your key configuration something like this:
left: q (use left ring finger)
up left: w (use left middle finger)
down: e (use left index finger)
up: i (use right index finger)
up right: o (use right middle finger)
right: p (use right ring finger)

You might prefer a different setup, like asd-jkl, or qwe-numpad789 - whatever you use, make sure that you can hold as many keys down as possible by using stepmania's 'test input' function. Ideally you want to be able to hold all six down at once.

If you want to be able to play spread on both solo and singles at once, you'll need to use different keys for both, or reconfigure every time you swap - I doubt you want to play with your rings and indexes.

2) Download one or more of these noteskins:
Circle type:
Orbular, Danular (orbular with tinted and glowing holds), Cybular (mod of orbular to look like cyberia arrows) for 3.9, 3.95 and 4.0: http://www.keybeatonline.com/forums/...ead.php?t=2330
Stepmaniadetective for 3.9 (orbular but with holds coloured the same as their starting note)

Bar type:
Notebar+
Metalbar and IIDXMB
Notebar and O2Bar++

If you're going to play with mines enabled, this spiked mine graphic is easier to tell apart from circle-type notes: http://www.keybeatonline.com/forums/...ead.php?t=1340
Keep in mind that a noteskin intended for one version of stepmania might screw up for a different version!

3) If you haven't yet, modify your theme to add higher speed mods:
http://www.bemanistyle.com/forum/f93...speedmods-230/
I'd recommend putting C-mods in at intervals of 50 until you reach C800, and move up to the highest one you can comfortably play at. I play at C700 but most people's sweet spot is in the C600-C800 range.
The topic tells you how to add songs to Stepmania too, if you don't know how.
Why use such a high C-mod? Because 1) lower speeds are so slow that you can't rely on reflex and have to consciously process the structure of bunched up patterns, forcing you to develop yet another skill to get good, and 2) even high x-mods require you to change them every song and get used to slightly different scroll speeds.
What other mods might help? Try mini, and percents of mini (if you put something like 50% mini in your metrics it does just that!), and also try distant (makes arrows fly into the distance ala star wars plots. people who swap to it find reading and comboing a bit easier). Both should be coupled with a substantial boost in C-mod.
Another one you can try is hidden - because once your C-mod is at the reaction level, you don't need to pay attention to a note once you're ready to react to it, hidden can be used to hide anything that's close to your receptors, reducing visual clutter and ensuring you won't be distracted by notes you missed/already are going to hit. However, all of these mods require experimentation and getting used to them, don't expect instant results.

4) Download these packs first - they all have beginner difficulties to get started with:
Patashu Solo Beginner Pack
Xiaounlimited Solo Beginner Pack
Xiaounlimited Solo Beginner Pack II
Xiaounlimited Solo Beginner Pack III

If you're really struggling, there are pad-based solo packs, for instance DDR officials and the foonmixes. They won't play like keyboard files and won't introduce you to any particularly difficult files, but if all you need are some simple 4ths and 8ths to build your muscle memory:
Foonmix
Foonmix Plus
(to do: find links to ddr packs that have solo charts in them)

5) When you feel more experienced, try some other solo packs:
http://www.keybeatonline.com/forums/...read.php?t=675 and download these: All of the '## Solo Files' series, 'KBO Solo Files (Part VI), the BCMPs (Bemani Conversion Megapacks), Parallel Rotation Minipack, Solo Rulz Pack.
If you download every pack listed so far, you'll have over 600 solo files. Not bad!

6) Take screenshots with print screen and post scores you like here: http://www.keybeatonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18
Or, even better, make videos! Videos rule.

7, the most important step) Have fun!