Your first simfile: How hard was it?

[SKG_Scintill]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

It was a dump, so it wasn't difficult to make

[ca25nada]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

Try it yourself

I remember just randomly guessing the bpm (not even touching the offset) then trying to sync it to the nearest 16th or 24ths and adding bpm changes and mines so it's more DDR-like.

I actually spent a decent amount of time on the file but it ended pretty bad anyway. Still found it fun to play it back then though.

[sakura080789]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

my first file was Dies Irae the DM Ashura remix it came out horrible if you really want to see it here

Link: http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/vi...simfileid=1841

[kommisar]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

my first file was a pad/index hybrid and sucked massive penis because animu. this was in 2005

it took me 2 more years to make my first good file. I was a non-conformist and hated technical files, thus boycotting smgroove pack 2 and starting my own smgroove pack that ended up being the worst major release in stepmania history. the end.

[Charlo]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

My first file, if I recall correctly, was the Futurama theme song. I had already downloaded a file for it so I just copied it and created my own steps. The BPM was actually correct! The expert chart was just 16th note runs at 120 BPM since I needed to make it difficult somehow. My second file was Elanor Rigby by The Beatles, which actually involved finding the BPM. I did it all in notepad, I was so hardcore back then.

[TC_Halogen]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

I've been charting for a while; I want to say that I've been doing it for at least 6 years - I never seem to be satisfied with any keyboard file I make, which in turn makes standards for myself on my own files ridiculously high, higher than I'm ever capable of creating.

I seem to enjoy making PIU/ITG charts a lot more, and it's a lot less of a pain for me.

[mutesauce]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

I'm asking you veteran simfile creators a fairly simple question: How hard was it for you to bang out your first file? There are a few other questions I'd like to see answered as well:

-What programs and/or tools would you recommend? Any tips for getting the most out of them?
-Is the song choice important? If so, in what regard?
-What words of encouragement would you like to share with fledgling steppers?

My first simfile was a pretty simple 9-footer for a Freezepop song, so nothing terribly hard to "bang out." It was, however, incredibly shitty. (If you care to see the chart, it's the Edit data for Melonball Bounce in Mute Sims 2.)

- I highly recommend using a more sophisticated audio editing program like GarageBand (for Macs) or Acid (for Windows) to find bpms and make song cuts. Do not use Mixmeister BPM Analyzer. For the love of god and all that is holy, do not use that program.
- Yes, song choice is extremely important. A boring song with no rhythmic variety will never lend itself to a great chart. Also, picking stuff with a constant bpm will save you headaches when it comes time to cut audio and sync your file.
- Words of encouragement? Don't ever get discouraged; nobody starts out good at anything automatically. KEEP MAKING CHARTS, and get as much constructive criticism as possible from fellow stepchart authors. And most importantly: Don't make charts for anyone but yourself. If you enjoy them, that's what matters most.

[kommisar]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

mix meister is always off by .02 no matter how you put it

[bmah]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

Mixmeister is not terrible. There are many, many songs with static bpms, and Mixmeister can provide you with just that. Even though it might be off by 0.02, you can figure out the rest at that point. All you need is the general BPM; Mixmeister isn't going to be the exact science to your solution...that's why my previous post also included using your head.

Just use what you need. Mixmeister will do the job, and you don't need any more than that for a lot of songs.

The program doesn't edit the audio of songs. Use something else for that.

[mutesauce]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

Mixmeister is not terrible. There are many, many songs with static bpms, and Mixmeister can provide you with just that. Even though it might be off by 0.02, you can figure out the rest at that point. All you need is the general BPM; Mixmeister isn't going to be the exact science to your solution...that's why my previous post also included using your head.

Just use what you need. Mixmeister will do the job, and you don't need any more than that for a lot of songs.

The program doesn't edit the audio of songs. Use something else for that.

It's not always off by exactly 0.02. The error discrepancy is less predictable for songs with constant non-whole number bpms. Lots of chiptunes and a fair number of Renard's songs fall into this category, for example. Here's a sampling of such songs, along with what Mixmeister says they are and what they really are.

"Darfang" by Phlogiston - 100.03, 100.045
"Light Emitting Diode" by Neko - 162.13, 162.132
"Cloudsmasher" by Renard - 181.94, 181.929
"Love Is In Danger" by Priscilla - 154.40, 154.385
"Ukigumo" by hige diver - 178.11, 178.108
"As The Rush Comes (Dynaglide Remix)" by Motorcycle - 138.99, 138.953

The main problem is that most people don't know that Mixmeister is simply never accurate. (I can't tell you how many times I'll download a simfile, look at the .sm doc, and see "#SONGBPM:128.020;") But even the people who do know that simple fact are still unaware of just how far the problem extends. Getting 140.020 when a song is really 140.000 isn't the only issue. And if you wanna sync a drifty song or anything with bpm changes? Well, then you're even more S.O.L.

[bmah]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

Drifty songs are best utilized by DDream. The only other option is guesswork, which is very time consuming.

Does Acid come at a fee, or could it be downloaded without any cost?

[TC_Halogen]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

The inevitable problem with DDream is bloated .sm file sizes due to alternating BPMs in drifty songs. Otherwise, I would use it for ITG charting, too.

[MarioNintendo]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

The inevitable problem with DDream is bloated .sm file sizes due to alternating BPMs in drifty songs. Otherwise, I would use it for ITG charting, too.

About that, didn't Patashu say he'd code a new version of DDReam that would fix that issue, among other things? Like, if your constant bpm is 150, DDReam with alter between 150.003 and 149.997.

[Patashu]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

The inevitable problem with DDream is bloated .sm file sizes due to alternating BPMs in drifty songs. Otherwise, I would use it for ITG charting, too.

Except the size of the .sm is trivial, even if it reaches 100kb it's still a twentieth or less of the size of the song

@MarioNintendo: I actually grew a lot more fond for ddream since then esp. hearing that it works fine on wine. I still want to try but I'm a lot less motivated to do it, we'll see next university holidays

[mutesauce]

Re: Your first simfile: How hard was it?

Drifty songs are best utilized by DDream. The only other option is guesswork, which is very time consuming.

Does Acid come at a fee, or could it be downloaded without any cost?

Acid is not free. It can be easily *ahem* acquired, I'm sure. I don't actually use it, I just recommend it to Windows users since it's the most analogous program to Apple's GarageBand, which is what I use.

I sync drifty songs entirely by hand in Stepmania, using Edit Mode's position marker readings along with closely analyzing the song waveform in Audacity. Small bpm changes every two to four measures. Time consuming, but easy enough to do. If you can look at beat spikes and read numbers, you can do it too.