I Talk About My In-Game Files

[XelNya]

Before anything, I may have put this in the wrong spot, if I did please move it and remove this sentence. Thanks and sorry primitively if there's a hassle.

So someone asked if I was going to do a simfile retrospective, since I said on my profile with Blue Girl On Sunday's release, my simfile career on FFR was pretty much done / I don't plan to be playing unless it's to fuck around. Which has kind of already been the case anyways for a while.

I liked the idea, so here we go.

Some quick lists I guess are a fast TLDR here:

3 Best files (In order)

Kindred, the Eternal Hunters
The Last Step
Before Cynthia

Top 3 favorites (In order)

Sis Puella Magica
Kindred, the Eternal Hunters
The Last Step

3 worst imho (In order)

My Fxxkin Desire For You
Epilogue
Rainspark

Fun Side Stories (No particular order)

Sleep, Part 2
Alice's Garden
Blue Girl On Sunday
Disregard

Anyways, I guess in each spoiler is going to be comments on each file.

Epilogue

To start - this file is actually in my top three worst, simply because of the way the file starts. This file is just basic layering and pseudo-PR, so there isn't much to talk about there.


See this dumb shit? Bmah suggested it, and I put it right in. I think it's the worst part of the file. But that's not because it's a Bmah pattern, or Bmah suggested it, but because it just doesn't flow.

My Fxxkin Desire For You

To keep this one short and sweet, it was my first file in the game, and while there's a lot of content in here I still do in modern charts, there's a lot wrong here, on an objective basis. The file isn't very fun, it's 240 bpm jump gluts, a slowdown, and then just difficulty spike to fuck you at the end with some of the worst patterning in a file i'd say to date. I say these are subjective because despite these, there's a lot of technicality behind the file, that makes it hard to argue if it should still be here or not. In my "3 worst" list it's at the top, simply because I think this file isn't fun, for like, anyone. You pick it in multiplayer just to fuck with the other person. You pick it to test horrible spikes. It doesn't emulate the song as well as it could.


This part in particular is just, hahahahaha.

N's Farewell

I really like grace notes, and I still really like this file. But it's got some errors that really ought to have been caught and fixed by me, for example, the 32nd at almost 13 seconds in is hilariously wrongly placed. As are a lot of other notes. The concepts and execution of what I wanted to bring out for someone to play are done super well, but Jesus there are way more sync mistakes of where notes fall than I knew about, till before I went to write this. Also, screw the people who didn't want hands / graces in a file of this level, they fit great.


Seriously though. SYNC ISSUES. AHHHH. I hate it.

Alice's Garden

I love this file. I recall when it was released there were a lot of complaints again over the graces, especially from me because they converted poorly, and still if I recall to today, they remain unfixed. The graces are all emphasis for louder thrangs of the acoustic, which is why they feel a bit sporadic. The Flashbulb puts a high level of effort to make his music interesting, and when I chart his work, I try my best to hit the best of the details I can hear, and are reasonable. This file is also a strong shift from the type of files I made before. (Especially because I was on a new username, submitting files on two accounts, without breaking my submission cap.) Because I was pretty worried about biased reviews. If I changed anything about this file, is that I'd be adding hands in for the strings more around say 31 seconds in or so, and tuning the PR a bit better compared to what it is. But to be fair - this was early on, and TBH PR is less of a concern for me these days. But this file sits in the "funny side story list" and it's there because this file has been used in a spon-con for hitting it on low rates because of the graces, and then the staff pissing me off for trying to put an Anti-PA token requirement on my song. I hate Anti-PA play, as I think it's completely counter productive, so I raised a huge stink over it, because I feel like everyone on staff at the time knew I hated those. Luckily it was changed, and I'd strongly considered having them rip all my files out of the game over it, I care about it that much.

In short, there's a lot of laying / PR changes I'd make if I revisited this file. And I might do that on Etterna. There is a much better player base for this type of file there.

Shade

I love this file still as well, there's not really anything I'd change about it. For a long time I would have probably in retrospect said this would be a file that defined my style. It has graces for emphasis, the layering is really simple, and it just suits the song to what sounds are prominent to me when I listen to it casually. At points in the file there's a really cool detail where it has a specific piano note on up every time it's played. Was a fun detail to not only put in, but see the judges acknowledge as well. In short, it was really cool to throw little details in, and have them be seen. I really wanted to make more files like this, and I got to later in Stepping Stones packs, even if they're on a harder scale. But in short the file focuses mostly on the drums, and the piano, but it just ignores the hi-hats because it cluttered up the feel and flow of the file. But the few, I think it's a sitar, but I could be totes wrong about that always took precedence over everything bar that single piano note if I recall right.

Sleep, Part 2

Years later, I still don't know if ", Part 2" is the correct way to denote the difference between this, and Alloyus' file. Which is sort of what spawned this file into existence. First off, LOL charting an MLP song in this time period. Brony's were at the top of the cringe caste, and even then I still think they're up there at a certain point. But this file exists because a user, I forget who, effectively told me to put my money where my mouth was. Sleep is actually my least favorite file in FFR, I would delete it the fuck out in a heartbeat to this day. Because what Alloyus did was Hi-hat + wubby + basic bitch layering, when, in my opinion, there's a more simple less difficulty inclined approach to the file, which is what this file is. It's Lyrics -> The most important parts of the instrumental here, which completely ignores what makes me dislike Alloyus' file, the hi-hats. This file focuses more on what the equivalent of the melody in this track would be, and it makes for a really fun simplified easy to tap along to version of the song. ALSO! Xiz had a little bit of input into this file, at around 1:07 or so, there's a 3 2 3 3 14 pattern, that was originally a jack, that he pushed me into changing to a minitrill with an extra 8th after, to keep with the "simple flow" concept the rest of the file has. This file would suck significantly without that input. I think this was also the first file I got in in one try, and one of the highest rated, and would have stayed that way if not for I think Kindred.


Part I mention Xiz fixed.

Eternity

File is great, I don't have much to say about this, as this file is super simple piano layering. If I were to instead theory-craft on changes I'd make... I could add more hands into this, and do some BPM gimmicks to make this file a little more colourfull, and to indicate the intensity of the song a little better. But I don't know if that would work as well here. Though, there's a bit of sync fixing I'd have to do first. But otherwise, I think this is a very close to "the best it gets" when you make a choice like this one, given the limitations of FFR as an engine. (lol it ends up like, a whole 192nd/16th to 32nd off beat by the end of it, wow.)

Nightfall (Original Mix)

First off, I sometimes consider remaking this like I later did my Highscore file on Etterna, which I would describe as this song's sister file, as if I recall I made these back to back, as the full song. This file is I think about half of it? But the cut was made on this one specifically because I thought the file in full on FFR would drag. This file is one that I would say became my second most notable file, but just being a full jack filled file with upbeat bleeps and bloops, really well done PR (considering my other work lol, in retrospect, before the Etterna release of this file I need to fix some of the PR.) I'd also say that if you play my work, and typically find it rather hard to enjoy on a rate, this file scales pretty nicely till about 1.3X, and is probably my only file FFR that scales with them really well. I think this is one of my best files, and it would have been my best file, if say Sis Puella and Kindred weren't accepted. I think in terms of playability though, this one wins that category by miles for being simple but good at what it does.


Oh, I do remember Halogen and I have a disagreement about this part, I can't remember for the life of me which one was what I left / put in though.

Sis Puella Magica

FUN FACT: The original ending was hand gluts. Be thankful. Anyways, I had a lot of fun making this song because I actually used the score to sync and chart it, which is where most of the jumps / hand placements, and even a fair amount of the PR come from. I obviously can't follow it to a direct T (6K convert anyone? Would anyone fucking play it?) But I love this song, this file, how it builds up slowly, and it's one of the few times I played with Climax Theory, like ever. I also, really fucking love this anime (it's still my favorite as it was when I made this.) But pretty much this file just spends like 2+ minutes building up, to just jump-glut you to death at the end. I put a lot of time trying to get this song as correct as I could, and didn't do a lot of my staples of the time, coloured notes for emphasis, graces every chance I thought was reasonable, all of that sort of thing. Even after Kindred's release, I considered this file my FFR Magnum Opus. I didn't think I'd do a whole lot better than this honestly. I mentioned a sister file for Nightfall, and that trend sort of applies to this file as well, as a lot of the layering choices I make here, determined patterns in a later file - Madoka Piano Forte No. 1, which would be another one of those files for a long time, I felt was the Stepmania Magnum Opus (thanks Mario and Scin for that one btw.)


If I picked my favorite part of this file though, it would be this section right here. It's super satisfying to hear / see / play.

Decretum

Shout-outs to uzzbuzz for being cool enough as the song producer, to record a playthrough of the file, and AAA it. I know that file isn't horribly easy. Also, if you recall that Sis Puella influenced another file, I forgot till now it hit this one as well. LOL ALSO UZZ IF YOU DO VENATRI STRINGAS, OR ABSOLUTE CONFIGURATION, SEND THAT SHIT TO ME ASAP I WILL CHART THAT NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Any who, I think this file follows the remix super well, and doesn't overkill any particular part of it, and I kept the layering & flow nice at the end as the song finishes, I wouldn't call it a climax theory file, but I'd say it flirts with it. I actually thought I was going to have to remove the rolls at the end due to the spike nature of them, but since FFR frames are forgiving, it's a lot less of a problem.

I'd say more, but really with Sis Puella's explanations, this file overlaps it pretty hard, which isn't shocking considering the Madoka Magica song being charting wise I went on around this time.

But no. Seriously. Uzz. Hit me up if you do those other songs. They're in front of this one in terms of my favorite and to get to char that whole suite of songs would be awesome. And, someone else should give some of his work another look. He's got some remix for songs we'd likely love to have, but can't.

Almost There [Standard]

This song is cool in that there's like, three real ways to chart it, and FFR has two of them. I think this file was inspired by Bmah's Dreadnaught [Standard] file, in that I am fairly confident a proficient one handed player can AAA this with ease. But this song just kind of omits hard layering principles in favor of making it easy, and it has some cool 192nd offsets in the space fighting section to make the slowdown cooler, and draw attention to notes I'd use holds to in Etterna, but since FFR can't use them. But this file gets to focus on the cool melody towards the end. Also the ending isn't needlessly hard. Which is a plus, the Etterna one sucks for having holds there. I tried to make a fun easy file. I made a fun easy file.

Kindred, the Eternal Hunters

This file is me trying to PR to an extreme, and doing a song with a non-static BPM. This is probably my best technical file, and best flowing file in the game. (We all know Disregard ain't it.) It mostly starts following the piano, and as the strings get more and more aggressive, they take over the file, almost just ignoring the piano, but it's still PR'd as best it can be whenever it is there. I recall using a score to chart this song much like Sis Puella. I think in the modern charting climate, a lot of effort would go into doing mine art for this, and maybe charting the strings more. I did convert it to Etterna, but it's something I want to revisit, and see if I can further it just a little bit more to that final stage. But there's also missed grace note opportunities, but I think those would clutter the file way too much. Also, where the strings really kick in, I remember asking someone for sync help, and them telling me this was a lot more normal than I thought it was. I think it was Halogen, but my memory on that very well might be wrong.

Lavender Town

I realllly don't know what to talk about here. This wasn't like, a no-effort-easy-shoe-in, but there's really not much to talk about here.

But what's that hand on you shoulder -

Rainspark

Someone might be confused why I say this is one of my worst files, and the whole reasoning is that I don't really think this file does anything. I don't particularly think there's a lot wrong with say the execution of anything in particular, but this file just, doesn't feel that good to me. I dunno. Minijacks are great and all but. MEH. This file falls flat, and is likely the only one other than MFDFY I'd consider removing.

Before Cynthia

File's straightforward piano tech. I heard you like minijacks. Anyway, when I made this file, I started by putting the jump jacks in (I think I wanted to do hand jacks but vetoed due to it sucking ass to play / or a judge said LOL NOT TODAY. Probably the second one.) and then just tossing in the extra piano notes around it. The part where the piano chords are just jumping around before the jack is probably my favorite part.

What irks be though, is that I didn't keep this file short and sweet, and to the point, I can AAA it once, but asking me to play this file twice in a row (because it repeats) just kind of sucks. Might be the only thing I'd change, but I'd in today's modern charting probably pass it to someone and ask them to make that call for me.

Shotgun Senorita

This file has a lot of cool stuff in it, and it's just really basic so there isn't too much to talk about, other than I wish I had kept the 32nd rolls as trills, because they would have made more sense in regard to the sister file I made for this, which has 175 bpm 24th trills, and to be honest, with FFR's frames those 32nd trills would have been fine considering they're not that long. It's another case of "this was great at the time but I since am not happy I didn't stick it out a bit." Which isn't to say the advice as bad, nor objectively good. I've just long since grown to not care about spikes so much in my own work, because of how I tend to structure things modernly. Not as much here though.

La Tristesse Durera Toujours

This was the first "XelNya" file made, and it's actually still one of my favorites. I tried to keep it easy and it was more an experiment on neglecting sounds to focus on others for the sake of keeping it easy to hit. I rarely pick a difficulty range when I make a file (except for say Stepping Stones packs of course) and this was one of those rare instances. I don't recall why this file got caught in judgment hell, but it's a good file for newer players, and it's actually more a reflection for the type of file I like best personally.

The Last Step

I could make an entire video dissecting all the minute details that are really put into this file, such as the 192nd usage, to the patterns of the 32nd bursts (especially that one that fucks up AAA's often I imagine. You probably know the one I am referencing.) To the reason why there is a lot less hand usage than you'd likely expect in the first half of the file. This file was supposed to be the finale for my first attempt at making a simfile pack, and it fell through due to a lot of shit I was dealing with, to be honest, I was going to make that pack, and then quit, so I poured every bit of effort I could into making this file a real nice technical, but still remnant piece that I would hope got played often, not so much because it was ratable, I don't think it really is? But because I knew there was some real pattern jank in here. No one has gotten a proper perfect score on the Etterna file, which I think is the superior version, not because of anything against FFR, but because the mines and hold usage in this file was super top-notch, I spent so long trying to get this file fucking perfect. I also charted this song fairly quickly compared to my usual. I guess, if I was remembered for this, rather than say all my issues on the site, or even my other simfile work, that would be very optimal for me. I love this file, I wouldn't change a thing. I also guess, that if I went into detail about anything in this file I hope anyone noticed, it really is that this file could have had a lot more hands, but there's this super cool tone shift right in the middle of the file, and that is why the hands are how they are. It was a really cool transition I think just like "wait there's a hand, we're going into the hard part now aren't we?" compared to say all the hilarious bursts and 32nd trills you've already played to that point.

ULTRANumb [Metal Remix]

Paul Udarov is a cool musician and I hope some folks go check out and chart more of his work. I also was originally hoping this file would be a skill token based on Mario's original file (mostly because I am a real suck up who loves his work and it would have been great to get that kind of honor.) But this file is just a straight forward bop file, a lot of my work is kept intentionally simple, and this file is a good embodiment of that. It's like what The Little Mermaid tries to be, but I think this does it better? (Not that it's bad. btw I am not throwing shade at Hi19 here.)

Disregard

hahahahaha D5 got this in a tourney, I'm soooooooo sorry you guys had to play this. At least you got the more friendly one compared to the original (as 16ths) 1 2 1 3 2 4 3 4 ish kind of patterns rofl rofl. But it's a case like Ultranumb where it's just a simple drum go brrrrrt kinda file.

C204

There's a lot of fun back-end shit between shadow and I, we mesh making files really well because when I go too dumb on a part, he tones me down, and when he robot places notes, I go and fix it. It doesn't result in like, simfile magnificence, but it results in a file like this, that's just, challenging. Typically when we collab on a song, shadow takes a harder part, by making it more dense and such, where as I like to do a lot of small detail work, and ignore basic laying as often as possible. It's a weird blend, because in this file I feel we flopped it. A lot of people who play this, will think my part (the jack ending section -> end) is the hardest part, and I disagree. The stamina death that is the first 3/4ths of this file is way harder, and I hate those 16th patterns because I cannot for the fucking life of me hit them. This is also I think? the only file shadow has ever picked the song for and was dead-set on it happening. XD SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO FINISH IT.

Blue Girl On Sunday

Every time I submitted this file this is the document I attached with it:

Into (0.000 - 35.141)
- Vocals only. I ignored the background stuff because I had no intention to chart it later. So it's not charted now.
- The notes 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 3 1 3 1 ect are meant to emphasize both the fade always and the PR (though not perfectly.)

I wanted the intro to be easier. I want the song's difficulty to scale with the instruments.

Simple Percussion (35.141 - 61.857)

This area has hands for the snares. I know that's weird, but it's for emphasis.

Here's how the emphasis works in this file:

1 Note - Hi-Hats / and / or Lyrics. The lyrics start as 1 note in the beginning as well, so they're kept this way here. The Hi-Hats are the weakest notes, and they tend to fall into the 16th range which would spike the file's difficulty too much even if they lined up on top of anything else.
2 Notes: Bass notes / certain white noise tones only. Heavy left hand use because it's a lower pitched note usually. If not it's usually on 14 which gives you both worlds.
3 Notes: Snares / White Noise. They're meant to be a bang and they're the loudest notes. You might argue the lyrics, but I'd say it could go any way really. The snare feels louder to me.

Here is how the jump placement works (for the most part I think there's two exceptions.)

1. All snares that are purely the snare + vocal (if applicable) are on 134.
2. White noise + Snare is always 234.
Note: Why this is: The snare is a loud prominent sound, so I kept it to higher "PR" esque notes (or rather, tried to.) With the addition of the white noise, it becomes louder, this the normals are the 2nd highest, while the white noise becomes the highest. These ignore the pitch of the current vocals.
3. All the bass notes are on 13 due to the fact there is a more "thud" like bass note that differs from the others. Those are kept to 12 because the bass are low notes, so they stick to the left hand. This also assists in balancing which hand is used the most to be a lot more middle ground than it would be otherwise.

I had a really strict jump placement scheme, so that might be why some things are really forced because technicalities usually overruled ideas of spikes and stuff. I figure if it had spikes, you'd be able to get a good sense of practicing when a file is being overly precise and how to adapt to it or some shit like that.

tldr: Layering =/= present. It's not based on how many sounds are at once but rather emphasis.

Hi-Section 61.657 - End

Keeps the emphasis scheme of the section before it, but this is where the Hi-Hats come in. The ending fades out a lot of the jumps from the middle sorta starting to scale the difficulty back down.

It pretty much explains what I was trying to do with the file, and was the notes for what I used to keep the scheme as tight-knit as it is. To summarize it'd be fair to be like "Sound = Note on X Spot, except in circumstances."

If there's any other like, random stuff someone wants to know, feel free to ask, I'll answer them if I can.

Pretty Girls With Mental Disorders

So this file also has a super fun story. Shadow had sent me his original version of this file, and we'd gotten into a discussion of things I'd have changed with it because it was not at all a file that's in that "I'd play this" range for me personally. But it was super close. So I told him how I'd modernize it, and I spent a whole I think it was three hours on stream, just changing it and shitting on him for the meme. So the file is like, shadow's ideas and layering scheme, but with me changing slight bits, and changing patterns. I also cropped the song, you're actually only playing the second half of the song, because otherwise this file would DRAG really fucking hard. 4+ minutes of 200bpm just, jumpstream cannot be made interesting imho.

But this file is just Piano + wubs into adding in the percussion, then adding in the pseudo-pr'd synth effect (I don't know the actual instrument you'd call that sound) and the file just builds on it's self till the break with the vocals. (I am shocked shadow did not veto me using 192nds on the vocals rofl he is not a huge 192nd fan, but I AM WORKING ON IT.) But then it goes into the hi-hats + Vocals as the jumps. File was fun because it was a soft challenge, and this is NOT my type of file I would usually make. In fact, the closest to this file is a currently unreleased one called Wings of Demise on Etterna. WE NEED TO COLLAB ONE MORE TIME THOUGH SHADOW, WE GOTTA COMPLETE THE TRIFECTA.

The Nature of Dying

Ok so, despite the fact this file is an Icy collab, they pretty much had zero input on the file. I've long forgotten which part of the original I kept in, because I went and redid this file similar to how PGWMD was done. A few things I would change is honestly, I'd have put even more jacks into the file, to help set it apart further from the iterations of this song I've seen. It's no secret that, I fucking hate jumpstream. Also, I'd maybe make the 32nds in the calmer part a little more clean. They're just, fucking rude. But this collab happened because Icy had made a thread stating folks could use his Stepmania content to make FFR content, even should it be uncredited. (Which btw the choice to credit him on the file is strictly a "that's how it should be" imho, I used the sync and some ideas out of it, which is why, and actually looking on it, I am shocked the staff input it this way, I put him as a feature. I honestly thought it was a & situation but lol I was wrong there.)

Anyways, a lot of Icy's file was really dense jumpstream, and I'd call it dumpstream even, because if I recall there was a fair amount of ghost notes in the original. If I recall right I kept jump usage ideas for large sections, and the concept for the slowed down part of the file in the middle, where I just altered the patterns and synced it to the waveform a bit better. This file really is just a really blunt interpretation of the song, with like, Icy's original density in mind. I also really really enjoy making files this way, not because it's easier, but because it results in a file I likely wouldn't have made otherwise. PGWMD doesn't happen without shadowgod, and this file doesn't happen without Icy.

Also, shout outs to Hopecaster for doing the frame fix data gathering on this, lol this file converted so poorly it was like, twice as hard because of it.