Totally new; a few questions

[justin_ator]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

Try upping your speedmod if you haven't, it will usually allow you to read more complex patterns with a bit more ease once you get to the higher difficulties. Try upping it every so often and seeing if you can adjust. It'll help.

[Mollocephalus]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

I'm in love with this!

As of now I'm using all default settings except for changing the arrow keys to DFJK. Are there any other settings that players generally use that you would recommend to just about anybody? Any for a new player in particular?

Thank you!

1) You could try using different noteskins (tap ENTER two times on the song you wanna play, and it will open options) Here you can choose speed mod, scroll effects and much more. Experiment with these mods What i'm talking about is the row called "noteskins" which are the appearance of the arrows in-game. The default noteskin for sm5 is quite sloppy, so you might wanna try more. You can also add other noteskins by placing the folder containing all the noteskin data into /your installation folder/stepmania/noteskins

remember to only download noteskins marked as compatible with sm5 or they won't work!! My personal favorite is metal (or cel) noteskin, which is very sharp.

2) Another useful setting might be placing the arrows in the middle of the screen instead of the right (for p2) or the left (for p1). This option is called solo singles and you can activate it through the game options in the menu screen.

3) A theme change might ultimately be good as default sm5 theme isn't that great: two really nice themes you can consider are Ultralight or Simply Arrows.

[CaptainAhab]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

1) You could try using different noteskins (tap ENTER two times on the song you wanna play, and it will open options) Here you can choose speed mod, scroll effects and much more. Experiment with these mods What i'm talking about is the row called "noteskins" which are the appearance of the arrows in-game. The default noteskin for sm5 is quite sloppy, so you might wanna try more. You can also add other noteskins by placing the folder containing all the noteskin data into /your installation folder/stepmania/noteskins

remember to only download noteskins marked as compatible with sm5 or they won't work!! My personal favorite is metal (or cel) noteskin, which is very sharp.

2) Another useful setting might be placing the arrows in the middle of the screen instead of the right (for p2) or the left (for p1). This option is called solo singles and you can activate it through the game options in the menu screen.

3) A theme change might ultimately be good as default sm5 theme isn't that great: two really nice themes you can consider are Ultralight or Simply Arrows.

Thank you for the help! I will try these out later tonight.

[CaptainAhab]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

I must be an idiot --

1) I found the "noteskins" category but there is only "default" listed. Do I need to go somewhere to download new ones? If so, where? I will definitely check out metal/cel.

2) I searched for something called "solo singles" but I couldn't find it for the life of me. Which menu category is it under?

3) I found the "themes" category but could not find anything other than default. Again, do I need to go somewhere to download these files?

Thank you so much for your help, sorry for the follow-up questions.

[Mollocephalus]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

1) scrolling left and right when you get to the noteskin row will make you change noteskin, sm5 comes with quite a few.

2) now that you mention it i think it's actually called "center 1 player" or something like that

3) sm5 only comes with its own default theme. everything else is something you have to download and add manually in the themes directory in your installation folder. Only then you can change it ingame. It's pretty simple, actually.

[CaptainAhab]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

Thanks for all the help! I've been loving my time spent in both SM and FFR!

If only SM had FFR's social aspects (stat tracking, point grand totals, global ranking, etc.)

[d4u7211]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

It looks like people have overlooked mentioning Cmods, so you might want to take this into consideration.

Most people on Stepmania play with Cmod. Cmod is a scrollspeed; when you select a song, you can hit enter again quickly as you select the song to bring up an options menu. Here, you can select how fast (or slow) you want the arrows to scroll. I believe the default is Xmod, which will show up as something like x1, x2, x4, etc. and Stepmania5 I believe includes C450 and C600 as two other default Cmods as you continue through the list of scrolls speeds.

The big thing here is that FFR uses Cmod, which means constant. The arrows will always scroll at a constant speed, but when the song's speed changes (BPM change) the arrows will get closer together or further away from each other as a way for compensating speed changes in the song. Xmod is different and easier to explain; it works like DDR in that the arrows are always spaced the same distance apart, depending on their timing (quarter note, eighth note, sixteenth note), and the scroll speed of the arrows will change when the BPM does. This is a lot harder to read since song's BPM's vary widely, so changing your Xmod will always be a hassle, which is why I recommend Cmod so that you will get comfortable with a constant scroll speed.

The main thing to remember that neither Xmod nor Cmod will change how fast the song actually plays, the arrows will always go in sync with the tempo. Xmod and Cmod only changes how the arrows scroll across the screen; it's more visually appealing and most players use Cmod because it has significant advantages over Xmod

If you want more explanation, I'm sure others are willing to help explain, hopefully I didn't butcher the explanation :P

Now, there is a way to add your own Cmod. I use C867 if i remember correctly, which I input myself. I can post how to add your own Cmods so that the arrows scroll faster or slower

[shenjoku]

Re: Totally new; a few questions

You should look at this thread if you haven't already. Another newcomer asked all the things you're asking so you might find lots of answers in there to questions you might not have even thought about yet.