Totally new; a few questions

[CaptainAhab]

Stepmania was recommended to me by an online gaming buddy that has been playing for some years, and it looks like a lot of fun. I have a few questions.

1. I see that there is some sort of a split between versions 3.9 and 5.0. Should I just use the latest iteration of SM5?

2. How would you recommend starting out in general? I'm completely new to rhythm gaming, having only played osu! a little bit here and there in the past.

3. What are the major differences between FFR and Stepmania? To me, they both look extremely similar, except that FFR can be played in a browser and seems to have, judging by this board, a much larger community surrounding it than SM. (Why?)

Thank you!

[Wafles]

The communities for SM and FFR are kind of blended together a bit, people tend to play both. That being said, this is the FFR Forums so you're bound to see a bit more FFR discussion. Typically the brag board gets about an equal amount of score posts for each game so I would argue that StepMania might actually be slightly more popular overall.

The other main difference is that you don't have to download anything for FFR. Its easy to just load up and play it.

For StepMania, I would suggest using 5. Its newer, has a few less bugs, and looks a little prettier. Generally speaking the people who use 3.9 either are used to it and don't want to switch or have bad computers that makes 5 feel worse.

In terms of how you should start out, you should first understand that people generally play here with a 4 key setup, i.e. 'z','x','.','/'. You play with 2 hands and use your index and middle fingers. Pretty straight forward here.

Generally StepMania is focused on downloading packs of files. There is no good way to go about downloading single files, you just download a pack with usually 40-90 files or so on average and usually get some sort of quality assurance through that. You should start by looking at the packs mentioned in this thread:

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=133223

You should look for the ones with stars next to their name as they will likely be a bit more novice friendly.

Welcome to StepMania/FFR!

[Xiz]

^ Well said

[Herogashix]

Originally Posted by CaptainAhab

1. I see that there is some sort of a split between versions 3.9 and 5.0. Should I just use the latest iteration of SM5?

3.9 has the most themes, and is kinda okay.

3.95 is basically 3.9 with online connection abilities and rolls implemented (they're like holds, but you tap them).

5 is the best in terms of... overall enjoyment of the game.
It has 4key (what FFR is like), 5key (Pump it Up), 6key (Solo) and 7key (think of Beatmania). It has a few really well done themes, and is by far the best version for most people to start out on.

Though it comes down to which you prefer. Try them all and see what suits you best.

Originally Posted by CaptainAhab

2. How would you recommend starting out in general? I'm completely new to rhythm gaming, having only played osu! a little bit here and there in the past.

(Stepmania)
Learn the playing styles. See what works for you.
Like with everything, start out nice and slow, go for easy songs (Otaku's Dream Anime Mix 1-5 are best for starting imo).
Change settings Trial and Error style. Speedmods, reverse/upscroll, etc.
Practice makes perfect.

(FFR)
Learn the playing styles. See what works for you.
Start with 1-20, then make your way up as you feel you're getting better.

Originally Posted by CaptainAhab

3. What are the major differences between FFR and Stepmania? To me, they both look extremely similar, except that FFR can be played in a browser and seems to have, judging by this board, a much larger community surrounding it than SM. (Why?)

Other than the fact FFR is flash, and Stepmania is a program? The timing and song limitations.
There are custom FFR engines out there, but you can't just drop in a song whenever you want like with Stepmania. That's the biggest difference (again, other than the program/flash difference).
You also can't play 5, 6 or 7 key on FFR.
There's only 1 difficulty per file on FFR.

FFR's forum basically acts like a general rhythm game forum (along with non-gaming sections), so it's not surprising this has a "larger community surrounding it than SM". That and it's on the same site as the game, so it's just a click away from the forums.



> Typing shit as he goes along.
If I didn't answer a question properly, or said something obviously wrong, just be like "hero you dumb shit" and I'll see what I did wrong.


Here's some links for reference and just study-stuff.

"How to get better at FFR" thread by lxDestinyxl. (General information)
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...ad.php?t=94323

"The Official FFR Picture Dictionary" thread by rushyrulz. (Information on styles and terms used around the site.)
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=115282

[Wayward Vagabond]

Play my files

[Mollocephalus]

Don't play his files

[Wayward Vagabond]

Mollo is a JERK

[NeoMasterPie]

Originally Posted by Herogashix

3.95 is basically 3.9 with online connection abilities and rolls implemented (they're like holds, but you tap them).

additionally, 3.9 themes don't work with 3.95. it needs its own themes. it has some decent ones though

i would say try out each build and see which one you like the most tbh, they each have their ups and downs.

if you're having too much trouble with keyboard files try starting off with pad officials (DDR, ITG) and then moving up to old kb packs like keyboard collaboration once you can do okay on harder pad files

[CaptainAhab]

Thank you all for the help! I will check out SM5 and download some simfile packs later this evening.

[CaptainAhab]

Another minor question: I find it quite hard to navigate the menu screens because the menu shows a color rather than a key to press when instructing you how to do something. Is it possible to change the keys on-screen from showing colors to perform actions to showing the actual keys to perform various actions?

[choof]

I'd recommend looking at different themes or perhaps editing your current theme to make the colors stand out more

[Wafles]

Green = Enter
Gray = Escape
Arrows = obvious

It doesn't show a key because these are all configurable I think, you'd have to edit a theme to get it to show a key. I tried 3 or 4 different themes to check and they all show the colors, sorry bud.

[CaptainAhab]

Originally Posted by Wafles

Green = Enter
Gray = Escape
Arrows = obvious

It doesn't show a key because these are all configurable I think, you'd have to edit a theme to get it to show a key. I tried 3 or 4 different themes to check and they all show the colors, sorry bud.

Thanks for the help. I think I'll just stick with the default theme for now. I'm sure this will all become second nature after a few days.

[otter87]

alt. themes are gay anyway
just like alt. lifestyles

[CaptainAhab]

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!

[justin_ator]

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]

Originally Posted by CaptainAhab

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]

Originally Posted by Mollocephalus

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]

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]

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.