Totally new; a few questions

[CaptainAhab]

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]

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]

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.