A few questions, new SM setup

[Senact]

Hi, I am new to the board, I posted in the introductory forum if interested.

I had a few questions for Stepmania experts out there. I am trying to build a solid Stepmania experience for at home. I don't have any pads atm, but am looking to purchase a couple of the Impulse Pads when they release later this year. I almost bought a set of Precision pads, but after reading more about them, the Impulse pads sound very promising and worth the wait.

Currently I have SM5 installed and have been keyboarding to practice my arrow reading skills. (The FFR game on this site looks pretty neat, so I'll be checking that out too). I much prefer to play on a pad, but as that is a 6 month wait, I will be keyboarding until then.

I've been researching Stepmania but find the available resources somewhat confusing, which leads me to a slew of questions.
- Which is the best version of SM to run with that has the most support?
- It seems content for say... 3.9 doesn't work with 5.0, is that true?
- Theme packs are the overall look of the game menus/sound effects and announcers is just the voice work correct? Are there any other customisation's worth looking into?
- On arcade and home versions of DDR, there was animations on the screen while you played (usually a dancing person). Are there any custom animations available for SM or just a static image/black screen?
- I currently have all the DDR mixes and ITG 1-3. My pad skills are likely reduced to playing red 7 foot songs (I still call them feet, but that might be a DDR thing). Are there any other packs recommended for people playing in that 7-10 foot range? I don't see myself ever playing songs 12feet+, that just looks so crazy. Even on keyboard I can barely pass 9foot songs as I can't follow the arrows fast enough yet.
- There seems to be a lot of packs that only have one difficulty which is usually a blue 11+ footer, I assume there are no versions of this song with easier step patterns unless I made my own? There are so many good songs I'd love to play but are just way too difficult.

In fear of going on way too long, I'll stop the post here. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!

[MarioNintendo]

Originally Posted by Senact

- Which is the best version of SM to run with that has the most support?
SM 5

- It seems content for say... 3.9 doesn't work with 5.0, is that true?
It's true. Certain functionalities like "rolls" (basically holds you have to tap constantly) and online play are features present in sm5 that are lacking in sm3.9. However, sm 3.9 can have a more stable framerate and a more familiar feel for many players, which is why this version is still relevant. However, recent development of sm 5 has also made it more stable (http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=145215)

- Theme packs are the overall look of the game menus/sound effects and announcers is just the voice work correct? Are there any other customisation's worth looking into?
You got that right about theme packs and announcer. Personally I think announcers are not worth your time, they can get annoying quickly. You should also look into downloading custom noteskins (note: sm3.9 noteskins are not compatible with sm5, and vice versa). Jousway makes some great noteskins, if you're interested in checking them out. Other than that, most of the customization can be found in the various options inside the game (e.g. event mode, upscroll/downscroll, etc.)

- On arcade and home versions of DDR, there was animations on the screen while you played (usually a dancing person). Are there any custom animations available for SM or just a static image/black screen?
I never used characters, all I could find was this old thread basically saying they are not worth your time: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...ad.php?t=54541
You can put avi format videos in the RandomMovies folder inside your Stepmania folder (if the RandomMovies folder doesn't exist, create it). Some packs have songs that use videos, but these are somewhat rare. For example, this pack (DM Ashura Pack, recommended for you) uses videos from the beware video collection. Most songs use a static image as a background, and most players lower the brightness so that they don't even see the background at all, for less distraction.

- I currently have all the DDR mixes and ITG 1-3. My pad skills are likely reduced to playing red 7 foot songs (I still call them feet, but that might be a DDR thing). Are there any other packs recommended for people playing in that 7-10 foot range? I don't see myself ever playing songs 12feet+, that just looks so crazy. Even on keyboard I can barely pass 9foot songs as I can't follow the arrows fast enough yet.
Everyone has to start somewhere! Just be patient and practice. There are songs I'm able to play today that I didn't even think were possible to do 6 years ago. Believe me: a small regular grind goes a long way. I recommend to you the mute sims packs (for pad and/or keyboard), and the Stepping Stones of Stepmania packs:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=136065
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=142594
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/....php?p=4435745

- There seems to be a lot of packs that only have one difficulty which is usually a blue 11+ footer, I assume there are no versions of this song with easier step patterns unless I made my own? There are so many good songs I'd love to play but are just way too difficult.
This is a reality we have to deal with. Since making step charts is a lengthy process, people usually just end up stepping songs aimed at their own skill. I'm guilty of this myself: sometimes I take an "easy sounding" song and make it harder, or take a "hard sounding" song and make it easier, just so that I can comfortably play it and have fun. This also means that one song can have many different versions: take Ageha for example. I think this song has a different chart (or set of charts) for every pack it's in, gradually getting harder as the years go by. It's worth noting that some song packs were made where the creator asked for many difficulties for each song. I think the packs I linked above are a great example. If there's a song too hard for you with no alternate difficulty, you can always use rates to slow it down! The music will not sound as good, but it will at least let you learn the patterns. Believe it or not, that's how I finally got around to play Classical Insanity at first. Or you could also try making your own That's how I got starting into making charts.

In fear of going on way too long, I'll stop the post here. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!

Hope that helped Don't be shy to ask questions, the learning curve can be steep to set up the game properly.

[Dinglesberry]

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=145215

EDIT: Buy a mechanical keyboard instead of a pad and embrace the keyboard life, its not too lateeeeee

[MarioNintendo]

Originally Posted by Dinglesberry

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=145215

EDIT: Buy a mechanical keyboard instead of a pad and embrace the keyboard life, its not too lateeeeee

lol I already had that link in my post

Agreed about the mechanical keyboard, though. If you plan on being serious about the game, you need to get one of those. I had a huge skill boost after getting mine. They're pretty easy to find in the wild and online, over a wide spectrum of quality and features list. It seems like the Cherry MX board 3.0 is the best bang for your buck right now, or the logitech g610.

[Senact]

Awesome, thanks for all the info. I read your post(s) and I'll spend some time going through those links. The keyboard I use now is about 6 years old and cost me 15 bucks at the time. I've been looking at mechanical keyboards for a while but never made the change. Is it just the responsiveness of mechanical keys that makes it better or does the clicking sound help?

As I am used to DDR, not hearing the announcer made the game feel empty, but I agree, it would probably get old after a while. I also agree that if I was ever good enough to play above 9-10foot, the animation backgrounds would make it harder to follow the arrows. My end goal is to have a dedicated computer, screen, speakers etc with 2 impulse pads setup just like an arcade machine would be (and a pinball and custom arcade cabinet as well I'm a huge arcade nostaglic. They pretty much don't exist anymore where I live.)

As a side question, the songs on FFR, are they all fanmade? I've only tried a couple so far, but they seem pretty good, so well done to the community! I used to visit ddrfreak, but that site seems to be completely dead. Nice to see there is still support for these types of games.

[DDR_Anna]

Originally Posted by Senact

Awesome, thanks for all the info. I read your post(s) and I'll spend some time going through those links. The keyboard I use now is about 6 years old and cost me 15 bucks at the time. I've been looking at mechanical keyboards for a while but never made the change. Is it just the responsiveness of mechanical keys that makes it better or does the clicking sound help?

As I am used to DDR, not hearing the announcer made the game feel empty, but I agree, it would probably get old after a while. I also agree that if I was ever good enough to play above 9-10foot, the animation backgrounds would make it harder to follow the arrows. My end goal is to have a dedicated computer, screen, speakers etc with 2 impulse pads setup just like an arcade machine would be (and a pinball and custom arcade cabinet as well I'm a huge arcade nostaglic. They pretty much don't exist anymore where I live.)

As a side question, the songs on FFR, are they all fanmade? I've only tried a couple so far, but they seem pretty good, so well done to the community! I used to visit ddrfreak, but that site seems to be completely dead. Nice to see there is still support for these types of games.

I'd like to hijack this thread to ask the same thing about mechanical keyboards, since I play with a laptop.

The songs on FFR are used with permission and are usually stepfiled by different people.

[MarioNintendo]

Originally Posted by Senact

The keyboard I use now is about 6 years old and cost me 15 bucks at the time. I've been looking at mechanical keyboards for a while but never made the change. Is it just the responsiveness of mechanical keys that makes it better or does the clicking sound help?

Responsiveness and consistency. It's hard to explain how it compares and you really have to feel it for yourself, but trust me, it's definitely worth your money!

[Dinglesberry]

The responsiveness, the fact that like, they have better polling rates n such so its more accurate, the fact that you don't need to fully press keys to have them activate etc

Also like, alot of people enjoy messing with keyboards, trying different switches and stuff, alot of it is just preference but its pretty fun to like, mess around with that stuff I find

>insert obligatory gateron brown magicforce shill

[MinaciousGrace]

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
Please swallow your pride
If I have faith you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won't let show
You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

[Soundwave-]

literally singing that shit in choir

I got a mechanical keyboard and tbh I'm a bit nonplussed. It's like butter on toast, like I like it and think it's superior to not having butter but it ain't going to give me super powers.