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<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body>
<h1><font size="2">StepMania 3.9</font></h1>
<p><font size="2">©2001-2004, StepMania team, All rights reserved.<br>
<a href="http://www.stepmania.com">http://www.stepmania.com</a></font></p>
<p>
<hr>
<font size="2"><a name="Table of Contents">Table of Contents</a></font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
<a href="#About StepMania">About StepMania</a><br>
<a href="#Minimum Requirements">Minimum Requirements</a><br>
<a href="#DirectX">DirectX</a> <br>
<a href="#Installation">Installation</a> <br>
<a href="#Controls">Controls</a><br>
<a href="#How StepMania Loads Songs">How StepMania Loads Songs</a><br>
<a href="#Connecting Dance Pads">Connecting Dance Pads</a> <br>
<a href="#Compatibility Issues">Compatibility Issues</a><br>
<a href="#FAQ / Troubleshooting">FAQ / Troubleshooting</a><br>
<a href="#StepMania Packages - .smzip">StepMania Packages - .smzip</a><br>
<a href="#Questions, Bugs, Suggestions, and Help">Questions, Bugs, Suggestions,
and Help</a> <br>
<a href="#The StepMania editor">The StepMania Editor</a><br>
<a href="#The .SM file format">The .SM File Format</a><br>
<a href="#Backgrounds">Backgrounds</a><br>
<a href="#BGAnimations Format">BGAnimations Format</a><br>
<a href="#The .CRS File Format">The .CRS File Format</a><br>
<a href="#Extra Stages">Extra Stages</a><br>
<a href="#Unlock System">Unlock System</a><br>
<a href="#Creating an Announcer">Creating an Announcer</a><br>
<a href="#Creating a Note Skin">Creating a Note Skin</a><br>
<a href="#Creating a Theme">Creating a Theme</a><br>
<a href="#Actor Commands">Actor Commands</a><br>
<a href="#ScreenSelect">ScreenSelect</a><br>
<a href="#How StepMania Loads Textures">How StepMania Loads Textures</a><br>
<a href="#Building StepMania from CVS source">Building StepMania from CVS Source</a><br>
<a href="#Thanks">Thanks</a><br>
<br>
See the file <a href="NEWS">NEWS</a> for version history.<br>
See the file <a href="COPYING.txt">COPYING.txt</a> for license information.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="About StepMania">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
About StepMania</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
StepMania is capable of playing many game types. Currently, it supports games
similar to Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up, EZ 2 Dancer, and Para Para
Paradise. In the future, it will support games similar to BeatMania, Guitar
Freaks, DrumMania, and more.<br>
<br>
The games played by StepMania are rhythm games. Notes scroll up from
the bottom of the screen, and the player must hit the corresponding
button on the controller in time to the music. All games can be played
using the keyboard, but the real fun comes when using specially
designed controllers, like a dance pad or hand sensors.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Minimum Requirements">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Minimum Requirements</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
* Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux, OS X<br>
* Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, Athlon, or compatible processor, 266MHz
minimum (400 MHz recommended)<br>
* 64 MB of RAM<br>
* Video card that supports High Color (16-bit color) and has 16MB video RAM<br>
* Video card with OpenGL drivers<br>
* DirectX 7.0 compatible sound card with drivers<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="DirectX">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
DirectX</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
DirectX 8.0 is required before installing StepMania. If DirectX 8.0 is not
installed on your computer, the StepMania installer will display a warning and
abort the installation.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Installation">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Installation</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
To install StepMania, download the file <!--XXX-->stepmania300.exe to a known location on
your hard drive, then double-click the file icon to begin the installation. The
installer may prompt you to remove an older version of the program if one is
present. The default installation directory is 'C:\Program Files\StepMania'.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Controls">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Controls</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
Use the "Config Key/Joy" option from the Options Menu to configure your keyboard,
dance pad, or other game controller. This menu allows you to map up to 2
keyboard/joystick buttons to each function in the game. The third column is the
default key mapping, and cannot be changed. However, you can override a
default keyboard key by simply assigning it to another function. The mappings
for player 1 are on the left half of the screen, and the mapping for player 2
are on right half.<br>
<br>
<br>
The following is a list of special keys:<br>
<br>
Any time:<br>
* F1 = insert coin<br>
* F2 = reload metrics and textures<br>
* Alt-Enter = toggle fullscreen<br>
* PrintScreen = take screenshot (saves to program directory as "Screenshots\screenNNNN.bmp")<br>
* Hold Tab = increase game speed by 4x (useful for moving through menus quickly)<br>
* Hold Tilde (~) = decrease game speed by 1/4x<br>
* Hold Tab and Tilde (~) = decrease game speed to 0x<br>
<br>
In menus:<br>
* Arrow keys navigate menus<br>
* Enter = Start<br>
* Escape = Back<br>
<br>
In any attract screen:<br>
* Left or Right = next attract screen<br>
* F3 = toggle CoinMode<br>
<br>
In title menu:<br>
* Escape = return to attract sequence<br>
<br>
In gameplay:<br>
* F6 = toggle AutoSync mode<br>
* F7 = toggle assist tick<br>
* F8 = toggle AutoPlay<br>
* F9 = decrease offset<br>
* F10 = increase offset<br>
* F11 = decrease BPM of current segment (hold ALT for small increments)<br>
* F12 = increase BPM of current segment (hold ALT for small increments)<br>
* Hold Escape = abort playing<br>
<br>
In editor:<br>
* Escape = menu<br>
* Up/Down = prev/next line<br>
* Left/Right = change snap<br>
* 1 through 0 = add/remove note<br>
* Enter - Set selection begin marker<br>
* Space - Set selection end marker<br>
* P - Play back current selection (if no selection, play whole song)<br>
* R - Record over current selection (if no selection, record whole song)<br>
<br>
In the music select screen:<br>
* F9 = Toggle title translations<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="How StepMania Loads Songs">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
How StepMania Loads Songs</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
All files for a specific song (data file, music file, banner, background) must
reside in a single folder. This folder must have the following path:<br>
<br>
Songs/<group folder>/<song folder>/<br>
<br>
For example, the song Discow Moscow may consist of the following files:<br>
<br>
Songs/TournaMix 4/Discow Moscow/Discow Moscow.sm<br>
Songs/TournaMix 4/Discow Moscow/Discow Moscow.ogg<br>
Songs/TournaMix 4/Discow Moscow/Discow Moscow-banner.png<br>
Songs/TournaMix 4/Discow Moscow/Discow Moscow.png<br>
Songs/TournaMix 4/Discow Moscow/Discow Moscow-movie.avi<br>
<br>
StepMania supports the SM, DWI, BMS, and KSF song file formats. If the song file
format is BMS or KSF, simply put all the KSF or BMS files into the song folder.<br>
<br>
If a song file does not specify a valid banner file, StepMania first looks for a
graphic in the song folder that contains the word "banner". If that search
fails, StepMania will guess which image is most appropriate.<br>
<br>
If a song file does not specify a valid background file, StepMania first looks
for a graphic in the song folder that contains the words "bg" or "background".
If that search fails, StepMania will guess which image is most appropriate.<br>
<br>
If a song file does not specify a valid CDTitle file, StepMania will look for a
graphic in the song folder that contains the words "cdtitle". If that search
fails, StepMania will guess which image is most appropriate.<br>
<br>
If there is exactly one movie in the song folder, StepMania will insert a
background change to that movie at beat 0.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Connecting Dance Pads">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Connecting Dance Pads</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
There are several devices that allow you to connect PlayStation dance pads to
your PC.<br>
<br>
* Not recommended: generic PlayStation->USB converter <br>
<br>
Using a generic PlayStation->USB converter is not recommended to play any
dancing game on the PC. The vast majority of these converters are not capable of
registering simultaneous presses of Left+Right or Up+Down. This restriction will
cause the player to miss many notes where two buttons must be hit
simultaneously.<br>
<br>
* Highly Recommended: specific brands of PlayStation->USB adaptor<br>
<br>
There is just one brand of PlayStation->USB adaptor that functions perfectly
with StepMania. These adaptors are available for purchase through some importers
(www.liksang.com). The adaptor is made by "Boom", and it small and black with a
detachable USB cable. These adaptors cost about $15 and allow you to attach one
dance pad per adaptor. The primary advantage of these adaptors is that they do
not require special drivers and require no configuring.<br>
<br>
* Semi-Recommended: PlayStation->Parallel adaptor<br>
<br>
PlayStation->Parallel converters do not have the simultaneous button problem
that USB converters do. The disadvantage of these adaptors is that home-made
drivers are required to use these devices. These drivers are often finicky and
incompatible with some sound cards. PlayStation->Parallel adaptors can be
purchased from the StepMania web site or any importer.<br>
<br>
For Windows 98 and Windows Me users, the recommended driver is DirectPad
Pro 5.0 for Win9x. For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, the recommended drivers
is NTPad XP 1.x or PSXPAD. For the latest versions of these drivers, visit
<a href="http://www.aldostools.com/dpad.html">Aldo's Tools</a>.<br>
<br>
StepMania now natively supports USB Pump It Up pads.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Compatibility Issues">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Compatibility Issues</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
Some video card/driver combinations have visual errors when running StepMania.
If you experience any visual errors, please visit your video card manufacturer's
web site and download the latest Direct3D 8.1 drivers. Below is a list of known
issues that are thought to be video card driver bugs:<br>
<br>
* <a name="Voodoo3">Voodoo 3</a><br>
Blah<br>
<br>
* nVidia Geforce cards<br>
Symptom: Extremely low framerates.<br>
Fix: Ensure "Enable conformant OpenGL texture clamp behavior" is NOT CHECKED
in advanced display settings.<br>
<br>
* S3 Savage family cards (e.g. Diamond Stealth)<br>
Symptom: The right edge of some graphics appears "cut off".<br>
Explanation: Drivers do not properly handle textures >= 512x512, resulting in
cropped textures. Turn the texture detail option to 256 to force textures to a
smaller size.<br>
<br>
* SiS cards <br>
Symptom: Garbled fonts.<br>
Explanation: Drivers have errors in handling texture coordinates. Only known
solution is to upgrade drivers.<br>
<br>
* Any card older than two years<br>
Symptom: Various graphical glitches.<br>
Explanation: These problems are most often caused by buggy video card drivers
bugs. Please upgrade to the latest drivers, which will hopefully fix the errors.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="FAQ / Troubleshooting">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
FAQ / Troubleshooting</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
* The error "Cannot find Dinput8.dll" appears when launching the game.<br>
<br>
You need to download DirectX 8.1. http://www.microsoft.com/directx<br>
<br>
* Im looking to purchase a video card. What works well with StepMania?<br>
<br>
Just about any video card manufactured in the last year will run StepMania
flawlessly at 60 frames per second. I recommend any card with an nVidia GeForce
chip or an ATI Radeon chip.<br>
<br>
* How can I improve performance with my existing video card<br>
<br>
1. Install the latest drivers for your video card.<br>
2. Press F5 in the game to toggle between high detail and low detail modes.<br>
3. Tweak the Display Resolution and Texture Resolution setting in the
Options->Graphic Options screen.<br>
<br>
* Will you tell me when the next version will be released?<br>
<br>
Nope, Sorry. It's gotten me in trouble before.<br>
<br>
* Why won't you tell me? I promise I won't tell anyone else.<br>
<br>
The reasons I won't tell is because: a) I don't know yet, and b) I don't want to
make anyone angry if it takes longer than expected (it usually does).<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="StepMania Packages - .smzip">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
StepMania Packages - .smzip</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
The StepMania package format was created to make the distribution of songs and
other add-ons very easy. StepMania package files have the extension '.smzip'
and can be installed by double-clicking the .smzip file.<br>
<br>
A StepMania package is 'installed' by extracting all files in the package to the
StepMania program directory. This allows songs, courses, themes, and
visualizations to all be installed by the Package Manager.<br>
<br>
The file format of an .smzip file is actually the PK-Zip standard. This means
you can rename any .smzip file to have the extension '.zip', and then open the
file in any compression application (e.g. WinZip, WinRAR).<br>
<br>
The StepMania Package Exporter (smpackage.exe) can create packages of your song,
announcers, themes, or other add-ons. Simply launch the Package Exporter (Start
Menu->Programs->StepMania->Package Exporter), click the items you would like to
make into a package, then click the one of the Export buttons. "Export as One"
will take all of the selected items and make one package that contains them all.
"Export Individual" will create one separate package for each selected item in
the list.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Questions, Bugs, Suggestions, and Help">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Questions, Bugs, Suggestions,
and Help</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
If you have a question about or problem with StepMania, please first ask your
question a StepMania message board. For a list of StepMania message boards, see
the <a href="http://www.stepmania.com">web site</a>.<br>
<br>
If you have found a bug, please file a bug report into the SourceForge bug
tracking system (http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=37892&atid=421366).
This will allow the developers to track and fix bugs much more efficiently.<br>
<br>
* In a bug report, please specify your video card brand and model, and your OS
version (Win98, WinXP, etc).<br>
* PLEASE, PLEASE enter your e-mail address on the bug reports. In many cases, we
need more information from the bug reporter.<br>
<br>
Please use
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=421369&group_id=37892&func=browse">
SourceForge's feature request system</a> to enter new feature requests. Also,
please discuss feature ideas on the
<a href="http://www.ddrmaniax.net/ddrmaniax/boards/index.php?act=SF&f=17">
StepMania message board</a> or the
<a href="mailto:stepmania-devs@sourceforge.net">StepMania developers list</a>. <br>
<br>
If you would like to help with development of StepMania, please send an email to
the <a href="mailto:stepmania-devs@sourceforge.net">StepMania developers list</a>
or to <a href="mailto:cdanford@u.washington.edu">Chris</a>.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="The StepMania editor">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
The StepMania editor</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
The StepMania editor allows you to edit, record, synchronize, and play back note
patterns. When you choose 'Save', your song will be saved in both the .SM format
and the DWI format for use in Dance With Intensity. If you save a song that was
originally in the BMS or KSF format, the old files will be appended with ".old",
and a new .SM file will be written with your new song data.<br>
<br>
Following are a few basic commands that you will find useful in learning to use
the editor:<br>
<br>
* Escape = menu<br>
* Up/Down = prev/next line<br>
* Left/Right = change snap<br>
* 1 through 0 = add/remove note<br>
* Enter - Set selection begin marker<br>
* Space - Set selection end marker<br>
* P - Play back current selection (if no selection, play whole song)<br>
* R - Record over current selection (if no selection, record whole song)<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="The .SM file format">
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<hr></font>
<font size="2">
The .SM file format</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
The .SM song file format was created to be one file format that supports all
game types that StepMania can play (dance, pump, beat, guitar, etc). The syntax
of a .SM is similar to .DWI and .KSF except that some tags are different.<br>
<br>
Note that StepMania can load images in PNG, GIF, PJG, and BMP formats, and
can load sounds in OGG, MP3, and WAV formats.<br>
<br>
Any text field in an SM file can contain UTF-8 characters.<br>
<br>
#TITLE:...; - The "main title" of the song.<br>
#SUBTITLE:...; - This text will appear underneath the main title of the song on
the Select Music screen. e.g. "~Dirty Mix~" or "(remix)".<br>
#ARTIST:...; - The artist of the song.<br>
#TITLETRANSLIT:...; - Transliteration of song's main title.<br>
#SUBTITLETRANSLIT:...; - Transliteration of song's subtitle.<br>
#ARTISTTRANSLIT:...; - Transliteration of the artist's name.<br>
#CREDIT:...; - Give yourself some credit here for creating a wonderful song.<br>
#BANNER:...; - The file name of the banner image. e.g. "b4u-banner.png". This
image must reside in the song folder.<br>
#BACKGROUND:...; - The file name of the background image. e.g. "b4u-bg.png".
This image must reside in the song folder.<br>
#CDTITLE:...; - The file name of the spinning CD logo. e.g. "b4u-cdtitle.png".
This image must reside in the song folder.<br>
#MUSIC:...; - The file name of the music file. e.g. "b4u.mp3". This image must
reside in the song folder.<br>
#OFFSET:...; - The time in seconds at which beat 0 occurs in the music. This is
specified as a floating point value. e.g. "2.34".<br>
#SAMPLESTART:...; - The time in seconds to start the music sample that plays on
the Select Music screen. This is specified as a floating point value. e.g.
"32.34".<br>
#SAMPLELENGTH:...; - The time in seconds let the sample music play after
starting. This is specified as a floating point value. e.g. "16.00". Note that
in the last 1 second of playing the music will fade out.<br>
#SELECTABLE:...; - If "NO", the song can not be selected manually and can only
be played as part of a course. If "ROULETTE", the song can can also be selected
via roulette. The default value is "YES".<br>
#BPMS:...; - A value of the format "beat=bpm". Indicates that at 'beat', the
speed of the arrows will change to "bpm". Both of these values are specified as
floating point values. You must specifiy a BPM value for beat 0. Multiple BPMs
can be given by separating them with commas. e.g. "0=160,120=80".<br>
#STOPS:...; - A value of the format "beat=sec". Indicates that at 'beat', the
motion of the arrows should stop for "sec" seconds. Both of these values are
specified as floating point values. Multiple stops can be given by separating
them with commas. e.g. "60=2.23,80=1.12".<br>
#BGCHANGE:...; - A value of the format "beat=bg name". Indicates that at 'beat',
the background should begin playing a new background named 'bg name'. 'beat' is
a fractional value value and 'bg name' is a string. Different bg changes are
separated by commas. e.g. "60=falling,80=flower". When StepMania looks for
a backgound, it searches in this order:<br>
</font>
<ol>
<li><font size="2">Looks for a movie with file name = "bg name" in the song folder. You must
include the file extension in "bg name". e.g. "60=falling.avi,80=flower.mpg".</font></li>
<li><font size="2">Looks for a BGAnimation folder with the name "bg name" in the song folder.</font></li>
<li><font size="2">Looks for a movie with file name "bg name" in the RandomMovies folder. You
must include the file extension in "bg name". e.g. "60=falling.avi,80=flower.mpg".</font></li>
<li><font size="2">Looks for a BGAnimation with file name "bg name" in the BGAnimations folder.</font></li>
<li><font size="2">Looks for a Visualization with the file name "bg name" in the Visualizations
folder. For example, if you have a song B4U and special B4U-specific
BGAnimations called "robot" and "electric". First, move the robot and electric
BGAnimation folders into the B4U song folder (e.g. "Songs\4th Mix\B4U\robot" and
"Songs\4th Mix\B4U\electric"). Then, using the editor, insert a new background
change at each point in the song where you to switch to a new BGAnimation.</font></li>
</ol>
<font size="2">
<br>
Each pattern of notes has the same basic format:<br>
<br>
#NOTES:<NotesType>:<Description>:<DifficultyClass>:<DifficultyMeter>:<RadarValues>:<NoteData>;<br>
<br>
NotesType: Must be one of the currently supported types in StepMania:
"dance-single", "dance-double", "dance-couple", "dance-solo", "pump-single",
"pump-double", "pump-couple", "ez2-single", "ez2-double", "ez2-real", "para-single"<br>
<br>
Description: This will be displayed on the gameplay screen. This can be any
text, but is most commonly:<br>
"Beginner", "Basic", "Another", "Trick", "Standard", "SSR", "Maniac", "Heavy", "Challenge",
"SManaic"<br>
<br>
DifficultyClass: This value must be "beginner", "easy", "medium", "hard", or "challenge". These values
correspond the levels of difficulty on the Select Difficulty screen.<br>
<br>
DifficultyMeter: The difficulty of these notes as a bar rating. The value must
be an integer between 1 and 10.<br>
<br>
NoteData: This value requires a longer explanation.<br>
<br>
Each note is represented by a character:<br>
<br>
0 = no note here<br>
1 = a regular "tap note"<br>
2 = beginning of a "hold note"<br>
3 = end of a "hold note"<br>
a-z,A-z = tap notes reserved for game types that have sounds associated with
notes<br>
<br>
Notes that are hit at the same time are grouped into rows. For example, if the
NotesType is "dance-single", the row "1001" would specify that both the Left and
Right and Down panels should be hit at the same time.<br>
<br>
The number of notes per row (also called the number of 'columns') depends on the
"NotesType.<br>
<br>
dance-single = 4 notes/row (Left,Down,Up,Right)<br>
dance-double = 8 notes/row<br>
dance-couple = 8 notes/row<br>
dance-solo = 6 notes/row<br>
pump-single = 5 notes/row<br>
pump-double = 10 notes/row<br>
pump-couple = 10 notes/row<br>
ez2-single = 5 notes/row<br>
ez2-double = 10 notes/row<br>
ez2-real = 7 notes/row<br>
para-single = 5 notes/row<br>
<br>
<br>
Note rows are grouped into measures. The number of note rows you specify in a
measure will determine the time value of each note. For example, if there are 4
note rows in a measure, each note will be treated as a quarter note. If there
are 8 notes rows in a measure, each note will be treated as a eighth note. If
there are 12 notes rows in a measure, each note will be treated as a triplet
(1/12th) note. Measures are separated by a comma.<br>
<br>
Example:<br>
<br>
// measure 1<br>
2010<br>
0000<br>
0100<br>
0000<br>
: // measure 2<br>
0001<br>
0100<br>
0001<br>
0000<br>
3010<br>
0000<br>
0000<br>
0000<br>
;<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Backgrounds">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Backgrounds</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
StepMania supports three different modes of backgrounds. The default background
mode can be set in the Graphic Options menu.<br>
<br>
BGAnimations - Sprite animations similar to DDR 1st-5th Mix. There must be
BGAnimation folders present in the BGAnimations directory, or else no background
will be played. See the section called "BGAnimations Format" in this document
for more information on the BGAnimations format. BGAnimations will perform
better than the other background modes on slower computers.<br>
<br>
Random Movies - The background will cycle randomly over any avi or mpg files in
the "RandomMovies" folder in the StepMania program directory.<br>
<br>
Visualizations - A random avi or mpg file will be chosen from the
"Visualizations" folder in the StepMania program directory. This movie file will
be played and blended over top of the song's background graphic.<br>
<br>
Many video AVIs will require the DivX codec for playback. If you haven't yet
downloaded DivX, you can get it from www.divx.com. Playing movies as the
background is very processor intensive, and may cause choppiness on slower
computers.<br>
<br>
Sample animations, visualizations, and random movies can be found at
<a href="http://www.stepmania.com">www.stepmania.com</a>.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="BGAnimations Format">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
BGAnimations Format</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
The BGAnimations folder in the StepMania program directory may contain several
BGAnimation folders.<br>
<br>
\BGAnimations\<anim folder>\<layer files><br>
<br>
<anim folder> is the name of the animation.<br>
<br>
<layer files> are one or more graphics files that will be used as layers in the
animation. Each sprite represents exactly one layer. Multiple layers can be
specified by having multiple <layer files>. Layer files can be PNG, AVI, or MPEG
files.<br>
<br>
For example, a BGAnimation named "flower" may include the files:<br>
<br>
BGAnimations\flower\1 TileScrollUp.png<br>
BGAnimations\flower\2 StartOnRandomFrame ParticlesFloatDown 1x2.png<br>
BGAnimations\flower\3 TileScrollLeft CycleColor 2x2.png<br>
<br>
The layers of a BGAnimation are drawn from bottom in the order in which the
layer graphics files appear alphanumerically. A layer file name will often begin
with a number to control the order in which they are drawn.<br>
<br>
Different "effects" are specified for each layer by adding tokens to the file
name. Here are an explanation of the currently supported tokens:<br>
<br>
UseSongBg - Use the song's background file instead of this graphics file. Since
this graphics file is merely a placeholder, you might want to make this graphic
a 1x1 graphic to save disk space.<br>
<br>
Add - use additive blending instead of normal blending.<br>
<br>
CycleColor - cycle the color of the layer over the colors of the rainbow<br>
<br>
CycleAlpha - cycle the alpha channel of the layer over type<br>
<br>
StartOnRandomFrame - Start the animation on a random frame. This is mainly
useful for Tile or Particle effects. <br>
<br>
DontAnimate - Stay on the first frame of this animation. This is only useful for
layers with multiple frames.<br>
<br>
(stretch effects) - These scretch the graphic across the extire screen.<br>
ScretchScrollLeft,<br>
StretchScrollRight,<br>
StretchScrollUp,<br>
StretchScrollDown,<br>
- Scroll the layer in a direction<br>
<br>
StretchWater,<br>
StretchBubble,<br>
StretchTwist,<br>
StretchSpin,<br>
- Deform the background sprite with an effect. Only stretch spin is currently
implemented.<br>
<br>
(particle effects) - Use the graphic to make individual particles on the screen.<br>
ParticlesSpiralOut,<br>
ParticlesSpiralIn,<br>
- Spiral particles away from/toward the center of the screen.<br>
<br>
ParticlesFloatUp,<br>
ParticlesFloatDown,<br>
ParticlesFloatLeft,<br>
ParticlesFloatRight,<br>
- Scroll the particles across the screen.<br>
ParticlesBounce,<br>
- Particles start traveling in random directions and bounce when they hit the
edge of the screen.<br>
<br>
(tile effects) - Tile the graphics across the screen, forming a grid of
graphics.<br>
TileStill,<br>
TileScrollLeft,<br>
TileScrollRight,<br>
TileScrollUp,<br>
TileScrollDown,<br>
- Scroll the tiles<br>
<br>
TileFlipX,<br>
TileFlipY,<br>
- Flip the tiles along the X or Y axis.<br>
<br>
TilePulse,<br>
- Tiles zoom in and out.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="The .CRS File Format">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
The .CRS File Format</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
CRS files define the courses used in the Nonstop, Oni, and Endless modes. All CRS
files must reside in the "Courses" folder in the StepMania program folder.
These rules determine which of the three modes a course will appear in:<br>
<br>
Nonstop: Will appear if there is no #LIVES tag and #REPEAT is OFF.<br>
Oni (Challenge): Will appear if there is a #LIVES tag and #REPEAT is OFF.<br>
Endless: Will appear if #REPEAT is ON.<br>
<br>
#COURSE:...; - name of the course<br>
#LIVES:<0..10>; - An integer between 0 and 10. This line is optional.<br>
#REPEAT:<YES|NO>; - start over after last stage?<br>
#SONG: - can use any one of the following formats:<br>
<br>
A fixed song:<br>
#SONG:<group folder>/<song
folder>:<difficulty>:<modifiers>;<br>
example: #SONG:Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov/Flight of the Bumblebee:BASIC;<br>
example:
#SONG:Oldies/Jump Jive and Wail:MANIAC:sudden,shuffle,reverse;<br>
A random song:<br>
#SONG:*:(<difficulty>|<meter
range>):<modifiers>;<br>
example: #SONG:*:MANIAC;<br>
example: #SONG:*:8..10:1.5x,reverse;<br>
A random song within a group:<br>
#SONG:<group
folder>/*:(<difficulty>|<meter range>):<modifiers>;<br>
example: #SONG:Classical/*:3..6;<br>
example:
#SONG:Techno/*:MANIAC:1.5x,reverse;<br>
A players best song:<br>
#SONG:BEST<number>:(<difficulty>|<meter range>):<modifiers>;<br>
example: #SONG:BEST1:TRICK;<br>
example:
#SONG:BEST4:MANIAC:1.5x,reverse;<br>
A players worst song:<br>
#SONG:WORST<number>:(<difficulty>|<meter range>):<modifiers>;<br>
example: #SONG:WORST4:MANIAC;<br>
example:
#SONG:WORST1:TRICK:1.5x,reverse,drunk;<br>
<br>
Descriptions:<br>
group folder - The name of the folder that contains the song folder. (e.g. "Techno")<br>
song folder - the name of the folder that contains files for the song. (e.g. "Flight of the Bumblebee")<br>
difficulty - Can be one of the following: BEGINNER, EASY, MEDIUM, HARD, CHALLENGE.<br>
meter range - A value in the format "x..y" where x is the lowest meter allowed
and y is the highest meter allowed. For example, the string "7..9" would
choose only from songs with a meter of 7, 8, or 9.<br>
modifiers - A comma separated series of modifier strings. This value may
be left blank. Any string you see on the Player Options screen is a
modifier string. Some examples are:<br>
<ul>0.5x, 0.75x, 1.5x, 2.0x, 3.0x, 4.0x, 5.0x, 8.0x<br>
boost, wave, drunk, dizzy, space, mini<br>
hidden, sudden, stealth, blink<br>
mirror, left, right, shuffle, supershuffle<br>
little, reverse, note, flat, plain<br>
noholds, nofreeze, dark<br>
0.7xmusic, 0.8xmusic, 0.9xmusic, 1.0xmusic, 1.1xmusic, <br>
1.2xmusic, 1.3xmusic, 1.4xmusic, 1.5xmusic<br>
</ul></font>
<a name="Extra Stages">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Extra Stages</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
You can manually specify extra stages for each song group by creating .CRS files
called "extra1.crs" and "extra2.crs" and placing them in the song group folder
(e.g. Songs\Vib Ribbon\extra1.crs). When it comes time to play an extra stage the
first song in the .crs file will be used. Don't forget to specify modifiers -
see the "CRS File Format" section of this document for more information. If a
CRS file is not found or is invalid, appropriate song, notes, and modifiers will be chosen.<br>
<br>
Don't forget: extra stage CRS files belong in the song group folder (e.g.
"Songs/Vib Ribbon/"), not in "Courses".<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Courier New" size="2"><hr>
</font>
<font size="2">
<a name="Unlock System">Unlock System </a>(<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)
</font>
<hr>
<font size="2">Unlocks allow songs and courses to be hidden until certain conditions have been met. Conditions are:<p>
Dance points (DP)<br>
Require a minimum number of dance points. A Perfect is worth 2 points, a Great is worth 1 point.<p>
Arcade points (AP)<br>
Clearing a song is worth 1 point. An AAA or greater is worth 10 points instead.<p>
Song points (SP)<br>
A "D" grade is worth 1 point, "C" is worth 2, AA is worth 5, AAAA is worth 20.<p>
Stages Cleared (SC)<br>
Require a minimum number of cleared stages.<p>
Roulette (RO)<br>
Locked until landed on (not necessarily passed) in roulette.
Each entry to be locked via roulette must have its own seed; if multiple songs have the same seed and one of them is landed on, all are unlocked.<p>
Toasties (!!)<br>
Songs are locked until a certain number of Toasties appear on screen.<p>
Unlocks are defined in the file unlocks.dat inside of the Data folder. If multiple conditions are given, the song is unlocked when any one is met. Songs are specified in the same format as course entries.<p>
Examples:<p>
#UNLOCK:Duke Of Earl:AP=10;<br>
The song (or course) "Duke Of Earl" requires 10 arcade points to be played.<p>
#UNLOCK:Yakety Yak:RO=3;<br>
"Yakety Yak" is in roulette slot 3.<p>
#UNLOCK:Banana Boat:CS=30,RO=3;<br>
"Banana Boat" is locked until either 30 stages are cleared, or until landed on in roulette.<p>
#UNLOCK:My Course:CS=50;<p>
Course "My Course" is locked until 50 stages are cleared.<p>
</font><p>
<a name="Creating an Announcer">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Creating an Announcer</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
Announcers folders must reside in the "Announcers" folder inside the StepMania
program directory (e.g. "Announcers\James Earl Jones\"). An announcer folder contains
several more folders - one for each announcer "trigger". Add as many .WAV, .MP3,
or .OGG sounds as you want to the trigger folder. When StepMania wants to play a
sound for that trigger, it will play a random sound file from your trigger
folder.<br>
<br>
Sound files in a trigger folder can have any name you want. It's recommended
that you name the sound files according to what is being said (e.g. "everybodys
waiting for you.mp3"). If there are 0 sound files in a trigger folder, or the
trigger folder is missing, then no sound will be played for that trigger.<br>
<br>
For a complete list of announcer trigger names, see the example announcer packs
that are available at <a href="http://www.stepmania.com">www.stepmania.com</a>.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Creating a Note Skin">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Creating a Note Skin</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
Note skins allow you to customize the way notes appear. Note skins must reside
in the folder "NoteSkins\<Game Name>\<Note Skin Name>". Note skins are specific
to a particular game (dance, pump, etc). In the note skin folder, you must
implement the folling files for each note:<br>
<br>
<NoteName> receptor (3x1).png<br>
<NoteName> tap note (NxN).png<br>
<NoteName> tap explosion bright.png<br>
<NoteName> tap explosion bright.png<br>
<NoteName> hold explosion.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold topcap active.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold topcap inactive.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold head active.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold head inactive.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold body active.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold body inactive.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold tail active.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold tail inactive.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold bottomcap active.png.png<br>
<NoteName> down hold bottomcap inactive.png.png<br>
<NoteName> tap.colors<br>
<br>
"<NoteName>" must be the name of the note (e.g. "left", "upright", "snare").
Look at the example note skins included with StepMania for a complete list for
each game.<br>
<br>
Most of the note skin elements can use any number of frames. For example, the
element "tap exposion bright" could have 4 frames (2x2), 2 frames (1x2), or just
a single frame. The exception to this rule is "receptor", which must have 3 frames.<br>
<br>
For more information on about textures with multiple frames, see the section
"How StepMania Loads Textures" in this document.<br>
<br>
</font>
<a name="Creating a Theme">
<font face="Courier New" size="2">
<hr></font>
<font size="2">
Creating a Theme</font></a><font size="2"> (<a href="#Table of Contents">top</a>)</font><hr>
<font size="2">
<br>
All themes must reside in the Themes folder below the StepMania program
directory. Inside a theme folder, you will all or only a few of the items below:<br>
<br>
Themes\<ThemeName>\BGAnimations\<br>
Themes\<ThemeName>\Fonts\<br>
Themes\<ThemeName>\Graphics\<br>
Themes\<ThemeName>\Numbers\<br>
Themes\<ThemeName>\Sounds\<br>
Themes\<ThemeName>\metrics.ini<br>
<br>
The 5 possible folders in a theme hold "theme elements". A theme element is
simply a little piece of the theme that can be changed. Each of the 5 folders
contains different types of information as explained below:<br>
<br>
BGAnimations: This folder contains BGAnimation elements for the different
screens. Since all backgrounds for all the menus in the game are generated using
BGAnimations, any screen in the game can have an animating background. Also,
BGAnimations can contain movie layers. For more information about BGAnimations,
see the section "BGAnimations Format" in this document.<br>
<br>
Fonts: This folder contains graphics and font width data used by the font
system. Font graphics and width files are generated using the program "Bitmap
Font Builder", which is <a href="http://www.lmnopc.com/bitmapfontbuilder/">
available at their site</a>. To export a font for use in StepMania:<br>
- In Bitmap Font Builder, choose Character Set->Full ASCII. StepMania can only
load 16x16 character sheets.<br>
- In Bitmap Font Builder, click File->Save 32bit TGA. Save the file some place
that is easy to access.<br>
- Open Photoshop and load the TGA file. Click the chanel "Alpha 1", then load
this channel as a selection.<br>
- Click back to the Layers tab and create a new layer.<br>
- Choose Edit->Fill, and fill the selection with white.<br>
- Delete the layer named "Background". You should now see a mostly transparent
background with faint hints of white text.<br>
- Click File->Save For Web. Choose the Format "PNG-24" and Save.<br>
- Rename the PNG file you just saved to "<YourFontName> 16x16.png". (the "16x16"
means that the graphic contains 16 * 16 frames worth of characters.<br>
- Back in Bitmap Font Builder, click File->Save Font Widths (INI Format). Save
this in the same directory where you saved the PNG. Rename the exported INI file
to "<YourFontName> 16x16.ini" where the first part of the file name matches the
PNG you exported.<br>
- Done! The PNG and the INI file are your new font. Move them into your theme's
Fonts folder.<br>
<br>
StepMania will also look for the following optional lines in a font INI file:<br>
CapitalsOnly=<0|1>: If 1, then StepMania will use the capital letter frames in
place of the lower case letter frames. If not specified, StepMania will use 0
for this value.<br>
DrawExtraPixelsLeft=<0..32>: If letters of your font are being chopped off on
the left size, try increasing this value. If not specified, StepMania will use 0
for this value.<br>
DrawExtraPixelsRight=<0..32>: If letters of your font are being chopped off on
the right size, try increasing this value. If not specified, StepMania will use
0 for this value.<br>
AddToAllWidths=<0..32>: If specified, this value will be added to the width of
every character in the font. Increase this value if the width of all characters
changes uniformly; for example, if you add a border to each character.<br>
AdvanceExtraPixels=<0..32>: The value in this line determines the amount of
space to advance between each character. This is usually small, as most fonts
include spacing between characters in the body of the character. Increase this
value to increase character spacing in your font. If not specified, StepMania
will use 1 for this value.<br>
ScaleAllWidthsBy=<0.0...2.0>: The width of every character in the font be
multipled by this value. If not specified, StepMania will use 1 for this value.<br>
LineSpacing=<0..64>: This controls the spacing in pixels between lines of text.
This value is only used in text items that have multiple lines. If not
specified, StepMania will use the height of the frames in your texture (which is
32 pixels for 512x512 graphics).<br>
Top=<0..63>: This indicates the top of a typical capital letter, from the top of
the frame. If not specified, this will be derived from LineSpacing.<br>
Baseline=<0..63>: This indicates the baseline of the font, from the top of the
frame. If not specified, the baseline is derived from LineSpacing.<br>
<br>
Graphics: This folder contains graphics used in all of the screens. These
graphics are the meat and potatoes of a theme. These graphics can be of any
dimension. For example, your theme could have a "title menu logo dance.png"
graphic that is 640x480 - which would take up the whole screen!<br>
<br>
Numbers: This folder contains graphics used to render numbers. Every graphic in
this folder must be 5 frames by 3 frames (5x3) and follow the standard layout
(see the Numbers graphics in the theme named "default" for examples).<br>
<br>
Sounds: This folder contains sounds. Sounds may be in OGG, MP3, or WAV format.<br>
<br>
metrics.ini: A metric is simply values that can alter the appearance of the
game. metrics.ini is a large list of values that will allow you to alter things
like the position of elements in the menus, and the order of menu screens. There
is no documentation or explaination of these values other than the value name.
Because the theme "default" implements all possible theme elements and metrics,
the metrics file "Themes\default\metrics.ini" contains a complete list of all
possible metrics. DO NOT EDIT the file "Themes\default\metrics.ini". Instead,
create a blank file "metrics.ini" in your theme folder, and override only those
values you want to customize for your theme using default's metrics.ini to see
what values are possible.<br>
<br>
<br>
When StepMania looks to load a theme element from one of these folders, it will
first look in the folder of the currently selected theme. If the element is not
found in this folder, StepMania then look for the theme element in the theme
folder called "default". The theme "default" is a base theme and guaranteed that
a theme is usable even if it is missing elements. <br>
<br>
This "fallback" system has other advantages too. User-created themes can
override as many or as few theme elements as the author pleases. For example,
you could create a theme called "MySuperTheme" which does nothing more than
override the title menu logo. Here's how you would create this theme:<br>
<br>
- Create a new folder in "Themes" called "MySuperTheme"<br>
- Open the MyStepMania folder. Create a folder inside called "Graphics".<br>
- Copy the file "Themes\default\Graphics\title menu logo dance.png" into your
Graphics folder "Themes\MySuperTheme\Graphics". <br>
- Edit your new title menu graphic to be whatever you want.<br>
- Start StepMania, go to Appearance Options, and change your theme to "MySuperTheme".<br>
<br>
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