Stepmania: Let's Play

If you pull them out without using a program to extract, they will all be shoved into the same directory. Stepmania doesn't like this. You need to have PACK/SONG/(SONGPARTS) not PACK/(SONGPARTS1)&(SONGPARTS2)&(n). The songs need to be in individual folders inside the pack. All packs need to be placed inside the Songs directory within your Stepmania folder

Pads consist of Foam, Plastic, Metal, and Acrylic/Metal (Like the DDR machines) with USB, PS2, XBOX, or GC connections. For anything other than USB, you'll need a converter hub. Get a pad based on your needs... level of play, frequency of play, and price range. Something to keep in-mind is that (cheaper) foam pads slide around quite a bit. Playing Max 300 will probably be the last song you can AA on a foam pad.

You'll need to change/add keys for SM to recognize if you plan on using a dance pad. Just go to the joymap options in the main menu to make your pad operable.

So, you already have a dance pad for PS2 or XBOX, but now you need a converter hub to turn your console end into USB for the computer to recognize. Many different kinds. I came across mine at Walmart one day not even looking for one. At $10, it comes with 1 port for PS2, 1 for XBOX, 1 for GC, and 2 additional USB's. Others double the more commonly used PS2 slot, so you don't have to buy two in order to play multi-player or double. I later bought one of these, too. Converters are great for emulators, also (with games that you already have purchased of course).

List of USB Adapters/Converters

The converter in question. Erm discussion. The Gamemon Universal USB Converter
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TV setup
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Audio Setup
You can hook up your computers audio output (most likely headphone (3mm) jack) to your TV or stereo/surround system.

In order to do so you'll need a 3mm to Stereo Cable.


Most places do not carry these as they have minimal uses. Radio Shack will probably have one for $30-$40, but you can find cheaper ones online. The cheaper ones usually have less "shielding" for sound clarity but this is negligible.

You can use other cables, but they are harder to find and some TV's/stereos don't allow for other inputs.

Operating systems, computer hardware configurations, and monitors inhibit smooth and accurate play. I hear Windows 7 lags certain versions. I know that LCD's lag about ~5ms to ~8ms. You can adjust machine lag in-game to fix this slew of inaccuracies. One can also fix lag on a song-by-song basis, but do not do this. Beatmaps are usually correct. (Exception: Jenova-FF7 among others I'm sure.)

I used to play the CVS4 version which is online. It has a database of everyone's scores, etc, but I'll update the post about that later. They may be on CVS5.. I don't know. If it's anything like it was, you can link up with others and play Stepmania online. These people are extremely hardcore and I wouldn't bother going this route until you can AA decently difficult stream-songs.There used to be problems with the online version, so when I get reacquainted or when someone posts, I'll edit.

1x, 2x, etc. speeds-- means it takes the natural BeatsPerMinute (BPM) of the Song and multiplies it. This is confusing and inconsistent, so you should use the Constant###. Depending on how well you 'sight-read' and how fast you can react, your natural C### will be different. With a higher Constant, you can get Perfects, Marvelous's, Ridiculous's more easily, but you will have less of a buffer of notes on-screen. Find your balance but usually C400 is a good place to start.

Use the assist tick on the 2nd page to help you figure out rhythms to new songs.

modify metrics.ini
CTRL+F for C200 and change/add speeds that you want with the same pattern as the ones already in the file so there aren't any code hiccups.

Make sure you've modified the number of speed options, too.

modify language file
en.ini
es.ini
etc.
reason: to have coordinating buttons in the options menu for your new speeds.

so if you chose C500, make sure you have C500=C500. So your C500 will appear as 'C500' in the options menu. You can make C600=Refrigerators, and C450=balls for all I care. Just remember refrigerators run at 600 BPM and balls run at 450 BPM.

If you are getting an error that it cannot find your balls or refrigerators, it is because the code is case-sensitive. 'C500' is not the same as 'c500'

1-hand: 1 hand for up, down, left and right. (not advise-able)

Spread/Four-fingered: Index and Middle on each hand. Usually, one hand on WASD for 2 of the 4 arrows and the other hand on the arrow keys for the remaining 2 arrows. Your index and middle fingers are your most responsive fingers. If you are looking to increase dexterity or endurance of others for SC2 or something, use them, though it'll be harder. don't forget to change your joypad mappings for the extra keys

Index: Pecking away with only indexes of both hands. Alternating index fingers provides a fun practice but is more difficult than spread (on most songs other than "trilly" songs) because if you mess up you don't have another finger to pick up slack. Plus, your middle finger is nearly as fast. Also, you can't feel where your finger is. Some people index-spread or index on singular WASD.

It's generally accepted that playing Spread will produce the best results. Your middle is only slightly slower than your index.

For each note you press, you receive a grade based on your timing.(Ridiculous>)Marvelous>Perfect>Great>Good>Boo>Miss
Holds are pass/fail with an 'OK' or 'NG'

As long as you hit only Greats or better, you'll keep your combo going.

AAAAA: passing a song with all Ridiculous notes. Requires a mod. + Show Spoiler +AAAA: passing a song with all Marvelous or better notes.
AAA: passing a song with all Perfect or better notes.
AA: passing a song while dropping (killing combo...Miss,Boo or Good) less than ~3-4 notes.
A: passing a song with only a few Combo Breakers and good accuracy.
B: passing a song with a good amount of Combo Breakers and OK accuracy.
C: passing a song with a lot of Combo Breakers and perhaps decent accuracy.
D: barely passing a song. Lots of Combo Breakers and bad accuracy. (It's possible to still pass a song even if you let your stamina bar run dry if you have no-fail selected.)
E: failing a song.

You can screw around with this stuff but I'm all about function over aesthetics.

Gameplay with skin.
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Speaking of skin...if you are a underclassman in a dorm, SM is a great way to bring people together to your lounge or get girls into your room. Just use the VGA slot on your computer's video card.

True story
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Use CTRL+F to find keywords designated in bold. I'll move this too the top of the page when I'm done with this section.

Q: How do I hook up a pad to my PC?
A: See Equipment/Setup section

Q: How do I hook up my computer to my TV in order to actually see the buttons?
A: See Equipment/Setup section

Q: How do I get better? I feel like I've hit a wall.
A: Don't try songs too easy or too difficult. Finish a song if you can. Turn on no-fail if it's just a section in a song, but if you are failing the entire song, go to an easier one. You won't get better from too much destruction. If it's your fingers keeping you back, simply play more to gain more endurance. If the problem is your hand-eye coordination, change things up. Switch finger binds. Play with a higher/lower constant rate and different visual mods (see Game Option and Making your own speeds sections for more info). Finally, see tips section (a work in-progress).

Mentors
StimCraft (PM me on here)

Students
Just started...Sign up

Sign-up if you want to either teach a new player or learn how to play or get better.

Newbie (Beginner/Light)
-Alternate Feet/Fingers

Medicore (Standard)
-Practice Triples

Advanced (Heavy-DDR)
-Dial up speed

Semi-Pro (Heavy ITG/Some Keyboard Packs)
-Turns, trills, etc, many doubles, etc.

Pro (Anything is your slave)
-tip

General
-Utilize the .5x, .6x, .7x, etc. in the options menu. Musician's do this, and it's the best way to perfect a difficult piece (or pass a simfile in this case).
-put the background to 0% (completely black), it greatly helps in reading the notes
-if you play spread, feel free to try more hotkey setups than above, experimenting and fooling around with your setup will stop any complacencies in your A-game
-starting with C400 is fine, but don't get too used to it... when you think you can sight-read maps fast enough, dial it up a bit more. always challenge yourself to read faster. most of the top players play above C650 for accuracy.
-if you want to become more accurate by a different method, increase the judging difficulty from the default(4) to 5-8, then lower it to the standard when you want to go for a score run

Izzy in action.
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And check out the posters below

To be editededed

Countries
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maybe
tsutter
if i forget to mention someone, please speak up. it's not intentional

23 Dec
Started on FAQ section
Created (Output) Sound section
Updated TV setup section
Created Mentoring section
Updated a few misc. things
Note: Wow...one open tag can destroy all the rest of the tags in forum coding.

1 Dec
Lag Section Added
Buffed Equipment Section a bit
Add NZ to country map
Wording/Organization
Added a funny? picture
List of converters link
More countries to the guestbook (countries now in native language)

29 Nov
Organization
Added Video Section, Tips Section (thanks to maybe)
TL Steppin' 'Round the World Section added
Etc.