Stepmania is a freeware, PC clone of the popular DDR and ITG franchises. The game is past it's prime, but still fun nonetheless.
Getting all-in'd a lot? DT's? Terran OP? Toss EZ? Sneaky Sneak Sneakalicious Zerg? You and I both know you can't afford throwing another expensive gaming mouse at your imported Korean girl poster. Exert your energy through songs on Stepmania. Just don't break your keyboard or leg. This game can be played with your keyboard or dancepad.
Bonus: Should you use your keyboard, you should see an increase in your fingers' endurance and response. There isn't any mouse clicking or orienting like in Osu, though, so you won't see an increase in precision.
DDR Machine. That one awkward, spastic kid visiting the arcade never looked so cool. + Show Spoiler +
Note: The songs get to be so difficult that past a certain point, you can't play them with your feet anymore. Yes, even you, Super Saiyan Goku.
Getting Started:
Install whichever version works best with your computer/needs. Probably v4. Link: Stepmania Program
Funny picture...who knew the home screen was so hilarious + Show Spoiler +
style: single play: have fun. explanation: engage in s&mtothemax. available options depend on how many players are joined. LOL
Packs are sets of songs or simfiles. You'll need something to play, as the Stepmania doesn't come with any pre-installed songs. Most songs/packs are in compressed (zipped) format to save on server space and bandwidth usage. Download a decompression program such as 7zip, winzip, winrar, or something of that sort to unzip your packs/songs.
What it looks like if you don't have any packs...I guess this is as close as one gets to unlocking perpetual motion + Show Spoiler +
Some packs include DDR, IntoTheGroove, general video game themes, anime, community collaborations, etc. Anything you can think of...from Sands of Time from ChronoCross to Geno's Forest to Candy from DDR to Crazy Japanese Anime. If it screams nostalgia, difficult-like, or quirky-ness, it'll be somewhere. I can't remember if they have any Starcraft ones.
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).
set your output to singular monitor. You'll most likely be using your laptop and you don't want to fry it. Remember to use an elevated cooling fan and NOT to place directly on the carpet.
Where's my sound? Well VGA is only the video output. The sound will be coming out of your computer. Will probably be too soft even with a good sound card. See next section.
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.
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.
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).
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
USA Canada 日本 (Japan) Norge (Norway) France Danmark (Denmark) Sverige (Sweden) New Zealand in Nederland (the Netherlands) United Kingdom
Want forearms like TLO? Play Stepmania. Just don't pinch your nerves like TLO =( If you already play, show some love, your best accomplishment, or something to add to the thread. I will acknowledge your editing/contributions. Also, say your country if it isn't tagged to your name. The skill level of SM-TL is very impressive, but please be humble and use a spoiler tag if you do decide to embed a video. This is to prevent browsers on lower-end comps from lagging/crashing and to keep the thread lookin' clean.
Stream/Contact Sometimes I stream Stepmania on my livestream.com/stimcraft through TL when I get sick of SC2. I'm still getting back into it after a long hiatus. Ask me on stream, in here, stimcraftgg@gmail.com or through pm if you have an questions about anything.
Thanks/Credit/Help/Clarifications/General Contribution + Show Spoiler +
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.
one of my asian friends used to play this game, he was ridiculously good. he was also really amazing at real ddr and any other rhythm game at the arcade. he tried to get me to play it, i enjoyed it for a bit but the best i could do was the ddr songs on hard(with my fingers)
I used to play SM, but only because of the novelty of being able to play games with my favorite songs. I was decent, but nowhere near those damn Japanese prodigies..
I used spread, but doesn't it also work if you use WASD? or both? ie index and middle on WA, index and middle on downkey rightkey. At least, that's how I remember it. Either SM or something else, I used left hand on WASD and right hand on arrows.
But yeah, this is fun stuff if you're into it. Play it for a day and if you enjoy it, keep going, but I don't believe it's something you can really develop a love for if you don't like it that much from the start..
On the bright side, it's like DDR, without the exercise!
I will be hooking up my old XP computer just to play this on Thursday if there's still any interest in this by then. Hopefully there is, because I always have a lot of fun playing SM, but I'm always too lazy to hook up my old desktop with all my song packs. ):
I used to play this a lot like five years ago. Saw a contest for this game once, and had to try it after seeing the insane speed they were playing at. I got pretty good after a while, but I lost interest eventually. I still play a couple of songs every now and then though, but it I kinda suck now compared to what I used to. It's still fun to play a keyboard song on C800 in front of someone who hasn't played or seen it before, they'll think you've just memorized it or something.
Used to play this quite often back in the ol' days. But I stopped playing two years ago... I was getting not bad, had some AA's in some keyboard song. Friends would be awesomised when I played . These directDL links for pack are tempting...
I'm a fairly long time player. I play Stepmania almost every day, working on songs for months before I beat them, I think I've hit my peak
I want to play with 6-panels, but planning to get a new keyboard for that since it goes to shit with this old one I have where I can't press more than 4 keys at the same time.
I play with ASDF. Started that way, never bothered to try anything else. It works for me but it's very annoying sometimes when my thumbs touch and I lose focus.
edit: fyi that video you labeled as 'izzy in action' isn't actually izzy, it's arch0wl. it's also a video from ~2005 and the score isn't impressive anymore at all. izzy is also not even remotely close to the best in the world -- i haven't played since 2007 or so, but the top 3 best in the world back then was like
the last i knew wooke was the best sm player in the world (also doesn't play anymore) but after 2009 i have no idea
theres ur stepmania history lesson for the day
edit #2: also spread is by far and away the best way to play for scores and stuff, not index. a lot of people prefer to play index same as people prefer to play one hand, but index/one hand ppl will never get as good of scores as people on spread. i loved playing index tho, mad fun
Oh man, thanks for much for posting this. I had played this a while back and forgot about it since I changed comps.
What's a good hard pad that you guys recommend? I'm looking for something that's well made like the arcade pads but not too heavy and easy to put away.
excellent... I have the pads + stepmania already, but was getting tired of my songs. I can usually nail 8 footers on sight, 9 footers with practice. Haven't yet beat a 10 footer with my feet, got frustrated and switched to doing double pads. It's really fun again!
I use to play then didnt like any/ couldnt find any new good song packs that were cool. Might give it another go now that you made this neatly displayed post for it :D
im pretty good at this game, been playing on and off for about 7 years now. didnt seem to get much improvement for the last few years, and the community pretty much died so i just play for fun from time to time, no reason to play actively anymore.
i still follow the scene and forums and stuff, so theres this korean/american guy called leonid, whos pretty much the best player atm to still play semiactive and set new world records and such.
there are other insane players too, but none of them has posted a score atleast in a year so..
heres a link to (mostly) good simpacks: http://houkouonchi.net:8080/packs/ if you want more newer sims, you can try omgdidinsane.com forums, although the regular people there have stated that they dont 'care' about stepmania anymore, because playing without any scene, community or competition, is worthless.
some tips: -put background to 0% (black), it helps greatly to read the notes -if you play spread, feel free to try more hotkey setups than what the op told to(mine have been zx23(numpad) for several years already) -starting with C400 is fine, but dont get too used to it. when you think you can read it good enough, put it up to C500 or so. most of the best players always play C650-C800. (mines C750) -if you want to come more accurate, you can change the judge difficulty from the default(4) to 5-8. playing like this for a good few years, then changing back to 4 and you wont see many of those perfects anymore.
On November 29 2010 11:51 StimCraft wrote: Note: AA means mostly Perfects, AAA means mostly Marvelous, AAAAAAA means you are a real monster.
just gonna clarify this: Ridiculous>Marvelous>Perfect>Great>Good>Boo>Miss (theres still OKs and NGs for holds, and on some songs there are mines) your combo only keeps up if you hit either ridiculouses,marvelouses,perfects or greats.
AAAAA: passing a song with all Ridiculous notes. the chances of getting this score is nigh impossible, so dont be surprised if you never get it. you will also need to download Ridiculous Timing to even have a chance at getting this.
AAAA: passing a song with all Marvelous or better notes. once again, getting this score is very very very hard, unless on a very easy song, so don't expect to get this.
AAA: passing a song with all Perfect or better notes.
AA: passing a song with either a Full Combo, or very near it, with good accuracy.
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. E: failing a song.
there would still be a shitload to tell about the theroycrafting, terminologies, techniques etc, and this is all just for the playing part. the sim making is like another game to play. personally i kinda hope that competitive stepmania would get some love(new community?,PLAYERS), its always been an open source, easily modable rhythm game, with a good song editor in it. definitely better than guitar hero and the other casual shit i see doing too well on the market.
I was always better at playing with my feet than my hands :<
Haven't played in probably 4 years now but I used to be able to play all 10s and 11s comfortably on DDR and ITG, and I passed most of the 12s and a few of the 13s.
Best personal accomplishments that I can remember are fcing Emerald Sword with 97% or so on keyboard...as for on pad, I guess passing Quasar or Vertex^2 (with really shit accuracy though).
Dude tsutter sup, didn't know you hang out at tl, awesome.:D Yeah I also played SM extensively for about 2-2.5 years, never got as good as tsutter was in terms of speed or MA though, but I was fairly decent at what you would call jackhammers(jacks). Also have some vids:
2nd first pass in the "world"(if you will), wooke that tsutter mentioned ofcourse beat me by a couple of months atleast
Some speedy passes that were quite "unheard" of at the time when I passed em I think
this one's a beastly stamina killer, passed 1.4rate later on which I think I was first with, never got a vid of it though, took me 10-12 retries in a row to actually pass it(1.4, arms were dead)
On December 01 2010 16:06 Zona wrote: I play a lot of DDR and want to get into stepmania - what's a good economical set of pads to buy?
I used to play a fair amount of DDR/ITG for a while. What kind of pads are you looking for? i.e. foam/plastic/metal? Also, what price range are you looking at?
Are you looking for a pad that's compatible with Stepmania without a converter?
I have a 60 pound metal pad sitting in my dining room that hasn't gotten much use since I started going to the gym regularly last year. I first got into DDR way back in 2000 then played a bunch at Georgia Tech from 2002-2005 when a lot of the best players in the southeast went there. I was never good enough to pass any of the real 10 foot songs, but I had a great time playing anyway.
I got decent at Stepmania, I've been playing it since about 2006.
I use a 3 finger style that just kind of developed on its own, but a word of advice for anyone looking to get started: PLAY SPREAD. OP is completely right, I feel like I have gotten close to maxing out my personal skill for a 3 fingered style, in other words I really feel like I could've gotten much better if I had been using spread the whole time. Songs that have jumps mixed in with really fast streams are very difficult for both index and 3 finger players.
My best achievement is probably AA on Body Breakdown, but it wasn't a full combo or anything (I think my highest combo during that run was 1400). Still a pretty hard song (for me), but I found this youtube group a couple of weeks ago with guys that just shit on all of my stepmania advances. It makes me feel good that I can AA a song one of those guys posted on their profile though ^-^
This guy full combos body breakdown (spread of course).
Lots of other VERY impressive videos on his profile and the youtube group he belongs to. And by impressive I mean these guys are easily some of the very best players in the world.
Very fun game to get into, very fun to show off with =D
I play stepmania pretty casually and have for years.. About a year ago I started to play in Dizzy and then Hidden options and have never gone back.
I don't know what people find fun about playing songs over and over to get best scores, I just play songs for the fun of it!
My aim is to beat Terminal strike dizzy/hidden, so far got about 3/4 through it and I havn't played in months so i'm probably terrible now - oh well. :D
Anyone else play in some fun options all the time?
EDIT - My latest video (Still 4 months old.) I am no where near as accurate as some of the other guys in the thread but I think I play a bit crazier - I never practice songs to get higher accuracy, only replay songs I like to listen to/like to play.
tsutter is easily the best player to post so far, pretty good guy.
Tenox do you still play? I never see you post any scores anymore.
Anyway, I also play a bit, nothing really impressive though. The only things worth mentioning are vibro and split stuff. I passed some pretty hard stuff a while back. Nowadays I play on split a lot, as far as I know I'm the only one who plays it regularly.
Some vids:
All of them are old vids except for the first one which was filmed at dreamhack 4 days ago (Actually it was at the train station after dreamhack, but still)
On December 01 2010 16:06 Zona wrote: I play a lot of DDR and want to get into stepmania - what's a good economical set of pads to buy?
I used to play a fair amount of DDR/ITG for a while. What kind of pads are you looking for? i.e. foam/plastic/metal? Also, what price range are you looking at?
Are you looking for a pad that's compatible with Stepmania without a converter?
Ideally a pair of durable pads for under $200 USD? (Hmm, maybe including shipping? It could affect the cost a lot, I figure.) Even cheaper would be nice, of course. I don't mind using a converter, as long as it works trouble-free.
On December 01 2010 16:06 Zona wrote: I play a lot of DDR and want to get into stepmania - what's a good economical set of pads to buy?
I used to play a fair amount of DDR/ITG for a while. What kind of pads are you looking for? i.e. foam/plastic/metal? Also, what price range are you looking at?
Are you looking for a pad that's compatible with Stepmania without a converter?
Ideally a pair of durable pads for under $200 USD? (Hmm, maybe including shipping? It could affect the cost a lot, I figure.) Even cheaper would be nice, of course. I don't mind using a converter, as long as it works trouble-free.
I have no idea what shipping costs are these days. I have a DDRGame metal pad myself (got it from a friend used) (http://www.ddrgame.com/ddrmetalpad.html) which works okayish (considering that I can't pass anything above a 10 footer without a bar on feet these days.) If you're willing to spend the bucks for it, Cobalt Fluxes are awesome and last pretty long. The CFs we had at the DDR club during my ugrad lasted at least 2-3 years without major problems, I think. They're like nearly 300 dollars each, though.
There's also the iON metal dance pads, but I don't know much about those. The only non-arcade metal pads I've actually played on are CFs and DDRGame pads. I really hate playing on foam pads, so I avoid those whenever possible, but if you're okay with those, I heard the RedOctane Ignition pads are decent.
Check on stepmania.com to see if they have any info regarding PS2 to USB converters. My friend has one of those, but I currently have no idea where he is.
Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
i have a CF, it works good... had it for about 1.5 years and its have issues registering... but i average about 5 hours of hard play a week, for 1.5 years lol
so CF needs maintenence every so often, then its fine
IONs are good
but for a PAIR, you probably want some Ignition foam pads, they arent too bad price wise and i passed Legend of Max for the first time ever on one way back in the day
Sup grokken man, yeah no, not really. I want to be close to the top if I play, and I feel there's just too much to catch up since I last played (6months since I last tried to get back into shape), leonid and those guys are just getting so beastly right now.
On December 03 2010 08:02 Judicator wrote: Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
On December 03 2010 08:02 Judicator wrote: Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
False =)
If you can find me video evidence, I'll be in your debt.
On December 03 2010 08:02 Judicator wrote: Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
False =)
If you can find me video evidence, I'll be in your debt.
It's you who have to prove that your feet can actually keep up, not the other way around. Besides, why do you think pad player uses a bar? It's the balance aid you're talking about.
Pad players are nowhere near the speed of keyboard players, and never will be...
On December 03 2010 08:02 Judicator wrote: Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
False =)
If you can find me video evidence, I'll be in your debt.
It's you who have to prove that your feet can actually keep up, not the other way around. Besides, why do you think pad player uses a bar? It's the balance aid you're talking about.
Pad players are nowhere near the speed of keyboard players, and never will be...
That's my point, you have to support yourself in some way or you will lose your balance.
Keyboard players is duh.
I don't know if you are saying false to which part of my original statement. The fact that your feet won't be able to keep up (obviously to some of songs out there) or the fact that balance is the issue.
On December 03 2010 08:02 Judicator wrote: Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
False =)
If you can find me video evidence, I'll be in your debt.
It's you who have to prove that your feet can actually keep up, not the other way around. Besides, why do you think pad player uses a bar? It's the balance aid you're talking about.
Pad players are nowhere near the speed of keyboard players, and never will be...
That's my point, you have to support yourself in some way or you will lose your balance.
Keyboard players is duh.
I don't know if you are saying false to which part of my original statement. The fact that your feet won't be able to keep up (obviously to some of songs out there) or the fact that balance is the issue.
Sure, feet will never be able to be as fast as fingers when playing StepMania/DDR, but it's not that big of a difference. I point you to Mr. "Mad Matt", and his insane footspeeds.
Check out his youtube channel for more sick footspeed videos.
And anyone that takes DDR/ITG seriously plays with the handlebar.
On December 03 2010 08:02 Judicator wrote: Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
False =)
If you can find me video evidence, I'll be in your debt.
It's you who have to prove that your feet can actually keep up, not the other way around. Besides, why do you think pad player uses a bar? It's the balance aid you're talking about.
Pad players are nowhere near the speed of keyboard players, and never will be...
That's my point, you have to support yourself in some way or you will lose your balance.
Keyboard players is duh.
I don't know if you are saying false to which part of my original statement. The fact that your feet won't be able to keep up (obviously to some of songs out there) or the fact that balance is the issue.
Sure, feet will never be able to be as fast as fingers when playing StepMania/DDR, but it's not that big of a difference. I point you to Mr. "Mad Matt", and his insane footspeeds.
Because when you play at home, you don't always have a bar. Either way I see where the confusion is coming from though. I was addressing that your feet can keep up if you can keep your balance given that the song you are doing is designed for feet and not keyboard.
On December 04 2010 13:46 Judicator wrote: Because when you play at home, you don't always have a bar. Either way I see where the confusion is coming from though. I was addressing that your feet can keep up if you can keep your balance given that the song you are doing is designed for feet and not keyboard.
Well, they can't. If they could keep up, they would be just as fast wouldn't they? Then how come pad players can't even get close to the speed of keyboard players?
On December 04 2010 13:46 Judicator wrote: Because when you play at home, you don't always have a bar. Either way I see where the confusion is coming from though. I was addressing that your feet can keep up if you can keep your balance given that the song you are doing is designed for feet and not keyboard.
Well, they can't. If they could keep up, they would be just as fast wouldn't they? Then how come pad players can't even get close to the speed of keyboard players?
Why are you trying to argue a point that I already stated and agreed with you and the other dude on?
So a song designed for pad players is impossible then by your logic? Really? Do people just read the first few words of posts again?
Used to play FFR a lot, for like 1.5 years before it went down. I've AAA'd some 11 and FC with decent PA some 12, guess I wasnt so bad. But I stop rythm game since it and now I cant have a good working computer and a good keyboard. Guess I'll buy some only for FFR / SM one day ^^
On December 04 2010 13:46 Judicator wrote: Because when you play at home, you don't always have a bar. Either way I see where the confusion is coming from though. I was addressing that your feet can keep up if you can keep your balance given that the song you are doing is designed for feet and not keyboard.
Well, they can't. If they could keep up, they would be just as fast wouldn't they? Then how come pad players can't even get close to the speed of keyboard players?
Why are you trying to argue a point that I already stated and agreed with you and the other dude on?
So a song designed for pad players is impossible then by your logic? Really? Do people just read the first few words of posts again?
You never said anything like it, what you were saying is that pad players can move their feet fast enough to keep up, and that balance was the issue. What I am saying is that you are wrong and that pad players cannot move their feet even close to fast enough to keep up with keyboard players. You never agreed with any of my points.
Why would a song designed for pad players be impossible? Pad songs are very easy in general, the only really hard ones are those with a lot of bpm changes and mines.
On December 04 2010 13:46 Judicator wrote: Because when you play at home, you don't always have a bar. Either way I see where the confusion is coming from though. I was addressing that your feet can keep up if you can keep your balance given that the song you are doing is designed for feet and not keyboard.
Well, they can't. If they could keep up, they would be just as fast wouldn't they? Then how come pad players can't even get close to the speed of keyboard players?
Why are you trying to argue a point that I already stated and agreed with you and the other dude on?
So a song designed for pad players is impossible then by your logic? Really? Do people just read the first few words of posts again?
You never said anything like it, what you were saying is that pad players can move their feet fast enough to keep up, and that balance was the issue. What I am saying is that you are wrong and that pad players cannot move their feet even close to fast enough to keep up with keyboard players. You never agreed with any of my points.
Why would a song designed for pad players be impossible? Pad songs are very easy in general, the only really hard ones are those with a lot of bpm changes and mines.
You really misunderstood me, why do you think I asked for a video of someone's feet keeping up to the speeds of a keyboard song in the first place?
I was trying emphasize that you as a keyboard user do not need to worry about balance and it's not so much the physical limitations of feet versus fingers (beyond 2 contacts versus 4 contacts), but more that the actions are inherently more complicated.
I recorded this vid like 2 years ago, I used to be really good one handed, I then switched to index to be able to do even harder and faster songs...I think I can thank my fast handspeed to stepmania lol.
On December 04 2010 13:46 Judicator wrote: Because when you play at home, you don't always have a bar. Either way I see where the confusion is coming from though. I was addressing that your feet can keep up if you can keep your balance given that the song you are doing is designed for feet and not keyboard.
Well, they can't. If they could keep up, they would be just as fast wouldn't they? Then how come pad players can't even get close to the speed of keyboard players?
Why are you trying to argue a point that I already stated and agreed with you and the other dude on?
So a song designed for pad players is impossible then by your logic? Really? Do people just read the first few words of posts again?
You never said anything like it, what you were saying is that pad players can move their feet fast enough to keep up, and that balance was the issue. What I am saying is that you are wrong and that pad players cannot move their feet even close to fast enough to keep up with keyboard players. You never agreed with any of my points.
Why would a song designed for pad players be impossible? Pad songs are very easy in general, the only really hard ones are those with a lot of bpm changes and mines.
You really misunderstood me, why do you think I asked for a video of someone's feet keeping up to the speeds of a keyboard song in the first place?
I was trying emphasize that you as a keyboard user do not need to worry about balance and it's not so much the physical limitations of feet versus fingers (beyond 2 contacts versus 4 contacts), but more that the actions are inherently more complicated.
HAHA, nice picture StimCraft. :D
Yes, let's get back to stepmania.
You just keep contradicting yourself. This is what you said:
On December 03 2010 08:02 Judicator wrote: Your feet can theoretically keep up, that's not the issue, it's the balance issue. For the more ridiculous songs, you will be using some kind of aid to maintain your balance as you move your feet accordingly.
What I am saying is that your feet can't theoretically can't keep up. It's much faster and easier to move your fingers than it is to move your feet. Even if you only use 2 fingers it's still much faster to play on a keyboard.
Man I didn't realize that there were a bunch of SM peeps on TL we need to play some SC/SC2 x)
Whenever I think of Stepmania I usually think of keyboard play; could just be because of the community that I'm around though. Pad players are more in the ITG scene and probably hang in r21freak more often than not
Shameless self promotion, I'm not as good as most people at this game x( + Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C0VtQ8Eofw
lmao maybe I thought you WERE leonid for a bit and then I went and tried to blame him from hiding his sekret SC endeavors xdd
Holy shit at those feet videos...If that's the endgame for pad play, I'm not sure I'd enjoy it. But I have plenty of room to improve before that kind of play becomes necessary...
On December 02 2010 12:57 e_i_pi_1_0 wrote: I have no idea what shipping costs are these days. I have a DDRGame metal pad myself (got it from a friend used) (http://www.ddrgame.com/ddrmetalpad.html) which works okayish (considering that I can't pass anything above a 10 footer without a bar on feet these days.) If you're willing to spend the bucks for it, Cobalt Fluxes are awesome and last pretty long. The CFs we had at the DDR club during my ugrad lasted at least 2-3 years without major problems, I think. They're like nearly 300 dollars each, though.
There's also the iON metal dance pads, but I don't know much about those. The only non-arcade metal pads I've actually played on are CFs and DDRGame pads. I really hate playing on foam pads, so I avoid those whenever possible, but if you're okay with those, I heard the RedOctane Ignition pads are decent.
Check on stepmania.com to see if they have any info regarding PS2 to USB converters. My friend has one of those, but I currently have no idea where he is.
On December 03 2010 08:07 SaetZero wrote: i see someone talking good real pads
i have a CF, it works good... had it for about 1.5 years and its have issues registering... but i average about 5 hours of hard play a week, for 1.5 years lol
so CF needs maintenence every so often, then its fine
IONs are good
but for a PAIR, you probably want some Ignition foam pads, they arent too bad price wise and i passed Legend of Max for the first time ever on one way back in the day
I looked online...RedOctane was bought by Activision Blizzard, apparently for their Guitar Hero stuff..and now ActiBlizz shut them down? I'm looking for the Ignition pads online but how are they supposed to be priced normally? I assume no more new pads are being made?
Ugh...
I'm not ready to shell out ~300 (x2!) for Cobalt Fluxes just yet, as good as their reputation might be...
On December 05 2010 13:28 Zona wrote: Holy shit at those feet videos...If that's the endgame for pad play, I'm not sure I'd enjoy it. But I have plenty of room to improve before that kind of play becomes necessary...
I'm not ready to shell out ~300 (x2!) for Cobalt Fluxes just yet, as good as their reputation might be...
You can build your own for i think about 1/2 that if i remember correctly. Strip the inner workings out of a foam pad. Make a steel/alum frame. acrylic buttons. add lights if you like. Something to think about.
Love this game. I even bought some old ps2 pads to use for the game when I want to actually exercise! Of course, it's way, way, way harder than using your hands.
On December 06 2010 03:16 Zoler wrote: I'm not very good myself, almost decent but that's it lol.
Tho I do know a few outta the top 5 in Sweden.
which ones?
Kurre in Stockholm, Rickard and Mellis in Göteborg.
Then also Mellis and GsE / Humpuff, I'm not 100% sure of how exactly good all these are, but I've been told that they are in top5 or at least very good / close. I'm not into the Stepmania scene at all tho.
I recognize all of those guys, but theyre nowhere near top 5 and havent been for as long as I've been playing this game atleast. Theyre top 50 maybe, if you count all the inactive players.
Every time i try to DL it from the link given i click windows then click the dl button on the next page and i get this message "Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/www/users/stepmani/stepmania.com/mirror3.php:13) in /usr/www/users/stepmani/stepmania.com/mirror3.php on line 14"
Alternatively if i try to dl ANY versions of Stepmania from that site i get the same message. =\ help? I use to have this and i wants it back
On November 29 2010 15:42 MinoMino wrote: It's still fun to play a keyboard song on C800 in front of someone who hasn't played or seen it before, they'll think you've just memorized it or something.
It's fun playing 1x in front of people that spend all their time playing C800. :p
That said, my MA/PA was always terribad, so eh.
~~~
One of the last things I messed around with was 8 key spread to turn would-be trills/jacks into alternating left-right. Someone go do me proud and rock the world with it. D:
~~~
Weeaboo skins: Nocturnal Dream (don't think this was finished, ever) and Popcandy.
Just got this score: (Played on Judge 6 with SM CVS v4.0)
On December 10 2010 15:57 Ame wrote: One of the last things I messed around with was 8 key spread to turn would-be trills/jacks into alternating left-right. Someone go do me proud and rock the world with it. D:
You mean to say q&a would both be left? that would be a novel idea. Guillaume Tell would instantly become a 10 footer.
On December 10 2010 08:29 PhailSoBaller wrote: Every time i try to DL it from the link given i click windows then click the dl button on the next page and i get this message "Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/www/users/stepmani/stepmania.com/mirror3.php:13) in /usr/www/users/stepmani/stepmania.com/mirror3.php on line 14"
Alternatively if i try to dl ANY versions of Stepmania from that site i get the same message. =\ help? I use to have this and i wants it back
Ahh thx for bringing this game back to me, used to play it alot during 2004, then lost it when I changed computers. The countless nerdhours begin yet again!
Hey guys, I've added a mentoring section, among other things. Sign-up if you want to learn how to play or wish to teach a nooblet. I'll put the method of communication next to the name. For now, a student can have any number of teachers, or vise versa. If it's gets to be pretty popular, maybe a pairing system would eliminate some insanity =)
On December 24 2010 03:21 StimCraft wrote: Hey guys, I've added a mentoring section, among other things. Sign-up if you want to learn how to play or wish to teach a nooblet. I'll put the method of communication next to the name. For now, a student can have any number of teachers, or vise versa. If it's gets to be pretty popular, maybe a pairing system would eliminate some insanity =)
I would like to help teach :> I'm okay at the game, kind of rusty atm because I haven't played for months but a few days of playing will get me back to shape
Eh just wondering but what is there to teach? I mean it's mostly just practice, starting with easier songs then moving on to harder songs Sure you can tell them to use spread and speed mods and turn fail off and maybe recommend a few songs but other then that, it's not like it requires strategy or insight like StarCraft that you can teach
On December 10 2010 15:57 Ame wrote: One of the last things I messed around with was 8 key spread to turn would-be trills/jacks into alternating left-right. Someone go do me proud and rock the world with it. D:
You mean to say q&a would both be left? that would be a novel idea. Guillaume Tell would instantly become a 10 footer.
So like a generic spread (on qwerty) is df jk. I added [e = j] [r = k] and [u = d] [i = f]. My memory is a little hazy, but for Guillaume Tell it would turn stuff like d(Left)-d(L)-d(L) into d(L)-u(R)-d(L). As an oldie, I only actually tryharded it on Jack, on other charts I would do it when I remembered to -_-;;. Granted stuff became slightly more confusing when I would run into alternating de and uj or something.
On December 24 2010 03:33 JSH wrote: Eh just wondering but what is there to teach? I mean it's mostly just practice, starting with easier songs then moving on to harder songs Sure you can tell them to use spread and speed mods and turn fail off and maybe recommend a few songs but other then that, it's not like it requires strategy or insight like StarCraft that you can teach
I'd think it would be mostly just telling them which songs to work on. "You want to work on straight up stream speed with no air nonsense? Old paranoia series -> Old max series -> Air (the earlier SS)/Dokudenpa -> OML/Vertex Beta", etc.
On December 24 2010 05:22 Ame wrote: I'd think it would be mostly just telling them which songs to work on. "You want to work on straight up stream speed with no air nonsense? Old paranoia series -> Old max series -> Air (the earlier SS)/Dokudenpa -> OML/Vertex Beta", etc.
Hm I see
well then maybe I should get some advice as well :>
Wow, that makes me feel better about my scores... (and this is nowhere near where I used to be)
Mind you, I've been playing for something like 6 and a half years now.... Once Arch0wl.com closed, the real stepmania community died. Everything that's come up after has been trash. And new stepcharts, while harder than the older charts, just seem less interesting to play.
I really need to figure out a way to record my SM without killing the framerate.
Oh yeah, and yet another Tokyo Style Speedcore... My top score is about 98.8Mill, I think.
OMG I played this a lot like 4-5 years ago, it was so awesome! I tried it out again today, I'm just god awful compared to how good I was back then lol. Here's a screenshoot I found!
On December 26 2010 18:18 Bobbias wrote: Wow, that makes me feel better about my scores... (and this is nowhere near where I used to be)
Mind you, I've been playing for something like 6 and a half years now.... Once Arch0wl.com closed, the real stepmania community died. Everything that's come up after has been trash. And new stepcharts, while harder than the older charts, just seem less interesting to play.
I really need to figure out a way to record my SM without killing the framerate.
Oh yeah, and yet another Tokyo Style Speedcore... My top score is about 98.8Mill, I think.
YES! That's right! So much of the "new school" simfiles are so bad. The days of Arch0wl, Reach, that one Arab dude who was INSANELY good, Mwerp, Toph...Those were the days.
Does anyone have any packs they recommend? Or someone wanna upload their songs for me to snatch? I'd love to get back into it again, but I have a hard time finding good simfiles. Everything is some really fucking terrible stepchart to a shitty anime or something -_-
I used to be a top player in the early days and am still pretty good. I play three finger on the arrows (index on left, middle and index on right). You're welcome to add me to the mentor list if I could be of assistance to aspiring players. I also know all the tricks for customizing stepmania if anyone has questions.
On December 26 2010 18:18 Bobbias wrote: Wow, that makes me feel better about my scores... (and this is nowhere near where I used to be)
Mind you, I've been playing for something like 6 and a half years now.... Once Arch0wl.com closed, the real stepmania community died. Everything that's come up after has been trash. And new stepcharts, while harder than the older charts, just seem less interesting to play.
I really need to figure out a way to record my SM without killing the framerate.
Oh yeah, and yet another Tokyo Style Speedcore... My top score is about 98.8Mill, I think.
Ahhh I've been up for around 24 hours and I find this thread. Well here are my scores: The first one doesn't show my name because I had a USB plugged in. Turns out playing on judge 6 really did help my timing. My hands are shaky, can't play any more tonight.
Also is this eggman's stepchart:
On January 25 2011 12:38 Sinensis wrote: I used to be a top player in the early days and am still pretty good. I play three finger on the arrows (index on left, middle and index on right). You're welcome to add me to the mentor list if I could be of assistance to aspiring players. I also know all the tricks for customizing stepmania if anyone has questions.
Can you please tell me which version of Stepmania I have? I can't find a build like this anywhere else.
@YiukeDukem: Those are excellent scores by my standard, I haven't been playing for long but a few of your songs are close to AAAs, pretty impressive.
Alright I played some more songs on judge 4: I can not handle the jumps that are thrown into the stream on delerium (also the jump steps kill my accuracy). Not too bad for my first run.: This one was also a sight read. Change my resolution to be a bit higher since I found 640x480 a bit too small:
Going to switch back to judge 6 since I can feel my timing getting worse the more I play.
You guys could make it interesting.... have a weekly song of choice, and see how everyone ranks or something. Inspire a little competition in yall. I would even reinstall the game for that, though I would not be that great anymore lol. (Not that I ever was really :x)
You guys should play some more recent creations lol Air, Tokyo Speedcore is like mega old-school shit these days
The newer stepcharts have much more of a focus on technicality and correctness though. Plenty of rainbow and not as much yellow stream/jumpstream.
Look for Dark Chancellor's Pack, Light Chancellor's Pack 1&2, Xoon packs 4/5 and you'll see what I mean. Plenty of fun files there. Here's a fairly recent compendium of everything: http://www.keybeatonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=675
Also, a few guys have been working on an updated version of Stepmania referred to as sm-ssc. Check it out if you're wanting a new feel to SM: http://code.google.com/p/sm-ssc/
Also there's been a new vested interest in Stepmania Solo mode (6keys instead of 4), a decent number of packs have been released for this mode as well. In case you guys wanted to mash moar keys
Kinda beatin' on a dead horse right now cause the community as a whole (from our side anyway) is kinda dying but, I do what I can xd
I've been playing stepmania for 2 and a half years but I mostly play index and charts meant to be played on pad :D
I really hate chart made for spread, it's like "why add jumps and 3821903892013bpm streams that don't even go with the music ?"
I prefer rather play songs that I like and on which I can have decent scores
I think this is because I (used to) play on a cabinet and still play from time to time. We have a small community here in Switzerland but we organize some tournaments and stuff on a regular basis (I'm part of the staff) :D
I used to play this game a lot on keyboard and bought a solid dance pad for €200 2years ago. I never followed the scene and had no idea about its decline. At my "prime" I could do 13-14feet difficulty songs with AA on keyboard with increased judge difficulty and 7-9feet on pad.
It is an amazing time killer and if you buy your own pad (softpads are bad but cheap) it is even more fun, although people one floor below you might complain about the noise once you start moving quicker.
All this talk about stepmania makes me wanna get into things again. Also I can't really agree with the the older was better, sure there are some legendary files such as the ones you mentioned. But yeah so much "new"(by now like 3-4 years old but) stuff you're missing out on.
Also I might be able to upload a couple of packs if anyone's interested. I have about 10 gbs of songs, pretty much all the popular, well-made packs all "competetive/serious" stepmania players played.
My only AAA that I was proud of, but with the most terrible MA you can imagine lol.(2years old lol)
One of my prouder speed passes, first guy to pass MSWGO on 1.4x speed. :D Nowadays the fast people regularly B this song on 1.4 though.
i've been playin this game off and on for the past 2 years but was never involved with the online community. i bought a set of cobalt flux pads today so hopefully i'll be able to get super good on my feet as well
EPT![[image loading]](http://i54.tinypic.com/eisb69.jpg)
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