Questions about stepfile creation

[Cheese-Cheese-Revolution]

I've been trying to make stepfiles for a while now, and they usually come out quite disastrous. I'm using the Stepmania editor, because I can't efficiently write out the stepfile in notepad.

First of all, in the stepmania editor, how do you judge where the end of the song is? In order to start recording, you have to select a certain area, and it's hard to know at which point the song ends. It tells you on the side what number you're at, but does that have anything to do with the time length of the song?

How do you add multiple freezes and/or bpm changes? I've seen the site's FAQ on stepfile creation and they seem to just skip over this.

How do you get an accurate BPM rating? I mean REALLY accurate. I've tried using some key-pressing programs and the bpm I get always sets the whole song out of sync.

Finally, is there any way to record with the song slowed down? Think about it.. if you could put on "musicx0.7" mode while recording, when you put the speed back to musicx1.0 it would be that much more accurate.

Cheese

[Moogy]

1. don't use record mode
2. hit f7 and f8 for stops, f9 and f10 for bpm changes... i think, look at the keyboard macros with f1
3. if you really need an accurate bpm, just ask someone else nicely and i'm sure they will be able to find it for you
4. hit esc, and go to song options to change song stuff. player options for arrow mods.

[plasmix]

hit f7 and f8 for stops, f9 and f10 for bpm changes

Got them mixed up.

[Moogy]

thanks

it's f7 and f8 for bpm changes, f9 and f10 for stops k

[Cheese-Cheese-Revolution]

So how do I add in the arrows if I can't use record mode? Do I have to write it out manually using the hexadecimal stepfile code (2=left, 4=up, etc...)?

Cheese

[Moogy]

manuever to the spot where you want an arrow and hit 1 for left, 2 for down, 3 for up, and 4 for right.

the right arrow key decreases note increments, and left arrow key increases it.

[Cheese-Cheese-Revolution]

But wouldn't it be a really tedious task to know where to put the arrows without hearing the music? Maybe it would be better to use record mode and then adjust the arrows manually?

Cheese

[Brainmaster07]

But wouldn't it be a really tedious task to know where to put the arrows without hearing the music? Maybe it would be better to use record mode and then adjust the arrows manually?

Cheese

That's what I do. Highlight say... 3 measures. listen to the section about 5 times until you know that you can get extremley close on all the notes. Now record it, if you mess up, clear it and record it again. Once it's recorded, go back, set the arrow speed to 3x or 5x, set music speed to .6 or .7 and turn on the assist tick. Now fix them. Repeat for the whole song.

[Moogy]

I don't use record mode. All I do in record mode is make shitty, offsync arrows.

[Ice-Dragon]

Anyone know how to create an SM file for a song if I only have the song and it doesn't currently have an existing sm file?

Sry if this is a noob question, haven't made a stepfile b4.

[Cheese-Cheese-Revolution]

Just copy a stepfile from another song and delete all of the information in it. I think this site can tell you the rest of the basics of stepfile making in the faq or somewhere.

I also have another question- There are numbers on the side of every beat... What are these measured in? I can't seem to be able to find the exact end of the song. Same with the "Sample Start" and "Sample length", how do I know what those numbers mean?

Cheese

[Moogy]

The "sample" is what plays when you select a song in the selection wheel. Ignore it.

And for the end of the song, just look at the current seconds on the right.