Post by paulnet on Apr 6, 2014 20:23:03 GMT
You are all complaining that the new charter is complicated too use. Well, this aims to explain that. This tutorial will cover the basics of the new charter, mostly because the new game engine will offer so much. Most of it is not necesarry currently, so I will not cover it. Namely, it will explain:
1) setting the offest and bpm
2) placing, deleting notes and snapping (both via mouse and keyboard)
3) saving, and converting the chart
Please note, if you have experience with the Stepmania charter, than you will not have much trouble with this one. The keyboard functions are near identical.
Also, please note. At the time of writing this, the new charter does not accept midi charting. It is planned though.
SETTING THE OFFSET AND BPM
To set the offset, press and hold shift and press left and right until the green thing (wave pattern)lines up with the GREEN line. For the purposes of this tutorial, the red and blue lines do not mean anything, so ignore them. For people who insist on doing it by mouse, along the top bar, there is a box labeled offset. Click the arrows next to the box to change the offset.
***STEPMANIA USERS NOTE***
If you are using a .dwi or .sm file to help you set the offset, the offset on this charter is the negative of the one in sm. This is because the sm charter moves the chart start point, while this one changes the mp3 start point.
***END NOTE***
To set the bpm, you will need a bpm analyzer. A good one is MixMeister. Please note, no bpm analyzer Can properly analyze a mp3 with bpm changes. It is very possible for it to get the bpm wrong in a song with bpm changes. To set the bpm, click in the box on the top left labeled BPM. Type in the bpm, and press enter. You should see the bpm added to the bpm list in the box to the left of it. Please note, unlike in the current charter, bpm will have no effect on speed. Doubling the bpm in the charter will not effect the speed of the chart.
SYNCING AND PLACING NOTES
***MOUSE CHARTING***
I personally do not chart with the mouse any more. But if you insist, there are a few changes. There is a box in the top bar labeled snap. This is the drop down box that before would add lines to the charter. To add notes, press alt and click the note in the note lane you wish. To move a note, press ctrl and click on the note you wish to move. To delete a note, ctrl click the note, then press DELETE, not backspace.
Those are all the controls, and they behave in the same way they do in the old charter, aside from the slightly different controls. You can no longer make an area selection using the mouse.
***KEYBOARD CONTROLS***
In order to move up and down, press up and down. This will move the green line, which is your current position in the song, up and down one snap line. To change the snap, press left and right. The snap can range currently from 1 to 1/64 of a beat. to place a note, move the green line to the beat you want to add it and press the number 1-7 relating to which note lane you want the note in. To delete the note, move the cursor to that notes note lane, and press the number again. To make a hold note, press the note on its first beat, and hold it; press up until you reach the last beat then release the note. To move a note or selection of notes, first press space at the first note you want to move. Then move to the last note and press space again. (To move one note, just press space twice.) The press shift and up or down until you moved the notes to where you want them to be. Press space again when you are done to remove the area selection.
***NOTES***
YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE THE GAME FILE IF THE AREA SELECTION IS ACTIVE.
If an area selection is red instead of white, you will not be able to remove the area selection. This is because the game charter found a double note or a note overlapping a hold. This is a safeguard.
SAVING AND CONVERTING
In order to save, there are four buttons on the lower left. Click the one labeled save to save the .ftbc file. This is the charting file (equivalent to the data file of the old charter) that the charter reads and edits. To save the game file, click the button labeled export game file. This is the file that will be uploaded to the future game engine. This will be the .ftb7 file. after clicking this button, fill out the requested information and click export.
The current game cannot read the ftb7 or ftbc file however. In order to uplaod to the current site, go to the converter. Clcik load game file, and select the proper ftb7 file. It will be found in your documents folder (Documents > Feel the Beats > Storage > CharterFiles). Now clcik the button appropriate to the difficulty you set and it will save the file as a .txt file. This is the current game engine's game file.
Using this file, you can submit the way we always have.
Congratulations, you have charted using the new charter.
(this is a old forums post originally made by LunaStik)
1) setting the offest and bpm
2) placing, deleting notes and snapping (both via mouse and keyboard)
3) saving, and converting the chart
Please note, if you have experience with the Stepmania charter, than you will not have much trouble with this one. The keyboard functions are near identical.
Also, please note. At the time of writing this, the new charter does not accept midi charting. It is planned though.
SETTING THE OFFSET AND BPM
To set the offset, press and hold shift and press left and right until the green thing (wave pattern)lines up with the GREEN line. For the purposes of this tutorial, the red and blue lines do not mean anything, so ignore them. For people who insist on doing it by mouse, along the top bar, there is a box labeled offset. Click the arrows next to the box to change the offset.
***STEPMANIA USERS NOTE***
If you are using a .dwi or .sm file to help you set the offset, the offset on this charter is the negative of the one in sm. This is because the sm charter moves the chart start point, while this one changes the mp3 start point.
***END NOTE***
To set the bpm, you will need a bpm analyzer. A good one is MixMeister. Please note, no bpm analyzer Can properly analyze a mp3 with bpm changes. It is very possible for it to get the bpm wrong in a song with bpm changes. To set the bpm, click in the box on the top left labeled BPM. Type in the bpm, and press enter. You should see the bpm added to the bpm list in the box to the left of it. Please note, unlike in the current charter, bpm will have no effect on speed. Doubling the bpm in the charter will not effect the speed of the chart.
SYNCING AND PLACING NOTES
***MOUSE CHARTING***
I personally do not chart with the mouse any more. But if you insist, there are a few changes. There is a box in the top bar labeled snap. This is the drop down box that before would add lines to the charter. To add notes, press alt and click the note in the note lane you wish. To move a note, press ctrl and click on the note you wish to move. To delete a note, ctrl click the note, then press DELETE, not backspace.
Those are all the controls, and they behave in the same way they do in the old charter, aside from the slightly different controls. You can no longer make an area selection using the mouse.
***KEYBOARD CONTROLS***
In order to move up and down, press up and down. This will move the green line, which is your current position in the song, up and down one snap line. To change the snap, press left and right. The snap can range currently from 1 to 1/64 of a beat. to place a note, move the green line to the beat you want to add it and press the number 1-7 relating to which note lane you want the note in. To delete the note, move the cursor to that notes note lane, and press the number again. To make a hold note, press the note on its first beat, and hold it; press up until you reach the last beat then release the note. To move a note or selection of notes, first press space at the first note you want to move. Then move to the last note and press space again. (To move one note, just press space twice.) The press shift and up or down until you moved the notes to where you want them to be. Press space again when you are done to remove the area selection.
***NOTES***
YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE THE GAME FILE IF THE AREA SELECTION IS ACTIVE.
If an area selection is red instead of white, you will not be able to remove the area selection. This is because the game charter found a double note or a note overlapping a hold. This is a safeguard.
SAVING AND CONVERTING
In order to save, there are four buttons on the lower left. Click the one labeled save to save the .ftbc file. This is the charting file (equivalent to the data file of the old charter) that the charter reads and edits. To save the game file, click the button labeled export game file. This is the file that will be uploaded to the future game engine. This will be the .ftb7 file. after clicking this button, fill out the requested information and click export.
The current game cannot read the ftb7 or ftbc file however. In order to uplaod to the current site, go to the converter. Clcik load game file, and select the proper ftb7 file. It will be found in your documents folder (Documents > Feel the Beats > Storage > CharterFiles). Now clcik the button appropriate to the difficulty you set and it will save the file as a .txt file. This is the current game engine's game file.
Using this file, you can submit the way we always have.
Congratulations, you have charted using the new charter.
(this is a old forums post originally made by LunaStik)