StepMania 5 beta 2a is now available

We are proud to announce the release of StepMania 5 beta 2a!

We have put in a lot of hard work since beta 1a. In addition to minor bugfixes and the ongoing tweaking of the default theme, we have made quite a few improvements for everyone.

Upgrade notes (this is the important paragraph!):
* You can now put custom song packs, themes, noteskins, etc. in your user directory:
** Windows: %APPDATA%\StepMania 5
** Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/StepMania 5
** Linux: ~/.stepmania-5.0
* We have improved the song loading algorithms, which means that StepMania will need to rebuild the song cache on its first load. Subsequent loads should be as fast as they were before.
* We have upgraded the version of DirectX used on Windows. If you get an error about a missing D3D DLL, you will need to install the DirectX 9 redistributable.
* The DirectX upgrade initially caused some issues with input devices not being recognized on Windows. Hopefully all of these have been ironed out, but if you have trouble with an input device, let us know and we'll get it fixed!
* Hard-coded pay mode has been removed. Themes are now free to handle arcade modes as they choose.

Download beta 2a today at our downloads page!

---

Improvements for players:
* Negative BPMs and stops in .SM files are automatically converted to warps using a new, more accurate algorithm. Charts which had negative BPMs and stops now calculate the song length correctly.
* High-resolution movies no longer cause a crash.
* Starting Routine mode from Player 2's controls now works as expected.
* Cache is now properly reloaded when the cache format changes.
* Fixed stutter that would sometimes happen when warping over mines.
* Additional Map Controller support, incluing ds3d and popn.
* Machine profiles are no longer signed without asking.
* Pressing Start for both players at exactly the same instant no longer raises an assertion.
* Earning an Extra Stage in doubles mode no longer raises an assertion.
* Random Vanish crash has been fixed.
* Hidden/sudden arrows now appear and disappear correctly when using layered noteskins.
* Jukebox now behaves appropriately if you try to play something you don't have.
* New chart in StepMania 5 pack.
* [Linux] Using Alt-Tab to switch from StepMania to another application no longer causes StepMania to think Alt is being held down.

Improvements for stepartists:
* Fixed the bug in the editor which caused charts to be saved with Steps Timing even if it wasn't requested.
* Fixed a bug that occasionally caused the editor to reset the beat-0 offset when saving.
* Attempting to remove a keysound that isn't there no longer causes a crash.
* Movies in MKV, MP4, MOV, and FLV containers can now be used as background changes.
* The editor no longer displays extra zeroes after the decimal point.
* Attempting to record past the end of the current selection no longer raises an assertion.
* Pressing Start to end recording no longer causes a crash.
* The editor now uses a smaller font for some text which used to run off the edge of the screen.

Improvements for themers:
* Overlay screens can now accept codes.
* Custom splash screens (Graphics/Custom splash.png) should now work again on all OSes.
* MusicWheel now has functions exposed to Lua.
* Added [Gameplay] UseInternalScoring metric to allow themes to choose whether internal or custom scoring is used.
* IniFiles loaded through Lua now support comment lines starting with the # character.
* StepMessages now include a "Column" parameter indicating which column the step was for.
* Themes can now re-lock unlockable items.

Improvements for developers:
* Update FFMpeg compatibility to 1.1.
* [Mac] Update Xcode project for 4.6
* [Windows] Update DirectX/DirectInput SDK to latest available version that still works on Windows XP.
* Concerted effort to fix compilation warnings on multiple platforms.

---

As always, feel free to report any issues that you may encounter in IRC at #stepmania-devs on Freenode or on the bugtracker at http://ssc.ajworld.net/sm-ssc/bugtracker/.

Edit: updated link to use DirectX web installer, which may be more user-friendly.

How do I go about updating my StepMania? I know it sounds totally n00by, but I'm just paranoid that I'll end up breaking it somehow. I have a Mac.

---

I just installed DirectX June2010 redist and installed SM5 beta2 twice (in Program Files and custom location), but I can't both run the program because a system error says that MSVCP110.dll is missing from my computer.

EDIT:

Nevermind, it works now. I just downloaded and installed Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 x86 in this link:

Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 1

I've written instructions on how to update SM5 from a old version to beta2 (or newer, whenever that happens).

Previously, this process was tedious. Every time a new update rolled out, you had to be a little careful, otherwise you might forget to carry over custom content (themes, noteskins, songs, etc.) that you'd installed for the older version. This shouldn't be the case any longer with beta 2. There are now a few different places on your computer that Stepmania data will live:

* one folder for the program itself (that might see multiple more beta releases before SM5 final is released)
* one folder for user-installed content (noteskins, themes, songs, characters, etc.)
* one folder for cache (you shouldn't ever have to go in here)
* one folder for preferences (most preferences are managed properly by themes now, but it's still possible to change settings directly by opening Preferences.ini using a text editor)

This is true regardless of what operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) you use, but the locations of those folders will, of course, be different. This tutorial will specifically cover Mac OS. Here are the steps for setting up Stepmania 5 beta 2 on Mac OS 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") or newer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SM5 beta 2 UPGRADE (Mac OS)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Download StepMania-v5.0-beta-2-mac.dmg from the Stepmania downloads page: http://www.stepmania.com/wiki/Downloads It should download to your Downloads folder.

2. Double-click on the .dmg file to mount it as a volume (like a CD, DVD, or any other installer for Mac OS). A new window should open up with the contents of the .dmg file. If this window doesn't open up automatically, you can open a new Finder window by clicking on Finder in your dock, and find the SM5 beta 2 installer volume mounted on the left sidebar.

There should be four items in the dmg:
* the Stepmania application itself
* a Docs folder
* a Packages folder
* a Songs folder

3. Double-click the Stepmania application to run it. Once it starts running, you can safely quit Stepmania. If you have another copy of Stepmania installed somewhere else on your Mac, don't worry, this copy won't see it or affect it. I'm having you run beta 2 once now just to get those user, cache, and preference folders (that I mentioned at the beginning) created. Assuming Stepmania beta 2 starts up fine and you get to the title screen, you can then quit.

4. Decide where you want to install Stepmania 5 beta 2 and make a new folder called SM5. It doesn't really matter much where you keep the application. Personally, I opened a new Finder window and created "SM5" in my user's home directory, but you could also make such a folder on your Desktop or in Documents (or wherever, really).

5. Drag and drop the four items from the dmg file to your new SM5 folder. Congratuations, you've just installed Stepmania 5 beta 2!

... but wait... you already had songs and themes and noteskins and characters from a previous install? Cool, let's move those to their new home.

6. Find where you had your previous copy of Stepmania 5 installed. Make a mental note what you want to copy over. Probably at least songs.

7. Bring up a Go To Folder... dialog. You can do this by clicking on your desktop, clicking on the Go menu at the top of your screen, and selecting the "Go to Folder..." option.


Copy and paste this line into the dialog box:


8. This is where user-installed content can (should) go from now on. If you already did a dry-run of SM5 beta 2 as instructed in Step 3, there should be the following folders here:

Announcers
BackgroundEffects
BackgroundTransitions
BGAnimations
CDTitles
Characters
Courses
Noteskins
Packages
RandomMovies
Songs
Themes

If you've used Stepmania before, these folders should look familiar. You simply need to move any announcers, courses, notesksins, songs, etc. that you installed in your previous version of SM5 to here in the appropriate folders. This way, if beta 3, or beta 4 come out, this stuff will stay intact, and you can just replace the entire folder described in steps 4 and 5.




9. When you've moved everything over, you can run the Stepmania 5 beta 2 app that you installed in Steps 4 and 5. As mentioned in djpohly's release notes, the first time it finds your songs, beta 2 will recreate the cache from scratch and take a while to load. Every subsequent load should be much, much faster.

---

Please let me know if there are any aspects of this I haven't covered or if there's some part you find confusing. Again, thanks for your patience!

---

You are awesome! Thanks alot!

---

MP4

This is great. I love using MP4 because of it's small file size. I approve

Too bad I still can't use it much for pad files because OpenITG and pad community

---

Like you should let that stop you - most ITG players hide backgrounds anyway, lol.

---

When I try to start Beta 2, I get a message that "[executable] is not a valid Win32 application." Beta 1a started fine and still does. Any ideas? On Windows XP 32-bit

This is huge!

---

ok, I found this post in sm-scc's facebook page that fixed my problem, so I'll post it here as well for anyone else who might have had the same issue:

Aldo Fregoso: I uploaded a version compatible with XP here (replace the Program folder): http://piucs.com/Program.7z

If it doesn't work install this redistributable:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5582

Oh God, FLV!
I want to backport this so badly into OpenITG.

EDIT:
1.- Just curious. What're the steps if I want to re-enable Pay Mode?
2.- The ultra-high bpm bug abuse will have an equivalent in SM5? To make simfiles like Jayce's Trololo playable again?

1. Code it yourself. We removed it entirely. There's actual reasons for it beyond what was stated in the release log.

2. I don't know

1.- That's definitely NOT the way to answer a legitimate question. I asked because of this:
EDIT: Also, the reason for removing it is pretty obvious: Piracy. You guys Aldo doesn't want to see the PIU games replicated.

2.- *shrug* I'll have to try once I get home from work.

Oh, sorry about that.

But yeah, I do believe the reasoning for the removal was related to the AMX thing and concerns related to bootlegs.

Uh, shouldn't you guys have asked if people wanted coin mode to be removed? This is SM5, not SM AMX.

EDIT:
Fortunately, as opposed to SM AMX, the related changes in the source code are logged in the tracker so reverting them isn't that much of a problem.

Seeing that this new beta has been released, has the .sm vs .ssc conflict issue been resolved, or are we basically stuck with .ssc forever? Going back & forth between 4 & 5 has been a problem for me in the past since it only saves changes to .ssc files once it comes time to update/overwrite .ssc & .sm files in SM 5 (it ignores the .sm file if an .ssc is already there).

Also, if I transfer a simfile from 4 to 5 that has an extreme BPM warp gimmick (fake negative BPM warp -- SM 4 cannot recognize negative BPM warps), SM 5 will convert it to an actual negative BPM warp, meaning that once I transfer it back to SM 4, it'll act like the warp was never there.

And, when I try to change/set the BPM for a simfile on SM 5, it doesn't work. And, what if I want to set the displayed BPM to a certain number, or range? It also won't work, whether I set it when in Song timing, or Chart (whatever that other timing mode is called) timing. I even went through the trouble of going to every single chart in the simfile to set it, and it still wouldn't work. Why do these programmers gotta give MAC users so much stress?

This new beta better work, finalized or not.

---

I don't think .sm and .ssc are ever going to get along with each other so yeah (it's kinda like older versions taking preference of .sm over .dwi, although if you're still using DWI at this point I have to worry for you a little).

---

Can StepMania for once in it's life save to a SINGLE file format?

It's okay to continue to read legacy formats and import the data from them. But when it comes time for the editor to save information, just use the most recent format instead of having a tag-along that causes confusion and hinders adoption of whatever is current.

Lirodon suggested that there be a legacy export button. I really like that idea, and I think it causes people who want either to have what they want in some form.

I'm discussing a compromise of having SM5 default to .SSC only, with .SM format being an opt-in decision