Simple Guide To Syncing Simfiles

Follow these 3 easy steps...

1. Finding the right BPM:
Download MixMeister... http://www.softplatz.com/Soft/Audio-Multimedia/Other/MixMeister-BPM-Analyzer.html it's a program that scans the song and finds the correct BPM (sometimes you'll get a low BPM in which case, you would have to multiply that number by 2).

2. Offset In Editor
The F11 and F12 keys are your friends... if you have a song that doesn't start exactly the same time as the 1st measure does (or you want the song to start at a certain point), then adjust it with these keys.

3. Auto Adjust
Make sure in the Options menu in Machine Options that "Show Song Option" is set to ASK. Make the steps for the song in the editor, then play those steps (not in the editor but in the game mode itself). Select the song but make sure you hit enter (or whatever button you use to select things with) TWICE to take you to the first option screen. Leave everything alone, then hit enter two more times to go to the second option screen. This screen gives you the option to change the song speed and groove bar to a battery bar (like in ONI mode in DDR). The second to last option is Auto Adjust. Select that on, and just play the song. Once the song is over, it will have made the FINAL correct adjustments for you (just in case the first time you synced it wasn't on the mark).

Happy Simfile Making. (^^)v

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Here's another piece of information

Quote: RYgonTM
Here's a tip. If you want your BPM to go crazy, try this. #DISPLAYBPM:*;

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Cool tips. I kinda already know this, but I had to find that out by my self. This is very good information for new step artists.;)

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I highly recommend NOT using mixmeister. It has given me incorrect BPMs many times. I stopped using it years ago. I recommend using ACID Pro's beatmapper to fine tune and get your BPM down to the thousandth place. Yes the thousandth place does make a difference. I've used this technique on all Universe and Universe 2 sims. You have to manually type in your BPM into the .SM or .DWI, save, and reload your songs in the options menu because stepmania doesn't allow adjusting to the thousandths place in the step editor.

Once you have found your BPM, manually set your offset to something close with the F11/F12 keys, save this and then go into gameplay mode and do an autosync by pressing F6 while you play. Get at least a 30 combo or so then stop stepping, fail and save the changes.

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Wow, thanks CMG. The only thing with it, is that it doesn't do songs with BPM's that don't divide by each other, like the song Wild Rush.

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I use FL Studio's BPM calculator, and then fine tuning with the BPM readout. If there's a weird speed change in it, I'll use SM's editor, lots of work and a bit of luck.

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I do it a bit differently, and it's usually a thousand times more accurate than doing things the automated way. Here's an image-based step by step. CMG's method is flawed in that to autosync, you'll have to be a good player yourself and have very accurate timing in playing terms. The following method will result in perfectly synced files every time. :]

You'll need ACID to do this by the way.

1. Drop your song into ACID's main editing window and look for the first really audible beat of any main bar or phrase. Do NOT use the beatmap wizard! Load the audio as a normal one-shot file:


2. Cut everything before that first main beat and drag the remaining audio to the very beginning of the timeline:


3. Keep punching numbers into ACID's BPM field until every beat lines up as perfectly as possible like this throughout the song (this should only take a few tries, and you might have to add in BPM changes throughout if it's a song not recorded to a click track to keep it on track):


4. Organize your song, cut it, rearrange it, add any fades required, and keep sure everything stays on a beat throughout. If there's an intro that doesn't quite land on the beat, just nudge the entire thing right a couple beats to keep everything on track:


Save your file as an OGG (MP3 compression causes a gap at the beginning and end of the audio file, and OGG is higher quality anyways, not to mention supported by most, if not all dancing game simulators now) and you'll have a perfectly synced song with an offset of 0.000 every time. :]

I'm using VirtualDJ to get the BPM, then using Beatmapper in ACID, cut my song and using XStep, and always got a decent sync =)

CMG, that guide was a joke. I use Renard's method (albeit with Garageband instead of Acid), except for this part:


An offset of 0.000 will almost never be correct, because it does not account for controller lag or global offset. For example, all of Renard's simfiles (Mungyodance, K4 Next Gen) are slightly offsync on ITG cabinets because of ITG's -0.012 second global offset. Anyone's personal Stepmania setup will likely suffer from even worse input lag, and files synced with Renard's method could be dozens of milliseconds off sync as a result. Offset is always relative to then end user's hardware and software.

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Was it worth the one-year bump?

Well, was it?

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I prefer to use k//eternal's guide, which is:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
do it

Please, MUTE. No more insanely useless bumps. Please?

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Considering the fact that so few people know how to properly sync files, I fail to see how the bump was unnecessary. Plus, the topic was stickied. It was already near the very top of the forum.

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This is a DDR centered site. Sync isn't as important, as the steps don't follow the music anyway. If you want something that follows the music, play IIDX.

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Sync is important no matter the game. There is no reason not to strive for the best sync we can when making simfiles.

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I'm having some syncing issues myself. I'm actually working on the ITG PS2 adding songs, and I'm trying to make sure my songs are synced before i pack them. I downloaded all of the packs here so i would think they would be synced well but every song i pick seems to need a -30 to -50 offset when I autoadjust. I have no lag and use stepmania 3.9 for the autosync. I know in the opengroove documents it said to do +16ms in the ITG options but to make sure they are on sync before the transfer. I have everything converted to 128 ogg. everything else is converted correctly too. I guess my question would be should i leave them alone and go ahead and burn this and it should be ok, or Should I personally sync all of my files in stepmania first and then transfer over. I used adobe audition to make the oggs. Any advice or Suggestions would be very helpful.

Well, I'm an experienced FOF charter, and syncing has never been easier by tapping your feet to the rhythm. This is the most accurate method to get the BPM. Any BPM analyzing softwares aren't accurate, because not all songs uses metronome, and they would've some tempo changes and BPM analyzing software aren't that smart to detect every single tempo changes.

That's why I prefer tapping the feet to the rhythm. It has never disappoint me.

Really now? Because I've been using FL Studio's for 4 years and that's suited me very fine. Even for live BPM tracks.

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FOF is also much more lax about timing windows than games like DDR or PIU. It's somewhere on a par with Rock Band (I've played many songs thinking I was missing notes all over the place and ended up getting near-100% combos). Which makes sense, considering it's a RB/GH emulator

Direct foot tapping will result in beat-by-beat noise unless you average over sections of the song you know to be a constant BPM. I use a pretty similar method to start syncing (beat tapping in ddreamstudio), but it never ends up being entirely correct. And live BPM is an absolute nightmare with just foot tapping. No matter how well you know the song, you WILL be off during the changes. Again, none of this is noticeable on the average FOF chart.

My personal favorite method for sync is ddreamstudio. The actual charting interface is rather clunky and I don't use it, but for manually syncing songs, especially ones with BPM changes, it's pretty wonderful. Also, creating precise BPM or stop gimmicks is easier in ddreamstudio than any other program I've come across (including SM's editor). Having the waveform visible is also a huge bonus, because you can make sure you're lining up the offset properly and not relying on your own sense of timing. I usually create a .sm file with any necessary BPM changes and stops in ddreamstudio and copy it over to SM for charting.

For songs with constant BPM, though, ddreamstudio's not really a good choice - there are other programs that get the job done quicker.

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(bump)

We're having a debate in the X2 work thread.

What's everyone's take on syncing your StepMania to this simfile?
(in my experience, it seems for most people, it should require no adjustment to your global offset (0.000000). For some, however, it does.)

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