A little help needed... Just incase.

R21 Custom Songs Guide
(Pretty much all credit goes to Naota or whoever made the guide on Naota's site. Seeing as how it's that guide slightly modified/updated/explained more.) Original guide found here.

Please post or PM me any questions/requests for this guide. I will do my best to answer everything I can.

Many people ask for simfiles that are ready for R21, once I get a place to host files at I will update this with links to them.

Please read through the entire guide before doing anything.
Also, please reread each section before you begin using it. This is to help ensure nothing gets screwed up in case I organized something poorly.
[generic liability waiver]Also note that this guide is here purely to help those who do not know how to use R21 to it's fullest. By using this guide you agree that I cannot be held responsible for any damages to your USB drives or damages caused to an ITG machine.[/generic liability waiver]


Limitations

* All songs must be under 120 seconds or 2 minutes in length.
* DWI's must be converted to SM format.
* MP3's must be converted to OGG, 48khz is not required.
* Banner and Backgrounds are not supported.
* Song samples in the song wheel are not supported.
* Audio files over 5MB are not supported.
* A limit of 50 songs per card. -- Note that I suggest having at most 30 files. The machine seems to have problems with some people's USBs with more than that. (Not listing all files and the NoName bug – which will be explained later.)
* There is no known stepchart length limitation. Meaning a stepchart can be played even after the audio file is over.



Preparing Simfiles

* Create a folder on your computer. This folder will be a temporary placement of the files you will put on your usb drive.
* Collect all the simfiles you want on your usb drive and copy them into this folder.



Audio Conversion

* Audio conversion will be done using dBpowerAMP, download and install here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm. You will also need to install the OGG Vorbis codec, found here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-ogg.htm. Once you have dBpowerAMP installed installing the codec is as simple as running the .exe.
* In your temporary simfile folder, click search. Click all files and folders. In the “Look in:� field find the folder your simfiles are in, then in the "All or part of the file name:" field type, *.mp3 and hit search. You will then see a list of all the mp3 files for your selected songs.
* Highlight all these mp3 audio files. Right click and select Convert To. This will open a dBpowerAMP window for Music Converting.
* In the first pull down menu, select Ogg Vorbis. In the Frequency field you may select 48khz, but you are not restricted to it when using R21 as originally thought.
* The Output To field should have Same Folder as Original selected.
* Finally check Delete Source File(s) After Conversion and click Convert.
* A new window will appear with the conversion processing status.
* This will take a fair amount of time if you are converting multiple songs at once. For faster results do each file individually, for convenience do them all at once.


DWI Conversion

* For simfiles with DWI's you must convert these to SM files. Copy the path of the temp folder into your AdditionalSongsFolder= line in the Stepmania.ini on your computer.
* Open Stepmania and goto edit mode. For each simfile with a DWI select the song, any existing difficulty, then select Edit Steps.
* Once you are in the Edit Steps mode, hit ESC and select Save. This will save a SM file with all difficulties.
* Repeat this process untill all DWI simfiles have been saved to SM files.
* You can now clean up your files to save space on your USB if needed. The only files you need to successfully run a song on an R21 machine is the .sm and the .ogg audio file, everything else can be removed from the folder.



USB Drive

* Please note that if you have a flashdrive with the U3 software it must be uninstalled to be compatible with ITG. You can find the uninstall file here: http://u3.com/uninstall/final.aspx
* If you have not used your USB with ITG before you need to make a folder called “In The Groove 2�. Once this is done create a folder called “Songs� inside the “In The Groove 2� folder.
* If you have used your USB with ITG before that wasn't R21 then you need to create a folder called “Songs� in the “In The Groove 2� folder.
* If you have used your USB with ITG that was R21 you should already have a folder called songs.
* All prepared simfiles should have a .sm and ogg file in the song folder.
* Song folders are placed in the "In The Groove 2/Songs" folder on the usb drive.
* The maximum amount of songs that can be placed in your songs directory is 50. Though I suggest having 30-35 at most because of some bugs with R21. Specifically the NoName bug.



How to play songs over 2 minutes

* To play songs over 2 minutes you need a program that modifies the hex values of an OGG file, altering the timestamp of the song to read as 1:45. You must still stay under the 5MB file size limitation, but you can play songs over the 2 minute cap using this method.
* This program can be found here (it will automatically download): http://www2.hawaii.edu/~davyn/OggLengthPatch.exe
* To use this program drag and drop the OGG file onto the .exe. A dos window will flash very quickly and you're done.
* 3 Suggestions: First, keep a backup of any file you use this on. If for any reason you have to modify the OGG file (Raising volume, cutting it, etc) you will need the original. If you try to use a file that's been changed with the .exe the program will save the file as if it were a 1:45 long song. Meaning everything after 1:45 will be lost.
* Second, avoid abusing this. Not only will you piss off other players, but you run the chance of the arcade you're at turning off the USB slots, which is as simple as going to the operators menu for them.
* Third, if your song file is 1:59, I would suggest using the program on it just to be safe. I've had problems with the game loading 1:59 files before. I personally run it on anything thats 1:57 or longer, but I'm a bit excessive.


R21 Bugs

* NoName: This is usually caused by a card that is either not set up correctly or has more than 50 songs (Though I've seen it happen with cards that have between 40-49 songs).

* This will cause the USBs to stop reading profiles and just display “NoName' next to the USB icon on screen.
* To fix this bug the machine must be reset. On the back of the cabinet I believe there is a reset or power switch if you can get access to it, or simply pull the plug.
* Please get permission or explain the situation to the staff and ask them to do this for you. This is just to protect yourself in case anything were to happen to the machine when being reset.


[li]Songs not appearing that should.[/li]

* This is usually because you have too many songs on your card. Try removing songs from your card and the problem should fix itself.
* This is also known to cause the “NoName� bug.
* This is another reason I suggest having 30 songs at most.

[/list]



I will add more to this guide as I have time/answer questions. If requested I can add pictures to this for more detailed explanations.

All feedback is appreciated, good or bad. After all, I can't make it better without input.

If anything confuses you or isn't clear let me know so I can try to clarify it.


Requesting sticky Very Happy

X:\In The Groove 2\Songs\