_____EVOLVED and multiple version stages discussion

So there's songs with multiple versions, sometimes with multiple stepcharts, and at least half of them end in EVOLVED. But half the fun with these songs is wondering which version you're going to get when you pick it, right?

Not TOTALLY sure of the exact tags to do this, but I sure there's a way of locking stages in SM so that they can appear:

-As first stage only
-As final stage only
-As EXTRA/ENCORE only

and perhaps even a specific stage number or calculation thereof, such at \3 = 1 (IE: divide by 3, discard the solution, and if the remainder is "1", it appears - so it would appear on stages 1 and 4 in this case.)

IIRC, it's up around the BPM/SongName/ArtistName data and goes something like:

"#PLAYABLE=*condition*;" or "#ISPLAYABLE=*condition*;"

So what I was thinking, should be pretty obvious here. The "version" that appears can be dependent upon the stage you play, and if there's a way to factor in the Date or the Hour (and add that number to the stage), you'd basically have a way where the ENGINE can randomly select and display just one of the song's versions at a time. ;)

Songs currently under said influence include:

SUNKiSS v DROP
Freeway Shuffle (??)
GOLD RUSH
tokyoEVOLVED
osakaEVOLVED ~maido, ohkani!~
roppongiEVOLVED
New York EVOLVED
London EVOLVED

Ones we can consider doing sets like this for, just for kicks (because of the many different versions in existence already):

BRILLIANT 2U
KEEP ON MOVIN'
PARANOiA MAX (DiRTY MIX)
PARANOiA ETERNAL (OG vs. EXTREME?)
DYNAMITE RAVE

...and actually, it could be an interesting twist to the songs that have alternate 4th Mix PLUS charts and so forth on...

Am I the only one here who actually thinks there's actually 3 different Freeway Shuffle chartsets? But only SLIGHTLY different on difficulties other than ...

I know some fanmixes have other EVOLVED songs like this, too.

So what do you guys think? Worth a shot? Fun enough to consider doing?

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I don't understand.

Okay, if the calculation thing works in the #PLAYABLE tag, something like this will happen:

Stage 1: Only tokyoEVOLVED (ver. A) appears in the tracklist
Stage 2: Only tokyoEVOLVED (ver. B) appears in the tracklist
Stage 3: Only tokyoEVOLVED (ver. C) appears in the tracklist
Stage 4: Only tokyoEVOLVED (ver. A) appears in the tracklist

... and this can mix with other effects, like:

roppongiEVOLVED (ver. D) only appears in the tracklist during EXTRA/OMES stages.

Or:

Stage 1: PARANOiA MAX (DiRTY MiX) from 2nd Mix appears
Stage 2: PARANOiA MAX (DiRTY MiX) from CLUB ver. appears
Stage 3: PARANOiA MAX (DiRTY MiX) -in roulette- appears
Stage 4: PARANOiA MAX (DiRTY MiX) from 2nd Mix appears
(cycles)
Extra Stage: PARANOiA MAX (DiRTY MiX) [SMM-Special] appears
Encore Stage: PARANOiA MAX (DiRTY MiX) [X-Special] appears


Then, by adding your system clock's DATE or the hour in the time to that calculation, it then changes which stage features which version, not counting settings for FINAL/EXTRA/ENCORE. ;)

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What? This seriously is too complicated, you need to explain this in a more simple way.

Okay...

In the header of SM files, there's a #PLAYABLE tag, just like the ones for the Song and Artist Names, the BPM and DisplayBPM. If left blank or unused, the song/chart will always appear on the tracklist, and it usually is. BUT!! If there are conditions listed on it, and the conditions aren't true, then the song/chart doesn't appear on the tracklist.

Creating conditions for the different versions of songs like the EVOLVED series can then be used so that StepMania will only display one of those songs at a time. So you know how right now, if you have all 3 versions of GOLD RUSH, then you basically have 3 "GOLD RUSH" listings on your tracklist? This can be used so that only one of them appears at a time, instead. ;) So it LOOKS like a consistent tracklist, where all 3 GOLD RUSH songs are still technically -there- (and scored seperately, too), but only one is available for selection.

Now that I think about it, there's two Horatio sets too, huh?


I suppose the other thing is:

Am I the only one that thinks there's actually 3 different Freeway Shuffle charts?

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We can just use each EVOLVED and CS/AC (whatever you call it) as a different song. I don't think any of this is really needed.

There are two horatios?

If you know what you're doing, you can do this with lua in stepmania 5 without too much difficulty or even needing to change the files.

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There's the Arcade/JP one, and the one with the US-exclusive super-shock-loaded chart. That's the difference. ;)

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It adds a twist so that some songs are only playable during certain stages, making you want to play it more, and making it more fun in my opinion. I totally agree with this idea.

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Exactly. It's not something you ~have~ to do, but I'm hoping to track down a way to make this work for those that DO enjoy that sort of thing like I do - to actually simulate the real experience of the songs.

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I would like this, but I usually don't play stages in SM. Could there be any way it can just randomize the song every time in Free Play?

THAT could be a bit harder (if not impossible atm) to do. Although what I do is take a stock "empty" banner (that crops the "Ver." out), and apply that to all of them, and then use the Portal function a lot. I really wish it were so simple!

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Here's my advice on how to do this:

1. Rename all three of the *EVOLVED songs. Name one (let's use tokyo here) "tokyoEVOLVED" and then the other two "tokyoEVOLVED B" and "tokyoEVOLVED C".

2. Set the B and C songs to #SELECTABLE:NO.

3. Stick some Lua in ScreenStageInformation (in the theme) that randomly changes the song to "tokyoEVOLVED B" or "tokyoEVOLVED C" if the song title is "tokyoEVOLVED".

That's the best you can do. If you wanted to, you could create a pseudo-standard for simfiles you want to act like this by storing information in a little-used tag and loading it up, which would make it so you didn't have to hardcode everything.

The #SELECTABLE (not #PLAYABLE tag) doesn't support conditions.

Why not just have them all selectable and pretend some songs can't be played?

I'm going to try and accurately quote a very old post from DDRManiaX:

Well, it's not exact; but I do have my extra1.crs = (DDR Songs)/*:12..15; and my extra2.crs = (DDR Songs)/*:CHALLENGE; so that it picks different Extra/Encore stages. (Note, the "me scale" of 12-15 = the X-scale of 15-20.) So sometimes it Extra Stage's one specific version at random. At least there's that...

Incidentally, I also renamed POSSESSION's artist-tag from TAG underground to "TAGunderground" just so I could have the automatic "by TAG underground" oni course be all four roppongiEVOLVEDs...

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