Logo

Theme tips and tricks (3.9/3.95/4.0/5.0)

註冊賬號 登錄 Back To Forums

Post #1 · Posted at 2014-12-16 11:43:55pm 9.2 years ago

Offline midone
midone Avatar Member
168 帖子
Not Set
Reg. 2014-11-16


Last updated: 2014-12-19 11:14pm
Uh, yeah Hiiii, I'd appreciate if someone could make a Stepmania 5 template theme for me for a thing i'm doing. if it could be like this:
The Song select should be somewhat similar to 4th Mix/Konamix, but have the banners straight, instead of diagonal, and when you hover over one, the jacket shows. as for the title screen, don't worry about the logo. and the background should be either a 2d still image, or an animated video of ddr characters dancing i guess. the font can be left alone but if you can do the DDR Extreme font for song titles that'd be great. and if you can add either a character select screen, or an option on the options screen to select a character, that would be boss. alright, thanks! i'll credit you heavily.
(EDIT)
Now a theme tips and tricks discussion i guess. move if needed.

Post #2 · Posted at 2014-12-17 01:08:14am 9.2 years ago

Offline RGTM
RGTM Avatar Moderator+
7,195 帖子
United States
Reg. 2007-07-19

Nintendo Network ID: xRGTMxNintendo Switch Friend Code: SW-6034-2315-7724Game Center Nickname: xRGTMx
"BBCode Not Allowed"

Last updated: 2014-12-17 01:11am
Kid, just use the default theme as a template, then mess around with it. Theming takes a lot of time; a major part of the process is learning. So, if you want to be able to construct a functional product, you need to learn as you go.
ZIv Mod Squad: "shark jumpscare"
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/926629361858273310/1176900767613997157/EC2E821F-8C1F-4894-9E77-59CB48D2FD35a.gif?ex=660d6fc0&is=65fafac0&hm=f09590db85453f3661ef757d7a859f3212a60fd34bdd378b61c3694fe904fd36&

Post #3 · Posted at 2014-12-17 01:34:01am 9.2 years ago

Offline Th3_Ov3rHell_3XoduZ
Th3_Ov3rHell_3XoduZ Avatar Member
313 帖子
Chile
Reg. 2012-09-13

"ITG, The Best Dance Machine!"

Last updated: 2014-12-17 01:34am
Quote: midone
Uh, yeah Hiiii, I'd appreciate if someone could make a Stepmania 5 template theme for me for a thing i'm doing. if it could be like this:
The Song select should be somewhat similar to 4th Mix/Konamix, but have the banners straight, instead of diagonal, and when you hover over one, the jacket shows. as for the title screen, don't worry about the logo. and the background should be either a 2d still image, or an animated video of ddr characters dancing i guess. the font can be left alone but if you can do the DDR Extreme font for song titles that'd be great. and if you can add either a character select screen, or an option on the options screen to select a character, that would be boss. alright, thanks! i'll credit you heavily.

Commonly no one takes requests about something that an user ask... Make a "template" as you are asking requires time even if this is a basic Theme that you want to uses as Base but with all the details you are requesting almost it should a complete Theme... I'll recommended you start to learn basic LUA Theming if you doesnt know... and start with the default or with other Theme as base and experiment with it... but remember always ask first if you gonna share it later...

Also, if you need help with the Fonts... there's a Font Generator, I use it with my Themes.
Quote: Released Themes for SM5 Beta 3
Quote: Released Themes for SM5 Beta 4 & 5.0.7
Quote: Simfles Packs Released

Post #4 · Posted at 2014-12-17 04:29:14am 9.2 years ago

Offline Starrodkirby86
Starrodkirby86 Avatar Member
6 帖子
United States
Reg. 2014-12-05

Nintendo Network ID: starrodkirby86
"(´・ω・`)"

Last updated: 2014-12-17 04:29am
Definitely try and take it as you go – before going for your end-goal product, just try messing around with a copy of the default theme and see what things do what. Once you have a comfortable idea of LUA theming works, you can begin theming the contents of what you want – slowly, but surely. It also helps to take a look at other people's themes and see how what parts are composed with what.

There's a tutorial for theming in StepMania 5 that will help you understand the structure of theming for the game. http://kki.ajworld.net/wiki/Tutorials:Theming_for_StepMania_5#Fonts

The Texture Font Generator program is included inside the StepMania 5\Program folder, so that's where you can generate a font you'd like.

Finally, creating elements for a theme while trying to make it look professional, smooth, or the like, is extremely difficult without a sophisticated graphics editor. While Photoshop is the primo editor, there are free alternatives such as GIMP and Paint.NET that may be of use to you. Even if, say, you're porting graphics over from a StepMania 3.95 or 4.0 theme to 5.0, using one of these image editors would make life a lot easier.

Good luck! Have a philosophy of experimentation, fun, and learning, and try your best. Smile

Post #5 · Posted at 2014-12-19 11:14:24pm 9.2 years ago

Offline midone
midone Avatar Member
168 帖子
Not Set
Reg. 2014-11-16


Last updated: 2014-12-19 11:14pm
Alright. I'm working on 2 3.9 themes and 1 sm5 themes, but thanks! also, a shout out to that X2 Theme maker: you rock. that's it. you are amazing. if someone can change the title i guess and we can just discuss tips and whatnot here that would be good and it would recycle meaning the mods don't explode working to death.

(edit)
Oh yeah, i can change the title myself. deerp. still getting used to this.

Post #6 · Posted at 2014-12-19 11:20:20pm 9.2 years ago

Offline Kyzentun
Kyzentun Avatar Member
3,209 帖子
United States
Reg. 2008-02-20

"I'm honestly pissed off."
Here's the first SM5 tip: Point out everything that is confusing about this doc: https://github.com/stepmania/stepmania/blob/master/Docs/Themerdocs/Examples/anatomy_of_an_actor.lua
silenttype01: Kyzentun is never harsh. He says it how it is.

GENERATION 24: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

Post #7 · Posted at 2014-12-19 11:27:58pm 9.2 years ago

Offline midone
midone Avatar Member
168 帖子
Not Set
Reg. 2014-11-16


Last updated: 2014-12-19 11:54pm
Sounds good. Also, some Metric descriptions for newer themers. (3.9, but some metrics might apply to sm5 as well.)

X: The left and right location.
Y: the up and down location.
On and Off: for some metrics like Use3D, it'll be 0 on default. 0 is off, 1 is on.
WheelX/Y: Determines where the wheel is.
BannerX/Y: Where the song banner is on the song wheel.

Post #8 · Posted at 2014-12-19 11:40:18pm 9.2 years ago

Offline Kyzentun
Kyzentun Avatar Member
3,209 帖子
United States
Reg. 2008-02-20

"I'm honestly pissed off."
Since you've made the mistake of mixing info for different versions in one thread, everything should be tagged with the version it applies to.
Everything I say applies only to SM5 and will not work on older versions.
silenttype01: Kyzentun is never harsh. He says it how it is.

GENERATION 24: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

Post #9 · Posted at 2014-12-20 03:17:29pm 9.2 years ago

Offline Th3_Ov3rHell_3XoduZ
Th3_Ov3rHell_3XoduZ Avatar Member
313 帖子
Chile
Reg. 2012-09-13

"ITG, The Best Dance Machine!"

Last updated: 2014-12-20 03:18pm
Since this post is making interesting I could give you a "list" about very basic Theming tricks, but due to I just Theming on Stepmania 5 Im not sure these codes/tricks/etc works on older versions. Also this helps me to learn anything Idk...

I started to Theming on Stepmania 5 maybe 2 years ago but seriously 1 year ago, I started with the "default" theme, starting to looks the "metrics" file and making simple editions and then seeing th result. Experimenting was the first thing I do. I have to say but see others themes and specially the Theme "Simply Love" by (Hurtpiggypig and Madd Mat) was my inspiration for start with my first public Theme. Ok, so much blah blah, here are some tricks/tips/etc about basic Theming.

-- Basic Theming Commands
0. First of all, you have to understand (if not) that the Metrics.ini determine and controls a lot of differents and determinate elements of a Screen. The Metrics is divided for say-a-way, by categories, theses has their own elements that can be modified. Example:

[ScreenSelectMusic] - All the Elements below the line [ScreenSelectMusic] corresponding to that Screen in specific.

1. In SM5 (Stepmania 5) you can use differents commands that will affect an element in multiples way, for example we gonna take the Banner during the Music Selection [ScreenSelectMusic] but You have to learn all the specific and common Screens that a Theme uses. The most Common Screens in a Theme (as example the "default" theme) are:

- ScreenTitleMenu
(The Screen where you choose Start the Game, Options, Exit, etc).
- ScreenOptionsService
(The Screen when you choose Options on ScreenTitleMenu).
- ScreenSelectProfile
(That is the next Screen at the moment to Choose Start Game where you will have to choose a Profile for be loaded).
- ScreenSelectStyle
(The Screen where you choose the Style; Single, Versus, Double, etc).
- ScreenSelectPlayMode
(The Screen where you choose the playmode; Normal, Extended, Marathon, etc).
- ScreenSelectMusic
(The Screen of Music Selection).
- ScreenPlayerOptions
(This is the Screen when we choose a song and then we enter to the Options Menu, for select modifiers; Speed, Effects, Noteskins, etc).
- ScreenGameplay
(The Screen where we "play" the song)
- ScreenEvaluation
(The Screen that show us the results about the song played).

These at my POV are the most Common Screen that Any Theme has, there are more of course but starting with them is the first step.

2. Ok back to the Banner example, we have a large list of commands we can choose to a determinate element. For start we need to go to the Metrics.ini and the to the [ScreenSelectMusic] because there the Banner is loaded. Of course there are some commands that applies to a determinate type of elements. For example:

- The Element "Banner" can use the command "zoom" right, but using the command "uppercase" will not show results because we are trying to make Uppercase a Banner (an image??). List of possibles that I know of commands:

- XY Position (You already know them).
- diffuse,color("The code color here, it could be RGBA, HEX, and others")
- diffusealpha (The Alpha level or transparency of an element) (Range 0 to 1)
- shadowlength
- zoom (there are a "variables for say so, zoom controls the "zoom" of the X and Y axis, you can control a determinate zoom axis using instead "zoomx" or "zoomy" or both of them).
- uppercase (uppercase a TEXT element).

HERE: you have a complete list of commands that can be used for an element or Actor
http://kki.ajworld.net/lua/sm5/Lua.xml#Actor

_____________________________________________

Here you have a step to start, of course there are A LOT you have to understand, any question feel free to ask it.
Quote: Released Themes for SM5 Beta 3
Quote: Released Themes for SM5 Beta 4 & 5.0.7
Quote: Simfles Packs Released

Post #10 · Posted at 2019-02-13 05:46:39am 5.1 years ago

Offline WolfenOmega
WolfenOmega Avatar Member
7 帖子
Not Set
Reg. 2018-07-04

3DS Friend Code: 4656-8486-4490
Sorry if I'm a bit late asking in this thread, but, I just arrived to it... in 3.9, how do you enlarge or reduce the size of the toasty sprite? (or edit it in general ñ_ñ)

Post #11 · Posted at 2019-02-13 07:20:19am 5.1 years ago

Offline leadbman
leadbman Avatar Member
263 帖子
Australia
Reg. 2016-02-01

"Working On: 5thMix BGA bgchanges"
You probably should have made a thread rather than reviving a thread this old, however, you can look into the folder:

ScreenGameplay toasty

You'll find this within the BGAnimations folder in your themes' folder.

I haven't touched 3.9 in a while but you should be able to edit the BGAnimation.ini file with something like:

[BGAnimation]
LengthSeconds=1.6

[Layer1]
File=toasty.png
Type=0 // 0=sprite, 1=stretch, 2=particles, 3=tiles
Command=horizalign,left;vertalign,bottom;x,640;y,480;decelerate,0.3;x,468;sleep,1.0;accelerate,0.3;x,640;zoomx,0.5;zoomy,0.5;


You'll notice I added zoomx,0.5;zoomy,0.5; to the Command line. This should shrink your toasty.png by half. You'll notice here that you can zoom the X and/or Y values here in order to shrink or enlarge the image from either axis.

To enlarge the image to be greater than the original size, you'll need to use values higher than 1. To shrink it, use values less than 1.

Hope that helps. Again, it's been a long time since I've worked on 3.9 so it might not work properly.

If you can make a new thread next time, more people will be able to help you out rather than tacking onto another old thread as your question isn't related to the OP's question.
https://zenius-i-vanisher.com/ddrsig/18213.png?t=1510895050
Really need to add my scores to the tracker soon.
Always learning, always trying to push the boundaries of SM.
註冊賬號 登錄 Back To Forums

0 User(s) Viewing This Thread (Past 15 Minutes)

©2006-2024 Zenius -I- vanisher.com -5th style- IIPrivacy Policy
Web Server: 3% · Database: 4% · Server Time: 2024-03-28 08:20:05
This page took 0.01 seconds to execute.
Theme: starlight · Language: chinesetraditional
Reset Theme & Language