Are there any online resources for SongManager PreferredSongs

Are there any online resources for how to use SongManager PreferredSongs.txt ? Can StepMania 5 arrange a songlist DDR style without defaulting to alphabetical order?

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The format is something like this:
---group 1
DDR 1st Mix/TRIP MACHINE
DDR 4th Mix/EAT YOU UP
---group 2
DDR SuperNOVA/quick master
where the lines that start with --- are group headers. Do not place any one song in multiple groups: it will not work correctly.

How do I list the song? By folder name or the title from #TITLE: ?

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Folder name.

I typed this
into SongManager PreferredSongs.txt StepMania 5 is still going by default. Is there something in the metrics.ini I am supposed to type in? Is there a specific name for the word "group"?

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Do you hace to do 2 things. The first create the "SongManager PreferredSongs.txt" in the other folder of the theme that you want to use, with the given instructions. The second thing that you have to do, is to open the metrics.ini file of the theme, locate the group of code "[GameState]" and under it add/edit the line DefaultSort="Preferred", it will be like this


And that's all. If the code is not working, you have to check the structure of the "SongManager PreferredSongs.txt"

It's working. And it's a wonderful to behold! Onward with STEPMANIA.

Edit: Is it possible to separate songs by group but not have separate group folders?

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I don't necessarily know about that. You could probably fake it by keeping a table with your "groups" in memory and using that in combination with the Preferred sort to do whatever you want the groups to do.

I am not sure what you mean, but I am experimenting with the way StepMania 5 auto sorts the songs so the answer is yes. Due to the different difficulty scale the 1st Mix songs are in yellow and the 2nd mix songs are in red.

Edit: How can I have an arranged song list on CyberiaStyle? I set DefaultSort="Preferred" and wrote a SongManager PreferredSongs, but it keeps defaulting to folder selection.

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CyberiaStyle's sort system actually is driven entirely by Preferred sort files that are generated (iirc) when the theme loads up. You'd have to modify the code that implements that to let you have another entry that's just a Preferred sort file.

Do you know what code does that? I see what you are talking about in regards to generating Song Managers when it loads up. I think I am going to use CyberiaStyle 8 Solid since I figured out how to get Preferred to work on that theme.

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The code for generating the sorts is in 99 Sort.lua in Last Approach. It's commented only in Japanese and uses arcane variable names. I don't know where the code for setting them up is.

CyberiaStyle LA has an inbuilt custom sort option available for the user. Based on the information from the theme's official FAQ the method is as follows:

* Go to your profile folder (%appdata%\StepMania 5\LocalProfiles\########) and create a folder within it called CustomSort.
* Within the CustomSort folder put your custom sort in a file called SongManager customsort.txt using the usual format.

The custom sort only applies to a single profile. I'm not sure how to set it as default sort.

What would be the folder path if you are using portable.ini ?

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I made a mistake earlier, it's %appdata%\StepMania 5\Save\LocalProfiles\######## for a normal Windows installation, and if the installation is portable the path should then be (install folder)\Save\LocalProfiles\########.