Post #1 · Posted at 2016-08-11 12:40:35pm 7.7 years ago
 black4ever | |
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I'm currently using Stepmania 5.0.9 (I did use 5.1.0 or was it 5.0.10, but I preferred the version I'm using now). I'm having some issues when it comes to the Edit Menu when I'm making simfiles. There are quite a few of things that I want to list down, but here are the ones that are giving me problems:
-Whenever I try adjusting the preview start, the preview does not change at all until I adjust it a little more then the preview changes seconds after the last supposed preview start. Let's say I want set the preview to be at the chorus, but the actual preview shows a few milliseconds before the start of the chorus. Then when I adjust it further, the preview plays the chorus a few seconds later than the last preview.
-I'm not sure if this applies to most people here, but when I try playing my steps in the Edit Menu, it's out of sync even when I adjust the beat 0 offset accordingly. Whenever I get the offset right at the first beat, it's only in sync there, but once I move a few measures down and start playing the song from those measures other than the first, it gets really off sync, especially with the tick on. It's unlike in 3.9 where the offset is consistent on all measures when you try playing the song in that Edit Mode.
Even on the latest version of Stepmania 5, I still had those problems in the Edit Menu. It's probably because I'm a Mac user, but I can't download Stepmania 3.9 anymore on this version of my Mac, so it kinda sucks. Help would be appreciated.
-Whenever I try adjusting the preview start, the preview does not change at all until I adjust it a little more then the preview changes seconds after the last supposed preview start. Let's say I want set the preview to be at the chorus, but the actual preview shows a few milliseconds before the start of the chorus. Then when I adjust it further, the preview plays the chorus a few seconds later than the last preview.
-I'm not sure if this applies to most people here, but when I try playing my steps in the Edit Menu, it's out of sync even when I adjust the beat 0 offset accordingly. Whenever I get the offset right at the first beat, it's only in sync there, but once I move a few measures down and start playing the song from those measures other than the first, it gets really off sync, especially with the tick on. It's unlike in 3.9 where the offset is consistent on all measures when you try playing the song in that Edit Mode.
Even on the latest version of Stepmania 5, I still had those problems in the Edit Menu. It's probably because I'm a Mac user, but I can't download Stepmania 3.9 anymore on this version of my Mac, so it kinda sucks. Help would be appreciated.
Post #2 · Posted at 2016-08-22 07:37:46pm 7.6 years ago
The second problem has to do with VBR MP3s. StepMania has problems with them and whatever code papered over the problem in 3.9 isn't around anymore.
The first problem I don't know about, but might actually be related.
The first problem I don't know about, but might actually be related.
Post #3 · Posted at 2016-08-23 01:45:47am 7.6 years ago
| black4ever | |
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So you're saying that if I use OGG format for my audio in this version of Stepmania 5, this will solve the second problem? Also, what does VBR mean?
Post #4 · Posted at 2016-08-23 02:16:00am 7.6 years ago
| FlameyBoy | |
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Oggs would work fine.
VBR stands for Variable Bit Rate, which is to say that the bit rate (kbps) changes over the course of the song (if it doesn't, that's described as CBR for Constant Bit Rate). The advantage with this is that you can make smaller files with the same effective quality (because you can drop the quality when you can get away with it and increase it when necessary), but because the same amount of data doesn't correspond to the same amount of audio at every point in the song it's a bit harder to deal with for a player.
Some very old software and hardware (2000 or so) actually can't play VBR MP3s at all, to the point of crashing if you try (or so I've heard), but most that are around today can, so it has become pretty commonly used since 2010 or so. Ogg Vorbis is almost always VBR, so the library StepMania uses to play Ogg Vorbis files can handle VBR files properly. (I think you can make CBR Vorbis files in theory, but it is rarely if ever done.)
The library StepMania uses for MP3s, while it can play VBR files, apparently can't handle jumping to an arbitrary point in them properly, which is needed to start songs where the cursor is. To be fair, when this library was added in 2002-2003 or so, if not earlier, VBR MP3s were not very common.
VBR stands for Variable Bit Rate, which is to say that the bit rate (kbps) changes over the course of the song (if it doesn't, that's described as CBR for Constant Bit Rate). The advantage with this is that you can make smaller files with the same effective quality (because you can drop the quality when you can get away with it and increase it when necessary), but because the same amount of data doesn't correspond to the same amount of audio at every point in the song it's a bit harder to deal with for a player.
Some very old software and hardware (2000 or so) actually can't play VBR MP3s at all, to the point of crashing if you try (or so I've heard), but most that are around today can, so it has become pretty commonly used since 2010 or so. Ogg Vorbis is almost always VBR, so the library StepMania uses to play Ogg Vorbis files can handle VBR files properly. (I think you can make CBR Vorbis files in theory, but it is rarely if ever done.)
The library StepMania uses for MP3s, while it can play VBR files, apparently can't handle jumping to an arbitrary point in them properly, which is needed to start songs where the cursor is. To be fair, when this library was added in 2002-2003 or so, if not earlier, VBR MP3s were not very common.
Post #5 · Posted at 2016-08-23 11:22:58am 7.6 years ago
| black4ever | |
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So I tried using Ogg files, and you're right. Edit Mode worked completely fine now. It's like the newest versions of StepMania 5 really recommend using OGG files for simfiles. What's also funny is that using ogg files also fixed the first problem I'm having with the previews. Thanks for the advice, FlameyBoy!