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(c)2001-2003, StepMania team
http://www.stepmania.com
************************************************************
Table of Contents
************************************************************
1. About StepMania
2. Minimum Requirements
3. DirectX
4. Installation
5. Controls
6. How StepMania Loads Songs
7. Connecting Dance Pads
8. Compatibility Issues
9. FAQ / Troubleshooting
10. StepMania Packages - .smzip
11. Questions, Bugs, Suggestions, and Help
12. The StepMania Editor
13. The .SM File Format
14. Backgrounds
15. BGAnimations Format
16. The .CRS File Format
17. Extra Stages
18. Creating an Announcer
19. Creating a Note Skin
20. Creating a Theme
21. How StepMania Loads Textures
22. Building StepMania from CVS Source
23. Thanks
See the file "NEWS" for version history.
************************************************************
1. About StepMania
************************************************************
StepMania is capable of playing many game types. Currently, it supports games
similar to Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up, EZ 2 Dancer, and Para Para
Paradise. In the future, it will support games similar to BeatMania, Guitar
Freaks, DrumMania, and more.
The games played by StepMania are rhythm games. Notes scroll up from the
bottom of the screen, and the player must hit the corresponding button on the
controller in time to the music. All games can be played using the keyboard,
but the real fun comes when using specially designed controllers, like a dance
pad or hand sensors.
************************************************************
2. Minimum Requirements
************************************************************
* Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
* Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, Athlon, or compatible processor, 266MHz
minimum (400 MHz recommended)
* 64 MB of RAM
* Video card that supports High Color (16-bit color) and has 16MB video RAM
* DirectX 8.1 compatible video card with drivers
* DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card with drivers
* DivX 5 video codec for movie visualizations (www.divx.com)
************************************************************
3. DirectX
************************************************************
DirectX 8.1 is required before installing StepMania. If DirectX 8.1 is not
installed on your computer, the StepMania installer will display a warning
and abort the installation.
************************************************************
4. Installation
************************************************************
To install StepMania, download the file stepmania300.exe to a known
location on your hard drive, then double-click the file icon to begin the
installation. The installer may prompt you to remove an older version of
the program if one is present. The default installation directory is
'C:\Program Files\StepMania'.
************************************************************
5. Controls
************************************************************
Use the "Config Key/Joy" option from the Title Menu to configure your keyboard,
dance pad, or other game controller. This menu allows you to map up to 2
keyboard/joystick buttons to each function in the game. The third column is
the default key mapping, and cannot be changed. However, you can override a
default keyboard key by simply assigning it to another function. The mappings
for player 1 are on the left half of the screen, and the mapping for player 2
are on right half.
The following is a list of special keys:
Any time:
* F1 = insert coin for player 1
* F2 = insert coin for player 2
* F4 = toggle fullscreen
* F5 = toggle detail
* Hold Tab = increase game speed 4x (useful for moving through menus quickly)
* Hold Tilde (~) = decrease game speed to 1/4x
In menus:
* Arrow keys navigate menus
* Enter = Start
* Escape = Back
In any attract screen:
* Left or Right = next attract screen
* F3 = toggle CoinMode
In title menu:
* Escape = return to attract sequence
In gameplay:
* F8 = toggle AutoPlay
* F9 = decrease offset
* F10 = increase offset
* F11 = decrease BPM of current segment
* F12 = increase BPM of current segment
* Hold Escape = abort playing
In editor:
* Escape = menu
* Up/Down = prev/next line
* Left/Right = change snap
* 1 through 0 = add/remove note
* Enter - Set selection begin marker
* Space - Set selection end marker
* P - Play back current selection (if no selection, play whole song)
* R - Record over current selection (if no selection, record whole song)
************************************************************
6. How StepMania Loads Songs
************************************************************
All files for a specific song (data file, music file, banner, background)
must reside in a single folder. This folder must have the following path:
Songs/<group folder>/<song folder>/
For example, the song B4U may consist of the following files:
Songs/Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix/B4U/b4u.dwi
Songs/Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix/B4U/b4u.mp3
Songs/Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix/B4U/b4u-banner.png
Songs/Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix/B4U/b4u.png
Songs/Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix/B4U/b4u-movie.avi
StepMania supports the SM, DWI, BMS, and KSF song file formats. If the song
file format is BMS or KSF, simply put all the KSF or BMS files into the song
folder.
If a song file does not specify a valid banner file, StepMania first looks
for a graphic in the song folder that contains the word "banner". If that
search fails, StepMania will guess which image is most appropriate.
If a song file does not specify a valid background file, StepMania first looks
for a graphic in the song folder that contains the words "bg" or "background".
If that search fails, StepMania will guess which image is most appropriate.
If a song file does not specify a valid CDTitle file, StepMania will look
for a graphic in the song folder that contains the words "cdtitle". If that
search fails, StepMania will guess which image is most appropriate.
If there is exactly one movie in the song folder, StepMania will insert a
background change to that movie at the moment the music starts.
************************************************************
7. Connecting Dance Pads
************************************************************
There are several devices that allow you to connect PlayStation dance pads to
your PC.
* Not recommended: generic PlayStation->USB converter
Using a generic PlayStation->USB converter is not recommended to play any
dancing game on the PC. The vast majority of these converters are not capable
of registering simultaneous presses of Left+Right or Up+Down. This
restriction will cause the player to miss many notes where two buttons must
be hit simultaneously.
* Highly Recommended: specific brands of PlayStation->USB adaptor
There is just one brand of PlayStation->USB adaptor that functions perfectly
with StepMania. These adaptors are available for purchase through some
importers (www.liksang.com). The adaptor is made by "Boom", and it small and
black with a detachable USB cable. These adaptors cost about $15 and allow
you to attach one dance pad per adaptor. The primary advantage of these
adaptors is that they do not require special drivers and require no
configuring.
* Semi-Recommended: PlayStation->Parallel adaptor
PlayStation->Parallel converters do not have the simultaneous button problem
that USB converters do. The disadvantage of these adaptors is that home-made
drivers are required to use these devices. These drivers are often finicky
and incompatible with some sound cards. PlayStation->Parallel adaptors can
be purchased from the StepMania web site or any importer.
For Windows 98 and Windows Me users, the recommended driver is "DirectPad Pro
5.0 for Win9x". For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, the recommended drivers is
NTPad XP 1.x or PSXPAD.
Win98/WinME
"DirectPad Pro 5.0 for Win9x", found at
http://www.aldostools.com/dpad.html
Win2K/WinXP
NTPad XP 1.x, found at
http://www.aldostools.com/dpad.html
PSXPAD 0.8.2002.0606b, found at
http://www.psxpad.com/download/downcnt.php?name=psxp_a020606b
StepMania now natively supports USB Pump It Up pads.
************************************************************
8. Compatibility Issues
************************************************************
Some video card/driver combinations have visual errors when running StepMania.
If you experience any visual errors, please visit your video card
manufacturer's web site and download the latest Direct3D 8.1 drivers. Below
is a list of known issues that are thought to be video card driver bugs:
* S3 Savage family cards (e.g. Diamond Stealth)
Symptom: The right edge of some graphics appears "cut off".
Explanation: Drivers do not properly handle textures >= 512x512, resulting in
cropped textures. Turn the texture detail option to 256 to force textures to
a smaller size.
* SiS cards
Symptom: Garbled fonts.
Explanation: Drivers have errors in handling texture coordinates. Only known
solution is to upgrade drivers.
* Any card older than two years
Symptom: Various graphical glitches.
Explanation: These problems are most often caused by buggy video card drivers
bugs. Please upgrade to the latest drivers, which will hopefully fix the
errors.
************************************************************
9. FAQ / Troubleshooting
************************************************************
* The error "Cannot find Dinput8.dll" appears when launching the game.
You need to download DirectX 8.1. http://www.microsoft.com/directx
* StepMania reports "Direct3DCreate failed".
You need to download DirectX 8.1. http://www.microsoft.com/directx
* StepMania reports "Direct3DCreateDevice failed".
This error means that your video card or drivers do not support Direct3D 8.
Download the latest drivers for your video card. If your video card is older
than 2 or 3 years, Direct3D 8 drivers may not be available. Sorry.
* Music rates of over 100% do not work on my computer. Why?
Some very old sound cards do not support sound playback rates that are greater
than the original sample rate. This problem is likely to be corrected by newer
sound card drivers.
* I’m looking to purchase a video card. What works well with StepMania?
Just about any video card manufactured in the last year will run StepMania
flawlessly at 60 frames per second. I recommend any card with an nVidia
GeForce chip or an ATI Radeon chip.
* How can I improve performance with my existing video card
1. Install the latest drivers for your video card.
2. Press F5 in the game to toggle between high detail and low detail modes.
3. Tweak the Display Resolution and Texture Resolution setting in the
GameOptions screen.
* Will you tell me when the next version will be released?
Nope, Sorry. It's gotten me in trouble before.
* Why won't you tell me? I promise I won't tell anyone else.
The reasons I won't tell is because: a) I don't know yet, and b) I don't want
to make anyone angry if it takes longer than expected (it usually does).
************************************************************
10. StepMania Packages - .smzip
************************************************************
The StepMania package format was created to make the distribution of songs and
other add-ons very easy.  StepMania package files have the extension '.smzip'
and can be installed by double-clicking the .smzip file.
A StepMania package is 'installed' by extracting all files in the package to
the StepMania program directory. This allows songs, courses, themes, and
visualizations to all be installed by the Package Manager.
The file format of an .smzip file is actually the PK-Zip standard.  This means
you can rename any .smzip file to have the extension '.zip', and then open the
file in any compression application (e.g. WinZip, WinRAR).
The StepMania Package Exporter (smpackage.exe) can create packages of your
song, announcers, themes, or other add-ons. Simply launch the Package Exporter
(Start Menu->Programs->StepMania->Package Exporter), click the items you would
like to make into a package, then click the one of the Export buttons.
"Export as One" will take all of the selected items and make one package that
contains them all. "Export Individual" will create one separate package for
each selected item in the list.
************************************************************
11. Questions, Bugs, Suggestions, and Help
************************************************************
If you have a question about or problem with StepMania, please first ask your
question a StepMania message board. For a list of StepMania message boards,
see the web site - http://www.stepmania.com.
If you have found a bug, please file a bug report into the SourceForge bug
tracking system (http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=37892&atid=421366).  
This will allow the developers to track and fix bugs much more efficiently.  
* In a bug report, please specify your video card brand and model, and your OS
version (Win98, WinXP, etc).
* PLEASE, PLEASE enter your e-mail address on the bug reports. In many cases,
we need more information from the bug reporter.
Please use SourceForge's feature request system to enter new feature requests
(http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=421369&group_id=37892&func=browse). Also,
please discuss feature ideas on the StepMania message board or the StepMania
developers list (stepmania-devs@sourceforge.net).  
If you would like to help with development of StepMania, please send an email
to the StepMania developers list (stepmania-devs@sourceforge.net) or to Chris
(chris@videogamers.com).
************************************************************
12. The StepMania editor
************************************************************
The StepMania editor allows you to edit, record, synchronize, and play back
note patterns. When you choose 'Save', your song will be saved in both the .SM
format and the DWI format for use in Dance With Intensity. If you save a song
that was originally in the BMS or KSF format, the old files will be appended
with ".old", and a new .SM file will be written with your new song data.
Following are a few basic commands that you will find useful in learning to use
the editor:
* Escape = menu
* Up/Down = prev/next line
* Left/Right = change snap
* 1 through 0 = add/remove note
* Enter - Set selection begin marker
* Space - Set selection end marker
* P - Play back current selection (if no selection, play whole song)
* R - Record over current selection (if no selection, record whole song)
************************************************************
13. The .SM file format
************************************************************
The .SM song file format was created to be one file format that supports all
game types that StepMania can play (dance, pump, beat, guitar, etc). The
syntax of a .SM is similar to .DWI and .KSF except that some tags are different.
(Note that StepMania can load images can be in png, gif, jpg, or bmp format,
and can load sounds in ogg, mp3, or wav format.)
#TITLE:...; - The "main title" of the song. (Support for UTF-8 foreign
characters coming soon)
#SUBTITLE:...; - This text will appear underneath the main title of the song
on the Select Music screen. e.g. "~Dirty Mix~" or "(remix)".
#ARTIST:...; - The artist of the song.
#TITLETRANSLIT:...; - Transliteration of song's main title for sorting
#SUBTITLETRANSLIT:...; - Transliteration of song's sub title for sorting
#ARTISTTRANSLIT:...; - Transliteration of the artist of the song
#CREDIT:...; - Give yourself some credit here for creating a wonderful song.
#BANNER:...; - The file name of the banner image. e.g. "b4u-banner.png".
This image must reside in the song folder.
#BACKGROUND:...; - The file name of the background image. e.g. "b4u-bg.png".
This image must reside in the song folder.
#CDTITLE:...; - The file name of the spinning CD logo. e.g.
"b4u-cdtitle.png". This image must reside in the song folder.
#MUSIC:...; - The file name of the music file. e.g. "b4u.mp3". This image
must reside in the song folder.
#OFFSET:...; - The time in seconds at which beat 0 occurs in the music.
This is specified as a floating point value. e.g. "2.34".
#SAMPLESTART:...; - The time in seconds to start the music sample that plays
on the Select Music screen. This is specified as a floating point value.
e.g. "32.34".
#SAMPLELENGTH:...; - The time in seconds let the sample music play after
starting. This is specified as a floating point value. e.g. "16.00".
Note that in the last 1 second of playing the music will fade out.
#SELECTABLE:...; - If "NO", the song can not be selected manually and can
only be played as part of a course. If "ROULETTE", the song can can also
be selected via roulette. The default value is "YES".
#BPMS:...; - A value of the format "beat=bpm". Indicates that at 'beat', the
speed of the arrows will change to "bpm". Both of these values are
specified as floating point values. You must specifiy a BPM value for beat
0. Multiple BPMs can be given by separating them with commas. e.g.
"0=160,120=80".
#STOPS:...; - A value of the format "beat=sec". Indicates that at 'beat',
the motion of the arrows should stop for "sec" seconds. Both of these
values are specified as floating point values. Multiple stops can be given
by separating them with commas. e.g. "60=2.23,80=1.12".
#BGCHANGE:...; - A value of the format "beat=bg name". Indicates that at
'beat', the background should begin playing a new background named 'bg name'.
'beat' is a fractional value value and 'bg name' is a string. Different
bg changes are separated by commas. e.g. "60=falling,80=flower".
When StepMania looks for a backgound, it searches in this order:
- Looks for a movie with file name = "bg name" in the song folder.
You must include the file extension in "bg name". e.g.
"60=falling.avi,80=flower.mpg".
- Looks for a BGAnimation folder with the name "bg name" in the song
folder.
- Looks for a movie with file name "bg name" in the RandomMovies folder.
You must include the file extension in "bg name". e.g.
"60=falling.avi,80=flower.mpg".
- Looks for a BGAnimation with file name "bg name" in the BGAnimations
folder.
- Looks for a Visualization with the file name "bg name" in the
Visualizations folder.
For example, suppose you have a song B4U and special B4U-specific
BGAnimations called "robot" and "electric". First, move the robot and
electric BGAnimation folders into the B4U song folder
(e.g. Songs\4th Mix\B4U\robot and Songs\4th Mix\B4U\electric). Then,
using the editor, insert a new background change at each point in the song
where you to switch to a new BGAnimation. When prompted for the name of
the background change, you could type either "robot" or "electric".
Each pattern of notes has the same basic format:
#NOTES:<NotesType>:<Description>:<DifficultyClass>:<DifficultyMeter>:<RadarValues>:<NoteData>;
NotesType: Must be one of the currently supported types in StepMania:
"dance-single", "dance-double", "dance-couple", "dance-solo", "pump-single",
"pump-double", "pump-couple", "ez2-single", "ez2-double", "ez2-real",
"para-single"
Description: This will be displayed on the gameplay screen. This can be any
text, but is most commonly:
"Basic", "Another", "Trick", "Standard", "SSR", "Maniac", "Heavy", "Challenge",
"SManaic"
DifficultyClass: This value must be "easy", "medium", or "hard". These values
correspond the levels of difficulty on the Select Difficulty screen.
DifficultyMeter: The difficulty of these notes as a bar rating. The value must
be an integer between 1 and 10.
RadarValues: The values that will be displayed on the Groove Radar as floats
between 0.00 and 1.00. The 5 values must be separated by commas, and are
specified in the order: "stream,voltage,air,freeze,chaos". For MAX300, these
values are "0.95,0.98,0.22,0.12,0.13". These values will automatically be
written when you save the song in the StepMania editor, but you may edit the
.SM file afterward to tweak them.
NoteData: This value requires a longer explanation.
Each note is represented by a character:
0 = no note here
1 = a regular "tap note"
2 = beginning of a "hold note"
3 = end of a "hold note"
a-z,A-z = tap notes reserved for game types that have sounds associated with notes
Notes that are hit at the same time are grouped into rows. For example, if the
NotesType is "dance-single", the row "1001" would specify that both the Left
and Right and Down panels should be hit at the same time.
The number of notes per row (also called the number of 'columns') depends on
the "NotesType.
dance-single = 4 notes/row (Left,Down,Up,Right)
dance-double = 8 notes/row
dance-couple = 8 notes/row
dance-solo = 6 notes/row
pump-single = 5 notes/row
pump-double = 10 notes/row
pump-couple = 10 notes/row
ez2-single = 5 notes/row
ez2-double = 10 notes/row
ez2-real = 7 notes/row
para-single = 5 notes/row
Note rows are grouped into measures. The number of note rows you specify in a
measure will determine the time value of each note. For example, if there are
4 note rows in a measure, each note will be treated as a quarter note. If there
are 8 notes rows in a measure, each note will be treated as a eighth note. If
there are 12 notes rows in a measure, each note will be treated as a triplet
(1/12th) note. Measures are separated by a comma.
Example:
// measure 1
2010
0000
0100
0000
: // measure 2
0001
0100
0001
0000
3010
0000
0000
0000
;
************************************************************
14. Backgrounds
************************************************************
StepMania supports three different modes of backgrounds. The default
background mode can be set in the Graphic Options menu.
BGAnimations - Sprite animations similar to DDR 1st-5th Mix. There must be
BGAnimation folders present in the BGAnimations directory, or else no
background will be played. See the section called "BGAnimations Format"
in this document for more information on the BGAnimations format.
BGAnimations will perform better than the other background modes on slower
computers.
Random Movies - The background will cycle randomly over any avi or mpg files
in the "RandomMovies" folder in the StepMania program directory.
Visualizations - A random avi or mpg file will be chosen from the
"Visualizations" folder in the StepMania program directory. This movie
file will be played and blended over top of the song's background graphic.
Many video AVIs will require the DivX codec for playback. If you haven't yet
downloaded DivX, you can get it from www.divx.com. Playing movies as the
background is very processor intensive, and may cause choppiness on slower
computers.
Sample animations, visualizations, and random movies can be found at
www.stepmania.com.
************************************************************
15. BGAnimations Format
************************************************************
The BGAnimations folder in the StepMania program directory may contain several
BGAnimation folders.
\BGAnimations\<anim folder>\<layer files>
<anim folder> is the name of the animation.
<layer files> are one or more graphics files that will be used as layers in the
animation. Each sprite represents exactly one layer. Multiple layers can be
specified by having multiple <layer files>. Layer files can be PNG, AVI, or
MPEG files.
For example, a BGAnimation named "flower" may include the files:
BGAnimations\flower\1 TileScrollUp.png
BGAnimations\flower\2 StartOnRandomFrame ParticlesFloatDown 1x2.png
BGAnimations\flower\3 TileScrollLeft CycleColor 2x2.png
The layers of a BGAnimation are drawn from bottom in the order in which the
layer graphics files appear alphanumerically. A layer file name will often
begin with a number to control the order in which they are drawn.
Different "effects" are specified for each layer by adding tokens to the file
name. Here are an explanation of the currently supported tokens:
UseSongBg - Use the song's background file instead of this graphics file.
Since this graphics file is merely a placeholder, you might want to make this
graphic a 1x1 graphic to save disk space.
Add - use additive blending instead of normal blending.
CycleColor - cycle the color of the layer over the colors of the rainbow
CycleAlpha - cycle the alpha channel of the layer over type
StartOnRandomFrame - Start the animation on a random frame. This is mainly
useful for Tile or Particle effects.
DontAnimate - Stay on the first frame of this animation. This is only useful
for layers with multiple frames.
(stretch effects) - These scretch the graphic across the extire screen.
ScretchScrollLeft,
StretchScrollRight,
StretchScrollUp,
StretchScrollDown,
- Scroll the layer in a direction
StretchWater,
StretchBubble,
StretchTwist,
StretchSpin,
- Deform the background sprite with an effect. Only stretch spin is currently implemented.
(particle effects) - Use the graphic to make individual particles on the screen.
ParticlesSpiralOut,
ParticlesSpiralIn,
- Spiral particles away from/toward the center of the screen.
ParticlesFloatUp,
ParticlesFloatDown,
ParticlesFloatLeft,
ParticlesFloatRight,
- Scroll the particles across the screen.
ParticlesBounce,
- Particles start traveling in random directions and bounce when they hit the edge of the screen.
(tile effects) - Tile the graphics across the screen, forming a grid of graphics.
TileStill,
TileScrollLeft,
TileScrollRight,
TileScrollUp,
TileScrollDown,
- Scroll the tiles
TileFlipX,
TileFlipY,
- Flip the tiles along the X or Y axis.
TilePulse,
- Tiles zoom in and out.
************************************************************
15. The .CRS File Format
************************************************************
CRS files define the courses used in the "Oni" Nonstop Challenge mode. All CRS
files must reside in the "Courses" folder in the StepMania program folder.
#COURSE:...; - name of the course
#LIVES:<0..10>; - An integer between 0 and 10. This line is optional.
#REPEAT:<YES|NO>; - start over after last stage?
#SONG:<group folder>\<song folder>:<description>[:modifiers]; -
group folder - The name of the folder that contains the song folder.
song folder - the name of the folder that contains files for the song
description - BASIC, TRICK, SSR, MANIAC, HEAVY, etc.
modifiers - One or more of:
0.5x, 0.75x, 1.5x, 2.0x, 3.0x, 4.0x, 5.0x, 8.0x
boost, wave, drunk, dizzy, space, mini
hidden, sudden, stealth, blink
mirror, left, right, shuffle, supershuffle
little
reverse
note, flat, plain
noholds
nofreeze
dark
norecover, suddendeath, power-drop, death
0.7xmusic, 0.8xmusic, 0.9xmusic, 1.0xmusic, 1.1xmusic,
1.2xmusic, 1.3xmusic, 1.4xmusic, 1.5xmusic
************************************************************
16. Extra Stages
************************************************************
You can manually specify extra stages for each song group by creating .CRS
files called "extra1.crs" and "extra2.crs" and placing them in the song group
folder (e.g. Songs\MAX2\extra1.crs). When it comes time to play an extra stage
the first song in the .crs file will be used. Don't forget to specify
modifiers - see the "CRS File Format" section of this document for more
information. If a CRS file is not found or is invalid, the program will
choose an appropriate song, notes, and modifiers.
Don't forget: extra stage CRS files belong in the song group folder
(e.g. "Songs/DDRMAX/"), not in "Courses".
************************************************************
17. Creating an Announcer
************************************************************
Announcers folders must reside in the "Announcers" folder inside the
StepMania program directory (e.g. "Announcers\DDRMAX\"). An announcer folder
contains several more folders - one for each announcer "trigger". Add as many
.WAV, .MP3, or .OGG sounds as you want to the trigger folder. When StepMania
wants to play a sound for that trigger, it will play a random sound file from
your trigger folder.
Sound files in a trigger folder can have any name you want. It's recommended
that you name the sound files according to what is being said (e.g.
"everybodys waiting for you.mp3"). If there are 0 sound files in a trigger
folder, or the trigger folder is missing, then no sound will be played for
that trigger.
For a complete list of announcer trigger names, see the example announcer packs
that are available at www.stepmania.com.
************************************************************
18. Creating a Note Skin
************************************************************
Note skins allow you to customize the way notes appear. Note skins must
reside in the folder "NoteSkins\<Game Name>\<Note Skin Name>". Note skins are
specific to a particular game (dance, pump, etc). In the note skin folder,
you must implement the folling files for each note:
<NoteName> receptor (2x1).png
<NoteName> tap parts (2xN).png
<NoteName> tap explosion bright (NxN).png
<NoteName> tap explosion dim (NxN).png
<NoteName> note color part (NxN).png
<NoteName> note gray part (NxN).png
<NoteName> hold parts (4x2).png
<NoteName> hold explosion (NxN).png
<NoteName> tap.colors
"<NoteName>" must be the name of the note (e.g. "left", "upright", "snare").
Look at the example note skins included with StepMania for a complete list
for each game.
Most of the note skin elements can use any number of frames. For example, the
element "tap exposion bright" could have 4 frames (2x2), 2 frames (1x2), or
just a single frame. The exception to this rule is "tap parts" which must
be 2 frames wide, and hold parts which must be 4x2.
For more information on about textures with multiple frames, see the section
"How StepMania Loads Textures" in this document.
************************************************************
19. Creating a Theme
************************************************************
All themes must reside in the Themes folder below the StepMania program
directory. Inside a theme folder, you will all or only a few of the items
below:
Themes\<ThemeName>\BGAnimations\
Themes\<ThemeName>\Fonts\
Themes\<ThemeName>\Graphics\
Themes\<ThemeName>\Numbers\
Themes\<ThemeName>\Sounds\
Themes\<ThemeName>\metrics.ini\
The 5 possible folders in a theme hold "theme elements". A theme element is
simply a little piece of the theme that can be changed. Each of the 5 folders
contains different types of information as explained below:
BGAnimations: This folder contains BGAnimation elements for the different
screens. Since all backgrounds for all the menus in the game are generated
using BGAnimations, any screen in the game can have an animating
background. Also, BGAnimations can contain movie layers. For more
information about BGAnimations, see the section "BGAnimations Format" in
this document.
Fonts: This folder contains graphics and font width data used by the font
system. Font graphics and width files are generated using the program
"Bitmap Font Builder", which is available for download at
http://www.lmnopc.com/bitmapfontbuilder/. To export a font for use in
StepMania:
- In Bitmap Font Builder, choose Character Set->Full ASCII. StepMania
can only load 16x16 character sheets.
- In Bitmap Font Builder, click File->Save 32bit TGA. Save the file
some place that is easy to access.
- Open Photoshop and load the TGA file. Click the chanel "Alpha 1",
then load this channel as a selection.
- Click back to the Layers tab and create a new layer.
- Choose Edit->Fill, and fill the selection with white.
- Delete the layer named "Background". You should now see a mostly
transparent background with faint hints of white text.
- Click File->Save For Web. Choose the Format "PNG-24" and Save.
- Rename the PNG file you just saved to "<YourFontName> 16x16.png".
(the "16x16" means that the graphic contains 16 * 16 frames worth
of characters.
- Back in Bitmap Font Builder, click File->
"Save Font Widths (INI Format)". Save this in the same directory
where you saved the PNG. Rename the exported INI file to
"<YourFontName> 16x16.ini" where the first part of the file name
matches the PNG you exported.
- Done! The PNG and the INI file are your new font. Move them into
your theme's Fonts folder.
StepMania will also look for the following optional lines in a font INI
file:
CapitalsOnly=<0|1>: If 1, then StepMania will use the capital letter
frames in place of the lower case letter frames. If not
specified, StepMania will use 0 for this value.
DrawExtraPixelsLeft=<0..32>: If letters of your font are being chopped
off on the left size, try increasing this value. If not
specified, StepMania will use 0 for this value.
DrawExtraPixelsRight=<0..32>: If letters of your font are being chopped
off on the right size, try increasing this value. If not
specified, StepMania will use 0 for this value.
AddToAllWidths=<0..32>: The value in this line will be added to the
width of every character in the font. Increase this value to
increase character spacing in your font. This feature is also
useful if you wish to add a black border the characters of your
font. If not specified, StepMania will use 0 for this value.
ScaleAllWidthsBy=<0.0...2.0>: The width of every character in the font
be multipled by this value. If not specified, StepMania will use
1 for this value.
LineSpacing=<0..64>: This controls the spacing in pixels between lines of
text. This value is only used in text items that have multiple
lines. If not specified, StepMania will use the height of the
frames in your texture (which is 32 pixels for 512x512 graphics).
Top=<0..63>: This indicates the top of a typical capital letter, from
the top of the frame. If not specified, this will be derived from
LineSpacing.
Baseline=<0..63>: This indicates the baseline of the font, from the
top of the frame. If not specified, the baseline is derived from
LineSpacing.
Graphics: This folder contains graphics used in all of the screens. These
graphics are the meat and potatoes of a theme. These graphics can be of
any dimension. For example, your theme could have a "title menu logo
dance.png" graphic that is 640x480 - which would take up the whole screen!
Numbers: This folder contains graphics used to render numbers. Every graphic
in this folder must be 5 frames by 3 frames (5x3) and follow the standard
layout (see the Numbers graphics in the theme named "default" for
examples).
Sounds: This folder contains sounds. Sounds may be in OGG, MP3, or WAV
format.
metrics.ini: A metric is simply a values that can alter the appearance
of the game. metrics.ini is a large list of values that will allow you
to alter things like the position of elements in the menus, and the order
of menu screens. There is no documentation or explaination of these values
other than the value name. Because the theme "default" implements all
possible theme elements and metrics, the metrics file
"Themes\default\metrics.ini" contains a complete list of all possible
metrics. DO NOT EDIT the file "Themes\default\metrics.ini". Instead,
create a blank file "metrics.ini" in your theme folder, and override only
those values you want to customize for your theme using default's
metrics.ini to see what values are possible.
When StepMania looks to load a theme element from one of these folders, it
will first look in the folder of the currently selected theme. If the element
is not found in this folder, StepMania then look for the theme element in the
theme folder called "default". The theme "default" is a base theme and
guaranteed that a theme is usable even if it is missing elements.
This "fallback" system has other advantages too. User-created themes, can
override as many or as few theme elements as the author pleases. For example,
you could create a theme called "MySuperTheme" which does nothing more than
override the title menu logo. Here's how you would create this theme:
- Create a new folder in "Themes" called "MySuperTheme"
- Open the MyStepMania folder. Create a folder inside called "Graphics".
- Copy the file "Themes\default\Graphics\title menu logo dance.png" into your
Graphics folder "Themes\MySuperTheme\Graphics".
- Edit your new title menu graphic to be whatever you want.
- Start StepMania, go to Appearance Options, and change your theme to
"MySuperTheme".
************************************************************
20. How StepMania Loads Textures
************************************************************
* What are textures?
"Texture" is simply another name for graphics file. The name "texture"
is more common when taking about 3D graphics. This document uses "texture"
and "graphic" interchangably.
* How to you specify that a texture has multiple frames (for animation)?
Simply add the string "(NxN)". Immediately before the "." that separates
the main file name and the extension. For example, suppose there is a file
called "title menu logo.png" that you would like to turn into an animation.
Now, you create an graphic file with 9 frames of animation - 3 frames wide
and 3 frames high. Name this file, "title menu logo 3x3.png", and stepmania
will play the graphic as an animation with frames in the order left-to-right,
top-to-bottom, with 0.20 seconds separating each frame.
* What are .sprite files?
.sprite files are a way to have even more precise control over how your
graphics animate. Each sprite has multiple "states". For each state, you
may specify: 1) What frame of the graphic to show, and 2) how long to show
this state before moving to the next state.
Let's look at an example .sprite file:
[Sprite]
Texture=dancer p1 1x3.png
Frame0000=0
Delay0000=0.05
Frame0001=1
Delay0001=0.05
Frame0002=2
Delay0002=0.05
Texture is the name of the texure file to use. This must reside in the same
directory as the .sprite file. If your texture has multiple frames, be sure
to specify the dimensions in the file name using the convention described
above.
FrameNNNN is the index of the frame number to use for the first state of the
animation. Frame may range between 0 and (total number of frames - 1).
Frame indicies move left-to-right, top-to-bottom over the frames in an image.
DelayNNNN is the time in seconds to show the state.
* My graphics show ugly banding or look washed out. What can I do?
StepMania will soon dither all textures by defaul, thus making the current
texture hint system obsolte.
* Why do the graphics look so blurry?
Some 3D graphics cards (the Voodoo3 in particular) do not support textures
greater in size than 256x256. If a texture is larger than the card's maximum
texture size, the image will scaled down internally resulting in output that
looks blurry. Here are some hints for optimum image quality:
- Keep your images to dimensions smaller or equal to 256x256.
- Make your images have an even number for each dimension (e.g. 286x120 is
will appear less blurry than 285x119).
************************************************************
21. Building StepMania from CVS source
************************************************************
CVS is the repository that manages the StepMania source code. Our CVS server is
graciously provided by SourceForge. You can get the absolute-latest bleeding
edge updates to StepMania by taking the source from CVS. Below are instructions
on how to configure your computer to download source code from CVS and complile
the source into a working executable. If you do not have a basic understanding
of how to build a program using Visual C++, then you probably should not attempt
to build StepMania.
* Step 1: Install and configure Visual C++
The StepMania source can currently be built with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 or
Visual C++ .Net. Installing Visual C++ or Visual Studio with all the default
options is sufficient.
* Step 2: Install the Direct X 8.1 SDK
The DirectX 8.1 SDK is a free (but large) download from Microsoft:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/?url=/downloads/sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/
027/001/771/msdncompositedoc.xml&frame=true. Install it using all the default
settings. The SDK installer will configure Visual C++ with the correct paths
needed to find the DirectX 8.1 libraries and headers.
* Step 3: Create a SourceForge account
In order to commit changes to CVS, you'll have to have a SourceForge account.
Create an account at www.sourceforge.net, then e-mail Chris
(chris@videogamers.com) with your username so he can add you to the project.
* Step 4: Install WinCVS
A CVS client is required to "checkout" the course from the CVS server. Download
version 1.2 of WinCVS here - http://www.cvsgui.org
(or http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=10072)
IMPORTANT: Now, open and close WinCVS once. This will cause WinCVS to create
registry entries, which is required for the next step...
* Step 5: Use SourceForge Setup to install SSH and configure WinCVS
A small utility called SourceForge Setup will greatly simplify the steps needed
to configure SSH and WinCVS. Download SourceForge Setup from
http://sfsetup.sourceforge.net/. Use the following settings when prompted by SF
Setup:
- Unpack SSH directory: c:\ssh
- SSH install direcotory: c:\ssh
- Your home directory: c:\ssh
- Your SourceForge user name: -yourusername-
- Name of the project: stepmania
- The directory where you will be keeping checked out project sources:
c:\stepmania
IMPORTANT: If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP SourceForge Setup will
not correctly write changes to the c:\autoexec.bat file. Verify that the
following lines are present after you run SF Setup:
rem SourceForge setup stuff
SET PATH=%PATH%;c:\ssh
SET HOME=c:\ssh
IMPORTANT: You must restart after running SF Setup so that the new environment
variables take effect.
* Step 6: Enable SSH access to the cvs machine
Before you can use your account, you must run the following (substituting your
username and projectname as appropriate) before attempting to use CVS from a new
user account. Open a command prompt, and type:
ssh -l username cvs.stepmania.sourceforge.net
Enter your password, and you'll get a message about how you're not supposed to
be there and the connection will drop. What they don't tell you is that this
creates your home directory and is required for things to start working.
* Step 7: "Checkout" the source code
- Open up WinCVS again.
- In the right pane, you should see the folder "stepmania".
- Right click on that folder and choose "Checkout module...". For the module name
enter "stepmania".
- Click OK.
- If a "chose your home directory" window appears, select "c:\stepmania".
- A minimized console window should appear. Unminimize it, type in your
SourceForge password, and press Enter.
- The source code should begin downloading. This can take a long time depending
on your connection speed.
* Done! Enjoy staying on the bleeding edge of StepMania releases! 
* Optional: Create the SSH keypair for painless access to CVS server via SSH.
Open a command prompt and enter this to create a new key pair:
ssh-keygen -C <comment> -f identity
<comment> is an identifier placed in the public key. I used my email address.
Just press enter when it asks you for a passphrase. You don't want a
passphrase. BTW, without the -C option the program will fail and you won't get
a new key pair. I couldn't use any other ssh-keygen utility except for this
one. Any other (SecureCRT, or the linux server) and ssh.exe wouldn't read it.
Next, on your user account page at SourceForge, you should find a box to enter
your SSH public key. Copy the entire contents of the identity.pub file
(located in your .ssh directory) into the text entry box on the page -- be
sure not to add any line breaks or it will not work. After a 6 hour wait, you
should be able to use CVS with SSH without using your password.
(Meanwhile) Create a new file called ssh.bat in your WinCVS directory with
notepad (or whatever editor) and dump these contents into it:
@echo off
rem echo %0 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 > debug.txt
ssh.exe -C -l %3 -i c:\ssh\.ssh\identity %1 %4
Edit paths as appropriate. Use of the .bat file is mainly for the ability to
manipulate the command line that ssh gets. These options aren't in WinCVS yet.
On the Ports tab of WinCvs preferences, select 'Check for an alternate RSH
name' and put "ssh.bat" into the editbox.
WinCVS will create a new console window in your taskbar when running ssh.bat,
but you won't ever see any output as it's redirected.
************************************************************
22. Thanks
************************************************************
Thanks to:
redcrusher for help on ez2 graphics
Dj Slash & Tony Thai for the caution graphic
Kyle "KeeL" Ward for his awesome menu music (www.ampcast.com/keel)
************************************************************
End of document
************************************************************
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