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SvenC
Basic Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2005
Location: Durham, NC |
0.  Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:59 am Post subject: Stependous - new all-in-one step file creator! |
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Here's a new utility I made recently - send me some feedback. 
Stependous
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Stependous is a utility which facilitates the creation of DWI files for use in your favorite DDR simulator.
Its goal is to be an all-in-one solution for creating step files that is easy for anyone to use.
FEATURES:
- Built-in media player
- Built-in arrow simulator - see the arrows scroll by just like in a DDR simulator.
- Automatic BPM calculation like MixMeister
- Manual BPM/Gap calculation like WinBPM
- Metronome sound like WinBPM (enable/disable this sound via the Options menu)
- Controls to fine-tune the BPM/Gap
- Instantly fast-forward and rewind to any part of the song to see if the BPM continues to be in sync.
No longer do you have to listen to the entire song to see if the BPM is correct.
- After you have a precise BPM/Gap you can enter steps in real-time just as if you were
playing a DDR simulator. With the built-in media player, you can ensure that what you
see will be what you get when playing the finished steps in a real DDR simulator.
Enter steps by selecting the "Step Entry" option in the "Mode" menu.
- Play the song in slow-motion during song entry to facilitate the entry of quick steps.
- Import BPM/Gap/steps from existing DWI files.
- Left-click anywhere on the step-entry window to manually toggle steps on and off.
- Click on navigation buttons to the right of the arrow-entry window to move up/down
half-beats, whole-beats, or pages.
- Press "Enter" during step-entry to advance one half-beat. This is useful for when you
want to do quick manual entry of notes on a beat-by-beat basis instead of entering
steps while the music is playing.
- Select areas upon which to perform various functions by right-clicking anywhere on the step-entry window.
Functions : Move selected steps up one half-beat, move selected steps down one half-beat,
erase the selected steps, and randomize the selected steps.
- Export steps to DWI format along with the artist, title, difficulty, foot rating, and sample start/length
- Fully open-source
Click here to download
_________________
BTW-I have a like-new ping-pong table and ArcadePC cabinet for sale - both cheap. If you are proximate to Raleigh/Durham and are interested, please drop me a line to discuss it. |
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Reenee
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Joined: 21 Nov 2003
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| 1. Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 11:09 am Post subject: |
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Mac version details please.
Also, I believe the displayed notes could be scrunched together a few pixels in. |
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mikieson
Trick Member
Joined: 14 Nov 2003
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| 2. Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Downloaded it. Looks quite complicated. I downloaded both things. One has no installer and the other does. Whats the other for?..... |
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SvenC
Basic Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2005
Location: Durham, NC |
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mikieson
Trick Member
Joined: 14 Nov 2003
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| 4. Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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Well I did try it. It just seemed to be something im really gonna have to work at.
If you did make this program..You did do a good job. I will learn it in time. |
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Fr0sty
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2003
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| 5. Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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| HUGE memory leak problem. I turned it on and my sys resources went to 0%. Turned it off and they're back up to 58%. |
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SvenC
Basic Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2005
Location: Durham, NC |
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Fr0sty
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2003
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| 7. Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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Haha sorry but my comp runs ME. Not my fault  |
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SvenC
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Joined: 07 Aug 2005
Location: Durham, NC |
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The legend of ZAKU 0079
Trick Member
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: somewhere in New York City bringing glory to Zeon |
| 9. Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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This is a pretty damn good continuation where XStep left off. I do have a suggestion that might make it much easier for people making steps such as an assist tick whenever an arrow's tripped, so that it makes it easier for folks to sync up songs. So far, that some good work you got there.
_________________
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IamMe
Trick Member
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Location: Washington DC (God I hate this place) |
| 10. Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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| It's too bad that programs like these are UTTERLY worthless, as SM editor it the best program for making steps, honestly. |
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SvenC
Basic Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2005
Location: Durham, NC |
| 11. Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 4:56 am Post subject: |
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| The legend of ZAKU 0079 wrote: | | This is a pretty damn good continuation where XStep left off. I do have a suggestion that might make it much easier for people making steps such as an assist tick whenever an arrow's tripped, so that it makes it easier for folks to sync up songs. So far, that some good work you got there. |
This already exists - it's the metronome sound effect that plays along during BPM adjustment. Unless you're talking about after you've established the correct BPM/Gap and now just want to hear the ticks when an arrow is tripped similar to Stepmania. Yes that would be useful.
Ninjas - it would be nice if you had something constructive to say. Yes, these are public forums and people are obviously entitled to say what they want...but people often confuse this entitlement with a seeming obligation to say absolutely everything that crosses their mind without regard to others. I mean really - how am I supposed to take having my work be described as "UTTERLY worthless"? I'm sure you'll say that you were just expressing your opinion - but geez...how about you instead offer some suggestions for things missing from the SM editor that you'd like to see?
Also - unless things have changed since the version of Stepmania that I'm using - the SM editor does not calculate the BPM, it is somewhat lacking when it comes to navigating around a song quickly since there is no mouse support, it eats up 100% of your CPU while running, and doesn't offer a randomization feature. You obviously don't care about any of that, but other people definitely do judging from the emails I've received.
Stependous started off as a way to quickly establish the BPM/Gap of a song since really none of the existing programs did *all* of that very well. Mixmeister will generate a fairly accurate BPM, but you still have to test/tweak it and it does nothing for your Gap. WinBPM is similar, but at least you can be confident in WinBPM that you have the correct BPM because of the metronome sound effect. It does not do anything for your Gap and you would have to wait to hear the entire song to see if your BPM is correct all the way through. XStep has similar BPM controls as WinBPM and has a gap adjuster - but it limits itself to only allowing the user to press enter 5 times to establish the BPM and the user has to press enter at *exactly* the right time to generate the Gap. Both of those methods are highly fallible and even if you do get something that sounds about right, you still have to listen to the entire song to see if the BPM/Gap you've got is correct the whole way through.
Stependous, on the other hand, does it all and is *very* easy to use for BPM/Gap calculation. First off, when you load up a song into Stependous, it automatically generates a BPM the same way MixMeister does - and to me it seems pretty damn accurate. Then there is a metronome sound effect that plays over the song at each beat so you can hear how things sync up while fine-tuning the BPM and Gap. The best feature by far is the fact that you can use the media-player slider to jump to any position in the song instantly to see if the BPM/Gap are still in sync. You cannot do this with Stepmania or any BPM assistant. In Stepmania you have to hold down the pgdn/pgup keys for 1-n seconds and then press shift-P (over and over again). Furthermore, the "tick assist" in Stepmania only plays a sound when you have a step pressed - so if you want to test the BPM you'll have to first put a step on every single beat and then start listening. That is not easy-to-use.
Additionally, one of my goals for Stependous is to make step file creation easy for *everyone* - not just the seasoned veterans. Let's say someone new comes onto these forums and asks how to make steps for a completely new song. What would you tell them? "Well, first download/install/run mixmeister and get the BPM - then start up notepad and type "blhblabla" into it, then copy that file and song into Stepmania's songs folder, then load up Stepmania , enter the editor and put steps down on all the notes, toggle tick assist, then jump around using the pgup/pgdn keys and press shift-P over sections of the song to see if the BPM is right and adjust the BPM/Gap using these keys." The alternative is Stependous which is a lot easier to use and gets you up and running with a new DWI file very quickly. The step-editing features are obviously not as comprehensive as SM's editor - but it gets the overall job done fast and could very well be everything that a lot of people would find necessary anyway.
For people who create stepfiles, I suggest they try out Stependous if for no other reason than to try out the BPM/Gap controls. It is so easy to use and test. It certainly can't hurt to *try* it first before poo-poo'ing it.
-Sven
_________________
BTW-I have a like-new ping-pong table and ArcadePC cabinet for sale - both cheap. If you are proximate to Raleigh/Durham and are interested, please drop me a line to discuss it. |
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IamMe
Trick Member
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Location: Washington DC (God I hate this place) |
| 12. Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 9:36 am Post subject: |
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| I'm blunt. I'm going to express my full opinion on issues like these whether they like it or not. I have no problem speaking my mind to people, regardless of whether they like my opinion or not. |
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SvenC
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Joined: 07 Aug 2005
Location: Durham, NC |
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DJX
Trick Member
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Location: CA |
| 14. Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:51 am Post subject: |
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| Ninjas. Thousands of 'em. wrote: | | It's too bad that programs like these are UTTERLY worthless, as SM editor it the best program for making steps, honestly. |
| Ninjas. Thousands of 'em. wrote: | | I'm blunt. I'm going to express my full opinion on issues like these whether they like it or not. I have no problem speaking my mind to people, regardless of whether they like my opinion or not. |
It's quite possible to be blunt without being a jackass. You could have said, "I think the Stepmania editor is better." You could have even done something as crazy as explaining your point of view rather than calling the program utterly worthless. Your opinion isn't the problem here; the fact that you think being condescending about it makes you "cool" because you think it symbolizes you're "not afraid to express your opinions" and you "don't care what other people think" is. We don't need or want your negativity here.
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IamMe
Trick Member
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Location: Washington DC (God I hate this place) |
| 15. Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:41 am Post subject: |
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I really don't try to be cool on DDRFREAK rofl.
I really just don't care if you're upset by my remark. If you submit to a public forum asking for people's opinions on it, expect remarks like that. |
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DJX
Trick Member
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Location: CA |
| 16. Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:56 am Post subject: |
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| Ninjas. Thousands of 'em. wrote: | I really don't try to be cool on DDRFREAK rofl.
I really just don't care if you're upset by my remark. If you submit to a public forum asking for people's opinions on it, expect remarks like that. |
Just because the comment was to be expected doesn't make it any less stupid. It doesn't really matter whether you try to be cool; please try to be respectful.
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deM'
Trick Member
Joined: 10 Apr 2005
Location: Southington CT |
| 17. Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I'm blunt. I'm going to express my full opinion on issues like these whether they like it or not. I have no problem speaking my mind to people, regardless of whether they like my opinion or not. |
Well, maybe you should know by know that no one wants to hear your opinion, it's wrong and rude, you have been like this almost every post i have seen you in and i request a ban. |
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SvenC
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Joined: 07 Aug 2005
Location: Durham, NC |
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IamMe
Trick Member
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Location: Washington DC (God I hate this place) |
| 19. Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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| dem0nic (CRAZY?) wrote: | | Quote: | | I'm blunt. I'm going to express my full opinion on issues like these whether they like it or not. I have no problem speaking my mind to people, regardless of whether they like my opinion or not. |
Well, may be you should know by know that no one wants to hear your opinion, it's wrong and rude, you have been like this almost every post i have seen you in and i request a ban. |
I don't care if you request ban. Go ahead, ban me.
Also, it maybe rude, but it is certainly not wrong. If you think this is better than the stepmania editor, you are just stupid, sorry. |
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