iminashi

 
This tool originated as a command line program I wrote in Ruby to automate a workaround to prevent DDC from moving sections that are not placed on the first beat of a measure. Since than I've added more features and eventually decided to make it into a GUI program using C#, largely as a learning experience.
 
It is called DDC Improver since I couldn't think of a better name. Some of the features in the program have nothing to do with DDC and it can also process files with manual DD.
 
Features:

-Can process multiple files simultaneously

-Prevents DDC from moving sections that are not on the first beat of a measure
-Restores FHPs set at the beginning of noguitar sections
-Adjusts the lengths of handshapes if they are too close together
-Fixes phrases that have only one level by adding a second level to them
-Can automatically place crowd events
-Move phrases/sections off beat with special phrase names
-Removes beats that come after the audio has ended

-Can be used to remove DD from files
-Checks the XML for issues
 
About the XML checking feature:
 
-The program will complain if you have a tone change that is placed on a note. This is not really an error, it's more of a best practice to place a tone change before the note it occurs. 
-The only check that can give you false positives is the check for mismatches between anchor position and chord fingering.

Changelog:

v3.1.25

-Updated DDC to v3.7
-Fixed a bug in the "one level phrase fixer"
-Added a check for chords whose chord notes have different sustains
-Updated to .NET 5.0

Downloads:

Windows version

Requires the .NET 5 Runtime

Mac version

Requires macOS version 10.13 - 10.14, with Wine installed on in order to execute DDC.

Though DDC Improver itself does work on 10.15 (Catalina), the functionality is severely limited since running DDC does not work due to it being a 32bit program.

A Linux build is possible if anyone actually wants it.

The source code is available at github.

Old versions changelog:

One workaround is to split the time signature of the measure so that the section starts on the first beat, like splitting it into 3/4 and 1/4 time signatures for example. It's not very pretty.

I've wrote a program that automates a workaround (and does other things) so I don't have to think about it. I've been meaning to release it any day now....

If you have sections that don't start on the first beat of a measure, DDC will move them.

There is a note with more than 32 bend tech notes. Newer versions of EOF will give you a warning that this will crash the game.

You seems to work on some interesting tool from what i've heard so if you want help or a tester, i'd be more than happy to help around.

My "DDC Improver" program is pretty much done and I should release it to the general public. I just haven't been able to decide what kind of icon I should use for it, and also I've been too lazy to write a proper help/readme for it.  :P

FWIW I've been working on an editor. For now it's just a list of the notes and the GUI would need to be changed to something else to actually make more extensive editing of the showlights convenient.

And for the past two days I've been trying to get this thing working:

Not sure what was meant by "unlocking the zip in properties". 

Right click the zip file, select Properties and near the bottom of the window there should be a checkbox for "Unblock".

The cst_showlights.xml file is in all of my CDLC work directories.  :)

When you use your own file, currently the Toolkit requires that the filename ends in "_showlights.xml".

The showlights are a separate XML file that you add as an arrangement like guitar or bass.

The toolkit automatically generates showlights into a file cst_showlights.xml.

About 'count' I'm not sure if it matters.

This was an issue that @@I)ark_Seph mentioned to me.

Here's an example XML:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Pk4yEd8KB2vDTFTVX7Z5HXJEVQK5c9Rq

DDC will create a new empty phrase at 5.167, which breaks the handshape in game.

Somewhat related, I noticed that in one of my own customs there is an 8 bar phrase that ends with three empty bars and then a single sustained note. DDC creates an empty phrase for the three empty bars and places the last note into its own phrase. I guess I can live with that, though it is a bit silly to have a phrase with just one note in it.

Do you have knowledge about handshapes ?

Is it still possible to have the endTime of an handshape equals to the startTime of the following one ?

In customs that can happen. In ODLC there is always a small gap between handshapes.

However, handshapes can be inside other handshapes, which is needed if you want to use chords inside arpeggios.

Excellent job.  Can you please make a PDF version and post the link?

I was just thinking that I should probably make a PDF version.  :D

Added more minor stuff about handshapes (3.5 & 3.6) and examples of how ignore may be used (11.3).

Also made some updates to sections 6, 7 and 11.1.

This reminded me that I had ran into this too but then forgot about it.  :P

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19KLiGZPTX--m_r6VbwYkn3-SsSYvSOC6

Here's an XML with a single phrase where it happens. DDC generates levels where the slide out has three notes when the chord itself has two notes.

Another issue with this phrase is that a muted strum at the end (at 15.895) gets the sustain of the previous chord when it is reduced to a single note.

Are you using the latest beta Toolkit where such an issue regarding linknext has been fixed?

And also, putting 'split' on a chord that EOF splits automatically will export duplicate notes into the XML.

Added a section about showlights (12.) and some misc. stuff (11.).

http://guitarlist.net/ has scores for Japanese artists, but there's no way to download them as GP files.

I think I've gotten an error message like that before. It was because some of the Toolkit's files were blocked by Windows. Should be fixed by unblocking the zip file from the file properties before unzipping it.

It's just moving to the position beforehand, with an FHP set at the beginning of a noguitar section. It doesn't serve much practical purpose except maybe controlling the camera. Some ODLC also have an FHP at the beginning of the beatmap, but that's pretty rare.

Added some stuff about tones (10.).

The "m" chords is a bug in DDC that's fixed in v3.4.

Some of my favorites are:

Driver's High (Probably my most played CDLC. I was always under the impression that the one made by Anchang-Style was made by you  :P )

Lies and Truth (The arrangement is amazing)

Fate

Lover Boy (I'll try to make a playthrough video at some point)

And anything from the Dune album.

@@Berneer

I've been reading the tutorial and here are some thoughts:

-In Figure 5a, linkNext will not actually be used since the Toolkit ignores it in this case. Also, in the last three pictures (and in many of your other example screenshots), EOF optimizes the notes into a single note when you link one note into another one that has identical techniques (none in this case).

-The Toolkit selects the longest sustain of a chord's chordNotes and uses that as the sustain of the chord. In the SNG file, chordNotes do not have the attribute "sustain", so it is impossible for them to have different sustains. If you wanted to do that, linkNext is required (which is pretty much what chordify does):

-I tried creating the example in Figure 5 and it crashes the game for me... (and the culprit is not the showlights file ;))

-You can think of masks as on/off switches. In RS, the notes have masks for PALMMUTE, HAMMERON, SLIDE, etc. In the SNG file, linkNext is actually two masks: PARENT and CHILD. PARENT doesn't affect the appearance of a note, but CHILD causes the note to not be drawn.

-Open notes glitch:

The technical reason for why this happens is that a chord has an open note, but the chordNote doesn't have the OPEN mask. A chord that has open notes, but doesn't have chordNotes will cause this.

-As for the example from Tenacious D – The Metal; I don't own it so I can't look at the XML file, but it is not related to the sustain limitation of chordNotes since it doesn't use chords. I tried creating something similar quickly, and interestingly enough, I ran into the linkNext issue in the Toolkit:

I'll need some time to read all that.  :)  That reminded me of something though:

The current implementation in the Toolkit that applies the mask related to linkNext to the notes (the CHILD mask, which causes the note to not be drawn, only its sustain) doesn't check the linkNext status of the chordNotes. It only checks the chord itself. That's why this doesn't currently work:

Also, as I mentioned in the issue I posted at Github, Rocksmith will not draw the next note of a linkNext note (note with PARENT mask) even if it doesn't have the CHILD mask in the SNG file, except if the note is an open note. Which makes sense, since I don't think ODLC uses open string notes that are linked to a technique.