MVega

I had a chance to look at it this evening. I think this happened while I was preparing the initial beat map -- so locking it wouldn't have helped. I'm certain I accidentally added the beat when I was placing anchors. Because the key command for toggling the anchors and for adding beats is just too similar. Much too similar. All it took, no doubt, was a slip of my finger (the alt key is next to the ctrl key on the keyboard I was using). Now, this should never happen. For one, I can't think of too many reasons for placing an extra beat in a 4/4 song. I realize there are some progressive/metals bands that like to do this kind of weird time signature change thing. But for most rock, it just breaks all the rules. If nothing else: 1) EOF should always default to 4/4 time on opening, since most songs use this time signature. It doesn't do this now and I often forget to select it. 2) EOF should give a warning -- or better yet, BLOCK the addition of new beats when ANY time signature is selected. The only reason I spotted the extra beat was because I was preparing a guitarpro file for the chart I was working on (since I was making so many changes from the original, I need another way of hearing the notes). I'm wondering how many other CDLCs are out there that have this same issue? I lost quite a few hours correcting this one!

Heh, it's a sad sorry state of affairs when Rocksmith's upside-down fretboard is seen as the 'normal' way.

Well, I had it locked. But I might have unlocked termporarily at some point to adjust a beat -- it probably happened then. It seems that all you need to do is hit the A key. Anyway, removing doesn't seem to have thrown off the chart. so that's good news.

I was going over the lead part on a new custom (Be Bop a Lula) and discovered that somehow I'd added in an extra beat -- which threw everything else off. I'm not sure how I did this though-- is there a key command for this? I must have hit the wrong thing by mistake. VERY DANGEROUS! I can't think of too many times one would want to add an extra beat to a measure. I think I got rid of it -- I selected the beat line and chose the delete function from the menu (it's not clear what that's deleting, but I think I got rid of it). It shouldn't be too difficult to line everything up again.

It just seems difficult, but it's actually kind of simple. A big part of it is that the documentation is still very much in progress (as are the tools you'll be using). But here's how it works: The Toolkit is the final step in creating the package. Instead, the process works this way: 1. Locate Guitar Pro file. 2. Import Gpro tracks into EOF 3. Take .wav generated by EOF and convert to .wem with WWise 4. Locate cover art and use Paint.NET to convert it .dds 5. Open Toolkit -- choose your tones here, load the .xml files that EOF generated for the arrangements, the .wem files, the .dds file. And that's it. Load the .psarc into your DLC folder and you're ready to go. The most work is done in EOF. First step is to set the beat map. It's a bit overwhelming at first, but only because there's a lot to learn very quickly. But once you've learned it, it makes more sense. Very flexible program. There's a manual/tutorial thread that works pretty well to lead you through these steps.

Seems to me that if a song is in the database and the download link gets broken, then someone else who has the file could post it on mediafire or another service, then add the link into the comment thread to the song -- at least until the original charter gets around to putting the link back up. That seems fair, right?

There's a muscle that's really important to develop. It's called: Patience. I suppose if you're a kid, it's not big deal if you force things and injure yourself, because you'll heal quickly enough. Still, this problem is relatively easy to overcome: Choose a four-fret stretch of the fretboard. Say from the 8th to 12th fret, since they're close enough together not to hurt your hands, but far enough to allow you to work on your stretch. Playing VERY SLOWLY, start with your index finger, play the note, keep the finger down, play the next note with your middle finger, keep both fingers down, play the next note with your ringer finger, keep all three fingers down, play the fourth note with your pinky, keeping all four fingers down. When it's time to release the notes in order to go back to the first fret, focus on keeping all your fingers close to the fretboard. Yes, even the pinky. Tell it not to snap back like that. Do this again and again. You can change things up by going across the strings. As your fingers loosen up you can move down to the lower frets. You can move up to the higher frets. Later on you, you can change the order of the frets -- say 1-3-2-4 or 4-1-3-2 or 2-3-1-4, etc. Once you get comfortable, play with a metronome, so you'll be working on your timing at the same time. You'll see: 5-10 minutes a day will work wonders. And no rubber bands!

The only reason to keep a guitar is because the neck fits so perfectly in your hand that you can't imagine holding any other. Otherwise... next!

Thanks for your suggestion. The thing is, I don't even know half of the songs and most of the other half I don't really want to know how to play (except for bands like Iron Maiden, Megadeth, SOAD and such), that's why I started looking for customs. :) Sure, I can understand this. And you're right, it's more fun playing songs you really like. But customs tend to be hit and miss. For every one custom that works perfectly, you're likely to find a whole bunch that don't. Especially with DD. Edit: BUT, here's an idea. You can edit the song/s you want to play and add in more sections. In fact, it's best to play at 100% difficult but slowed down - and working on only small pieces of the song at a time. It's easy to edit the track -- you'd unpack it with the Toolkit, open it in EOF, and add as many sections as you need. For difficult passages, you can add a new section every 2-4 measures. This has some real advantages. For one, it's much easier to see the notes (when you slow them down) and you can even stop playback to examine them that way. Plus, rewinding and restarting the song goes MUCH faster, so you'll end up being able to play the section many times. Once you've mastered the sections, you can combine them again with the Riff Repeater. In fact I really think ALL songs should be prepared this way. At least for the lead guitar parts and complicated passages for other sections. But doing this will allow you to play the songs you want to play without getting you too frustrated.

I wouldn't worry about the truss rod. If you're using the same string guage, the new strings will bring it right back in place. Only adjust the truss rod if you're moving to much heavier (or lighter) strings or you've moved the guitar to a different part of the country/world. So the only reason not to remove all the strings is if you have a fussy bridge -- like a wraparound, which needs the strings to hold it onto the posts. Otherwise, a string change is an opportunity to clean the fretboard, if you like to do that. I don't, so I just change them one at a time. I used to use graphite, then I just started switching out the nuts themselves for Graph Tech's stuff. I also used their saddles. I see no need to spend money on 'nut sauce' -- graphite works just as well, although it's a bit messy (do NOT do this to a maple fretboard). And I ALWAYS put locking tuners on my guitars. No more winding! But these days I'm playing a Steinberger, which is headless so it takes double ball strings. They say it's easy to change 'em.. I suppose I'll get around to it one day, but after nearly 170 hours on this set, they still seem to be going strong -- they stay in tune, which is all I really care about.

I don't think anyone is prevented from making their own version of a song. It's not like a song becomes 'ours' just because we made a custom for it. Especially if the custom was generated from a GuitarPro file, in which case, making your own isn't such a big deal. The only thing frowned on here is posting someone else's work as your own. But if you remake the CDLC from scratch, there's no issue (except, of course, having multiple versions of the same song in the database. Two versions isn't a big deal. But making people sift through half a dozen versions to find one they like will turn the database into Ultimate Guitar).

I have this issue -- it seems like Rocksmith is looking ahead to the lyrics. So even though the lyric doesn't come up for another 8 measures or so, Rocksmith still displays it. Is there a way to prevent this? Not that I usually have time to read lyrics while I'm playing anyway.

To be honest, I think if you're just starting out learning, it's probably best to stick with the songs that came with Rocksmith. At least for the first couple of months.

It's still on my to do list. It would probably be a user preference. Perfect.

That's okay, I think I understand what he's asking -- the guitar isn't loud enough in the game, right? In the toolkit, choose the guitar tone and hit the EDIT button. There's a volume setting there. Raise the volume. 12 is given as an average, I believe. You can try raising it more. The toolkit has a big error in it, since it lists the volume numbers with a minus symbol in front of them. So you might have moved the volume toward -0 thinking it would raise the volume (because that's what that minus symbol means). BUT on the main toolkit page, the volume setting for the music file works in the opposite direction. Kind of confusion. (Just in case, this is assuming the guitar is fine for all your other songs. If the guitar is too low for everything, you need to recalibrate it.)

Well, to give a little perspective -- we've all lived for years (some of us for decades) with inaccurate tab, lyrics etc. Something that has always surprised me. And yes, it's frustrating and disappointing. But since they've always been free, it's hard to complain. As for posting CDLCs before they're perfect: It's not as simple as that. We don't have the same tools as the Ubisoft team (and they've got a professional, dedicated team making DLCs). So people are doing the best they can. Speaking personally, I posted my first CDLC knowing it wasn't 100% but believing it was close enough to be useful. And hoping that others can possibly point out any flaws errors, etc. And I'm finding it very helpful to play the song (it's one of my favorites, and it's not an easy one to master) and test it myself in the meantime, because the better I know the song, the more I can spot and fix problems. I plan on posting an update fairly soon. But these problems aren't severe enough to disrupt the learning process. They might make it difficult to get 100% mastery, but then, it's also hard to tell what part is my fault and what part of that is Rocksmith's buggy note recognition.

I look at CDLCs like tab and Guitarpro files and lyrics -- no one can control those either.

Many of the .dats are still available through the links here: http://www.rscustom.net/dlc Click on the Rs1 button. Some of those songs have been taken down though. There are also plenty of 'packages' available for download (torrents, etc.). These aren't all that welcome here, because they deprive the charters of their rightful recognition, but they do exist.

I'm pretty sure this exists -- look in the Help --> Keys file for the key combination.

No, I was wrong (as usual). I experimented a bit this morning, and EOF does indeed import the triplets and seemed to get the shuffle beat right too. This was hard to see (possibly because of the zoom level I was in) and I'd made the mistake of resnapping to 1/32. But when I renapped again to 1/12, the triplets and shuffle beat fell into place. I think others have asked this before, but is it possible to add in additional grid lines according to the grid snap setting?

Well, try torkk's solution first of all.

Nothing stops anyone from taking a CDLC and improving it. That's not the issue. You're free to do with the CDLC what you want with it -- that's what the toolkit and EOF are there for. The only thing is, you can't upload it to the database, because you didn't do the original work. Now, nothing stops you from contacting the original charter, informing them you've made an upgrade, asking them to check it out and post it. If he or she chooses not to, well, hey, you tried, didn't you? To me, this is probably the simplest and most efficient. I started that other thread before I started working on my first custom. Since then I've learned: 1) It's a lot of work/time making a custom 2) But it's not that difficult, and it's a lot of fun, so I encourage everyone to give a try 3) After all the time I've spent working on a song, I'm not so sure I want other fingers in my pie 4) But there will definitely be songs I'll work on that I won't bother to perfect, because the songs themselves lose interest for me, and for those songs I'd have no problem turning over to someone. so 5) There's not harm in asking the original charter if they'd mind you working on one of their CDLCs. The worst that can happen is they say no.

Programs like this are usually created to boost the programmers' wallets!

EOF interpreted the triplets as 16th notes (I had grid snap on 1/32 when I imported/pasted the track, not sure if that makes a difference). But it did get some of the triplets right -- at the end of the song, they were fine. It's an old rockabilly song, so the tempo varies a lot, don't know if that changes anything. I'll experiment some more with it tomorrow. I can see where the shuffle beat can be a problem, since they're notated as 8th notes -- they just give the little "shuffle feel" indicator at the top to tell you how to play.

Depends on what you're hoping to do with the guitar and the kind of music you want to play. But it doesn't take much to make great music. Some of the best songs out there are only two chords and a drum beat. I feel the best way to improve at an instrument is to play with others, find a band. That's when it all makes sense.