SmellyOrc

@@Chlipouni read this: http://customsforge.com/topic/10554-new-list-of-eof-shortcuts-after-strange-input-problems/

Me and TomSawyr2112 had the same problem. I fixed mine by uninstalling a windows update: Security Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems KB2993651

A lyrics tutorial would be helpful.

http://customsforge.com/topic/11210-lyric-tutorial/

So, I keep seeing songs where the lyrics do not have sustain, the words are not properly synced or are not broken up in syllables.

Let's fix that!

What you need:

Ultrastar Creator: http://sourceforge.net/projects/usc/

EoF (duh)

The lyrics for the song

Got it? Let's start.

1) Open USC.

2) Click on the folder icon next to "mp3" to load the mp3

3) Select the language of the song (required), and fill in the artist/title (optional)

4) Copy and paste the lyrics into the nice, big white box (something something that's what she said)

5) Press the highlighted button that says abc-def:

http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/34888/44d592348875521.jpg

This splits the words into syllables

6) This function is far from perfect. Check every word/syllable and make sure it is correct.

7) Done? Good.

8) Set playback speed to something lower than 100%. I've seen your lyrics. You're not that great of a timer. Save yourself some syncing trouble and set it slower. Go on, we'll wait.

9) Press play

10a) Sync it by pressing the spacebar.

10b) Here's the PRO TIP: Add sustain to the syllable or word by HOLDING DOWN THE DAMN SPACEBAR.

11) Done? ARE YOU SURE YOU ADDED SUSTAIN?

12) Do it again. Add the sustain this time, bastard.

13) Save the .txt file

14) Open your project file in EoF

15) Go to Song -> Track -> Part Vocals

16) Click on File -> Lyric Import

17) Import said lyric

18) You see these words? Think of them as notes. But instead of notes, they're words. But think of them as notes. With words.

19) Get your clap on (press c, insert joke here)

20) Play the song, check sync and sustain.

21) Something wrong? Select the word/syllable, and move it around just as you would a note. See #18. Same thing with the sustain.

ARE YOU SURE YOU ADDED SUSTAIN?

22) In order to get dem nice linebreaks in the game, we have to mark the lines. So select the words that make a good line with ctrl or shift, press ctrl + m and BOOM! We are off!

23) You can check your lines in the info window when you're playing the song. That is what it will look like in the game

There is one problem with GP import: a chord where one note is bent is imported as a chord with both notes bent (tech notes):

http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/34880/294403348798709.jpg

GP5 file is here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/b8prg7

Add sustain to the lyrics.

Add some leading silence.

Sync looks fine to me.

A few notes though:

* Around 1:48 where the single notes start, those notes have their tails overlap the next note. Doesn't look all that great. I recommend shoretning these notes' duration slightly

* The lyrics have no sustain. I assume you used USC to create the lyric file? Here's a tip:  the current syllable gets its duration from how long you press the space bar. So for as long as the current syllable is sung, keep holding the space bar. Now go back and do it again! :)

* I don't know if you're just that awesome, but either I could not hear you playing, or you're playing exactly like on the record ;) I recommend increasing the tone volume.

Yes.

Edit: If that does not fix your problem, there might be another update that is causing trouble. Start uninstalling updates from the time your problem started, and check it after every update you uninstall.

I found the culprit: It's Security Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems KB2993651

Uninstall this update (Control Panel -> Programs -> Programs and Features -> Installed Updates), reboot the computer, and the keys work just fine.

I just tested it on my laptop that also has win 8.1 installed, but not updated. The keys work just fine. Now I'm just gonna go through all the updates and see which one changes anything to the way keys work in 8.1.

 

sometimes when you press shift, it seems to "stick", and sometimes not work at all

 

Thanks for confirming what I mentioned in this thread. 

 

Same goes for the ctrl. This is very annoying, because you can select a whole range of notes not in view and change their position or status without realizing. To free the sticked key, I click on Cap.lock, which is neutral.

 

I thought it may have to do with an update of Win8.1, since it started then, or compatibility settings, like administrator, but I was wrong,

 

It starts and stops randomly 

 

Mhh, You posted that on the 16th. I've only had this problem since r1348. Though I probably haven't used since the 16th or so anyway, so it is indeed possible that a windows update messed with it. Unfortunately I do not have r1341 to test it with.

Edit: If I don't forget, I'll try using EoF in a Virtual Machine with windows 7 later today (it's 0120 hours here right now).

There also seems to be a bug where sometimes when you press shift, it seems to "stick", and sometimes not work at all. I've tried it with both my shift keys, so it's not the physical key that gets stuck.

Edit: seems to be related to the bug in my previous post. In the info screen, there's indeed sometimes a delay when i press shift, alt or ctrl, and often enough they stick.

Have you made any changes to the way the keys to speed up/slow down the shifting through a song works? Shift + left/right only seem to work about half the time for me.

A lyrics tutorial would be helpful.

On it.

@@Mad_Duck Meh. People seem to have the most problems with step 10. Everything in step 10 is already explained in different tutorials. Maybe you could point out what kind of excess work you're doing?

Tried setting audi exclusivity to on, restarting the game, setting it back to off, restarting and then trying again?

I only mentioned the part about manual handshapes because I thought that automatic handshapes might be difficult to program. As long as I can extend the chord's duration over a single note like in the above video, I'm happy :)

I think I've heard it said in this thread that we can get the following effect:

by extending the chord's duration manually in the xml file. If this is true, I would like to suggest that we be able to do this in EoF. Make us able to extend a chord's duration right up to the next chord, even if there's a single note or two "in the way". I realize that automatic handshapes might be problematic to program for these chords, so if that's not possible, just let us do that manually.

What do you guys think?

@@SmellyOrc Very nice tutorial. I actually learned some of that after i asked you for the tutorial by looking around the forums but there was still good info in your tutorial that I hadn't found already. Particularly the "what not to do" section.

 

Other ideas for tutorials:

1) How to make a lead track from a copy of the rhythm track so that way the lead track has stuff to play when you aren't at the solo sections.

2) How to handle songs with lots of tempo changes. Do you have some method you use to determine the BPM for each section?

1) Just go to the other arrangement, select the notes you want to copy over (Select the first note, hold shift and then select the last note), press ctrl + c, go back to the lead arrangement. Then scroll back to the place where you want to put the notes. Use page up/down to snap to the next/previous beat marker (this makes sure that every note is copied to the exact same place as in the other arrangement), and press ctrl + v. Simple.

2) No special method. It's the same as figuring out the BPM of a song if it does not have any BPM changes. Trial and error.

Here it is: http://customsforge.com/topic/10520-creating-cdlc-tutorial-making-sections/

I realize that this has been posted before in video form ( http://customsforge.com/topic/841-how-to-make-cdlc-full-in-depth-tut-completed/ ), but seeing as people still ask about it, and there are still CDLCs showing up without sections or very few sections, I thought It'd be a good idea to make a quick, easy tutorial (no video!) on how to add sections to your arrangements.

Here goes:

Sections are what separates your full arrangements into, well, sections e.g. Chorus, Verse, Bridge, which are selectable in RR (Riff Repeater). So, how do we go about making them?

1) Load up your eof file

2) Select the BEAT MARKER where you want the section to BEGIN. Do this by clicking on the beat marker (the arrow):

http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/34538/2edcca345370955.jpg

3) Press Shift + S

4) Select one from the list of names. Enable "Also add as RS phrase". Note: The DDC might make its own phrases. I still have "Also add as RS phrase" enabled and ddc works without a hitch.

5) If you want the section start to be just for your current arrangement, enable "Specific to <Part x>"

http://thumbnails111.imagebam.com/34538/a17db1345371221.jpg

6) Press Ok

7) Repeat for every beat marker where you want a section to BEGIN.

8) ???

9) Profit!

Now, some notes:

1) Use the "noguitar" section name (second to last one in the list) if you have a long part without any notes being played. This allows you to skip this section in RS2014.

2a) Always start a section on a beat that has a note on it. If your section starts on a beat marker that has no note at the same time, the section will not be selectable in RS2014. So, do NOT do this:

http://thumbnails111.imagebam.com/34538/ea8f0c345371670.jpg

2b) In the rare case that your notes will start before or after a beat marker, cheat. Only do this AFTER you've synced up everything (in every arrangement) and AFTER you've confirmed that the section is not selectable if you put in on the beat marker before a note, like so:

http://thumbnails111.imagebam.com/34538/56834a345371859.jpg

If the section is not selectable in RR, just do the following:

Make sure you do not have "Auto adjust notes" enabled

Anchor the previous beat marker (select it and press "a")

Drag the beat marker over the note

Set the BPM back to what it was, and do NOT enable "Adjust Notes"

Done!

3) There is nothing to "end" a specific section, besides the "noguitar" section. Sections end where the new section starts. Plan accordingly.

4) Don't be too stingy, and don't be too generous with sections.

5) If you have too many sections (I believe this starts to become a problem around 25 sections or so), RR might bug out a bit visually, and not show any bars. RR will still work, but the bars visual representation will just be bugged. If this is the case, refer back to note 4 (so, don't be too generous!)

6) RS2014 does not care how many choruses or verses there are.

That's it.

If I see any new CDLC from now on without proper sections I'll hunt you down!

That is not how you add sections. I'll make a quick tutorial on that in a minute. Looking at a few other CDLC, there are more people that do not know how to add sections.

Have you tried http://lmgtfy.com/?q=mono+2.4 ?

 

So the length of the note in the GP links the sustains together in EOF, causing the problem of clarity,

Which I find most disturbing in the case of following bends.

 

About the question when to mute a ringing string, I presume, if the tab in GP is right, the note must be followed by a "Rest".

Which is rarely done.

 

I am not exactly sure what you are asking here. You are going from chords to single notes.

But I can answer your last question. A note must be held as long as the GP tab says. Every kind of note (in musical theory, and in the way it's displayed in GP) like whole, half, quarter notes etc, have a specific duration (in this case, respectively a whole bar, half bar, quarter bar). It must be muted when that time has run its course, whether or not there is a rest. An empty bar does not mean that you let it ring out, just because there is no rest.

The Arrangement ID (set randomly by the toolkit) can cause problem if two song have the exact same arrangement ID on one part, you can obtain the same Arr ID by preparing one song in the toolkit and not deleting the arrangement when you create a new one the toolkit will keep the exact same ID in this case cause he create a new ID only when you add an arrangement.

 

It's not something you'll see often but it's one thing that could cause problems with customs.

 

Otherwise, it's the DLC name that matter, it's supposed to be a sort of ID for RS when enumerating apparently and having the exact same DLC name can cause some problem.

That does explain why mine didn't show up. Guess I'll post an issue at rscustom.net to have them change the automatic DLC Name to something different.

I just tried it with a song of mine. Gave it a different song name, different album name, different song sort, but the same DLC Name, and it did not show up in RS2014. When I changed the DLC Name, it did not show up either. So maybe there's something else going on?

But to your suggestion: I was thinking the exact same thing.

Right, what I wanted to add to this thread:

Correct chord sustains

This has two meanings:

1) With the EoF Preference "GP Import truncates short notes" enabled, chords shorter than a quarter beat get a sustain of 0. If this is a lonely chord, e.g. there are no chords coming after this one, it looks and plays silly. It's like you need to strum and immediately mute it.

I suggest that you disable "GP import truncates short notes" if you're importing a track that has either:

* Only chords

* Chords and single notes that have an associated technique that requires a sustain (like bends, vibrato, slides)

In the latter case, you can remove the sustain from the single notes easily by following the following steps:

Find a note, and lengthen it to be the length of a quarter note. In the detail window, note the duration in ms:

http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/34447/2d41be344468508.jpg

Follow the following steps:

* Go to Edit -> Selection -> Select all shorter than

* Put in the duration of a quarter note + 1ms (in the above example, I would put in 360)

* Go to Edit -> Selection -> Deselect chords

* Now use the mouse wheel to shorten the duration of all single notes to 1 ms

On to the second part of correct chord sustains. Watch this video:

Notice how the first two chords have correct sustain. Then notice that at the 11 second mark, there's a chord that has its sustain all the way to the next chord. It's a popular song, and we all know that's not how it's played. So, what happened?

It's simple. When EoF exports your song to the XML file, it looks ahead of every chord, and if it finds the same chord within 10 seconds (at least, I believe it is 10 seconds), it will lengthen the chord's sustain all the way to the next chord. This was done to reduce screen clutter in the RS1 era (as far as I know). However, sometimes this messes up a lot of chords, and thus the rhythm.

So, now that we know what happens, how do we fix it? Simple. We toggle crazy on the next chord. We do this by pressing T while having the next chord selected, or going to Note -> Toggle crazy:

http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/34448/bdb4fe344474957.jpg

Notice how the rectangle inside the note goes black? That's how you know it's a crazy chord.

So whenever you notice incorrect chord sustain like this, you know what to do. If you're worried that this might clutter the screen: don't. It's not that bad. Just look at the difference between the following two versions (Skip to 3:48)

Version 1

Version 2

And yes, this is some shameless self promotion ;)

This is what it looks like in eof:

http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/34448/981a92344478200.jpg

So, that's just my 2 cents.