shrubbery

I skimmed over this topic and have some words to say:

 

1. It's hard to say if the tab is right or if you just can't play it. For me the best way to see if the tab is right is looking at it (synchronized) in Go PlayAlong, that's how I know it's worth to play it. With DLCs from other people I can only try to slow it down in riff repeater and try to inspect but it's not the same and also some techniques are not supported in GP import (yet).

 

2. I just think collaboration is not very feasible with all the different processes people use. I wouldn't accept any fixes from people that would unpack DLC and change something. But I have an approach that would allow collaboration because I totally eliminate any manual, error-prone and frustrating work (in EOF) and I took it as far as I could - master GP tab, GPA sync, toolkit template - can easily fix anything and rebuild. Even if EOF can't import everything from the tab completely or the tab isn't perfect, it's always good enough to play because I already seen how it is synced and can hear if GP tab sounds ok.

 

3. I don't care about thanks, ratings, approval or whatever, I wouldn't participate in anything that requires more work on my part, I do songs I like and want to try. In my case I'm pretty strict with considering tabs worth to make a DLC, but it is what it is, I fix what I can and can't do anything else. If anybody good at musical stuff spots an error, there is master tab directly available and I can provide GPA sync upon request. Also I know that tones can be really inaccurate (fortunately you can switch tone manually, right?) but I'm always accepting improvements, especially if they send it in a format that can be imported into toolkit template.

I recently noticed that GP import ignored tremolo (not a big deal in that case but I might want to do some surf stuff), also I think something called ghost notes was not imported (or maybe just not exported in any way to RS XML, but also looked fine, so no big deal too).

 

Are you aware of it? Is there a list of techniques not supported in import/export? Is there a plan to add support for them?

You are right, tags appear after additional update.

I just noticed that GP import creates phrases (from measure markers) with blank names. I guess this happens when I remove measure marker and they are just truncated, nevertheless can you just skip section/phrase import if it is blank?

I created new project, imported, tried to save and it crashed. Then I rebuilt everything with debugging symbols and it still crashed. I didn't do anything else, I'm sending you eof file that still crashes without workaround in the code.

Got a crash:

 

Program received signal SIGBUS, Bus error.eof_lookup_chord (tp=0x7ffff09d9010, track=track@entry=9, note=note@entry=289, scale=scale@entry=0x7fffffffd24c, chord=chord@entry=0x7fffffffd250,     isslash=isslash@entry=0x7fffffffd254, bassnote=bassnote@entry=0x7fffffffd258, skipctr=0, skipctr@entry=2, cache=0, cache@entry=96) at tuning.c:547547				notes_played[bass] = 0;	//Remove the bass note from the lookup so the second pass can search for hybrid slash chords(gdb) print bass$1 = -1

Here's the chord EOF didn't know: http://i.imgur.com/b5xdl2e.png

 

I tried to add something to chordshapes.xml but changing it to bass+2 allowed me to save (I assumed -1+2=1 will be A string).

Nice explanation. I just don't get how do I import the result of GoPlayAlong to EoF. How can I do that?

1. export song from GPA, make sure "Copy tab & audio" is checked (like I mentioned, you need licensed GPA to do this)2. in EoF choose Guitar Pro import but select exported XML file, it will also start GP import right after it imports sync info

maybe it's the wrong topic to ask this, but do i need any sort of music theory knowledge to create cdlc's? i'd love to contribute cdlc of some bands that i personally am missing here so far, saw the cdlc tutorial with videos - i'm probably gonna try to figure that out when i'm home.i just want to make sure that a 'music theory noob' like me is capable of releasing good cdlc. (i.e. close to matching custom tones, the rest depends how good the tabs are, right?)

If you don't have to fix the tab it's just going through the motions. I've made a simple point by point tutorial for my approach, I guarantee it's the simplest way to get quality results in no time. I recommend trying it out on a good and simple tab and learn to make a perfect package.http://customsforge.com/topic/856-tutorial-for-proper-initial-gp-tab-sync-to-audio-trackeof-updated/I don't cover the next phase toolkit/wwise related stuff, there are other tutorials which help with this process and it will be trivial next time you do it. Or details of managing phrases/sections in GP tab but I will probably add that later.

You have to understand that the people making these customs are making the songs that THEY like and want to learn to play and then sharing those with us. No one is going to go out of there way to look for tabs on music they don't really care about. I am sure if you or anyone looks for the particular tab and a link to a video and or song file for the song they are requesting and post a thread in the appropriate place someone may be willing to do it. This is what happened in smithy but the requests got insane. My suggestion is to find the tab and music file and become friends with a custom maker or learn the tools and make them yourselves.

Absolutely right. I think there should be a forum by genre where people can post topic if they find quality GP tabs for song they want to be done. I am accepting suggestions for ska songs.

As topic says, it appears that recently submitting DLC entry does not add tags to autogenerated topic. Also there is no clear place to report such bugs.

 

Which also means it's not possible to filter by tags because it's imposible to filter DLC entries by tags, only Forum/Videos show up. Will tags be added to search database?

I always work with TuxGuitar (free) to fix Guitar Pro tabs then sync with Go PlayAlong (not free if you need export but it so useful). After sync you will figure out BPM to set in EoF, a lot of songs is pretty lousy with keeping it constant so export from GPA and import in EoF is better.

 

My more detailed tutorial is not available at the moment, but that is pretty much it, you just need to learn how to do stuff with TuxGuitar/GPA/EoF. This is the hard part, making a package out of it is easy.

Sweet. Any chance of house of fun or michael caine by madness?

No more Madness planned, there are no GP tabs for them anyway.

I do have an archive of the threads here: http://www.rscustom.net/dlcIt's not very polished since I started it a few months back and never had time to finish it. I've only updated it with newer posts since then.

 

I'm not sure but I think some were deleted later, I should have all of them so message me if you want a copy.

No, I'm telling you that you can buy Santana DLC on Steam if you own RS1.  Someday supposedly even without owning RS1 but that is up to Steam.

You can enter riff repeater, select everything and move speed slider, song should start playing...  but of course you need to pass tuner somehow.

I would love to have this one also. On a mac we have no access to any of the 2012 songs which is crap .. that being said, due to legal restrictions we can not have links to any official DLC regardless of when it was created or what kind of access it has. 

 

Why wouldn't you have access to RS1 DLC on Mac?  Apart from 5 on-dics songs (Cream, Clapton, Chapla, Lee, Star Spangled Banner) everything can be legally transferred if you own them on Steam (rs1compatibilitydlc_m.psarc and rs1compatibilitydisc_m.psarc).

This is my basic workflow for making the song. This is also good approach for quick check if it's worth to do the song (checking out the tab).

Disclaimer: This is not the only one approach but it's the best practice for minimizing manual frustrating error-prone work and it allows you to actually go back and fix anything in the sync, tab, sections or phrases easily. (You can use this tutorial even if you later decide to maintain chart completely in EoF.)

Note for tabbing: I have found GP/GPA combo to be great for creating tabs from scratch - I figure out the BPM, sync the measures and progressively fill them up with notes (hearing GP tab immediately or slowing down the GPA playback and playing along the song is great help).

Repeat signs: I didn't have any issues in GPA so you can do this later, but you might need to replace repeats to avoid EoF import issues and I don't recommend to import GP3 format. Without repeats you also get more control over partitioning phrases/sections.

Replacing repeats is trivial in TuxGuitar once you get hold of it:

1. remove start and end sign (note the number at the end sign = N)
2. copy those measures (all tracks, you want to copy all instruments)
3. go to the next measure and let TuxGuitar paste it in new measure N times (otherwise it will be overwritten)
4. if it is alternate ending, you need to do one additional paste at the last (alternate ending) measure

Synchronization

1. You should have correct GP tab prepared and also MP3 file, it will be hard to sync if notes in tab are not in place. Make sure you have at least one empty measure at the start (otherwise you will need to do the sync again later).

2. Install Go PlayAlong and load GP and MP3 files into it. You might want to add few seconds of silence first if it starts too soon, you can use Audacity and its Generate -> Silence function. It is possible to add it later too and set EoF project Delay value but it always keeps bugging you to convert it to empty measures which you shouldn't do if you follow this approach.

3. Place some links on notes and peaks of the waveform, preferably only on measure boundaries, don't try to fix the tab by overriding the timing (especially if you are trying to sync both guitar and bass at once). Do this manually for the whole song to ensure high precision. Hardest point is the start, you should make sure you get it right, doing high frequency (guitar or loud drum beats) is easiest, but you need to check if both arrangements are in sync once you're done. Use zoom and slow down the playback to make this easier.

If you place first link after the actual first note of arrangements you care about, go back and place a link before them too to avoid possible EoF import issue (measures up to first link will be shifted forward/backward depending on where the first measure fits). discussion

4. Check if the result is correct for all relevant arrangements.

5. Export. Licensed GPA is needed to do this but it's absolutely essential, you can calculate BPMs manually but there will be a lot of imprecisions this way and I don't recommend it. (If export fails, check artist/songbook name and remove any space in front of it.)

6. Now you can create EoF project and import XML file with Guitar Pro import. If you don't need to change timing you will never have to do this again, you can clear sections/phrases and notes and import them directly from GP file if you fix anything.

7. Now you are ready to save and create a package with toolkit. Be sure to save package template for future rebuilds (each arrangement has unique IDs which identify score and progress in Rocksmith).

There is also fairly recent feature of slowing down playback in EoF which is a great help for checking note sync but everything should be the same as in GPA.

Phrases and sections

(Make sure you use EoF r1300 and later to prevent phrase import issues.)

Note that you can manage section and phrase names directly in GP tab (section names and text markers), I use alternate EoF setting for importing phrases from section names and sections from text markers on first beat of measure. If you intend to split phrases and sections differently or name them differently you need to keep separate GP tabs and EoF project for each arrangement (I recommend it, having correctly labeled phrases and noguitar sections for both bass and guitar adds a lot to the chart quality).

Sections (text markers) need to be on the first beat of measure and phrase name (measure marker) is required at the same position. Section is the part that is selectable in riff repeater.

You can name phrases whatever you want but you should use the same name for this particular phrase throughout the tab, this will instruct Rocksmith to advance them at once.

Section names are restricted to these Rocksmith names (use only the word in quotes, EoF accepts both forms but the first one is canonical):

    {"intro", "Intro"},    {"outro", "Outro"},    {"verse", "Verse"},    {"chorus", "Chorus"},    {"bridge", "Bridge"},    {"solo", "Solo"},    {"ambient", "Ambient"},    {"breakdown", "Breakdown"},    {"interlude", "Interlude"},    {"prechorus", "Pre Chorus"},    {"transition", "Transition"},    {"postchorus", "Post Chorus"},    {"hook", "Hook"},    {"riff", "Riff"},    {"fadein", "Fade In"},    {"fadeout", "Fade Out"},    {"buildup", "Buildup"},    {"preverse", "Pre Verse"},    {"modverse", "Modulated Verse"},    {"postvs", "Post Verse"},    {"variation", "Variation"},    {"modchorus", "Modulated Chorus"},    {"head", "Head"},    {"modbridge", "Modulated Bridge"},    {"melody", "Melody"},    {"postbrdg", "Post Bridge"},    {"prebrdg", "Pre Bridge"},    {"vamp", "Vamp"},    {"noguitar", "No Guitar"},    {"silence", "Silence"}

"noguitar" section is used for silent parts and is excluded from Riff Repeater. If only one arrangement is silent then you should make a copy of GP tab and EoF project and do different version of section naming.

If you want to see purple bars in the song chart you need to have more than one difficulty. I wouldn't do that manually in EoF, you can use either DDC or I use a script to do exact copy so I have 2 identical levels.

Technique import

(My notes about how EOF imports various techniques and known issues, if you know about some, let me know.)

Should work (let me know if you notice issues):

- Note/chord
- Palm mute
- Sustain
- Accent
- Slide to note/chord
- Dead note/chord
- Hammer on/pull off
- Slap/pop
- Vibrato (only single frequency, probably only visual effect)
- Tremolo (see import issues)
- Harmonic (& harmonic pinch?)
- Tap
- Bend
- Chord notes techniques should be mostly supported

Some issues:
- Tremolo - EOF project needs to be set to remove difficulty limitations
- Slide to no destination exports as 1 fret slide
- Trill - according to @@raynebc it needs to be converted to hammer-on/pull-offs (discussion)
- Arpeggio chord outline can be added if you add chord notes as ghost notes and then manually set Arpeggio mark with Ctrl+Shift+G in EoF at each arpeggio appearance

Unsupported import to EOF:
- Unpitched slides (no TuxGuitar support?)
- Chord slides limited to same offset?

Unsupported techniques in RS2 (ignored):
- Ghost note (effect)
- Grace note (effect)
- Dotted (lenghtened duration)
- Staccato (shortened duration)
- swing/shuffle or Triplet? (duration)

Additional tips

I recommend starting off with official song and DLC tones (in manifest files), choose one that fits and improve it. You need to use toolkit to unpack game and DLC psarc files to access them and then import them to your toolkit template (you can import your new or modified tones from RS profile too). Some tones of interest:

- punk distortion: Versus Them - 6AM Salvation
- clean ska guitar: Weezer - Say It Ain't So - Filter Clean
- tight punk bass: Clash - London Calling
- deep bluesy bass: Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign
- dubby bass: Clash - Guns Of Brixton
- reverb clean guitar: Disonaur - Space Ostrich
- jazz clean: (couldn't find any official so I customized one for Le Chat)

TuxGuitar is a free replacement for Guitar Pro, also supports PTB tabs. Latest SVN version can read GPX (GP6) but you need to build it yourself (run "mvn clean package" in "build-scripts/$PLATFORM" depending on your target operating system). (Update: here's a ZIP with Windows version https://www.dropbox.com/s/zcwzmptqxgrp9om/tuxguitar-1.3-SNAPSHOT-windows-x86.r1104.zip - requires Java)

reserved

Latest downloads available in Dropbox shared directory:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h8i5bzd38aqis6a/rBnUl-V92F

 

I accept suggestions for ska songs with GP tabs available.

 

On 2014-02-27 I uploaded improved packages for all 8 DLCs.

 

I found out about possible shift of sync for the first few (16 or it may depend on actual time shift and BPM) measures caused by EoF import.  Only Nostrand bass arrangement was affected and was fixed.

 

I described my approach for sync and other charting process here.  This process allows peer review and collaboration on making the tab and sync perfect (based on GP tab and Go PlayAlong sync).

 

WIP

 

All work on hold for some time now. No ETA.

 

No more Ratatat.

 

More Western Special tabbing planned:

- Strum Strum (stuck, can't figure out some parts)

- maybe I'll try one more

 

Reel Big Fish - Good Thing (synced)

The Exploited - Was It Me (synced and fixed but there are too many guitars mixed in)

 

More Reel Big Fish if tabs are good.

 

TODO:

- review some tabs

 

CDLC releases

 

- Madness - One Step Beyond (Bass)

- Big D And The Kids Table - Shining On (Bass)

- The Offspring - Come Out Swinging (Bass, Guitar)

- James Bond Theme (Guitar)

- The Subways - Rock & Roll Queen (Bass, Guitar)

- Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas (Bass, 2x Guitar)

- The English Beat - Click Click (Bass)

- Big D And The Kids Table - Describing The Sky (Bass, Guitar)

- The Blues Brothers - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Bass, Guitar)

- The Casualties - Stand And Fight (Bass, Guitar)

- Ratatat - Loud Pipes (Bass, Guitar)

- Ratatat - Gettysburg (Bass)

- Ratatat - Nostrand (Bass, 3x Guitar)

- Ratatat - Kennedy (Bass, Guitar)

- Reel Big Fish - S.R. (Bass, Guitar)

- Green Day - Espionage (Bass, Guitar)

- Operation Ivy - Sound System (Bass, Guitar)

- The Offspring - Dirty Magic (Bass, 2x Guitar)

- Western Special - Le Chat (Bass, Guitar)

- Western Special - Departure (Bass, Guitar)

- IMT Smile - Kym stupa dym (Guitar)

- The Marketts - Out Of Limits (Guitar)

 

Master tabs

 

Download: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rr5jt9xk7ytoyk9/3aL384I5c4

 

DLC IDs

Releases from 2013-10-12 and later should keep IDs between rebuilds (Rocksmith should remember package state - score/mastery)