Guide to Converting Down-Tuned Songs into B Standard for a 5 String Bass

[MilkmanDan]

Recently I've been messing with converting/transcribing songs in tunings like Eb Drop Db, Drop C, etc. into B Standard (technically BEAD) so I can play them on my 5 string bass without adjusting the tuning on my 4.  I've done it to several songs now, both customs and official DLC, and I can usually come up with a version that is fully playable on my 5 string in B Standard -- no retuning required.  Of course this only applies to songs that don't go below a B1.  If anyone is interested, here's a step by step guide on how to do it.  Note that this is really long (sorry), but once you get used to it, it can actually be done very quickly -- 5 minutes per song or so:

 

 

 

1.  Copy the .psarc file for the song you want to edit into a folder.  I use one on my desktop to make it easy, but whatever works.

 

2.  Inside that same folder, make 2 subfolders.  Name them "1 Unpack" and "2 Import".

 

3.  Open up the Toolkit.  Go to the unpacker tab.  Check the boxes for "Decode Audio" and "SNG to XML" so they are both checked.

 

4.  Click "Unpack".  The first window that pops up wants you to select a .psarc to unpack.  Open the first folder you created, and click on the copy of the song you put in there.  The second window that pops up wants to know where it should unpack to.  Open up the folder you made named "1 Unpack" and click to select that folder.

 

 

 

5.  Open EOF.  Click File -> New.  Open up the first folder you made, then "1 Unpack", then it should have something like songname_p_Pc.  Open that, then audio, then windows.  The path will look something like:

          EditFolder\1 Unpack\song_p_Pc\audio\windows\

 

6.  There should be 4 audio files in there, 2 in wem and 2 in ogg format.  They have very unhelpful names -- just a string of numbers.  Basically, you want the #######_fixed.ogg file that is larger by filesize (the smaller one is the preview audio).  Might have to view by details in the EOF open window to figure that out.  Anyway, select the larger .ogg to open with EOF.  When it opens, you can fill in the artist and song title, but I don't think it really matters much.

 

7.  EOF should have loaded up the ogg.  Press F5 to get a waveform chart and check it.  You can play the song, fast forward a bit to make sure you didn't end up with the preview audio by mistake, etc.  Make sure you're in the bass track in EOF by clicking Song->Track->PART REAL_BASS.

 

8.  At this point, you want to import/load the bass arrangement.  So, click File->Rocksmith Import.  In the open window, it will probably start out in your first new folder.  You want to navigate to song_p_PC\songs\arr\.

 

9.  In that subfolder, you should see xml files for all the arrangements, vocals, showlights, etc.  We want song_bass.xml, so select that one.

 

10.  You should now see some notes on the waveform display.  If you don't, it may be because you imported an arrangement with difficulty levels, and you're only seeing the lowest difficulty level, so just a note every measure or 2.  So, click on the *1 to *## tabs/buttons on top until it looks like you've got max difficulty, with all the notes displayed.

 

11.  EOF likes to be weird for me, and think that I've imported an arrangement for a 6-string instrument instead of a 4-string bass.  To fix that, click Track->Pro Guitar->Set number of frets/strings, and change the number of strings to 4.

 

12.  Now we're ready to do the actual transcribing.  Click on Track->Pro Guitar->Set Tuning.  The offsets it starts off with will vary based on the original tuning of the song (Eb Drop Db, Drop C, or whatever).  But to shoehorn it into B Standard on a 5-string, we just want -5 for all 4 boxes -- should read with String 1 as D to String 4 as B, or BEAD tuning.  Click OK.  EOF will say that notes will be affected by the tuning change and ask if you want to transpose.  Click Yes.

 

13.  The arrangement should now be in BEAD, and we're pretty close to being done with EOF.  However, the automatic transposing might leave some things to be desired, like a note on the first fret of B followed by a note on the 8th fret of E and then quickly back, etc.  So, it is probably a good idea to scan through the song and see if anything glaring like that jumps out at you.  For that specific example, I'd click on the note at the 8th fret of E and press n to modify it.  I'd transpose it to 3rd fret of A so the frethand position is easier in the range of 1-4 instead of requiring a quick shift from 1 to 8.  Any chords will almost certainly be screwed up, and there may or may not be any good way to fix them -- some songs won't transcribe like this very well while others will be dead easy.

 

14.  Once you've taken care of those things (or decided that you don't want to mess with it), you will need to clear and regenerate the frethand position guides, which will be incorrect for the new tuning.  Click on Track->Rocksmith->Fret Hand positions->Delete effective to clear them out, and then Track->Rocksmith->Fret Hand positions->Generate all diffs to have EOF redo them for the new tuning.

 

15.  We're (probably) done with EOF, so File->Save.  You might get warnings or error messages (reset offset to zero, that kind of thing), but any warnings should be pretty safe to ignore -- you'll have to use your judgement.

 

 

 

16.  Go back to the Toolkit.  There is probably a good way to "repack" the file that you unpacked, but I find it easier to do like this:  In the Creator tab, click on "Import Package" at the bottom.  Go back to the root/first folder you made, and click on the .psarc you put in there again.  The toolkit will ask where to put stuff, select the OTHER folder that you made in step 2, named "2 Import".  That should finish up and populate all of the fields in the Creator tab for you with song info, arrangements, audio files, etc.

 

17.  There are 3 main things to change.  First, I'd change the DLC Name field (top-left of the section under Song Information) by just adding something to it.  Something like change "NirvanaSmellsLike" to "NirvanaSmellsLikeBassB", or append your name, or whatever.  The reason for this is that it makes sure that your edited version in B Standard and the original version won't conflict if you have them both in your DLC folder, which could cause weirdness.

 

18.  Continuing with that, I'd suggest changing the Song Title field in a similar way.  Instead of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Smells Like Teen Spirit Bass B" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit 5Bass" or whatever.  That way you know which one is which if you have both in your DLC folder.  The Song Title Sort field can stay the same, doesn't matter.

 

19.  Most important is using the altered arrangement you made in EOF.  So, click on the bass arrangement in the arrangements list and "Remove" it.  Then click on "Add", then "Browse" in the window that pops up, and navigate to Folder\1 Unpack\.  You should see a file Bass_RS2.xml in there -- select it and open.  The toolkit should automatically note that the tuning will require the bass tuning fix -- say that yes, you want it to apply the fix.  If it doesn't do that, you may have to apply the fix with the toolkit later if the song doesn't let you tune to BEAD in the game.

 

20.  The rest of the arrangement information should get filled in automatically, but check the tone etc. (you can use the original tone since you imported the song) to make sure it looks good.  It should probably say it is in B Standard or "Something Funky" A220 for the tuning, again if that didn't work right you might have to apply the fix with the toolkit later.

 

21.  Alternatively, you can Add the arrangement in B Standard the same way, but check the box for it to be added as a "Bonus Arrangement".  With that method, you can probably save over the original .psarc (keep a backup) and leave the song ID, title, etc. the same.  Get to the B Standard version by selecting Bonus Bass in Rocksmith.  BUT, note that Bonus Arrangements won't let you play in Score Attack.

 

22.  With the arrangement done, click the button to Generate.  Probably a good idea to add something like "_Bass_in_B" or "_5String_"before the version number of the filename, especially if you plan to have both files in your DLC folder.

 

23.  Put that sucker in your DLC folder and test it out.  If you can't tune to B, it means the tuning fix didn't get applied.  Fix that in the unpacker tab of the toolkit.  If you play an open B on your 5 string and the game thinks it is an octave high, the tuning fix got applied twice (that happened to me once).  You'll have to check the arrangement details and go back some steps.  If you play it through and discover some wicked stretches or shifts have been introduced by the tuning change, you may or may not be able to satisfactorily do something about those with careful transcribing back in EOF.

 

 

 

I've just done this for about 10 songs, and after the first few it actually goes really fast.  Hope that helps out other people with a 5 String bass and are lazy about tuning into stuff like Drop C, like me.