Jump to content

arrov's CDLC Creation Process Step by Step


Guest

Recommended Posts

On 5/19/2021 at 2:15 PM, arrov said:

 

Handshapes, Fingerings and Fret Hand Positions (FHPs)

(This section is a work in progress and is currently incomplete)

Handshapes
To specify a handshape for a group of notes, select all the notes for the desired handshape
Goto Note -> Rocksmith -> Handshape -> Mark (CTRL SHIFT H)
This will highlight all those notes and make them part of the same handshape, with each note included shown at the first note in the group. If you click on the first highlighted note and press F, you can specify the fingering.

TDnPdUl.jpg

e4Ws9sq.jpg

 

You can specify the fingers for each note or chord by selecting it and pressing F. When possible, you should use handshapes to define the finger positions. Using the handshape allows you to define the fingering position of a group of notes (such as a chord that is arpeggiated) and also makes your CDLC much more easy to read. When you specify the handshape for a group of notes, Rocksmith will display that handshape the entire time, making it very easy to read as you play. If you do not specify the handshape, Rocksmith with only display the fingering for each individual note/chord as it plays, so for example Finger 1 will flash on and off as that note comes and goes. Its a little hard to explain in text but the difference is huge when you're playing in game.

Also of major importance is that although Rocksmith will automatically generate the fingerings for known chords, the generated fingerings are often not correct in relation to how the song is played. When certain notes/chords follow each other, it can often change from the normal finger positions and if Rocksmith displays the wrong fingerings, it can be extremely confusing while the player is learning the CDLC. So you want to be sure to at least review your CDLC for any problematic chords that are displaying wrong fingers in Rocksmith and correct them.

 

Fret Hand Positions (FHPs)
Once your tab is fully complete and loaded onto your EOF chart, you'll want to apply Fret Hand Positions. 
Goto Track-> Rocksmith -> Fret Hand Positions -> List and click Generate (CTRL SHIFT F). It will automatically generate all the FHPs for you. Do this on each track (lead/rhythm/bass).

You'll want to do this after you define all your hand positions and fingerings. If you define the FHPs and then make changes to the fingerings, it can cause conflicts with the FHP if they do not match up. You can also define the FHPs and then delete them all and re-generate after making any changes.

 

 

 

 

 

Working on this new addition to the guide. I am learning how to do this right now as I add the info, so please anyone correct me on anything that needs correcting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks great arrov. Nice illustrations. 

I could be wrong, but I think FHP is just a way of creating a camera view and that's why I always caused errors when I tried to specify where to put your hand and now I always use "generate".

Unaccredited Charter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Make your EOF window larger

By default EOF starts in a small window & its very annoying to work with. It took me a while to figure out you could enlarge the window size. 

File -> Display -> Display

Here it will show a couple options or you can choose custom and type in a size. I choose custom and type in a size slightly smaller than my screen resolution to maximize to full size. In my case it is 1900x1000

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Added a bit to the guide that I forgot to include originally, a step at the very beginning before importing tab into EOF:

 

6a. If your tab file doesn't have 1 resting measure at the start, insert an empty bar at the first measure of the tab (in Guitar Pro or Tux). Next go to EOF and select "Beat -> Push Offset Back" and do this 4 times (if its a 4/4 time signature, if its not 4/4 adjust accordingly)  so that it pushes the offset (starting line) back 4 times. This will result in a full bar being added to the starting point in EOF. Now when you import your tab, the empty bar/measure at the start will line up with the pushed back starting point in EOF, and you'll see the first notes line up with the start of the audio in measure 2. The reason you do this is because you need at least 1 bar at the start before any Riff Repeater Phrases or you will get an error. If you don't do this at the very beginning, it will be a big headache to add later because it messes with your beatsync.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wanted to thank you for explaining how lyrics work. I avoided doing them for years because the tutorial I initially learned from didn't include how to do them, and I had no idea if it would be another difficult process that made making CDLC that much tougher, but it turns out it's probably the easiest part of the whole thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, CJCW said:

I wanted to thank you for explaining how lyrics work. I avoided doing them for years because the tutorial I initially learned from didn't include how to do them, and I had no idea if it would be another difficult process that made making CDLC that much tougher, but it turns out it's probably the easiest part of the whole thing.

Same here! I always skipped it because I felt like it just wasnt that important overall and making the CDLC was already a lot of work

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/20/2021 at 11:46 AM, arrov said:

 

Handshapes, Fingerings and Fret Hand Positions (FHPs)

(This section is a work in progress and is currently incomplete)

Handshapes
To specify a handshape for a group of notes, select all the notes for the desired handshape
Goto Note -> Rocksmith -> Handshape -> Mark (CTRL SHIFT H)
This will highlight all those notes and make them part of the same handshape, with each note included shown at the first note in the group. If you click on the first highlighted note and press F, you can specify the fingering.

 

Thanks arrov. I love this bit on handshapes. I've never been able to make it work before and always did it note by note which is very tedious and doesn't work near as well.

Unaccredited Charter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slight revision/addition:

Ghost Notes
Select all notes in a track by pressing Ctrl + A, then go to the Note menu->Pro Guitar-> Remove ghost note. This will remove all ghost notes from a track and make them normal notes instead. This is bc Rocksmith doesn't show ghost notes and they won't show up when you're playing.
(Make sure you do this at the very start after importing your tab. Do not do this after applying handshapes. Handshapes create ghost notes and require them to function. If you remove all ghost notes after creating handshapes, your handshapes will be jacked up.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, arrov said:

Slight revision/addition:

Ghost Notes
Select all notes in a track by pressing Ctrl + A, then go to the Note menu->Pro Guitar-> Remove ghost note. This will remove all ghost notes from a track and make them normal notes instead. This is bc Rocksmith doesn't show ghost notes and they won't show up when you're playing.
(Make sure you do this at the very start after importing your tab. Do not do this after applying handshapes. Handshapes create ghost notes and require them to function. If you remove all ghost notes after creating handshapes, your handshapes will be jacked up.)

Ah. Right. That's another thing I used to do note by note in Guitar Pro first. Again very tedious.

Unaccredited Charter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tone design tip:
I'm increasingly finding that I have to totally cut the treble and mids (on the amp, sometimes additional in EQ) to get the best distortion tones. Otherwise its just always pretty harsh. It doesn't make any sense and I would never design tones like this with real equipment, but in RS I am getting the best sound this way.. at least for the kinds of tones I am working with.

Unfortunately also the modulation FX like flanger and phaser are pretty bad about making the tone harsh... I've been using the rack fx for these even though they are very subtle and aren't that great.. the pedal phaser/flangers just make it way too harsh I'm finding

 

I'm going to have to go back and update some of my older CDLC to fix harsh tones...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey arrov.

Just a suggestion. You might like to make a list of which sub menus in Eof are useful + what they do. I almost only use the Rocksmith ones, thinking that the others are for GH etc. but you have show you can use Pro-guitar and maybe others, I didn't know about. I've ignored most sub menu choices think they wouldn't work for RS. 

Unaccredited Charter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, mczero said:

Hey arrov.

Just a suggestion. You might like to make a list of which sub menus in Eof are useful + what they do. I almost only use the Rocksmith ones, thinking that the others are for GH etc. but you have show you can use Pro-guitar and maybe others, I didn't know about. I've ignored most sub menu choices think they wouldn't work for RS. 

Good idea, I'll have to review what I may be able to add in that isn't already in the guide. In truth, I'm still learning everything as I assemble this guide and it mostly reflects everything I know already. It would be a good idea though to review the documentation for EOF and see what I may be missing - it seems that a lot of the functions apply to RS, but aren't immediately obvious.

There are a few helpful tricks I haven't added yet tho, so will have to do that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update to the OP with something I just finally learned today because it was bugging me. Guess I need to go back and update all my CDLC lyrics now

 

Inserting line breaks in the lyrics: Select the lyric and in EOF go to Note -> Lyrics -> Lyric Lines -> Mark (or just push CTRL X) - you will see the lyric section turn blue. This lyric will now show up on its own line and the next lyric will be on a new line. If you don't do this, the lyrics will be all grouped together on the same line across the screen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another update on something I've just given proper attention to since Rocksmith doesn't allow you to display fingerings for individual notes:

 

Fret Hand Positions (FHPs)
Once your tab is fully complete and loaded onto your EOF chart, you'll want to apply Fret Hand Positions. 

To automatically generate FHPs:
Goto Track-> Rocksmith -> Fret Hand Positions -> List and click Generate (CTRL SHIFT F). It will automatically generate all the FHPs for you. Do this on each track (lead/rhythm/bass).

You'll want to do this after you define all your hand positions and fingerings. If you define the FHPs and then make changes to the fingerings, it can cause conflicts with the FHP if they do not match up. You can also define the FHPs and then delete them all and re-generate after making any changes.

Note that the automatically generated FHPs are not necessarily the best or correct positions for your chart. You may want to consider editing the FHPs where needed or generating all FHPs manually. To set a FHP or edit an existing one, go to the bar / note position and hit SHIFT+F and enter the fret number where finger 1 would be placed. Do this every time the position of finger one changes through the song.

Now when the song is playing in Rocksmith, it will highlight the starting fret position and the correlating fret numbers at the bottom under the current notes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Going to start adding some more useful little bits about working in EOF that took me a while to figure out

 

Setting FHP:

Select a note/chord where you want to specify the FHP (the fret where the index finger would be located. In Rocksmith, the FHP determines where the fretboard is highlighted at the bottom and it always highlights 4 frets based on where each of the 4 fingers should be). Press SHIFT+F and input the fret number into the box. You can see in this screenshot that it is set to fret 2, and a red 2 is displayed at the top along with a red line. At measure 6, the FHP changes to fret #6. Setting a correct FHP helps a lot to make a chart more readable while playing, and it also tells the player where each finger should be when set accurately. This means during more complex riffs & solos, you'd need to change the FHP every note where the index finger is moving to a new location.


AQH5OOA.png

 

 

If you're working a riff or solo with a lot of changes, or need to make a change to a note that isn't located on one of the beats, use the shortcut SHIFT+PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN to move to the next/previous note and set the FHP. Here's a screen shot where SHIFT+PAGEUP was used to move to the 0 note, where you can see the green bar sits on top of the 0 now.

Fhhfo2v.png

 

 

SHIFT+F11 will cycle between what is displayed at the top, phrases, FHPs, chord names, just hit SHIFT+F11 until you see what you need to see:

42d6Xq1.pngohCZJ7j.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slides, Bends and Link to Next


Any slides that do not end at a specific fret such as a general slide down need to be converted to unpitched slides or it will give you an error in EOF & RS will display it as a one fret slide instead of a general slide- select the note/chord where the slide starts and convert to unpitched slide via the Note-> Pro Guitar->Slide menu. 

All slides that end at a specific fret need to have the end fret defined. Select the first note where the slide begins, press "N" to view note properties and select the box "Linknext", then go the Note menu->Pro Guitar->Slide->Set end fret and set the end fret to fret the slide ends on. You will see the end fret now displays underneath the slide.

Note that if the slide contains multiple notes then you need to select each note in the slide, press "N" and select "Linknext" for each note in the slide, except for the very last one where the slide ends. This will link all the notes/frets together and display in RS as one long slide. If you do not check the "Linknext" value for each note in the slide, then it will display each note as a picked note in RS in the slide, instead of being displayed as a fluid slide without picks.

 

This also applies to bends where you have multiple repeated notes in the tab for an extended bend, or really any time you have an extended note that isn't picked again but has more than one note value carried over. You need to check "Linknext" for all of these notes or it will display each as a picked note instead of as one long, extended note/bend.

1WGsLxz.png

 

 

Slide in from above or below

EOF does not support these slides and when tabs have notes including a slide in from above/below you have to create a special notation in EOF. Say its just a quick 8th note, 1 fret slide in - you would add a note 1/8th before on the previous fret, set it to slide up to the next note and check "Linknext"

You could also arrange the tab before hand to so it reflects this notation instead of using the slide in from above/below notation so you don't have to change it inside EOF. I usually do it in EOF once, and then copy/paste through the song where needed.

Note that EOF will also display anything imported from a tab with slide in notation incorrectly - it will display the note as a different note with a slide lasting the whole duration. You will need to at least correct it to the correct note and remove the slide if nothing else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/19/2021 at 2:15 PM, arrov said:

Slides, Bends and Link to Next

See this thread for a detailed breakdown on using Tech Notes to add pre-bends, bend and release, etc:

 

Plan on adding a short section w/ screenshots about using Tech Notes to author bends, but for now I included a link to the other thread which has a ton of info on authoring tech notes in EOF. Very useful for getting bends to display correctly.

And I finally updated the guide to use DLC Builder instead of RSToolkit, which makes that part of the process so much easier:

 

On 5/19/2021 at 2:15 PM, arrov said:

Load the chart into DLC Builder

0. Go to File -> "Configuration" and put your name in the Charter field. You can specify a Test Folder location for your test builds, I created a test folder in my RS DLC directory for this purpose.  Under Profile Path, input the folder which contains your RS game profile which will allow you to quickly & easily import guitar tones you have saved in game. The directory path may be slightly different for you depending on your installation path, the folder contains the file ending with _PRFLDB and the directory looks like this: \programs\Steam\userdata\141554572\221680\remote

1. Click the "+" icon next to Arrangements to add an arrangement. Select the xml file for the arrangement you want to add from the EOF project folder (guitar/bass/vocal)

2. Fill in any missing values on the left like Album Name and Year. Click the vinyl record image to add album art.

n60kM2n.png

3. Add the audio by clicking the folder icon underneath "No Main Audio" and select the guitar.ogg file in the EOF project folder. Create the preview audio clip by clicking the scissors icon and specify the time values if you want to create a preview from a specific time in the song.

OXCtzTA.png

4. Output CDLC file for testing

Build Test will create a test CDLC file you can play in RS for testing.

Build Release will create the final CDLC file(s).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, tommyjenkinz said:

I noticed that you didn't even mention the whole Wwise conversion thing.  Is it not needed because we're using CDLC Builder and not the Toolkit? That's dope if so!

After several failed attempts with toolkit, I tried the CDLC Builder over the weekend. What you are asking is indeed true, the Builder will do the conversion through Wwise for you. It is indeed much much simpler and easier.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the WWise download linked at the top of the guide - its linked to the download page on CF and you pick the newer version for DLCBuilder. DLC Builder uses it but it should auto-detect the installation, if not its easy to specify the WWise directory. The step where I screenshotted selecting the audio file from the EOF project is what it uses for the conversion.

Personally I didn't notice any difference in this part between using RSToolkit and DLCBuilder. If you're having trouble its maybe bc you installed the wrong version of WWise.

What makes DLCBuilder the easier/faster option for me is primarily the ease of importing custom tones from your game profile, and the way it handles adding/editing arrangements, and general workflow

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, arrov said:

I have the WWise download linked at the top of the guide - its linked to the download page on CF and you pick the newer version for DLCBuilder. DLC Builder uses it but it should auto-detect the installation, if not its easy to specify the WWise directory. The step where I screenshotted selecting the audio file from the EOF project is what it uses for the conversion.

Personally I didn't notice any difference in this part between using RSToolkit and DLCBuilder. If you're having trouble its maybe bc you installed the wrong version of WWise.

Would Builder work with Wwise 2013? Or would I have to upgrade to a less out of date version?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, clicked the link and it answered my question. Thanks again! Definitely making the switch to DLCBuilder!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, tommyjenkinz said:

Would Builder work with Wwise 2013? Or would I have to upgrade to a less out of date version?

It requires wwise 2019 or 2021, other versions wont work.
https://github.com/iminashi/Rocksmith2014.NET/tree/main/samples/DLCBuilder#wwise-20192021

You can have multiple wwise versions installed if you still want to use the toolkit or cfsm.

  • Like 2

Ea3cCUQ.png                                                                   「愛こそすべて ,ギルティキス」                                         Gh59blB.png

Utsu-P Discography                                           Modding thread (dead)                                        1000 songs hype

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I wont add Chinese  lyrics,but the tool say "

PART VOCALS_RS2.xml

This lyrics file contains characters not included in the game's default font.

<WARNING> The required Lyric Artwork DDS file was not found.
<WARNING> The required Glyphs Definition XML file was not found.

You will have to use a custom font for lyrics to show up properly in the game,
or remove this vocal arrangement before packaging with the standard font.
For information about the Custom Font Generator appliction, and how to
generate the required lyrics.dds and lyrics.glyphs.xml files, see:

the link lost

thanks 🙂

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. - Privacy Policy