I have learned to make chart modifications to existing CDLC, so I have started adjusting a bunch of them, mainly in two ways:

1) Fixing factually wrong notes in the chart

2) Changing uncomfortable fret positions to better ones

I also occasionally add/change/remove expression markers such as slides and legato.

 

I definitely do these changes for my own benefit, and while the first kind of changes is an objective correction, the second one is more a personal preference. I think my changes could benefit other people and I am willing to share them, but I don't want to share them directly to the database because they would be competing with the originals. Would it make sense to create a thread under Workshop with my own edits and share links in such thread? Would it be disrespectful to additionally put a comment under the CDLC in the database to link to my version?

In case of factual chart errors or grossly unreasonable hand positions, I normally write a comment on the CDLC in the database first, but it's clear to me that it almost never gets fixed. Some authors are not around anymore and others are just too busy to keep up with requests for fixes. For my own personal practice purposes, I just can't wait and that's why I learnt fixing them myself (I am, admittedly, a very DIY person). But sharing publicly is another matter, and I don't want to hurt original authors, especially when maybe they were in fact planning to fix something but just too busy to do it yet.

Please share your thoughts on what could be the best policy to keep everyone happy. 

Its generally good manners, to leave a comment on the record page or dm the creator on the forum/discord about issues with a cdlc,  or use the report system as well in ignition.  If they don't respond in a "timely" manner then its fine to upload a fixed version, give credit in the description to the original creator and describe what is different between the two version / the fixes you made.  

What Hikikomori stated.

The best practice is to use the tools available to let the original creator know things need fixed. This is the ideal option so that the creators know their work could use improvement, and on top of that; they can keep those improvements in mind for future uploads.

This is a little off topic from your original question (and sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place - I usually don't engage on forums or social media in general, so way out of the loop on etiquette). However, I'm delving for the first time into the same kind of modifications you are talking about (adjusting incorrect notes, improving fretting for personal preference). Would love some advice on how to make this work.

I got as far as importing a song through DLC Builder, and converting the audio file so that I could open the XML in EOF.  From there, I was able to tweak the notes for more accuracy and save a new XML, but haven't been able to import that back into a .PSARC that Rocksmith will recognize. I swapped the new XML for the old, clicked "Build Release" in DLC Builder to create a new file (with some errors that I ignored, thinking they may have been remnants from the original file, maybe not though?), but the song won't come up in my list in the game. I could add another few pages with my questions and all the things I likely did wrong, but don't want to overburden you here if this isn't the right place.  But in general looking for the right forum to get some specific advice without spending hours sorting through search results that don't quite answer my questions (3-4 hours in and nothing to show for it so far, lol).

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

5 hours ago, acblasko said:

This is a little off topic from your original question (and sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place - I usually don't engage on forums or social media in general, so way out of the loop on etiquette). However, I'm delving for the first time into the same kind of modifications you are talking about (adjusting incorrect notes, improving fretting for personal preference). Would love some advice on how to make this work.

I got as far as importing a song through DLC Builder, and converting the audio file so that I could open the XML in EOF.  From there, I was able to tweak the notes for more accuracy and save a new XML, but haven't been able to import that back into a .PSARC that Rocksmith will recognize. I swapped the new XML for the old, clicked "Build Release" in DLC Builder to create a new file (with some errors that I ignored, thinking they may have been remnants from the original file, maybe not though?), but the song won't come up in my list in the game. I could add another few pages with my questions and all the things I likely did wrong, but don't want to overburden you here if this isn't the right place.  But in general looking for the right forum to get some specific advice without spending hours sorting through search results that don't quite answer my questions (3-4 hours in and nothing to show for it so far, lol).

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

you have to change the dlc key,  add extra numbers or letters that are unique,  the game uses that to tell if a psarc is unique, so if you aren't changing that then you're just introducing copies that it is ignoring.  

You should also not ignore the errors DLC builder gives you. You can recheck issues as soon as you hit save and it'll re scan it. They're there to let you know something isn't right and should be changed/fixed.

Thanks for the input. Re: the DLC key, I played around with that, and it worked, but I had to delete the original PSARC as well... so maybe I wasn't editing the DLC key properly, but either way problem solved.

Re: the errors, I'm not sure how to fix them, so left them for now, and nothing broke.  Maybe I just need a little research to perfect it.  E.g. "first phrase contains notes"... says that EOF usually fixes that automatically, but apparently not in this case.

I actually have a (slightly) more accurate version as of now, thanks.