Custom Theme at Work

[Crevolous]

I have some great news to announce! For the last few months I have been working on a new theme for StepMania 3.9 that uses high resolution graphics to add a nice flare. I've been messing around with SM's metrics system to see where graphics are placed and how to change them to design a possibly new layout. I've also changed the company intro screen and I'm trying to figure out a few things which have been giving me trouble.

That's where I need your help! :P.

Here are a few things that I would like to add to the theme, but haven't managed to at the time this post was written:

1.) Continuing Combo: Say you play D-Code on Expert and full combo the song. Wouldn't you like your combo to continue on your next stage? That's what I would like to add to this theme if possible. I believe the ITG2 theme for SM has this feature, so it leads me to believe that it can be added to any theme out there. If anyone knows how to add this feature please let me know by e-mailing me at Crevolous@netscape.net.

2.) Gold Combo: Combo turns gold when only Fantastics and/or Excellents are hit while in play. If a judgement of Great or below is given, the gold combo breaks and takes its normal color. If any one knows how this can be achieved, please drop me a line at Crevolous@netscape.net.

3.) Theme Music: This is the most important element of the theme that I ironically haven't thought of. I'm not familiar with the basics of music, or how to go about making it, so I'm stuck with the default theme music for the menus, credits, and other parts of the theme. I'm looking to possibly hire a musician to make music for my theme that fits its design, colors, and overall look. If you or anyone you know has an interest in making music, please send me an e-mail at Crevolous@netscape.net with your name and website address if you have one. 8-).

I'm specifically looking for techno music under the sub genres of Drum n' Bass, Ambient, or Trance, but other music genres are welcome. All the music used in this theme must be original!

If you can find any other way to help with the development of this theme, please feel free to send me an e-mail or simply PM me. I am open to suggestions and ways to make this theme better.

All helpers will be listed in the theme no matter their contributions.

Thanks!

- CREv.

P.S. - Here are a few pictures of the theme as of Septemeber 24th, 2006.

http://www.a1-computerservice.com/cr...creenshots.htm

[TougaKiryuu]

Uh dood, you can find tutorials on that just about anywhere, it's not even theme based.... it's stepmania.ini specific.

[google666]

Actually, only his first point was in the Stepmania.ini file although they're all probably in tutorials somewhere...

In the ini file find the following line:

ComboContinuesBetweenSongs=0

change it to 1 and voila!

I don't know about the others though

from me

[Kayin]

The music part is actually, believe it or not, easy to do. Actually, you can use music making programs like Fruity Loops (or whatever its called) to make the songs and sound effects, or if you have a little cash on ya, get some of the recent music making programs from eJay. Their real simple, and you can make very good songs on it, perhaps even remix stuff if you mess around with it.

[google666]

I found where the theme does the gold combo and blue combo and whatever else

open up your theme metrics and search "[combo]" (without the quotations but with the brackets)

it will bring you to something like this:

[Combo]
LabelX=6
LabelY=20
LabelHorizAlign=0
LabelVertAlign=2
NumberX=0
NumberY=20
NumberHorizAlign=2
NumberVertAlign=2
ShowComboAt=4
NumberMinZoom=0.5
NumberMaxZoom=0.9
NumberMaxZoomAt=300
PulseZoom=1.2
TweenSeconds=0.05
FullComboGreatsCommand=
FullComboPerfectsCommand=
FullComboMarvelousesCommand=
FullComboBrokenCommand=
ShowMissCombo=1

for ITG-like colors, change the bolded to:

FullComboGreatsCommand=stopeffect
FullComboPerfectsCommand=diffuseshift;EffectColor1 ,#FFFFFF;EffectColor2,#FDD599;EffectPeriod,0.5
FullComboMarvelousesCommand=diffuseshift;EffectCol or1,#FFFFFF;EffectColor2,#94EBFE;EffectPeriod,0.5
FullComboBrokenCommand=stopeffect

You can probably figure out whats happening here, so have fun with your theme

The colors are in hex format so i dont know how to make each color, just google it if you don't know

NOTE: i figured this out by randomly moving the scroll bar up and down in the metrics just so you know

from me

[Crevolous]

Hey dudes, thanks for all the insight on how to make my theme a little more complete. I went ahead and messed around with the metrics to make a "gold combo" and although it's kind of what I wanted for the theme all it does is make the word combo flash along with the number. It seems a little distracting at the time, but I'll go ahead and mess around with the timing and see if that helps.

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

- CREv.

[DrkShadowSonic]

i'm likeing the screen shots!

[laser123454321]

Did you edit the default metrics, make your own metrics, or edit the metrics from another theme?

[Crevolous]

I copied the original metrics file from the default theme and then messed around with the settings under multiple areas. I am going to modify the code list and include it in the readme file for the theme when it is released.

I have to apologize for the lack of updates the last several days...lol...I've been busy and haven't had any time until now to work on the theme.

Expect some updates on the arrow skin soon. If you have any other questions, let me know.

[google666]

hey just curious...

whats the results screen look like?

could you post a picture of it or put it on the link in the first post?

thanks in advance

from me (I really should just put this in my sig)

[laser123454321]

Originally Posted by Crevolous

I copied the original metrics file from the default theme and then messed around with the settings under multiple areas. I am going to modify the code list and include it in the readme file for the theme when it is released.

When you're done with the metrics, make sure that you go back and delete any lines that you haven't changed besides the headers ([ScreenSelectMaster] for example). That keeps down on the size of the metrics.

[Blue0ctane]

This looks really good so far. I like your idea of having the combo text change colors during an AAA combo, but for some people, they like not knowing how they've done until the results screen comes up. I think that you should add that feature to the operator menu so if someone doesn't like it, they can deactivate it.

[laser123454321]

Do you have a name for the theme yet?