GH1 in GH2

**TurkeyMan** · Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:01 pm Post subject: GH1 in GH2

Has anyone written a tool to convert the GH1 tracks to GH2 yet?
I'd like to pro face off the GH1 tracks in widescreen+progressive scan and in sync ;)

Does anyone know any reasons why such a converter wouldn't be possible (if it doesn't already exist) .. I might look into writing one if one doesn't already exist.

Is the audio data the same format between the 2 games? (In which case it should just be a matter of rearranging the midi's)

**AlCapwned** · Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 149

It exists, but I thought it was cumbersome. I found it easier to convert manually. All you need to do is extract the files from GH1, change the .mid track 'T1 GEMS' to 'PART GUITAR', and the event 'end' to '[end]'. Then you just load into Ghex, where you can reuse the same .vgs file.

**ruippeixotog** · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 220

Yes, it exists... I already used it, and for now it didn't give any problem...
http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3689&start=0

If you only care about the song being playable, it is easier to convert manually; but if you want everything as in GH1, including band animations, that tool is really useful.

**Riz** · Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 2011

All of that said, I want to explicitly say that just because a tool to do X already exists, shouldn't discourage folks who have the skills to do so from writing their own tools! Everyone has a different take on things, and competition is good.

Riz.
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**MutterFudder** · Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 32

Riz, on a somewhat tangential but relevant topic: Would it be out of order for someone to post converted GH1 .mid's here? I mean, mid's converted from GH1 for use in GH2? I only ask because it's borderline, and it would really serve a lot of people here who are trying to convert songs for better HO/PO compatibility and pro face off.

I ask with all respect, not trying to get banned here. Just curious about the mods' thoughts on that.

**Riz** · Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 2011

No, you can't post GH1 mids here, even converted. The charts are the property of RO, and can not be redistributed.

Riz.
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**MutterFudder** · Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 32

Makes perfect sense to me. Thanks for clearing that up.

**TurkeyMan** · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 12:02 pm Post subject:

Well it seems a bit rude to clobber someone's efforts to me.. I was also considering writing a song editor for syncing and composing songs against mp3's a bit like the stepmania editor (if anyone knows how that works)..

Most of the existing custom songs are so poorly synced its not funny ;) .. As if there has been no effort at all put into finding the correct BPM and holding the sync throughout the song/etc.. A nice graphical editor that feels like the game might help that..

Might take a while though.. How many people are already working on that stuff? Or programmers that would like to work on that but don't have the 3d/audio rendering skills? I don't have a lot of time after work. If I had help I'd be much more enthusiastic..

**Riz** · Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 2011

Well, essentially, GHex overtook the original gh-utils, and now shadow is back and working on other things too! More tools is always good. The userbase will choose which ones they like best. Again, everyone has a different take on things, both tool writers and their users.

As far as song sync goes, one of the primary problems is that the vast majority of the midi editing tools available for free, or even relatively inexpensively, have something between none and very limited ability to do tempo adjustments. Continuous tempo adjustment, if you've ever looked at the charts for the songs that ship with GH, are pretty much the primary tool used for maintaining not only note but also measure synchronization. Since the tools available to low end users can't do that well, their output can suffer. Users who have pro grade tools like Sonar available, have much more flexability and capability in that regard.

So a tool that could be made available for free to the community, that would be able to provide that needed level of tempo control would be... well, a huge boon to the quality of output coming from our authors, to say the least. How many other people are working on such things... well... donno. Probably some. But don't let that discourage you.

Riz.
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**TurkeyMan** · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:44 pm Post subject:

if anyone wanted to do art that was reasonably high quality i'd be a lot more compelled to write a proper editor too..
that would be textures and a few basic models i imagine.
or alternatively i was also considering just ripping the assets from the game.. might take a bit longer to work out though.. the model files don't look too coherant ;)
(has anyone made a start on the model files?)

**Riz** · Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 2011

Actually, ripping assets from the game is really not an option. It would make your tool non-redistributable.

But regardless. Functional first, pretty second, is generally a good rule for any coding project. If you have a useful tool, a/ people will probably use it anyway, regardless of what it looks like, and b/ people might be more willing to help put a pretty face on it.

Riz.
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**TurkeyMan** · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:18 am Post subject:

Yeah what i was actually thinking was not distributing the ripped assets with the tool, but instead, asking the user to insert their game dvd and loading them from disc at runtime.. I don't think that would be violating any laws..

Obviously functionality first.. I need to read up on the midi file format.. haven't had to work with midi before.. the rest of it should be a reasonably simple thing to write..
I'll see how i go when I get some spare time.

But I'd like a show of hands to know how many people would be interested in an integrated editor tool, and also how many such projects already exist, and where they're at?

**ImaCarrot** · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 2687

I'm sure pretty much everyone would be interested in that. As for similar programs, the ill-fated Guitar Zero was a great tool for testing custom songs, but it didn't have an integrated chart creator. You can just search the boards for info on it if you want, but all media showing it off has been removed and no one is supposed to share it anymore.

I think Katamakel of Ghex fame is trying to do some kind of note chart editor within Ghex, but I can't verify.

Those are the only ones I know of.

**TurkeyMan** · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:31 am Post subject:

Well i spent a couple of hours this afternoon making a start.

You can play/pause, move around within various quantisations, place notes (no code to render them yet, i'll get stuck into that tomorrow if i have some time).. And it loads all the resources it needs from the GH DVD.. just supply the drive letter (it will scan for it in future) and loads from the disc..

Oh, and it also runs on PSP ;) .. My idea is you can take the editor with you and edit songs on your PSP, then inject them into your GH2DVD when you get home :P

**TurkeyMan** · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:55 pm Post subject:

Yeah, i was in the groove...

Next up, hold notes and tap notes.
Then maybe proper gameplay for testing..