USB Card FAQ - READ FIRST POST BEFORE POSTING!

[lildrchris25]

This FAQ covers what you need to know about the USB function on In The Groove.

Introduction:

In The Groove features a usb box on the left side of the machine, which allows players to plug in a usb flash drive and save their scores, take screenshots of their results after a song, save your settings, and to play edits created from stepmania.

You shouldn't need to read this unless your ITG machine comes equipped with slots, like these:



Before I start, let me remind you that this feature does not allow you to upload your own songs to the ITG arcade machine!

Ok, let's begin.

What card should I use?

Now, you may think, ok, I could take any USB card and use it in ITG! Not so fast. In ITG 1, the machine is compatible with only a selected set of usb drives. Cards that do work:

Sandisk Mini or Micro Cruzer (Mini Cruzer is highly recommended)
Creative Nomad Muvo TX (MP3/WMA player)
Lexar Jumpdrive Sport, Jumpdrive 1.1, Traveler (Secure Jumpdrives will not work)
Some Kingston drives (May be hit or miss)
Some PNY drives (Also may be hit or miss)

In ITG 2, Roxor has eliminated the whitelist, and so any memory card that is compatible with Linux will work with ITG 2.

For a list of compatible cards, go here:

http://lildrchris25.byethost3.com/itg2compatibility.html

Where do I get these USB Cards, and how much do they cost?

Lots of places carry USB cards. Too numerous to mention but I will throw out a few places:

Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Comp USA, Fry's Electronics, Circuit City, etc.

You can also find them online at amazon.com and several other sites.

As for the prices, expect to pay from $9.99 for a 32 MB card, to $150 for 2 GB.

Ok I got an acceptable USB card, now what?

Before the game starts, place your USB card in the appropriate slot, the lower slot if you are playing on the player 1 side, the upper slot if you are playing on the player 2 side. If done correctly, you should hear a small audio tone about 2-3 seconds after the card has been put in.

For ITG 1 - You will see a message that says "READY" on the bottom left or right of the screen depending on which side you inserted your memory card in.

For ITG 2 - If you are at the title screen when you plug your card in, you will first see a pic of a USB card on the bottom left or right corner of the screen (depending on which player you inserted your card in) with a "?" on it, indicating that it is being checked. If it mounts, then you will see the "?" disappear. If the card is inserted after starting the game, but before you reach the song select screen, it will say "card check", and if mounted, it will display the name specified on the card in the editable.ini file.

When you play for the first time with your card, the machine will automatically create a folder called "In The Groove" with a set of files. I'll get to what those files are in a minute. For ITG 2 machines, the same set of files will be created, but the folder will be called "In The Groove 2".

ITG 2 Bug: If a new USB drive is inserted into an ITG2 machine for the first time, and the Start button is not pressed to change modifiers (after selecting a song and pressing Start), then the previous modifiers used by the last player who used a USB drive will be used for the new USB drive.

That means that if the last player used something like x4/Overhead/Metal, then those are the modifiers used by default instead of the no-drive machine default of x1.5/Hallway/Metal.

During your game

After a song is played, you may take a picture of your results by pressing the two yellow buttons together. (For Converted ITG machines)

If you are playing on the dedicated cabinet, press the red button in order to take a picture of your results.

After your game has ended, and you make the top 10 high score list for any song, you can enter your name, and the card will save that name so that you don't have to enter it again.

Also when you insert your card for future plays, your last modifiers used on the last song you played, current combo, and particular song listing will be saved.

The particular folders on the memory card

You should have 3 folders in the "In The Groove" folder. They are:

Edits - Edits are stored here. They must have the filename .edit on it in order to be read by ITG.

Last Good - Everytime you play with your card, it saves a backup copy of your stats here. If at anytime your card becomes corrupted, you can restore functionality to it by copying the files in this folder over the particular files in the main folder.

Screenshots - This is where all your pictures of results will be placed.

Files in the main folder

Catalog.xml & Catalog.xsl - Game data used by stats.xsl for displaying reports on your stats.

Dontshare.sig - Digital signature required when loading your data on ITG. Do not modify this file, nor share it with others, unless you want someone to load your stats and pass it off as their own.

Editable.ini - See explaination in the next topic.

Stats.xml - This is where all your preferences, scores, stats are stored. You can open this file with Internet Explorer to see your individual stats. The instructions for using the files are also explained there.

Stats.xml.sig - Digital signature for stats.xml. Do not modify this file outside of the ITG arcade machine, otherwise it will corrupt your data.

What is this editable.ini file?

Oh yes. The Editable.ini file. It allows you to save specific preferences. Open it up with notepad, and it will look something like this:

[Editable]
DisplayName=
LastUsedHighScoreName=
WeightPounds=

DisplayName - Puts a name on any pictures that you take with your card. (Limit of 12 characters maximum)
LastUsedHighScoreName - You can save your initials so you don't have to enter them again and again after you have finished playing a credit on ITG. (Up to 4 letters, numbers, and selected symbols)
WeightPounds - Enter your weight here. This enables you to track your calories burned.

In The Groove Edits

In The Groove allows the use of edits. All edits must be in the .edit format, which are somewhat different from the .sm format.

The .edit file should look something like this:

#SONG:[Insert song name here];
#NOTES:
[dance-single or dance-double]:
[insert edit name here]:
Edit:
[insert ranking number here]:
0.694,0.753,0.359,0.539,0.175: //Edit by: Your Name
[The steps are placed here]
;

You can store a maximum of 5 edits per song, and a maximum of 200 edits on the memory card. Currently, the only way to make edits is with Stepmania.

Note: "0.694,0.753,0.359,0.539,0.175" are groove radar values, and are not important to playing the edit on the ITG machine, since ITG does not have a groove radar.

For more information about making edits, see this thread over at itgfreak:

http://www.itgfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1543

Special note about edits with ITG 2

If you have edits for ITG 1 in the "In The Groove" folder, and use your card on ITG 2, the ITG 2 machine will read the edits from the "In The Groove" folder and you can play edits as before.

For example, suppose you have a Sandisk Mini Cruzer you have been using for ITG 1. You then plug the card into an ITG 2 for the first time. Even though an "In The Groove 2" folder is created without the edits in there, you will still be able to play your edits that were stored in the "In The Groove" folder on the ITG 2 machine.

Now, that's the end of the information part, here are some questions and answers:

Q. Can I upload a virus or something to the machine?

A. Nope. The game will only look at the specific files it creates and any edits that have been created, nothing else.

Q. Can the Ipod work on ITG?

A. Nope. Read the whitelist, as those are the only sticks that work.

Q. What about using the Ipod on ITG 2?

A. Nope again. It isn't compatible with Linux, so you are SOL on that one.

Q. What about the Ipod shuffle on ITG 2?

A. It should work, if your machine has the latest patch. Otherwise, you are again SOL.

Q. Hey what happened? It didn't read my card!

A. Make sure your card is compatible with ITG. If it is, make sure the USB ports are properly connected to the game.

Q. Uh-oh, I started a game and forgot to put my card in!

A. If you have not picked how many players are playing, then you can still insert the card and it will read it. Once you have went to the select music screen, you cannot insert your card.

Q. How big will this folder get? I want to store other stuff, and I fear I won't have any more space!

A. It shouldn't get that big at all. Screenshots are only around 40-60 KB, and that usually makes up the majority of the space it takes. If you need to, you can delete the .jpg files, but I suggest for now to leave the .jpg.sig files in. I'm not sure what will happen if they are deleted or tampered with.

Q. Does it matter if I use a 128 MB Sandisk Mini Cruzer or 256 MB?

A. Nope. As long as the card is on the whitelist, it's fine.

Q. Can I use a PS2 memory card with these ports?

A. Tell me, does a PS2 memory card look anything like it can fit into a small USB port? I didn't think so, so nope.

Q. But there is a slot on the machine!

A. The PS slot on the cabinet is rendered completely useless as a result of the conversion from DDR to ITG. So no, you cannot use a PS memory card in ITG. Period.

Edit History:

Edit 1: 4/8/05 01:19 AM - Added note that displayname has a limit of 12 characters.
Edit 2: 4/8/05 10:41 PM - Update information on which cards are accepted, added links to take the usb survey about which cards work or not, and to the roxor games whitelist.
Edit 3: 4/10/05 1:37 AM - Added information about edits, updated Lexar drives that do work.
Edit 4: 4/17/05 2:45 PM - Redid information about compatible cards.
Edit 5: 4/23/05 7:06 PM - Added FAQ, info about what you see on the screen when the card is properly read.
Edit 6: 4/27/05 6:58 PM - Added picture of the memory card box.
Edit 7: 5/8/05 2:00 AM - Added new questions about the memory card, one about the space it takes up, and another about whether or not if it matters how big the card is.
Edit 8: 6/20/05 1:55 AM - Added that the whitelist is not in ITG 2, and thus any memory card compatible with Linux can work on ITG 2.
Edit 9: 6/20/05 3:22 PM - Added note that the groove radar values are different from song to song.
Edit 10: 7/19/05 3:36 AM - Added question about Ipod with ITG 2.
Edit 11: 8/17/05 10:04 AM - Separated information about ITG 1 and 2, made some adjustments.
Edit 12: 8/24/05 12:54 AM - Reupped the pic of the USB port.
Edit 13: 8/24/05 1:22 AM - Added more info about ITG 2 and USB cards, plus special information about playing edits from ITG 1 folders.
Edit 14: 8/26/05 11:13 PM - Changed photo of the memory card slots to something more closer.
Edit 15: 9/9/05 1:14 AM - Added question about PS2 memory cards, since I have seen this question before.
Edit 16: 9/12/05 5:24 PM - Removed dead links of the USB survey and whitelist.
Edit 17: 9/29/05 8:52 PM - Added information about where to find USB sticks and their costs.
Edit 18: 12/14/05 11:40 PM - Added link to ITG 2 compatibility page.
Edit 19: 12/27/05 9:53 AM - Added new question about the retrofitted cabinet memory card slot.
Edit 20: 1/17/06 12:25 PM - Added info about taking screenshots with a dedicated cabinet, changed dead link to the USB compatibility list to the correct one.
Edit 21: 2/14/06 1:36 AM - Added link to thread at itgfreak about how to create edit files, in detail.
Edit 22: 2/27/06 2:39 AM - Added information about Ipod Shuffles compatibility for ITG 2.
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[Thomas Hobbes]

That's good. I also wish to make a note:

On the editable.ini file - DisplayName has a limit of TWELVE (12) characters!
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"I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark."

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[lildrchris25]

ok, thanks, it has been added.
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[Cutriss]

[lildrchris25]

Is that additional submodel that won't work, the jumpdrive elite? i also found another model called the jumpdrive traveler.

Alright, updated new stuff. Thanks. I learned something new!
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[Thomas Hobbes]

For In The Groove edits:

In The Groove allows edits. These edits must be made in StepMania, as I believe there's no other program that currently allows you to do this as of yet. Edits must be in a particular format and are different from their .SM counterparts.

The following is what it should look like (taken from ITGFreak):

[The Letter K]

[CryptopsyBodom]

Just curious, but out of all of the ones listed, which is the cheapest?

[/laziness]

[Thomas Hobbes]

Go on CompUSA.com or something.
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"I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark."

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[DDR1guy]

[Thomas Hobbes]

Yes, SanDisks do work. Their Cruzer or Cruzer Mini drives are ones that always work, from what I've been told.
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"I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark."

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[Mr. A]

Sandisk Cruzer works.

The iPod shuffle does not work, I tried it awhile back.

[Thomas Hobbes]

I just said that.
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"I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark."

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[Syncopation]

Since these are just text and XML files, it seems, I'm assuming that this game isn't at risk for receiving and/or transmitting any computer viruses betwen various players' USB drives, right?

[VxJasonxV]

I'd like to see someone edit bomb a machine.
The game won't read in a virus, nor will it write one out.
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[Rancidfish]

It's fairly easy to "edit bomb" a machine, I've heard. However, releasing the secret to crashing machines wouldn't be very nice, and additionally, it'll likely get fixed by ItG2 anyway.
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"They call me... Brother Mojo."

A newbie's guide to ITG. If you like dance games, check it out!

[Disconnected airSpirit]

In case anyone had any doubts about its compatibility, my PNY Attache works perfectly with In The Groove.

[JimTheFly]

One thing that might help someone with the "Hey, the machine didn't read my card!!!" complaint might be because it's in the wrong slot. At The Break, we've had the slots change around a number of times for various reasons, including going to another set of external slots (ours have never been installed on the left side and appear totally different from any others I've seen, but that's neither here nor there).

Once START is pressed for the first time, if a drive is read, there will be a little icon of a USB pendrive at the bottom of the appropriate side of the screen with "READY". If this does not appear (I forget what's in its place, but I think it's the number of Credits), you STILL have time to move the drive to the other slot during the Mode Select and Player Select screens.
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[CryptopsyBodom]

Does a PSP with a link cable work?

[VxJasonxV]

no
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