How does one properly synch songs to stepfiles?

[azratax]

I have a copy of a few songs that i want to add to SM, and I have stepfiles for them that i downloaded. However, when i play them, the beat seems off. However, I am not experienced enough with DDR to know how far off they are. How do i go about synching up songs to the stepfiles? I remember somwhere hearing the phrase "autosynch" mentioned, but i remember not where that was.
Thanks
-Az

[heartilly]

autosync is located in the song menu screen (choose a song and press enter twice) put autosync on

however u can sync it urself, by going to the sync section at the menu and adjust the BPM (beats per minute).
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"^_-"

[onoessnaked]

Or you can do it manually. Open up the .dwi file in notepad and look for the #GAP: tag. There should be a number there. If the arrows are hitting before the beat, then you need to increase the gap value. If they're hitting behind the beat, you need to decrease the value. If the arrows are just a little bit off-beat, then you'll only need to alter the value by 30-70, but if they're a lot off than you might need to alter it by a lot more.
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Well, it explains the disappearance

[DJzen]

Uncle Zen loves to be helpful...

The first thing you need to know about autosync is that it doesn't automatically sync the steps to the beats. If they were going to implement a nice handy feature like that, they'd have to include tons of research, resources and code. All of this would make Stepmania cost considerably more than you'd want to spend on a DDR simulator (especially since it doesn't come with any songs or anything), and it STILL wouldn't work properly. All beat detection software today is meant to work with songs that have very clear beats. Syncopated rhythms prove taxing on even the best BPM counters, and songs like Little doggy just get all kinds of weird results.

Anyway, what autosync actually does is it tries to detect how far off your timing is from the actual BPM of the stepfile. In other words, you have to be sure and step on the beat of the song and not with the steps of the song. Just be careful with this. I once got Stepmania to think that Bu Dam was 120 BPM @.@.

Stepmania's internal editor is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of accuracy. If you don't understand basic musical terms it'll help to brush up on these (I.E. BPM, quarter notes, etc.), but EVERYTHING is discussed in the readme. Basically there's a few things that may or may not need adjusting. The first is the offset. This tells Stepmania how long after the song starts it should get the steps moving. The next is the BPM, this tells Stepmania how many quarter notes (regular steps, I think they show up as red if you have solo mode on) happen in one minute. This is the "speed" of the song. Other things that need to be considered during the making of the file are stops and tempo changes, but if you're just worried about timing there's no need to consider those. It's helpful to turn on "assist click", this makes the editor play a sound at every step so you can hear how far off the steps actually are. Playing the song without them can also give you a feel if you've been playing for a good long while.

All in all, it seems like Stepmania was designed with consideration to the fact that a LOT of the stepfiles you get on the net are teh s uck, and editing a .dwi with a text editor is a pain in the buttocks.
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