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May 16, 2011, 01:25:23 PM - ORIGINAL POST -
ancsik

Acme ITG updates


It's probably about time to break this topic out from the main Acme thread, since there's been a lot of information about the machine posted to the main thread and the details are being obscured by meetup content at the same time that it makes it hard to notice the meetup / service update posts.

This thread will be here just to notify people of the work I do on the machine.  Song/pack requests should still go through the requests thread, physical maintenance still goes through the main thread.  In general, this thread is for reporting bugs to me (theme doing weird stuff, songs broken, etc) and for me to notify everyone of the changes I make.

ANNOUNCEMENT (5/31/11):

I'm beginning a daunting project - polishing the custom content so the machine remains suited to public use.  There are two main issues with much of the new content which will make the game awkward for new players and potentially existing players: Expert only and automatically generated display BPM.  

Full sets of charts for every song in every pack is a lofty and very impractical goal given how long it will take to write that many charts, but a lot of the new content ranks in at very high difficulties, and it's going to be a problem if a lot of players don't want to play with one another because the single difficulty available for a chart isn't amenable to both players - making a 9+ Hard chart to match the 12+ Expert charts of non-long songs would be a good start toward balancing things out so that players won't feel a strong need to play one at a time.  I know this is a potential issue as there were whispers of "I don't want to play a set with X because I want to play significantly harder/easier charts than X" yesterday, and having alternate, but still expert level, charts will help mitigate this damage as well as mitigate how scary a fully-loaded machine will be to newer players.  Volunteers to help out with writing charts would be greatly appreciated - the new songs are all from widely available packs, so if anyone wants to write an alternate chart, go find the right pack, write it (and test it, please), then send the new .sm file to me.

Fixing display BPMs is a much simpler task.  Almost everyone has, at some point, gotten screwed by seeing a 140 BPM song listed as 140-280 because of some stuttered notes and picking the wrong speed mod as a result.  Any time you find such a chart, let me know what the real BPM or BPM range (I know of a song that is 50-100, but displays as 50-200 due to stuttering - I'm sure there are others) is and I will update the file with the corrected display BPM value(s).

« Last Edit: May 31, 2011, 01:05:46 PM by ancsik »
 
June 29, 2011, 09:18:19 AM Read #36
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


Posting from the new ITG computer, since I can.

I'm looking into the best ways to tune an Ubuntu system for performance, because I'm pretty sure I can get this thing to fully boot (including loading OpenITG) in around 15 seconds if I set it up right.
 
June 27, 2011, 05:29:19 PM Read #35
mvco

Re: Acme ITG updates


Thanks for keeping the content G rated.  We know it could be a big issue if offensive lyrics are playing.  Sounds like the project is coming along well.  :-)


 
June 27, 2011, 02:30:51 PM Read #34
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


I don't think anyone here really goes out of their way to be politically correct, but I do feel a need to exercise caution with regard to the ITG machine, unfortunately.  It's hard to say how much they would or wouldn't care if "potentially offensive" content was brought to their attention, but ultimately, I'd rather preempt them by keeping the machine relatively clean rather than risk them jumping straight to requesting removal of the machine.

As for the new computer:
- I wasn't paying attention when I bought the parts, so I have three DDR3 1GB sticks and a board with only two slots.  2GB of DDR3 was my original plan anyway and will still severely outperform the old setup (especially given the onboard graphics unit stealing some RAM and memory bandwidth).  I doubt that menu lag is tied to total memory so much as bandwidth (memory or disk - both will be much faster now) or a blocking I/O thread (mitigated by the dual core processor and faster everything else), so only having 2GB RAM is probably not going to slow anything down from the 3GB I thought we would have.
- I built the computer on Thursday and installed Ubuntu 10.04 on Saturday.  I'll keep working on it as I have time this week.
- The new computer runs almost silently most of the time and gives off very little heat.  OpenITG will make the CPU heat up a bit more than an idle OS post-install, but overall, the new system should use a lot less power than the old; nothing to get too excited about, but it may keep the air around the machine a degree cooler on a warm day.
 
June 23, 2011, 11:19:36 PM Read #33
sfxazure

Re: Acme ITG updates


 
June 23, 2011, 10:06:37 PM Read #32
xenonscreams

Re: Acme ITG updates


 
June 23, 2011, 09:42:20 PM Read #31
sfxazure

Re: Acme ITG updates


Personally, I think political correctness is pretty gay.  Kiss

 
June 23, 2011, 09:20:36 PM Read #30
xenonscreams

Re: Acme ITG updates


Personally, I think political correctness is pretty gay.  Kiss
 
June 23, 2011, 08:26:02 PM Read #29
SomeLauraChick

Re: Acme ITG updates


Seattle is extremely politically correct, and as much as that's gay as hell, we'd rather not deal with somebody getting all huffy about how the word "gay" was used on a pack on the machine.  Tongue


I would so look cuter than her if I could find a pair of UGGs that would fit me.
 
June 23, 2011, 08:15:40 PM Read #28
xenonscreams

Re: Acme ITG updates


Gay4Gimmix ...  It's listed as Gimmix Again for appropriateness.

What's inappropriate about "Gay4Gimmix"? for real
 
June 21, 2011, 11:38:52 AM Read #27
SomeLauraChick

Re: Acme ITG updates


It's Welcome To Rainbow.  And yeah, watch it on Youtube first.  Tongue


I would so look cuter than her if I could find a pair of UGGs that would fit me.
 
June 21, 2011, 09:01:44 AM Read #26
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


Strange that the information out there is inaccurate in such a specific case, but R1 cabinets seem to be rare amongst the ITG hacking community, so it's likely that they just don't know what they're talking about.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I added a relatively small pack - Gay4Gimmix Again - last night.  It's listed as Gimmix Again for appropriateness.  The charts are fun and generally in the 9-11 range, most have some strange gimmicks.  Rainbow-whatever-the-title-is is obscenely hard to figure out how to read, though, so I'd recommend hunting down the pack and seeing how it works first.

« Last Edit: June 21, 2011, 11:31:44 AM by ancsik »
 
June 20, 2011, 09:10:39 PM Read #25
Suko

Re: Acme ITG updates


FYI: Mine is a Celeron and an R1 build.


Quote from: amberlewis
Ya yo are absolutely right.I agree with your words.

 
June 20, 2011, 03:21:02 PM Read #24
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


Looks like it's a Celeron from what I've seen, actually (ugh).

The Acme machine is pretty old, I've heard a few people say it's a R1 build, which seems to mean a P4 rather than a Celeron - they apparently switched to cheaper CPUs when they realized they could make the switch and still have everything run.

Also, the video specs are commonly reported as 64 MB of system memory being set aside for an integrated chipset to use - regardless of the total memory present, that's sucking up a lot of memory bandwidth on a board that runs a PC3200 stick.  Having an actual video card is going to do a lot for machine performance.
 
June 20, 2011, 01:32:43 PM Read #23
CheeToS

Re: Acme ITG updates


- 3.1 GHz i3 dual core CPU (vs. a ~2GHz P4, IIRC)

Looks like it's a Celeron from what I've seen, actually (ugh).
 
June 20, 2011, 10:11:21 AM Read #22
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


I'm no longer planning to throw in more RAM.

Instead,  I've been conspiring with Bill via PM and am happy to announce that I just placed an order for a a full set of new parts and will be building out a new computer to swap into the machine.  It's going to take a little while to test thoroughly enough that I'd feel confident swapping it in, but I'm tentatively hoping to have everything ready to go by tournament day.   If so, I would then swap out the computer after the tournament ends.

For those who care, the new machine will by no means be a top-of-the-line gaming rig, but will run circles around the 6 year old computer inside the machine right now (which was made with pretty crappy parts even then, since they were trying to cut costs).
- 3.1 GHz i3 dual core CPU (vs. a ~2GHz P4, IIRC)
- 3 GB DDR3 PC8500 RAM (vs. 1 GB DDR PC 2700)
- 8 GB SSD drive for the OS, OpenITG and other core files (vs. an 8GB partition on a 40GB drive)
- 250GB SATA 2.0 drive for other data [most song packs] (vs. a 250GB IDE drive sharing an IDE cable with the other drive)
- USB 2.0 ports (vs. USB 1.1 ports) - I think the hub uses 2.0 ports, so USB should get a lot better.
- Cheap GeForce 512 MB DDR3 video card (vs. whatever's in there - probably a 32 or 64 MB card with a third the clock speed of the new card).

I'll be prepping the new machine with all of the packs and themes currently on the machine and then some.  I will do my best to copy the current stats.xml file onto the new machine so that we don't lose scores, but I don't know how finicky OpenITG will be about me doing so, so I can't promise that we won't lose the current records - let's put it this way: if it's possible, it will be done.
 
June 03, 2011, 06:37:05 AM Read #21
Junpei Iori

Re: Acme ITG updates


put a sign saying "stay on novice you fuckin noobs"
 
June 02, 2011, 08:46:59 PM Read #20
tadAAA

Re: Acme ITG updates


I was going to suggest a beginner/enjoy style mode (I even forget if there is one) that restricts play to only ITG1/2 songs, but apparently people would probably be too dumb to even select that.
 
June 02, 2011, 04:59:17 PM Read #19
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


I've seen plenty of people get into all kinds of weird situations when they don't quite know what's going on (one or two players winding up on double, players ending up in battle or marathon, players ending up on difficulties other than novice, and players ending up in other packs).  Most don't leave the default pack, but with Amore being at the top of ITG2, it's not hard for them to accidentally scroll up into the packs instead of down into the songs, and if the majority of packs are Expert only, then it's more likely they'll end up in one than not at that point.
 
June 02, 2011, 11:45:49 AM Read #18
Gerrak

Re: Acme ITG updates


Quote
I thought this was supposed to be a requirement, so noobs don't accidentally choose a song which only has 10+ difficulty without knowing it. And it seems like the more custom songs you put onto a machine, the more likely this is to happen

The default is set to Amore again. This shouldnt be an issue no matter how many extra packs you add; people noob enough to not know what difficulty is never stray outside the default pack anyway...


Focus not on destroying your foe, but on obtaining your own victory...
 
June 02, 2011, 11:24:26 AM Read #17
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


USB was working when I got there last night, and it seems to have been for a while per other players' claims, but after about an hour and a half it crapped out the same way as on Monday.  I'm inclined to say the software configuration is fine and that we're looking at a hardware problem - the hub's clearly not dead, but some fitting may be a little loose in a way that lets it settle back in place some of the time.
 
June 01, 2011, 01:42:19 PM Read #16
ancsik

Re: Acme ITG updates


I thought this was supposed to be a requirement, so noobs don't accidentally choose a song which only has 10+ difficulty without knowing it. And it seems like the more custom songs you put onto a machine, the more likely this is to happen.

It was supposed to be a requirement, but very few people write full sets of charts, especially not people who throw together ITG packs.  Around half the total content on the Acme machine has full difficulty sets and Amore is the default song, so the risk is greatly mitigated, but it's definitely still there.

I really didn't want to push Expert-only packs onto the machine, but given the recently increased interest at Acme and difficulty of finding full sets, the best solution seems to be pushing packs on and fixing them on the fly.
 
June 01, 2011, 10:07:09 AM Read #15
SomeLauraChick

Re: Acme ITG updates


I'm not great at writing charts (hence all the joke submissions to S.P.E.R.G.I.N.), but I'd gladly write some Basic charts for the total n00bs.  All I have to do is leave some quarter notes in there, right? Grin


I would so look cuter than her if I could find a pair of UGGs that would fit me.
 
June 01, 2011, 09:37:52 AM Read #14
Suko

Re: Acme ITG updates


I like easy stuff, so I'd be willing to make some lower difficulty charts for already existing songs.
I thought this was supposed to be a requirement, so noobs don't accidentally choose a song which only has 10+ difficulty without knowing it. And it seems like the more custom songs you put onto a machine, the more likely this is to happen.


Quote from: amberlewis
Ya yo are absolutely right.I agree with your words.

 
May 31, 2011, 11:02:08 PM Read #13
xenonscreams

Re: Acme ITG updates


My Ke$ha song's real BPM is the lower one of the BPMs listed (don't remember what it is exactly). I like easy stuff, so I'd be willing to make some lower difficulty charts for already existing songs.
 
May 31, 2011, 04:44:49 PM Read #12
mvco

Re: Acme ITG updates


Yes, protect the community and please let Tony know what has offensive lyrics. 
Have fun!


 
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