Stependous
----------

Stependous is a utility which facilitates the creation of DWI files for use in your favorite DDR simulator.
Its goal is to be an all-in-one solution for creating step files that is easy for anyone to use.

FEATURES:

- Built-in media player

- Built-in arrow simulator - see the arrows scroll by just like in a DDR simulator.

- Automatic BPM calculation like MixMeister

- Manual BPM/Gap calculation like WinBPM

- Metronome sound like WinBPM (enable/disable this sound via the Options menu)

- Controls to fine-tune the BPM/Gap

- Instantly fast-forward and rewind to any part of the song to see if the BPM continues to be in sync.
  No longer do you have to listen to the entire song to see if the BPM is correct.

- After you have a precise BPM/Gap you can enter steps in real-time just as if you were
  playing a DDR simulator.  With the built-in media player, you can ensure that what you
  see will be what you get when playing the finished steps in a real DDR simulator.
  Enter steps by selecting the "Step Entry" option in the "Mode" menu.

- Play the song in slow-motion during song entry to facilitate the entry of quick steps.

- Import BPM/Gap/steps from existing DWI files.

- Left-click anywhere on the step-entry window to manually toggle steps on and off.

- Click on navigation buttons to the right of the arrow-entry window to move up/down
  half-beats, whole-beats, or pages.

- Press "Enter" during step-entry to advance one half-beat.  This is useful for when you 
  want to do quick manual entry of notes on a beat-by-beat basis instead of entering
  steps while the music is playing.

- Select areas upon which to perform various functions by right-clicking anywhere on the step-entry window.
  Functions : Move selected steps up one half-beat, move selected steps down one half-beat,
  erase the selected steps, and randomize the selected steps.

- Export steps to DWI format along with the artist, title, difficulty, foot rating, and sample start/length

- Fully open-source


Notes about the randomization feature
-------------------------------------

In order to generate random steps for a song, first ensure that the BPM and Gap are in sync
with the song.  Then play through the song and place a step (any step at all) where you 
would like a step to be randomly generated.

Set the Jump Probability to indicate how often you would like jump-steps to occur.

Set the Max String/Jumps to indicate the max number of consecutive jump steps.

Right click on the first step in the song and select "Set Range Start at this Step"

Right click on the last step in the song and select "Set Range End at this Step"

Select "Randomize" from the "Range Action" combobox.

Press the "Do It!" button.


Steps are placed randomly at the locations where steps already exist.  It does this 
semi-intelligently by keeping track of where your feet are most likely to be and avoiding
"silly" step strings.  


I use XStep - why should I use this? 
------------------------------------

Granted, there is a lot of overlap in functionality between Stependous and XStep.  XStep
does do a few things (for now) that Stependous doesn't - e.g. freeze arrows and steps finer
than half-beats.  However, I have found XStep to be rather cumbersome with the external media
player - especially when testing to see if I have the correct BPM for a song.  Additionally, in 
order to test the steps you have to load up the file in Stepmania or DWI - during which time
you don't have much control over which parts you want to test - you have to test the whole thing.
It's a slow, tedious process.

Stependous has a built-in media player which is locked/synced to the graphical arrow/step display
on the right.  You can use the media player slider bar to instantly go to any section of the 
song and see the step arrows scroll up exactly like they would in your DDR simulator.  Not only
is this useful in testing certain portions of your stepfile, but it is also invaluable in testing
the current BPM with the metronome sound.  Instantly jump to any position in the song and see
if the metronome is still in sync.  

My goal for Stependous was to make the world of stepfile-creation more user-friendly and palatable 
to the masses.  Just about anyone can quickly make a completely new stepfile from scratch for any
song they have on their computer.  In a nutshell, here's all that's needed to make a new stepfile:

 1) Launch Stependous

 2) Open a song file on your computer.  The BPM will automatically be calculated.  Adjust the BPM and
    Gap using the controls and use the media player slider bar to test.  This process of obtaining
    and testing a precise BPM/Gap measurement should only take a couple minutes if the song has
    a relatively constant BPM.  

 2a) Alternative step 2 - if you have an existing DWI step file with the correct BPM/Gap, simply
     import it from the main menu.  Then you could clear all the data and re-enter or just 
     randomize the existing steps.

 3) Switch to "Step Data Input" mode from the "Mode" menu

 4) Play the song and enter any step at all at each point in the song you want a step to appear

 5) Right click the first and last steps to select the Start/End range, select Randomize from
    the "Range Action", adjust the settings in the "Randomize" section, and press the "Do It!" button.  

 6) Optionally fill in the title/artist/difficulty/foot rating/sample selection

 7) Go to the "File" menu and save it as a DWI file.  It's now ready for use in your favorite
    DDR simulator.



Let me know what you think
--------------------------

If you have comments or questions about Stependous, go to the About box in the program and
send me an email!  I'm interested in hearing from people about what else they'd like to see
in Stependous or how they think it can be improved.



Possible TODO List
------------------

- Freeze-arrows

- Step entry finer than half-beats.  (In so doing, I would probably need to alter the graphical
representation of the arrows to something more like XStep)

- Read/Write more than one set of steps.

- Double mode arrow entry

- Option to identify the start/end position of the song you are working with.  For example, if you
  have a 5 minute song, but only want to calculate the BPM and enter steps for a 2 minute portion of
  that song, you could use this option to achive that.  


Troubleshooting
---------------

Q: OGG files are not working for me.  What can I do?

A: The build-in music player is an ActiveX version of Windows Media Player.  You most likely do
not have OGG support for WMP.  Go to this URL and download the OggDS filter (first download 
on the page).  Install it and everything should work fine :

	http://tobias.everwicked.com/oggds.htm



Version/Change History
----------------------

0.80 - Initial Release
