Forums » Input, Adapters & Controllers » New to StepMania

1
Yay my first post!
This is a really long post though... so I put a tl;dr at the bottom for those
who just want to get straight to the point.
Anyways...

Hello everyone! My name is Seraphios.

I used to be a big fan of Dance Dance Revolution back when the arcade
versions still existed. Sadly they have stopped production for them a
long time ago so I was never able to find one to play with again.

Luckily my friend recently introduced me to StepMania and I loved it
because I could dance to anime songs instead of just American music.
Not only that he used a really awesome dance pad called the Omega GX
I believe.

But enough about myself...

After I found out about StepMania I decided to find dance pads to use along
with the program. The issue I have though is that I don't know what dance
pad to choose nor what companies I should look out for when it comes to
buying them.

For example, I found a website called DDRGame. Now they seemed to offer
a variety of dance pads for almost every console and including PC so I thought
"Hey, maybe this is where I should buy them". BUT, I found out that the dance
pads they sell sometimes come bundled up with a program, which I saw was
StepMania. Curious I looked around the store and saw that they were actually
selling the program for $30.00 each! They even included the price on the bundles!

So here I was wondering, "Isn't StepMania free? Why is this company selling
the program for so much?". Mind you I just found out about StepMania so I
have no idea what is going so I became suspicious of this website and decided
not to browse any further.

I know this website, which I saw was recently renewed and improved,
recommended DancePadMania for controllers but they seemed a little
expensive and I didn't know whether to get the basic version or the deluxe
version. The DDRGame website has them cheaper but I am not sure which
pads would be better for me, which is why I am here. Also, if people have
any other dance pad recommendations please tell me.

Also to note, I read somewhere that dance pads don't get along very well with
carpeted floor. Is that true? Like what are the consequences of not having a
flat hard surface to use the dance pad on?

Oh I forgot to mention, when playing with my friend I was dancing around
the numbers 4 to 6 in difficulty. Not sure if that is helpful info but I hope it is!
And also I can't really afford the Omega GX, which I heard is $300, so that is
out of the question. My budget is less than $100 and I am trying to see if I
can buy two dance pads instead of one but that's just "luxury".

Thank you very much to those who actually read through this long post. I am
sorry I made you read all of it though >.<



TL;DR
- Name is Seraphios.
- Fan of DDR that got introduced to StepMania.
- Not sure if DDRGame is a scam website due to selling StepMania for $30
- Don't know what dance pads to buy, whether basic or deluxe.
- Don't know if I should buy from DDRGame or DancePadMania (recommended)
or from any other websites.
- Does carpeted floor ruin dance pads?
- Difficulty played so far: 4 ~ 6 (For knowing what dance pads I should get if it
helps knowing)
- Budget: Less than $100 (Trying to get two pads if possible but it's "luxury" at
that point.)
- Thank you very much for reading!
Reply
Hey there! Welcome to Stepmania!
I play with an Omega GX pad, but since that's not an option (understandably, although I will say it is much better than your under $100 options), the only other USB pad I've used is the DDRGame Deluxe 4-in-1 pad with the foam insert. It works well enough, especially if you're playing 4-6 foot songs. The dance pad will slide more on carpet generally than on a hard surface, but you can get a flat piece of wood and tape the pad down to that if you want to improve performance. You don't need to do that as much with a foam insert pad as you would a cheap pad without the insert. I wouldn't really bother unless it becomes a problem in practice. There are other pads out there, but I don't have any personal experience with them. I would say generally though that a deluxe pad with foam is probably worth an extra $20 or whatever compared to one without it, especially if it has raised arrows or some way to feel where you are on the mat. I wouldn't buy Stepmania from DDRGame. I'm not sure if it's a SCAM necessarily as I think they'll give you the program on a disc maybe with some songs pre-loaded. In 2006, this might have been nice for people who didn't want to download everything, but I certainly wouldn't pay them any money for a program you can download here for free and then pick all the songs you want. Anyways, hopefully my comments have been somewhat helpful. Good luck getting all set up and stepping!

Last edited: 15 April 2014 5:18pm

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Ah. Well thank you very much DevinUp!

I was hoping for more people to reply but I guess your answer will make do
for me to choose what dance pad I should go for.

Again, thank you very much!
Reply
Not a problem. It'd be nice if you could get some other opinions. Maybe wait a few more days? Anyways, I think a nice-ish soft mat is going to run somewhere around $60, and one without the foam inserts will probably be about $30. Not sure if there's a good brand I don't know about for these. Most of the big names of the past are now defunct (Ignition, etc.). Even with more expensive dance pads, most of the big names are long gone (Cobalt Flux, Blueshark) so it's pretty hard to find much of anything. Good luck to you though!

I'd offer to share my song collection with you as pretty much all of the files have something in the 4-6 foot range, but it's basically all American music, not anime or J-pop or anything. I assume by now you've found a couple good places to download simfiles, but if you'd like, I could provide a few of those.

Last edited: 17 April 2014 4:10pm

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For carpet you will need a solid base to put under the soft pad. Either wood or MDF would work fine, then you'll want to tape the edge of the pad down to the wood to keep it flat this will also make the soft pad last longer than normal. Soft pads work better than foam pads for this easy mod. Cheapest soft pad you'll find is about $15 for a USB dance pad on ebay but the arrows are smaller than normal. You can find PS2 dance pads for cheap but then you'll need a special adapter for the pad to work through USB.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PS2-to-PS3-Controller-Converter-USB-PC-game-Adapter-USA-/281089015003?pt=US_Video_Game_Cables_Adapters&hash=item417235fcdb

Sometimes these don't work very well but sometimes they do, I've had about 50/50 luck with them.

Otherwise outside of your price range are metal pads. I do the precisiondancepads and we build our pads on MDF so they work on carpet by default, they last a long time and don't degrade but start at $300. I think we have a refurbished pad available for $200, it also takes awhile as we have a solid reputation and lots of pads waiting to be built (about 3-weeks behind on pads right now)... Also if you're new to StepMania we share our collection, on our site is a USB thumb drive or you can buy one and ship to us and we'll return it full of goodies. The cost is for the drive itself not the content on it, we don't charge to return someone's drive back to them, but it's 45GB of content and we haven't uploaded it for a host yet.
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You can just use a cheap pad to start with. Personally I use the Energy DDR pad for multiple systems.

Plus, it's pretty easy to mod a cheap pad into something actually decent. All you need is:

* 4'x8' 1/4" or 1/2" thick plywood
* Staple gun and flat or round staples
* Duct tape

1. Get the plywood from home depot or lowes (or international equivalent). Have them make a few cuts for you to leave you two 36"x38" boards.

2. Flatten your mat the best you can. I found leaving it sandwiched between the two boards overnight did the trick.

3. Carefully staple the cloth edge trimming of your mat down on the plywood, being sure to pull it taut as you go, don't leave any creases or wrinkles

4. Finally, Duct tape down the edges.

Optional: if you wish, you can cover this entire setup with clear vinyl sheeting for a good finish and added durability. I never bothered.

This basically turns a cheap $30 pad into something quality that will last for years, from personal experience.

Last edited: 28 April 2014 6:27pm

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