Forums » General Questions » Add new custom preferences

Hi,
is there any way to add custom preferences entries/values to preferences.ini so they can be handled by PrefsManager?
I tried just writing them to the .ini and then save the file but everytime stepmania runs, it erases it.
thank you !!!
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Only preferences hardcoded into the engine can be used in Preferences.ini.
< cybik> til Kyzentun fixes bugs for breakfast
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< maxvg1> shakesoda: then why do i still play lol
<@shakesoda> because you're an ITG player. And thus, a masochist
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<@shakesoda> Kyzentun: I think you might need to put down the meshes for a bit
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thanks !! I figured that out somehow. Any way to hardcode a new one then?
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A new preference for making a song count as 4 stages isn't a good solution.
It doesn't extend to longer credit times. If you later decide to have 5 stages, the same problem occurs.
It doesn't have fine enough granularity. One player picks four 2:40 songs, for 10:40 of total gameplay time. Another player picks four 1:40 songs, for 6:40 of gameplay time. This is rather unfair to people who prefer shorter songs.

Overall, I don't think the stage system is suited for modern song selection. It just doesn't work out evenly with a wide range of song lengths. A timed set system is much better. The player gets some amount of gameplay time. A song uses up time equal to its length (adjusted for song rate). When the time drops too low, the player's credit is over. Then choices in the operator menu for setting how much time a player gets, the minimum to keep playing, and some reward options to replace the extra stage system with a bit of extra time.
< cybik> til Kyzentun fixes bugs for breakfast
--
< maxvg1> shakesoda: then why do i still play lol
<@shakesoda> because you're an ITG player. And thus, a masochist
--
<@shakesoda> Kyzentun: I think you might need to put down the meshes for a bit
Reply
Thanks for your reply !!

This is rather unfair to people who prefer shorter songs.
No issue at all with the ones who prefer that :)

A timed set system is much better.
Correct me if I´m wrong, but timed sets also take into account the time a user can spend in menus, such as sort menus, song selection wheel, mod menus etc. and not only the song lengths, right?
This is just the opposite to what we´re looking for XD Also, we can´t use this feature in our installation.


Last edited: 19 June 2016 4:39pm

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When I implemented timed sets in my theme, I didn't put menu timers in at all. So only playing a song costs time.
I didn't write timed sets as an engine feature, it's purely a theme-side thing, and I don't think anyone besides me put it in a theme.
< cybik> til Kyzentun fixes bugs for breakfast
--
< maxvg1> shakesoda: then why do i still play lol
<@shakesoda> because you're an ITG player. And thus, a masochist
--
<@shakesoda> Kyzentun: I think you might need to put down the meshes for a bit
Reply
I didn't write timed sets as an engine feature, it's purely a theme-side thing, and I don't think anyone besides me put it in a theme.

Simply Love for SM 3.95 has this feature implemented. However, we are not using this version as our installation is SM5 based. The SM5 version lacks of this feature.

So as far as I can see, there is no solution unless we use a theme with timed sets. No other way to try to hardcode a new preference based on our needs? Any tips? We are willing to learn about sm behaviour/code, try to do it ourselves instead of having this thing done for us.
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The point here is that I've had timed sets working perfectly in Consensual on SM5 for years.

People who aren't skilled programmers trying to implement features like this just results in broken stuff that is either unreliable or doesn't work at all. There are a dozen things that all have to be handled right, all of them obscure and undocumented (because stepmania was never designed to work that way).
< cybik> til Kyzentun fixes bugs for breakfast
--
< maxvg1> shakesoda: then why do i still play lol
<@shakesoda> because you're an ITG player. And thus, a masochist
--
<@shakesoda> Kyzentun: I think you might need to put down the meshes for a bit
Reply