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XDRV Charting Guide

QUICKSTART: Getting Started

Welcome! If you are interested in quickly learning how to set up and start charting for EX-XDRiVER (XDRV), this article should help you out! Due to the contents of the “Getting Started” section being very instructional, this QUICKSTART will also be laid out step-by-step. Any important resources will be linked within the step.

Charting Tools

Section titled “Charting Tools”

There are a number of tools that you can use to create XDRV charts, including any stepfile chart editor (e.g. ArrowVortex). With that said, for anyone willing to try out a new chart editor, I recommend Trackmaker, as it is tailored to creating XDRV charts. In addition to Trackmaker, a few other applications and plugins are useful in charting for XDRV. Here are the steps for installing all of the charting tools this tutorial requires:

  1. If you do not have it yet, download Audacity (I recommend downloading without Muse Hub) and Notepad++.

  2. Download the latest release of Trackmaker, a chart editor for XDRV. Follow the instructions for running Trackmaker on the GitHub page.

  3. Optionally, download and set up the latest release of XDRVTools, a plugin for editing .xdrv files in Notepad++. Follow the instructions for installation on the GitHub page.

Setting Up Your Chart

Section titled “Setting Up Your Chart”

Setting up a chart in XDRV isn’t too complicated, through there is a bit to know for your first time. XDRV chart files use the .xdrv extension. For audio, XDRV accepts OGGs, MP3s, and WAVs, though OGGs are preferred. For audio quality, 192 or 256 kbps is ideal.

For jacket art, JPGs and PNGs are accepted, though JPGs are best. XDRV internally downsizes all jacket art for custom charts to 512x512 px, making it the most optimized jacket size. Once you have your audio and jacket files, you can begin chart setup:

  1. Create a folder that will contain your custom chart’s files (both the chart file, audio, and jacket art).
  • DirectoryMy_Custom_Charts
    • DirectorySTRUT_TheBlockiest
      • audio.ogg
      • HYPER.xdrv
      • jacket.jpg
    • DirectoryAcrise_TheBlockiest/
      • …

  1. Place the audio and jacket art that your chart will use into the folder.

  2. Create a .xdrv file within the folder. If you want to follow common practice, name the file its planned difficulty (BEGINNER, NORMAL, HYPER, EXTREME).

  3. Open the .xdrv file in Notepad++.

  4. Find XDRVTools in the plugins menu, and select “Generate Chart Metadata.”

  5. Following the Chart Format Documentation, fill out the metadata for your chart.

  6. Once your metadata is all set, open the .xdrv file in Trackmaker.

Determining Chart Offset

Section titled “Determining Chart Offset”

Since Trackmaker does not support editing the offset of a chart, calibrating your chart can be tricky. Therefore, your best bet for chart calibration is to use Audacity to view the audio’s waveform. Using the waveform, find the time at the start of the song’s first measure. The proper offset for the chart can then be found using the following equation:

Offset = -Time at First Measure + (60 / BPM) × Beat Count

You may want the chart to start some number of beats before the start of the first measure to give the chart more dead air. (This is the Beat Count value.) You may also need to add a #TIME_SIGNATURE marker at the beginning of the chart if the song does not have a time signature of 4/4.

Using Trackmaker

Section titled “Using Trackmaker”

While the full Using Trackmaker passage goes in-depth on Trackmaker’s functionality, you can learn Trackmaker just by using it. For features unsupported by Trackmaker, such as adding timing segments, you may need to open the .xdrv file in a text editor and edit it there. Feel free to reference the Chart Format Documentation when editing an .xdrv file directly.

XDRV Custom Support

Section titled “XDRV Custom Support”

While XDRV allows all players to play official and custom charts, functionality exists to make testing and viewing WIP charts easier. This functionality is contained within a launch mode of the game called “Chart Developer Mode.” To access this mode, click the gear and select “Properties…” from the dropdown. When the properties menu opens, make sure that the “General” tab is selected. Navigate to “Launch Options,” and in the text box for that section, enter the code -chartdev.

Steam launch options, with "-chartdev" typed into the text box

While in “Chart Developer Mode,” charts automatically reload upon playing them. This means that charts do not need to be manually reloaded in settings (which reloads ALL charts) whenever one chart is altered. Additionally, while playing a chart, the player can use the left and right arrows to jump between checkpoints, allowing them to quickly get to a section.

That’s all for the basics of EX-XDRiVER custom chart setup! If you’re ready to jump into the tools listed above and start messing around with patterning, I highly implore you to! For some experienced charters, the best way to learn the charting process is to experience it. Otherwise, feel free to jump to the next QUICKSTART or another article.