Hacking RawkSD

[Finnulf]

I think the Transcend 4GB SD is a lot easier to use w/ system 4.0+ than most people make it. The whole notion of "card swapping" to fool the Wii seems pointless when you don't have to give the system menu any information.

It's as simple as starting RB2 with no card in at all. When you get the Wii remote safety screen, press the A button until it clears. When the loading screen with the animated drummer shows, pop in your 4GB SD (non-HC) card... you can actually pop the card any time from there until you are prompted for the SD card, though I usually just do it right at that first loading screen or during the opening video.

Looking forward to leaving all this card swapping behind. I'm currently using three 4GB Transcend cards plus a regular 2GB card: one 4GB card for our Rock Band party mix, one 4GB card for my heavier stuff, one 4GB card for my miscellaneous RB1/ACDC/GHWT/GH5 imports, and a 2GB card for "oddball" stuff (classic rock, country, funk, Spongebob, etc).

The only question remaining for me is whether I'll clean up my 16GB SDHC card (currently used for GH5 and TBRB, among other minor things) or run out and get a new card. Either way, I'm looking forward to having all of my DLC and imports in one place.

 

[SSJ4-Cassis]

@Sfenton:

Update on swap charts trick: still couldn't get it done

After I delete the part guitar track and create a new one, when I import the GH3guitar.mid I created earlier, no matter what I do or click, I can't make it go to the track I've just created on GHSH. It always finds a way to "append" itself at the end of another track.

Anyways, I didn't give up yet, will try again tomorrow when I get home

@anyone who can explain:

A new doubt arised: I have one track imported from RB track pack 1 (All the small things - Blink 182) and when the "rainbow freestyle" part at the end shows up, it actually doesn't. I know it is the freestyle part because no notes appear, I can play whatever I want and the bonus points box is shown onscreen BUT there's no "rainbow" on my guitar arm and I get no bonus points while playing random notes - when I hit the last chord after the freestyle, I get no bonus points either. Is this a problem with my import or a known bug ? Is there a way to solve this ?

 

[SFenton]

@Sfenton:

Update on swap charts trick: still couldn't get it done

After I delete the part guitar track and create a new one, when I import the GH3guitar.mid I created earlier, no matter what I do or click, I can't make it go to the track I've just created on GHSH. It always finds a way to "append" itself at the end of another track.

Anyways, I didn't give up yet, will try again tomorrow when I get home

I was hoping you'd try it soon. If I understand what you're saying, within the MIDI the GH3Guitar.mid will simply add itself to the end of another track. If you want, I'll do it for you, just PM me the MIDIs. If you'd like a further explanation, well, shoot.

 

[GusMing]

I would guess no but is there a way to get the expert+ charts?

 

[SFenton]

I would guess no but is there a way to get the expert+ charts?

Don't quote me but try version 2.00.

 

[Szalkow]

I would guess no but is there a way to get the expert+ charts?

Don't quote me but try version 2.00.

Didn't v2.00 import Expert+ charts as Expert, horribly breaking any GHMetallica+ imports? Besides, I don't know that Rock Band supports the double pedal regardless of what drums or hardware is hooked up.

 

[SFenton]

I would guess no but is there a way to get the expert+ charts?

Don't quote me but try version 2.00.

Didn't v2.00 import Expert+ charts as Expert, horribly breaking any GHMetallica+ imports? Besides, I don't know that Rock Band supports the double pedal regardless of what drums or hardware is hooked up.

This be untrue, matey. I use me World Tour drums with a double-bass setup for Metallica and screamo songs all the time. Yarr. This is because WT drums recognize a mono signal from the kick that can easily be split to two pedals. RB uses a stereo input, so db is a bit harder. tl;dr- it's a hardware thing, not a software thing.

But yeah, I think he wants Expert+ so 2.00. (Still want an option on that.)

 

[Envido32]

Why bother with a 4GB non-SDHC when in a near future some amazing people will make the use of a SD with RB2 redundant.

Because this "near future" is taking forever... I bought my 4GB non-SDHC some time ago and now I don't think I REALY need more space. I'm more interested in RawkSD 3 for Lego, GHVH and BandHero imports...

 

[Finnulf]

This be untrue, matey. I use me World Tour drums with a double-bass setup for Metallica and screamo songs all the time. Yarr. This is because WT drums recognize a mono signal from the kick that can easily be split to two pedals. RB uses a stereo input, so db is a bit harder. tl;dr- it's a hardware thing, not a software thing.

But yeah, I think he wants Expert+ so 2.00. (Still want an option on that.)

Actually, not true... RB pedals are a mono input as well. The main difference between GH and RB pedals is that the GH pedal incorporates a velocity sensitive piezo whereas the RB pedal has a magnetic switch - which makes it the same as pushing a button. "Double pedal" is charted as two closely spaced bass pedal kicks - something that you do not require two pedals for, it just makes it easier.

Incidentally, there is a Rock Band pedal splitter but because of the difference in signal delivery, it is a specialized circuit box. Because the GH pedal piezos only send a pulse by nature, a simple headphone splitter will work for the GH drum set.



QUOTE(Envido32 @ Feb 19 2010, 02:12 PM) Because this "near future" is taking forever... I bought my 4GB non-SDHC some time ago and now I don't think I REALY need more space. I'm more interested in RawkSD 3 for Lego, GHVH and BandHero imports...

I'm being patient because I really do want to put all of my DLC and imports into one place. Right now they're spread over three 4GB cards and one 2GB card. Being able to import Lego RB would be a bonus. Unless BH or VH have better charting than GH5, I really don't care.

 

[GusMing]

I would guess no but is there a way to get the expert+ charts?

Don't quote me but try version 2.00.

Didn't v2.00 import Expert+ charts as Expert, horribly breaking any GHMetallica+ imports? Besides, I don't know that Rock Band supports the double pedal regardless of what drums or hardware is hooked up.

yea i have 2 hooked up and a few of the customs i have are made X+ it works fine i got a split with a replacement rb2 pedal it works great

and no 2.00 doesn't unless i am missing something magical cause i know there isn't any setting for it and it's not automatic

 

[Szalkow]

and no 2.00 doesn't unless i am missing something magical cause i know there isn't any setting for it and it's not automatic

The "magic" is that 2.00 imported the Expert+ chart to Rock Band's expert difficulty and omitted the non-plus Expert chart. Thus, the expert charts from RawkSD 2.00 imports are Expert+.

 

[GusMing]

no i am playing right now and they aren't X+

come see if you don't believe me http://www.blogtv.com/People/GusMing57 i'll be on for about another hour till late tonight

well if that is X+ it's damn sad you don't even need 2 pedals then later tonight i will make the customs with the real double bass

 

[Szalkow]

no i am playing right now and they aren't X+

come see if you don't believe me http://www.blogtv.com/People/GusMing57 i'll be on for about another hour till late tonight

well if that is X+ it's damn sad you don't even need 2 pedals then later tonight i will make the customs with the real double bass

I personally have never tried so I can't guarantee that you'll get Ex+ charts. Note that you will only import Ex+ with RawkSD 2.00, as 2.01 and 2.02 have removed the Ex+ importing. The wiki does not explicitly link to RawkSD 2.00, meaning unless you downloaded it when 2.00 first came out or you know how the secret backlog download links work (I forget), you don't actually have 2.00. Also, remember that not every song has Expert+, so check the original disc to see if the song you're trying has it charted.

EDIT: it turns out that Version 2.00 was never archived (2.01 came out the same day and was kept instead), so I found a backed-up copy of 2.00 I kept and had Aaron upload it to the wiki. You can now obtain version 2.00 at http://japaneatahand.com/rawksd/rawksd090109.zip (all other backlogged versions also follow the rawksdMMDDYY format if you know the dates).

 

[jlv2]

The problem with the transcend cards is if they're asked to initialize in SDHC mode (which sysmenu 4.0+ will do, or bootmii boot2) they will use it, and they stay in SDHC mode until they're reinserted. This is where the "swap trick" myth comes from. If RB2 sees a SDHC card when it starts, it will give up on SD mode completely and not even try using it if you insert a different card. Just insert the card *after* starting RB2, IOS37 will be running and initialize it in regular SD mode, and it will work.

Does this work with 4G SDHC cards?

 

[spritefreak]

I am trying to import RB songs into RawkSD, but Windows keeps shutting it down. I was able to import GH songs, but it keeps shutting down on me for RB songs....any ideas on why or how to fix?

This is what Windows gives me for the error:

Description:
Stopped working

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Users\Matty\AppData\Local\Temp\WERF594.tmp.version.txt
C:\Users\Matty\AppData\Local\Temp\WER57D.tmp.hdmp

 

[SSJ4-Cassis]

@Sfenton:

SUCCESSSSSS!!!! It worked! Dunno what I did wrong the first 2 times(?) but like they say, "third time is a charm" hehe

I checked bass and vocals (didn't rent the drum kit this weekend) and they are ok, kept the GHSG chart and are working perfectly.

Thanks again for your help man, now I can play with the gang using the "fun" GH3 guitar chart instead of the lesser difficult GHSH chart.

BTW I have another situation you may know what to do:

I've got some songs at FoF forums with separated .ogg files for guitar, rythm, vocals and drums. If I create a custom like the other "regular" customs with RawkSD, I can use only one source as the sound track.

As the files are separated, if I use "rythm" for instance, when I play the game it doesn't have the sounds of the other instruments and it is really odd (the note charts are there for all instruments though).

I tried to consolidate the 4 tracks as one .ogg file using reaper and couldn't generate "one whole package" with the song. Tried another option (render) and the song has shown up as expected

Well, so far so good. The questions about my little adventure above are: is there a better way to do this "convert the 4 .ogg files into one whole song"? And is it possible to use this solution to select wich channels will be linked to each instrument on "Edit custom"? I'm not sure if I understood this right but if I'm not mistaken, if you know what channel is linked to what instrument (and check the corresponding box in Edit Customs) if you miss a note inside RB2 you will get the track muted for that error - is that correct?

Oh and thanks again for offering to do the swap chart trick for me, I was in hospital for 2 days so I couldn't get Internet access to answer you.

 

[SFenton]

I am trying to import RB songs into RawkSD, but Windows keeps shutting it down. I was able to import GH songs, but it keeps shutting down on me for RB songs....any ideas on why or how to fix?

This is what Windows gives me for the error:

Description:
Stopped working

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Users\Matty\AppData\Local\Temp\WERF594.tmp.version.txt
C:\Users\Matty\AppData\Local\Temp\WER57D.tmp.hdmp

Run as admin if you're on Vista/Win7.

QUOTE(SSJ4-Cassis @ Feb 21 2010, 12:37 AM) @Sfenton:

SUCCESSSSSS!!!! It worked! Dunno what I did wrong the first 2 times(?) but like they say, "third time is a charm" hehe

I checked bass and vocals (didn't rent the drum kit this weekend) and they are ok, kept the GHSG chart and are working perfectly.

Thanks again for your help man, now I can play with the gang using the "fun" GH3 guitar chart instead of the lesser difficult GHSH chart.

BTW I have another situation you may know what to do:

I've got some songs at FoF forums with separated .ogg files for guitar, rythm, vocals and drums. If I create a custom like the other "regular" customs with RawkSD, I can use only one source as the sound track.

As the files are separated, if I use "rythm" for instance, when I play the game it doesn't have the sounds of the other instruments and it is really odd (the note charts are there for all instruments though).

I tried to consolidate the 4 tracks as one .ogg file using reaper and couldn't generate "one whole package" with the song. Tried another option (render) and the song has shown up as expected

Well, so far so good. The questions about my little adventure above are: is there a better way to do this "convert the 4 .ogg files into one whole song"? And is it possible to use this solution to select wich channels will be linked to each instrument on "Edit custom"? I'm not sure if I understood this right but if I'm not mistaken, if you know what channel is linked to what instrument (and check the corresponding box in Edit Customs) if you miss a note inside RB2 you will get the track muted for that error - is that correct?

Oh and thanks again for offering to do the swap chart trick for me, I was in hospital for 2 days so I couldn't get Internet access to answer you.

Glad to know!

Anyways for the .ogg thingymabob, open up Audacity and import all four .oggs. Make sure you know which channel is which- For instance, channel 1 could be guitar, 2, vocals, 3 drums, 4 rhythm, etc. Then, export your file as a WAV. When you use RawkSD, import this WAV. It *should* show you, when you get to the difficulty-setting screen, the option to assign each instrument track to a channel. Then, set each track to its respective channel. Note that if you have a drums.ogg, you shouldn't have to check "Add Empty Drum Track" because, well, you already have one.

 

[spritefreak]

@SFenton

How do I run as admin? I didn't have the same issue with importing GH games....why is it happening with RB games?

Edit: Nevermind...I figured it out! Thanks for your help though!

 

[SFenton]

@SFenton

How do I run as admin? I didn't have the same issue with importing GH games....why is it happening with RB games?

Edit: Nevermind...I figured it out! Thanks for your help though!

No prob, enjoy your imports.

 

[SSJ4-Cassis]

Hmm not sure if no one knows this answer or if my post just got unnoticed earlier:

I have one track imported from RB track pack 1 (All the small things - Blink 182) and when the "rainbow freestyle" part at the end shows up, it actually doesn't. I know it is the freestyle part because no notes appear, I can play whatever I want and the bonus points box is shown onscreen BUT there's no "rainbow" on my guitar arm and I get no bonus points while playing random notes - when I hit the last chord after the freestyle, I get no bonus points either.

Is this a problem with my import or a known bug ? Is there a way to solve this ?