Any way to change scrolling speed?

[Zarigis]

I find for some songs I have trouble determining what exactly I'm supposed to press, things that look like chords are actually quickly hitting one note after another. I think maybe if the notes were spread out (ie the scrolling speed of the whole note thing was faster) this would make it easier to see.. Is there any option for changing this?

[drno830]

There is not an option for scrolling speed on songs.

Welcome to the forum

[Zarigis]

Thanks. Are there any plans to put this in? From what I can tell GH3 has something at least similar to this and it looks much closer to a speed that I think I'd like..

[drno830]

They said that they weren't going to put it in to make it more authentic, but they may add something in the future. That last sentence is all pure speculation and should not be taken as a confirmation

It could happen. /angels in the outfield quote

[NattyLight]

You can change the actual song speed in practice mode.

[Zarigis]

Heh, alright. Thanks again. Hopefully someone from Harmonix is listening :P

I really have no idea how making a static scrolling rate makes it more "authentic" though.. that seems like a strange explanation. Seems like the rate at which it scrolls is entirely arbitrary..

Edit:
The actual song speed isn't really what I'm having difficulties with, its the spacing of the notes that I'm having troubles with. The speed of the song in practice mode won't really help that.

[Quastor]

Expert scrolls 10% faster than the other difficulties.

[hkhawk]

It is easy to increase the scrolling speed, just play on a harder level!

[Zarigis]

Heh, I'm playing on expert and I still don't find that it scrolls fast enough to distinguish notes when things get crazy..

[AdamWill]

There was a huge ass thread about this (search for 'hyperspeed'). Some people want it, some think it's cheating (don't ask), the only hard information we have is a) it's not in RB, b) there's a random HMX interview from a while ago with the rather odd (for the reason you noted) excuse that it's something to do with "the experience of playing real music".

the thread was eventually locked by a non-HMX moderator after it descended into personal abuse. no-one from HMX ever posted. so aside from that odd interview we have nothing concrete from HMX on why hyperspeed isn't in RB and whether there's any chance for it to be in a patch.

[ZkDotNet]

Yes. In Rock Band we just made expert scroll by a bit faster by default. That, combined with what we think are clearer gems should make speed-up cheats unnecessary.

I'd be interested to get feedback on the track speeds once you guys have had some time with the game.

FYI. <tenchar>

[AdamWill]

ah. thanks. what thread was that from?

methinks Chris will be due for a large private message from deepbluevibes some time soon. =)

[Zarigis]

I can see why that post was locked... I wasn't trying to start up any controversy with this post, it just seemed like a pretty standard addition to the game. Why people were so ferverently against it is beyond me.

I find the term "cheat" very unsettling in this context, does harmonix really feel that making the notes scroll faster gives players an unfair advantage? Even if they do put it in I'd be worried about not being able to go online while using it because its considered a "cheat".

Thank you for that quote, ZkDotNet, that seems to be the most official word recieved. The last sentence gives me some hope that they'd at least be open to the idea.

I just thought this was something they may have simply overlooked.. I didn't realize there was such an ideological debate over it..

[HellishFiend]

I hope they add an option to adjust the track speed because I find it far too slow to deal with the decreased hit window.

[HMXChrisCanfield]

Wherever you stand on authenticity vs gameyness, we had hoped we could address the underlying issue quickly and elegantly through better defaults. That frees up development time to focus on other things, like trying to nail the feeling of being in a band.

Personally, I've never felt that track speed is a cheat, so much as a personal preference. The goal of any display is to help the player perform at the best of their abilities. Everything in this interface, from color choices to animation to note sizes, is all there to help the player kick as much ass as possible. I can understand why others feel differently about this particular possibility, though. So don't go flaming those people, ok?

PS, my PM box is always open, or you can e-mail me directly at chris[at]chriscanfield.net . Sean and the rest of his team are keeping up with the latest developments in a way that I'm not, so I bow to his salient knowledge, but we're always looking for tuning and other feedback for future projects.

[HellishFiend]

Thanks for the post Chris! Glad to see not everyone over there looks down on increased track speed these days. I am, however, dismayed that you say youre looking for feedback for "future projects". I am still hoping track speed modifiers will be patched in sometime in the future. After all, a true platform of any kind should be as robust as possible, shouldnt it? I dont think the players' options as to how they use their "platform" to enjoy the content theyve purchased should be limited to one track speed per difficulty, and I know many others agree.

[AdamWill]

FWIW, Chris, I don't have RB yet (in Canada :<) but from the videos I've seen (particularly of Blackened), the scroll speed is rather slow for the most complex drum charts. I'll send you a PM once I've got the game and tried it out for real, but for now it does look like I'd rather have a faster scroll speed, at least 2x.

I'm still, honestly, confused about how the scroll speed of the chart could possibly be seen to have anything to do with "the experience of playing real music". The experience of playing real music does not involve watching a simplified version of the song tab scroll by on a TV screen - this isn't something I've ever seen any real rock band do - so what's the thought process here? This whole mechanic is *inherently* unrealistic, so I don't see how the scroll speed used can have any bearing on exactly how realistic it is.

[likwidomg]

I'm still, honestly, confused about how the scroll speed of the chart could possibly be seen to have anything to do with "the experience of playing real music". The experience of playing real music does not involve watching a simplified version of the song tab scroll by on a TV screen - this isn't something I've ever seen any real rock band do - so what's the thought process here? This whole mechanic is *inherently* unrealistic, so I don't see how the scroll speed used can have any bearing on exactly how realistic it is.

That's where you go out and buy a real instrument and play whatever speed you want. Remember, it's called Rock Band the video game, not Rock Band the real band. :P

[AdamWill]

um. do you actually understand the context of the discussion?

An HMX employee mentioned in an interview that there was no scroll speed option because this would not be compatible with "the experience of playing real music". I was wondering how this made sense. Your reply does not address this point at all. Thanks for trying, though.

Note that we are talking about ***scroll*** speed. The speed at which the note chart scrolls. This does not affect the speed of the actual song. The song, and the actual pattern you play, does not change in any way at all. All that changes is the scroll speed of the visual representation (the note chart).

[Apples]

I know this topic has been debated to death.... but I'd like to offer my own personal insight.

Yesterday I upped the difficulty on my "ethusiastic amateur" drummer character to expert. I barely squeaked by hard difficulty and wanted to press myself for a challenge.

The first thing I noticed was the "improved" scrolling speed of expert. I don't know the specific velocity increase, but it was significant and noticable in a welcome sort of way. Two sets into the campaign, an unusual trend had developed. Despite the increased difficulty of the note charts and increased speed, I was keeping longer note streaks and hitting higher percentages than anything on hard.

Later on that day, I jumped into Band World Tour, and went back down to hard for safety. I instantly found I was back into my old ways of error-prone play. The songs were the same, but my peformances had plummeted by downgrading the difficulty. I went back up to expert and was instantly back in business.

For my mental processes, the increased scrolling speed made it much easier to assess the note chart and maintain tempo. Some people may not get it, because they don't use the same processes that I would. But to me, it's very valuable. When I look at a slow scrolling chart, there's too much information present, and there is an overload on mental processes trying to deciper it all. Space it out and arrange it differently, and the mind can adapt more readily to the chart.

So that's why scrolling speed is harped on as a big issue for some and not for others. If you have a certain brand of mental process, these games click better with a faster tempo.

For me, I'll just stay on expert for now and enjoy it. :D

[j00zt1n]

I play a game called Beatmania IIDX, and some players in the IIDX community use a trick called "Towel Mode" to help them score better. It involves draping a towel over the front of the screen so that it cuts off a section of the play field. This equates to less notes on the screen at a time, and presents the illusion of a faster scrolling chart. I haven't tried this on Rock Band, but it sounds like it could work alright, despite the perspective change in this game vs. IIDX (in IIDX the chart is flat up and down, rather than coming at you).

I would very much like an option to change scroll speed as well, it is most definitely not unfair and would improve scoring for a lot of people.

[monoxidehektik]

I find for some songs I have trouble determining what exactly I'm supposed to press, things that look like chords are actually quickly hitting one note after another. I think maybe if the notes were spread out (ie the scrolling speed of the whole note thing was faster) this would make it easier to see.. Is there any option for changing this?

I absolutely love the way this guy comes into the forum, and makes a very great point that is pro-hyperspeed (i think we should henceforth call it scroll speed to get away from the "cheat" stigma) and he is totally clueless to the whole debate over it. Even sensible people, such as Zarigis here, can see how necessary a player preference like this can be. Us scroll speed patriots need a motto that rhymes or something.;)

[Frederf]

Do the note windows change size depending on difficulty? Like easy you can play +/-50ms and expert you have to play +/-25ms?

[Sarge51]

Hah. Rock Band does seem to have an odd look to it, even I think some notes aren't chords.

Just practice it until you KNOW that Chord in that song isn't really a Chord.




Do the note windows change size depending on difficulty? Like easy you can play +/-50ms and expert you have to play +/-25ms?

No, I actually think it's all the same time opening to hit a note, no matter what difficulty.

[AdamWill]

Apples, I believe Chris posted somewhere in this thread or elsewhere that the speed increase on Expert is 10&#37;.

j00zt1n: doesn't IIDX have a 'Sudden' mode anyway? I thought it did, some of the players at my arcade use that. Well, that's on 12/13, maybe it wasn't on earlier versions.

[batsu336]

I find for some songs I have trouble determining what exactly I'm supposed to press, things that look like chords are actually quickly hitting one note after another. I think maybe if the notes were spread out (ie the scrolling speed of the whole note thing was faster) this would make it easier to see.. Is there any option for changing this?

Maybe I'm missing your problem here, but isn't the scrolling combined with more notes as you progress thw whole point of the difficulty settings? If it's too hard, go down a difficulty setting until you are better at it. It's like saying "That Sonic the Hedgehog is good, but it would be better if he didn't move so damn fast. I can't keep up." You do have an option, it's called easy mode.

[sporkBrigade]

Maybe I'm missing your problem here, but isn't the scrolling combined with more notes as you progress thw whole point of the difficulty settings? If it's too hard, go down a difficulty setting until you are better at it. It's like saying "That Sonic the Hedgehog is good, but it would be better if he didn't move so damn fast. I can't keep up." You do have an option, it's called easy mode.

You should probably read through the rest of the thread to get caught up on what's being discussed. This isn't an issue of difficulty, it's a personal preference to the speed that the chart scrolls.

Personally, I couldn't care less about Hyperspeed. I just wish that in full band mode everyone's scrolls speed didn't default to the lowest difficulty being played by non-singers. It's disorienting to play the same song at the same difficulty, then have the scroll speed change based on what difficulty other people are choosing.

[Maggot_Brain]

I'd like to have the option. It's fun to play medium on higher speeds and show boat without having having to move yer hand all over the place. It's about style, man. :D

[Zarigis]

I wouldn't even consider the track moving faster "showboating" at this point. I find that it moves so slow that I'm only paying attention to the last 1/2-1/4 of the chart because everything above it seems so far away in terms of timing.

I'm very glad that we got a response from a Harmonix guy in there, and that the unanimous position of them isn't "changing scroll speed is hax".

In response to batsu336, the issue isn't that my hand can't move fast enough, or that I can't read it fast enough, its that as the notes are coming down on some parts I have enough time to look at them, go ".. the hell is that?" and then flail wildly as I attempt to interpret a mishmash of colour.

Given that there is the capacity for altering scrolling speed -already- in the game (as witnessed by it changing as you change difficulty) I see no reason why a patch couldn't simply let the user tap into this variable and alter it.

Admittedly seeing as the whole band's scroll speed seems to be synced up you -might- have to change everyone's scroll speed to keep it consistant, but I guarantee you that nobody in my band would be opposed to this.