Astroman .chart2dat converter - Updated 21 May 08

[darthslaw]

This converter is written in Java. It was originally written by astroman, and I am making modifications to it.

If you're having trouble converting a chart, open and save it in the latest version of Feedback (currently 0.94b). If it still doesn't work, post the chart here and I'll see what I can do about it. Remember that if I can't replicate the problem, I can't fix it, either. Thanks.

You can download the converter at one of the links below (click on the green date corresponding to the release you want to download):

Latest Release:

2008-05-21

• Fixed a small logic error during a tempo scan procedure.
  
• The converter should now correctly handle charts that have empty sections.
  
• Added several try/catch blocks to print exception messages. This will allow for better debugging, and it will allow the converter to continue the conversion process, rather than stopping at the error point.
  

Previous Releases:

2008-01-22

• Star power lengths should now be correctly calculated. I forgot to scale the length calculations in the previous version.
  
• The converter will now ignore occurences of track events. Previously, the converter would stop working when it tried to parse an event, therefore resulting in an incomplete dat file.
  
• A confirmation dialog will pop up when the converter has successfully converted the chart file. If you do not see this dialog, then a problem may have occurred while converting.
  
• The <CLICKS> tag value is now printed as an integer, not a double. This corrected a parsing error that would occur in the Guitar Zero 2 betas but not in the original Guitar Zero.
  
• If the sync offset is 0, the converter will no longer print "-0.0" to the dat for the <SYNCHADJUST> tag value.
  
• Fixed so only a single newline is printed at the end of the dat file. Though this is no longer an issue with the latest Guitar Zero 2 betas, it was a simple fix, so I did it.
  
• Charts with a resolution (clicks per beat) other than 192 will now correctly convert.
  
• Default value for the clicks per beat textbox is now 480, the Guitar Zero standard value.
  
• Internal update: For the notes/starpower sections of the chart, the converter now passes each line to a parsing function, which populates a string array. Spaces denote the separation of the values. The casual user should not notice any difference in the operation of this converter; please report if you do.
  

2007-12-20

• Conversion of all difficulties and not just expert (fixed "issues" from last version)
  
• Corrected note length calculation (gave problems on songs that had large tempo changes in them)
  
• Ability to customize the number of clicks per beat (see readme for detailed information)
  
• Additional customization of song path
  

2007-12-11

• Correct differentiation of star power phrase markers from face-off phrase markers.
  
• Artist and track names obtained from .chart file; text boxes for manual entry removed
  
• Synch adjust obtained from .chart file; user can overwrite by entering a nonzero value in the textbox.
  
• Song folder determined by the format "<artist> - <track>" (e.g. /SONGS/custom/U2 - Vertigo/song.dat)
  
• Convert all difficulties (some "issues")
  

Ideas for future versions:

• Ability to convert different parts in the song (i.e. bass parts) or perhaps reroute what goes to each difficulty
  
• Some kind of config or settings saving.
  
• Improve how the converter decides what info to put in the song.dat "header" (.ogg paths, etc)
  
• A better interface/window for checking general song info (track, artist names, etc)
  

Let me know if you have any problems, locate any bugs, or have any new feature ideas or changes to suggest.

[moonflow43]

awesome, i must have missed this O.o

great job on completing this project! it really needed it

[hzac]

Epic, Fkn great work, nice to see some continuation on this project, even if it isnt by the origianl creator.

You have made this tool 100x better

[darthslaw]

Glad to hear you like it

By the way, I found a (small) bug in the current version -- if you change the clicks per beat from 192 to another value, star power lengths will be incorrectly calculated (I forgot to make it scale the star power click duration when reading the .chart file).

This has been fixed, and it will not be a problem in the next release.

[chaliewong]

When i converter the .chart to .dat
i found that all most of the notes has changed white note,I can play it by left hand only most of time,right hand is unnecessary.
but i checked the notes in feedback ,the white notes were natural.there was'n so much notes that i can play it well just only by my left hand.
why did this occur after converte?
is there any wrong step i did in feedback?
help please.
i hope you can understand what i means
my english is so bad.forgive me please~
THX.
in feedback:

in zero:

[insanehardhead]

the guitar zero program inserts its own HO/PO into the song based on how close they are together - if the bpm was raised the problem would be fixed, but the lines might not line up

[chaliewong]

i've fixed it~~~~haha
the click per beat must be "480" when converted by "chart to dat".

[darthslaw]

Cool beans. It works

I think there is a way to change the clicks per beat in feedback itself as well, but I don't know how (or if that is totally the case). Does anyone know anything about that?

[darthslaw]

Ok, I think I'm way overdue for this update, but here it is.

22 January 2008
Fixes star power length calculation, and changes/fixes a few parsing and output issues.

(Will update the main post shortly...)

[philauto]

i dont get it i clikt convert and nothing happened.

[darthslaw]

Try just finding a chart file and clicking convert (leave the destination file at its default: c:/song.dat). If the song.dat is created, but no "conversion complete" confirmation message pops up, there was probably some error during conversion. If that is the case, upload the .chart so I can find out what the problem is. If it does complete, and the dat works, then I'm going to guess that there was a bad output file destination the first time (i.e. points to a directory, not a song.dat file).

There's not really any such error checking in the current release (or any of them for that matter), sp stuff can go wrong without your knowing. If you want to check it out, the best way would be to run the .jar on the command line and see if you get any exceptions or such. You can use this batch file:

java -jar JARNAME
@pause

Just replace JARNAME with the name of the .jar you are running.


On a related note, I've been working on the converter -- if all goes according to plan, it will be able to convert between chart. dat. and sng files, and have a pretty GUI with a log panel describing problems encountered and indicating success.

.mid file support will be added later when (a) when I have the plain text formats working, so I have a reference, and (b) I figure out exactly how to read/write midi files ; the idea is that once I get the midi support, it will not only create Guitar Zero 2 friendly midi files, but also take care of creating some of the Guitar Hero tracks that aren't handled by any of the other converters, like the Singer track and the Drums track. This probably won't be in the first release.

I don't know how when I will finish this "new" converter, but it should certainly be more impressive than the first one. I think once I get the GUI and internal communication stuffs finished, it will be fairly easy going from there. Again, .mid support will come in a later release, to help hasten the first release.

[philauto]

no it just does absolutly nothing it doesnt even do anything, i specifyed the file which is indeed a .chart. and clikt convert and nothing happens, i tried it with many different charts i just cant get it to do anything

[darthslaw]

Hmm... I'm not really sure what to tell you. Is there any file (song.dat) generated at all? Even if it's empty/mostly empty... the program creates the output file first-thing.

Try updating your JRE, if you're not at the latest version or somewhere near it. Also, upload some of the charts you tried to convert, and I'll see if I can replicate the problem (and fix it).

[philauto]

i dont know what JRE is

[iamsensay]

JRE =Java Runtime Environment

[philauto]

well i just installed JRE and it still does nothing, am i using the progam incorrectly? its not like it bugs out and has an error message. it just doesnt do anything. i choose my file where i want it to, be clik convert, and nothing.

[darthslaw]

Download and run this modified version -- if the program is working correctly, when you press the convert button, a text box will pop up, saying that the conversion process is beginning, and will indicate the source path and destination path. If the program successfully converts the chart, another dialog should be displayed, saying that it has finished.

Let me know if one, both, or neither of the dialogs pop up. Also tell me whether your output .dat file is created (whether it is a complete dat file or not, the program creates the file before it does anything else).

If all else fails, try it on another computer and see if the problem persists.

[philauto]

thank you, this one worked! thankyou very much for helping

[darthslaw]

It made the conversion? Cool.

The only change I made in the code, other than adding the dialog box when starting a conversion, was that I removed some code that changed all '\' characters into "\\" in the file name paths. I don't know why that part was written (I didn't write that part), and I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the problem since it worked for me both with that portion inserted and also with it removed.

[philauto]

the first one i tried worked, but now some of them are only half converting, the file sais

tempo 93r9839847938493849
tempo 78788909809-0-0-0
tempo78890909

or somthing but no notes

[darthslaw]

Hmm... post the chart and I'll have a look. The last time I had a problem like this was because it was throwing an exception when parsing a track event, and that has since been fixed, as far as I know.

Possibly, something else might be screwing it up now. Like I said before, there's practically no error/exception checking in the program, so anything could be happening. (the new converter will have more protection, when it's finished. I think I finished the chart file parsing code last time I worked on it; writing the output files will be cake from there. Maybe I can get a chart2dat-only beta release up in the near future if something is wrong with the current old release)

[philauto]

ya i will upload it but first, (with much embarressment) how do i do that.

[darthslaw]

You can use Mediafire or Savefile, or some other hosting service if you so desire.

[philauto]

no srry dont want to make an account, but does it not work its doing that with alot of songs, for some reason, every converter can never make the full song, why cant it just work. (FRUSTRATED)

[darthslaw]

You can upload to mediafire without creating an account (I have accidentally done this, actually...) looks like Savefile might also do that, but since I haven't used it myself, I can't say for sure.

I haven't had any problems with the converter that I haven't fixed by now (the only one that completely killed the conversion was the track event bug in the first two of the three updates, but AFAIK that's been fixed) If any of the problem charts are from scorehero, just copy the download link from there (no need to upload again). Remember that I can't fix anything if I can't replicate the problem and find out what's going wrong.

It may also be possible that chart from older feedback versions could be problematic. If a chart is causing problems, try opening and saving it in the latest feedback and see if that helps (I think I did this once and it worked, but I don't remember which chart it was).

[francio93]

I cant download it but i need it!!! PLS HELP ME !! I ABSOLUTELY NEED IT!

[iamsensay]

Hey man that link works i just tested it! Its a.JAR file. Are you sure you know what to do with .JAR files?

[francio93]

i cant find the download lynk..

[iamsensay]

Are you for real? Its the green writing in the first post....

Little life lesson man, if you cant find the link LOOK AT THE MOUSE CURSOR!!!!!!!

See how it changes when you hover over a link? TADA!

But seriously thanks for the lulz i appreciated it!

[darthslaw]

Yes, the latest release is under the big "Latest Release" label; click on the green "2008-01-22" to get to the download page on MediaFire.

And actually, it's good that this was mentioned, because I found that the date was wrong for that last release (copy and paste carelessness on my part it seems ). Anyway, the date is fixed now.