Game Modifiers
 |
Summary of the page |
A game modifier is one of several optional modifications to gameplay the player can select. Some modifiers (mods) lower difficulty in various ways but assign a score penalty by multiplying the final score with a modifier less than 1.00. Other mods increase difficulty to provide a greater challenge and also reward the player with a modifier greater than 1.00 to the final score. Players who use the Hidden and Flashlight mods also gain the possibility to attain Silver S and Silver SS grades. Finally, some mods can alter the gameplay experience without affecting difficulty (such as the Relax mod, which you just move your mouse to the hit objects).
Note that when multiple mods are applied, the product of the score multipliers is given instead of the sum of them. For example, when Hidden and Flashlight are applied at the same time, they give 1.1872x because (1.06 x 1.12) = 1.1872, rather than (1.06 + 1.12 - 1.00) = 1.18. osu! used to round this number down to the nearest hundredth (0.01), so Hidden and Flashlight together would appear to give a 1.18x multiplier, denying the supposed number round up. Thankfully, a patch corrected this, and now Hidden + Flashlight rounds correctly to 1.19x.
Contents |
Difficulty Reduction Mods
These mods make the game easier at the cost of decreasing the score obtained.
Easy
- Score multiplier: 0.5
- "Reduces overall difficulty - larger circles, more forgiving HP drain, less accuracy required."
This mod is intended to lessen the difficulty of beatmaps, at a cost to your score. It increases circle size while decreasing approach rate (AR), overall difficulty aswell as life drain; each of these by a huge amount. It also allows 3 "lives"; that is, when the HP bar is exhausted, the game pauses and it refills up to two times. This restart will stop the song temporary to fill up the HP bar and rhythm hint is the "ready" (depends on skin used). In addition, replays do not show the restart or restored HP, and so if a replay is watched where the player had to use a "life", it will appear as though the player continues to play at 0 HP.
However, some (if not most) argue that Easy Mode fails to make maps easier to play. They claim that circles become comically large, and AR becomes ridiculously slower. The mod has the potential of making the play area much more cluttered and harder to read, especially on insane or approved beatmaps. These points are elaborated upon in this feature request to improve the mod, by Lybydose.
For Taiko mode, the Easy Mode decreases the slider velocity (which is, the same as reducing AR in osu! mode), overall difficulty and life drain. Note that the amount of hits which are required to finish a spinner is reduced due to the reduction of overall difficulty. Unlike Standard and Catch the Beat, the reduced note score requirement to gain HP in Taiko makes the HP bar fill up much more faster to replace the 2 revival chance as it is impossible to fail in the middle of the song.
In Catch the Beat mode, the effects are the same as in osu! mode - all fruits fall slower (same as reducing AR in osu! mode), the camera is zoomed in (increased circle size in osu! mode) and 3 lives are granted. Despite only using one axis, however, the fruits' larger size and slower falling rate causes them to clump together, creating the same alleged problems as in normal osu!.
Easy decreases the difficulty in many ways.
Sometimes, though, Easy just gives you a headache.
No Fail
- Score multiplier: 0.5
- "You can't fail, no matter what."
This mod makes the player incapable of failing when the life bar hits zero. However, if the player has not scored any points during the map, they will not pass even if No Fail is used. Since this mod allows submitting scores with a very high miss-to-hit ratio, playing many maps with this mod can drastically lower one's accuracy.
In Taiko mode, since the gameplay does not end even if the HP bar is zero and only fails the player if their life is too low at the end of the map, this mod allows the player to pass at the end even if the life bar is lower than the required amount to pass.
In Catch the Beat mode, this mod acts exactly the same as in standard osu!.
Half Time
BPM decreased by 1/4
- Score multiplier: 0.3
- "Less zoom" ("Zoom" meaning here means how fast the beatmap's BPM is)
Half Time slows down the speed of the song and beatmap for easier play. The name is misleading in that the speed is not literally halved - reduction in speed is equivalent to 0.25, which means you are playing at a 0.75 speed. This causes an increases in the length of the song by 0.25. The method used to slow down may cause the song to sound "muddy" but vocals may sound similar.
In Taiko mode, all remains mostly the same as in standard osu!, including the slowed music. As a result, the density and approaching rate decreases. However, due to the way spinners are calculated in Taiko, this mod makes them to take more hits to clear and, since spinner points are not affected by multiplier, causes them to have a higher total value than without the mod. This leads to the increase in maximum possible score when Half Time is switch on for maps with very low combos and many long spinners, and the effect is more significant when Hard Rock mod is turned on simultaneously (which boost the hit required per spinner as well).
In Catch the Beat mode, the BPM is lowered by the same factor as in other modes. This mod also decreases the player character's speed, so many fruits that are ordinary without any mods are turned into hyperdash fruits in Half Time. In addition, the leniency for hyperdashes is increased, making it much easier to stop underneath the next fruit when doing a hyperdash.
Difficulty Increasing Mods
These mods introduce new elements to make the game harder and rewards the player in terms of an increase in score multiplier.
Hard Rock
- Score multiplier: 1.06 (osu!, Taiko) , 1.12 (Catch the Beat)
- "Everything just got a bit harder..."
Hard Rock (named after the hardest difficulty of the DS game Elite Beat Agents) decreases hit circle size by 1 tick while increasing the overall difficulty, approach rate, and the HP drain by 2 or 3 ticks of their original value up to a maximum of 10. The difference in AR is often hard to notice except when used on maps with an original AR of 7 or greater, as it will push the AR to the maximum value of 10. Hard Rock can be a very difficult mod (especially on insane maps) as it not only demands higher cursor accuracy, it also requires the ability to read lightning-fast approach circles. Additionally, this mod flips the map on the X axis, so that elements that were at the bottom of the map are now at the top and vice versa.
In Taiko mode, Hard Rock increases slider velocity as well as overall difficulty. This is the most commonly used mod in Taiko due to it being the only difficulty increasing mod that does not require memorization or super-fast hitting on Hard/Insane maps. Note that hit required to finish a spinner is increased due to the increase of overall difficulty. Therefore, the maximum possible score of Taiko difficulties with Hard Rock on is larger than that of Hidden mod. However, this effect is insignificant in most cases because each hit in spinner gives a score of 300, which is even smaller than a typical score difference between a GREAT hit and a GOOD hit (550 points at 100 combo or above).
In Catch the Beat mode, Hard Rock has a multitude of effects. In addition to making the player character and fruits smaller (Circle size decreased) and increasing how fast they fall (AR increase), this mod can cause ordinary fruits to veer slightly to the left or right of where they were placed on the grid, requiring the player to make more chaotic movements and to use hyperdash. As this mod increases difficulty in a huge way compared to the other two modes, it is worth a 1.12x multiplier in Catch the Beat rather than 1.06x.
Sudden Death
- "Miss a note and fail."
Sudden Death causes the player to fail the map if the combo is ever broken, creating an extra large miss figure and a full HP drain. Combos can be broken by missing notes, slider ticks, or failing a spinner, but will not be broken by missing a slider end (but may result in getting 100). This mod can be useful when trying to full combo a map, although many players dislike using it as it denies them a chance to practice the remainder of the map and get better at it faster.
Do note there are rare cases where the combo is broken but if the player managed to preserve at least a silver of health by getting a slider tick in a very short time-margin right after the combo broke, the player can continue the map and no large miss figure will be imposed.
In Taiko mode, depending on whether you are playing using a mouse or keyboard, you may [1] instantly fail the beatmap [keyboard] or [2] unable to pass the beatmap with no HP gain where all HP is drained [mouse]. The second case seems to only happen when you managed to hit some notes using mouse before missing a note during play.
In Catch the Beat mode, this mod has the exact same effects as in normal osu! mode, minus the large miss figure.
Perfect
- Click on Sudden Death again to get Perfect mod
- "SS or quit."
If you click the Sudden Death mod, the Perfect mod will come out. When this mod is activated, any hit that affects the 100% accuracy will be counted as a miss and the song will restart automatically. While this mod give no score multiplier, it is more unforgiving (100% accuracy or auto reset until you give up) when compared to Sudden Death (as long as the combo did not break).
Double Time
BPM increases by 1/2
- Score multiplier: 1.12 (osu!, Taiko) , 1.06 (Catch the Beat)
- "Zoooooooooom"
Double Time increases the overall beatmap's speed by 150% of the original, reducing the length of the song by 33%. The method used to increase the speed doesn't speed up vocals (making them allegedly sound like chipmunks) but can make the song sound "muddy".
Because the song is sped up, the approach rate also increases, which often makes it quite difficult when paired with Hard Rock.
In Taiko mode, the speed is raised and the overall difficulty increased just like in osu! mode. Since the hit leniency is greatly increased on top of Taiko's already strict overall difficulty in addition to making slider ticks a lot harder to hit and reducing the value of spinners, Double Time is usually regarded as the hardest mod in Taiko, and is seldom used.
In Catch the Beat mode, the speed and approach rate are changed the same as in other modes. However, since Catch the Beat has no overall difficulty to increase, this mod does nothing more than a BPM and approach rate multiplier and is thus only worth a 1.06x multiplier. Being the opposite of Half Time, though, Double Time greatly decreases the hyperdash leniency, making fruits requiring hyperdashes nigh impossible to catch in some cases.
Nightcore
- Click on Double Time again to get Nightcore mod
- "uguuuuuuuu"
If you click and drag the Double Time icon, it becomes the Nightcore mod which increases the pitch and adds a steady bass beat to the background. The multiplier stays the same, and the beatmap itself is unaffected beyond what Double Time would do because Double Time will automatically be activated in order to use Nightcore mod.
Hidden
- Score multiplier: 1.06 (osu!,Taiko,CtB) , 1.00 (osu!mania)
- "Play with no approach circles and fading notes for a slight score advantage."
Hidden debuted in Ouendan 2, the second Japanese DS game. In osu!, it eliminates the approach circles and causing the hit circles to vanish shortly after appearing, forcing players to more or less memorize the timing and, to a lesser degree, placement. Numbers on sliders and their approach circles vanish, but the sliders themselves do not, so the player only need remember the timing and which end to click.
In Taiko mode, the notes fade out about halfway through the screen, requiring that the player not only memorize their timing and placement but their color too. However, sliders and spinners still cross the full timeline and remain visible, except that the spinner has no spinner circle to indicate when it times out. On maps with high overall difficulty, Hidden is used by experienced players to increase score instead of Hard Rock.
In Catch the Beat mode, Hidden causes notes to disappear halfway down the screen. This is the most commonly used mod in Catch the Beat, since the other difficulty increasing mods either greatly increase approach rate (DT and HR) or require heavy memorization (Flashlight).
In osu!mania mode, Hidden can be used upon pressing Fade In mod again. It is an inverse of Fade In where the below of the conveyor is blocked instead. Your Judgement bar will be blocked too but not your colourful keys.
Fade In
- Score multiplier: 1.00 (osu!mania only)
This mod is specially for osu!mania only. It hides about 1/4 vision dead above the conveyor. The darkness will spread until the 500th combo count where 3/4 of the conveyor will be blocked until you break the combo streak. At 300th combo count, it is 1/2 of the conveyor.
Clicking Fade In again with summon Hidden mod. (Inverse of Fade In)
For a comparison, see pictures below.
Fade In
Hidden
Fade In (DDR style)
Hidden (DDR style)
Flashlight
.jpg)
.jpg)
Fade In combo comparison
Hidden combo comparison
Flashlight
- Score multiplier: 1.12
- "Restricted view area."
Flashlight reduces the visible area of the screen to a small, illuminated section around the cursor. The visible area becomes smaller at 100 combo and again at 200 combo, returning to its original size if the combo is broken. This mod has been subject to heavy controversy in the past, as its implementation makes it the easiest mod for hackers to cheat on. This mod has been made unranked before during a time of heavy cheater activity, but was restored not long after.
In Taiko mode, the position of visible area is fixed at the hitting area. The visible area shrinks at the same combo intervals as in standard osu!. Theoretically, Flashlight does not require memorization for every map, as unlike in the other two modes, all notes are guaranteed to be visible at some point in time. However, except on songs with a very low BPM or low combo, human reaction times generally aren't adequate for such a feat. When paired with Hidden, the flashlight size barely matters, as the notes are completely invisible at any combo.
In Catch the Beat mode, the flashlight is the same, except that it follows the character. The visible area is greater than in standard osu! or in Taiko, but is still quite a challenge as it disables you entirely from seeing notes on the top or the other side of the screen. When paired with Hidden, fruits are visible momentarily if you are directly under them until you reach 100 combo, at which point they become completely invisible.
Flashlight mod in Standard.
Flashlight mod in Taiko.
Flashlight mod in Catch the Beat.
Flashlight mod in osu!mania
Special Mods
The mods listed below can't be used in conjunction with each other, except for Relax and Spun Out. Additionally, Auto can't be used along with Sudden Death/Perfect.
Relax
- Score multiplier: 0 (Unranked)
- "You don't need to click.
Give your clicking/tapping finger a break from the heat of things.
**UNRANKED**"
A mod in which you don't need to click. Simply hover your cursor over each hit circle and it will be hit with the correct timing automatically. Using this mod also hides the score, combo and misses (except in Taiko) and makes it impossible to fail the map, much like No Fail.
In Taiko mode, the correct color for the notes is hit regardless of the button pressed, sliders do not stop you from hitting slider ticks if you hit too fast, and spinners can be cleared with any button sequence instead of alternating blue and red.
In Catch the Beat mode, this mod allows the character to be moved freely at any speed with the mouse.
Auto Pilot
- Score multiplier: 0 (Unranked, osu! only)
- "Automatic cursor movement - just follow the rhythm.
**UNRANKED**"
A mod in which you only need to click. The game moves the cursor for you so you can focus on clicking with the correct timing. Using this mod also hides the score, combo and misses, and makes it impossible to fail the map, much like No Fail.
Auto Pilot is not available for use in Taiko or Catch the Beat modes.
Spun Out
- Score multiplier: 0.9 (osu! only)
- "Spinners will be automatically completed"
Spun Out is a mod in which the game does spinners for you, allowing you to relax instead of tire your arm out spinning while playing the map.
Spun Out is not available for use in Taiko or Catch the Beat modes.
Auto
- "Watch a perfect automated play through the song"
A mod that allows the player to watch a perfect playthrough of the selected beatmap. This mod functions exactly like a replay, allowing 2x speed to be used and comments on the beatmap to be seen and made. The Auto mod will always get an SS, except in special cases. These cases are all noted as unrankable designs and with the exception of ninja spinners in some old maps, will never occur in current ranked beatmaps.
In Taiko mode, the Auto mod will do a perfect playthrough, except that occasionally it will miss a tick on sliders that do not start on a whole or half beat and will not always be able to complete spinners on maps with high overall difficulty.
In Catch the Beat mode, the Auto mod will actually go beyond perfect and use unlimited speed to catch every fruit in a spinner, despite this being literally impossible for a player.
4K/5K/6K/7K/8K
- Score multiplier: 0.78~1.0 (osu!mania only)
This mod will force all beatmap difficulties to use the selected K setting, ignoring the supposed K setting of the beatmap's difficulty at the cost of decreasing Score punishment.
Score multiplier only applies within this condition:
| Default | 4K | 5K | 6K | 7K | 8K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4K | - | 0.90 | 0.90 | 0.90 | 0.90 |
| 5K | 0.86 | - | 0.90 | 0.90 | 0.90 |
| 6K | 0.82 | 0.86 | - | 0.90 | 0.90 |
| 7K | 0.78 | 0.82 | 0.86 | - | 0.90 |
This table only affects beatmaps converted from Standard to osu!mania during play.
The mod does not work on osu!mania-specific beatmaps.
Inverse Mods
Not all mods can be applied at the same time. Some mods are the inverse of others, and will be deactivated if their inverse mod is selected.
These are a few notable examples:-
- Hard Rock is the inverse of Easy
- Sudden Death/Perfect is the inverse of No Fail and any unranked mods.
- Unranked mods: Relax, Auto-Pilot, Auto.
- Double Time is the inverse of Half Time
Unranked Mods
All of the special mods (except Spun Out) will cause any plays with them activated to be unranked and ineligible for addition to ranked or online stats. However, exporting a replay of one of these scores and loading it up into your game will cause them to appear on your local scoreboard.
In Multi-play, Tag Co-Op and Tag Team VS are under this category because it was not done by the skill of a player but as a whole group of players cooperation. Despite it is an unranked mod, player will still get a increase in total score by their own individual score rather than their group/team score.
Visual Settings
How to find Visual Settings
- Below the screen, few seconds before the beatmap starts. Having it open delays the beatmap from starting until you left it.
- You can pause the game to call the Visual Settings.
Usages
Important note
- Visual Settings limit (except Disable Video) will not be lifted for the whole beatmap set by passing one of the difficulty in the beatmap set, it is counted by difficulty separately.
- However, this limit does not apply to Multi-play, in which 100% dim is possible in first play.
- Example: If you passed an Easy difficulty of the beatmap set, Visual Settings limit will be lifted for Easy only, not the whole difficulty of the beatmap set.
- So, if you want to lift the Visual Settings limit from Normal and Hard of the same beatmap set, you have to pass them both in order to lift it.
- Failing the song and receiving the game over does not count. Using "No Fail" mod is acceptable assuming the player did hit something before the end of the song.
| Name | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Background Dim | Darken the playfield. The default rate is 30%. | MAX 60% for first time and 100% after passing During breaks, the dim is -30% of the rate you set. At default rate, it would be 0% dim. |
| Disable Storyboard | Remove any elements of storyboarding. Does not affect Kial Time and Background Video. | If epilepsy warning is issued, this toggle can be used at start. |
| Ignore Skin | Remove beatmap's custom skin. Own selected skin will be used. |
Pass once to use and requires a retry to take effect. |
| Ignore Hitsound | Remove beatmap's custom hitsound. Own selected skin's hitsound will be used. |
Pass once to use and requires a retry to take effect. |
| Disable Video | Negates video file from playing with the beatmap difficulty. This does not negate the storyboard. Does not work on beatmaps without video files. |  No Video mod migrated to here. Requires restart if activated after the song is being played.
|
