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Color coded "layers" in mania editor.

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This is a feature request. Feature requests can be voted up by supporters.
Current Priority: +755
Topic Starter
Bobbias
I would like to see the ability to create "layers" in the mania editor, with the ability to color code notes in that layer.

Being able to assign a colour to a specific pattern would make it much easier for a modder to differentiate intended patterns by the original mapper.

Here's an example of two different ways to highlight layers in a pattern. The one on the right uses probably more layers than it should:


If you were able to name the layers, you could make it even easier for modders to understand what you were doing. If I named the red layer in the first image "Piano" and the orange layer "drums", for example, that pattern suddenly becomes more meaningful. The 2 note chords in the red pattern could represent piano chords while the drill in orange represents a simple kick-snare pattern, or maybe a double kick, or maybe a snare roll.

Another possible feature would be the ability to turn layers "on" or "off" with layers turned "off" showing up in grey like the 3 notes in grey in the second image, making it easier to see the layers that are "on", but not making the other layers completely invisible (so you don't accidentally put a note under a note in one of the "off" layers.

I don't believe any other mania style game has an editor that supports something like this, so this would be a feature to help differentiate osu!mania from other games as well.
DJNightmare
AWESOME IDEA ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ :)

EDIT: I mean beside the part where you map your osu!mania map, there is alot blank space there, it seems useful to fill it with something useful. I like how you were talking about layers XD (Photoshop anyone?)
Hanyuu
This would be sooo usefull, or even with just writing as layer and then have the text appea over the note. But with colours too this looks too good omg..
Maiz94
Support due to reasonable OP about having to look on pattern issue when modding.

no stars tho. ;w;
Yuugo
This seriously is a good request. I sometimes get lost in the notes when looking at mania maps, trying to follow what the mapper in intending to do.

A few points to discuss: how do you indicate the start and end of a pattern? how do you assign a note to a certain pattern in a smart and useable way?

Also, how about making disabled/inactive patterns transparent in their own colour, rather than turning them grey. This way you don't exclude grey as a colour to use for a pattern and it makes the notefield clearer while creating patterns.

Great idea, now lets get the details clarified to make this a smooth sail to implementation.
Topic Starter
Bobbias

Yuugo wrote:

A few points to discuss: how do you indicate the start and end of a pattern? how do you assign a note to a certain pattern in a smart and useable way?
Well if you're making a layer for each pattern, that might end up being too many, depending on how you want to break things up. I was thinking along the lines of using these to distinguish which instruments/sounds the notes might be following, as opposed to breaking it down directly into single patterns.

The mania editor has a TON of free space on the right side of the screen, even on 4:3 monitors, so maybe we could add some sort of layering controls in that area...

Another ease of use issue is keyboard shortcuts. Something like this would benefit greatly from keyboard shortcuts being able to assign notes to or remove them from a layer.

Yuugo wrote:

Also, how about making disabled/inactive patterns transparent in their own colour, rather than turning them grey. This way you don't exclude grey as a colour to use for a pattern and it makes the notefield more clear while creating patterns.
That's definitely a better idea than what I had.
Agka
Support.

(Even if I won't directly use it. ;x)
woc2006
will you make comment all patterns in your whole maps? i think it's need more effort than mapping.
so do we really need the feature, or can we have something replacement?
Loctav
Maybe using and adjusting the new combo feature and make it a "new layer" feature using different combo colors can do it.
I don't know how much adjustments this requires.

Anyways, supporting.
Topic Starter
Bobbias

woc2006 wrote:

will you make comment all patterns in your whole maps? i think it's need more effort than mapping.
so do we really need the feature, or can we have something replacement?
I dont want to force people to use this. I would use layers for whole maps.

Loctav wrote:

Maybe using and adjusting the new combo feature and make it a "new layer" feature using different combo colors can do it.
I don't know how much adjustments this requires.

Anyways, supporting.
Thanks for the support.

To try to clarify some things:

The original idea came because I was mapping Rohi - Kakuzetsu Thanatos (Loctav, your map and Entozer's unfinished map inspired me to see what I could do with it). I was working on this part when I thought of it:



There are 3 patterns layered here. Can you see them?



How about now? The LNs follow the vocals, the left 2 columns usually follow the kick and snare, and the other notes follow the violin. It's hard to remember which note belongs to which pattern here, but if I could color those 3 things, it would be easy to see.

This is an example of how I would use layers for the song. For the entire map, I would only need those 6 layers, I think most maps could use even less, except for very hard maps.

That picture is just a very rough mock up to show the basic idea.
Maiz94
Damn, that 2nd picture's tempting me, bobbias. xD
Hellnote102
Great idea, I require this sometimes. (though I take months to map one difficulty)

I support this. :D
Topic Starter
Bobbias
Also, to clarify: I don't want to force people to have to use this. Storyboards are optional, just like I think this would be optional. I just want this to be a tool for mappers and modders if they want to use it.
Roxas
+1 for this
chonicle
This layer is starting to looks like a midi section \:D/, showing which instrument you are following.
This will be easier for the modders to look at maps, too. If we can convert the combo colour to this it will be helpful.

And a further step is to add keysounds for these notes. This is how we do it in midi http://www.twitch.tv/chonicle/b/406594841
HanzeR
boobies pls hav my babbies
Hanyuu
This would be a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge addition to the editor
It will make anything easier for the mappers perspective and from the modders aswell.
And even new mappers that just put notes all over the place might start to think.. "oh.. layers"
Everything would just get better if everyones tries to use this
Topic Starter
Bobbias
It would help your tutorial too :P

I'm working on a list of possible keyboard shortcuts that would make working with a layers feature easier.

The basic idea is that we'd need a way to easily move selected notes between layers, select different layers for placing new notes, and enable or disable showing the layers. When I say showing the layers, I mean the color coding itself, not hiding the notes contained in a layer (just to clarify).

Keyboard shortcuts are an important component to any feature like this, because if the feature is too complicated to use, nobody will use it. If it's hidden in a menu somewhere, most people won't even see it, and explaining where to go and how to use it would be harder.
Kurai
Totally supporting this. I tried to map mania maps a few time already, but I always ended up getting lost in what I was doing... Having such a feature would help mappers keep their map organized and consistent.
PyaKura
Which is exactly why I always stop mapping once I finish a certain part of the song, and then don't getting back to it no matter if a part is wrong or not.
Topic Starter
Bobbias
Bumping this. Everyone I've talked to in the mania community seems to agree with this idea. I'd like it to get a bit more visibility here.
Hanyuu
Pushing this to the first page again :)
PyaKura
I'm (still) supporting this.
For obvious reasons. Mapping as well as modding will receive a huge huge huge benefit from this feature.
Topic Starter
Bobbias
I just thought to bump this, then I came back and saw it had already been done :P thanks for the support guys.
Yuzeyun
Even though I may not use this, I have in mind supporting this so yeah when I get a few stars I might throw in some
Topic Starter
Bobbias
Ok guys, I talked with Woc online yesterday and explained what I mean a bit better. I think there's a chance this could be implemented in the future. Of course, that doesn't mean it's guaranteed, or that it will be coming any time soon, but it sounds like he's at least considering it.

_Gezo_ wrote:

Even though I may not use this, I have in mind supporting this so yeah when I get a few stars I might throw in some
Thanks. I don't expect that everyone would use the feature, especially since the issue it deals with is less important on 4k and such. But on 6/7/8k this would have a lot more impact.
PyaKura
Aaaannnd bumping again. This would be even more useful than the new density bar. (Not saying it is not useful but to be honest it doesn't bring anything to mania mapping, grom my point of view, that is)

Absolutely need this !

Edit : Didn't even read Bobbias' last post...
Akihiro
All my stars are belong to you man :)

This would make things so easier when doing heavy difficulties.
Mirage
Must have :(
PyaKura
And bumping this up. I've come to a point where I have to use default hitsounds as "layers" to identify which note belongs to what pattern(s), but it's really not easy to use haha.
PyaKura
Bumpity bump.

Implementing these "layers" the same way default hitsounds are (icons on tne right side of the screen) or changing the way combo color work for o!m would be good.

Mapping very hard stuff can get pretty confusing.
Akihiro
Have some stars.

Would become my favourite editor if it had this kind of feature.

Would be extremely helpful for mappers so they can organize their ideas and modders as well.

EDIT : whoops did not realize I already posted here..., well hope you don't mind :)
PyaKura
If ET maps were to be allowed for ranking, this would be even more incredibly helpful.
The ranking process would also be much smoother and it would make everyone's work easier.
PyaKura
shamelessly bumping this
Akihiro

PyaKura wrote:

shamelessly bumping this
Redon
PyaKura
It's been 2 years since this was requested, wow. Time sure flies.
Anyway, do we still have a chance to see this implemented now that woc has left (a while ago alright) ? I feel like this is something which becomes more and more needed as time goes, especially now, seeing how the BN and QATs can hardly keep up with the amount of requests. I believe this feature would benefit them greatly.

All we need at the very least would be a way to color selected notes. This alone would make modding so much easier and hopefully speed up the whole modding and ranking process much faster without sacrificing quality. Actually quite the opposite.

Any word from above ?
Redon
PyaKura
*throwing in some more stars*
Gravey-
This would be very helpful as for me i prioritize/based mostly on patterns >w<)b
I don't have stars to support this tho'
PyaKura
Totally bumped this to 300+ stars wee
Topic Starter
Bobbias
Holy crap PyaKura, thanks for bumping this so often. I really hope one day this gets implemented. It would be so useful.
Harbyter

Loctav wrote:

Maybe using and adjusting the new combo feature and make it a "new layer" feature using different combo colors can do it.
I don't know how much adjustments this requires.

Anyways, supporting.

PyaKura wrote:

If ET maps were to be allowed for ranking, this would be even more incredibly helpful.
The ranking process would also be much smoother and it would make everyone's work easier.
++++++++100
PyaKura
@Bobbias : this is one if not the only feature I really want to see implemented in osu! right now.

If it were to be a thing I'd be glad to help out with modding and such, and I am sure many more would be willing to contribute to the ranking process. At least, I know I would and I'd abuse it all day long in the editor. Figuring out what was the mapper thinking when he made a map can be really tricky at times and it would help with common "unrankability issues" (OVERMAPPING/GHOST NOTES ANYONE ?).

Now that I think about it, since we have 9K rankable now, there is no no doubt we will see really hard maps getting into the ranking process in the future, and I think that modding/pattern recognition might get even more messier with that amount of columns and the possible insane amount of notes on screen. Though this is unlikely to happen soon, and it's a minor point considering every pros to this feature that have been mentionned until now, it's still worth considering. Actually, I don't even see it having any cons at all.

Also wow Harby, dem stars lmao.
Bursst
I mean I don't beat map but this does look handy
abraker
YES make this a thing!!!
PyaKura
Oinari-sama
That illust looks great :D

It'll be good to have a Comment layer too.
PyaKura
Aye that's actually a better idea than using the overlayed text the hitsounds are currently using.
Evening
tasty
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