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osz2 and SB/skin Elements: a Discussion

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Topic Starter
KRZY
With the implementation of osz2 in the (near) future, rumors are that players will not be able to delete SB/skin elements from the Songs folder anymore. Also, it is widely known that numerous requests for the option to disable SB in-game has been all denied.

Add two and two, and we get the disastrous result that we are stuck with every kind of SB that a mapper may come up with and get ranked, regardless of how badly it lags our PCs or affects our gameplay.

As much as the new builds are expected to reduce lags in SB loading, lags are just something you cannot part with; it is not a matter of you having a top-notch machine and graphic card, it is a matter of all the other players out there who still have to put up with machines so shitty that even Solitare lags while cards are being distributed.

Therefore, I have made this thread to discuss about why we must not be allowed the option of disabling SBs in-game. They are known to cause lags/hinder gameplay, and the argument that SB is an intrinsic part of a map with hours of work by mappers has nothing to do with players not being given the option to disable them, so please refrain from making the same arguments that were there three years ago.

Make it productive, and stay on track. I do not want to see this topic locked.





Forum admins, please feel free to move this to GD if it is appropriate. Thanks.


EDIT: The discussion now includes being able to delete skin elements as well as disabling/deleting SB elements.
Wishy
I don't really get any kind of lag or problem from this kind of stuff, nor I have ever deleted a SB from a map, but some maps just have a shitty story board, which makes that you can't see a shit, plus you get kiai time where you play blindly since the SB is blue (for example) and the circles are blue and teal.

Personally I think it would be ok not to be able to delete SBs and such, but then again SBs should be done in a way that they DO NOT interfer with users gameplay, they shouldn't be distracting, or too flashing, or w/e. And since this is pretty much impossible, since some people will say that some SB is fine and other won't, we're at a big problem. Where a solution would be an option to disable it. xd
Ephemeral
ideally the job of the BAT/GMT is to ensure that maps are of a general quality where everybody can play them comfortably that is able to run the game at the advertised minimum system requirements. this is why we have things such as sb load and element resolution restrictions in efforts to constrain the deficit on performance that storyboards often deliver.

a map should not really be ranked if its storyboard causes unacceptable fps drops and no optimizations can be made on the mapper's part in order to reduce this impact.

this is why the requests for a SB toggle have been repeatedly denied; because such incidents should not even be happening in the first place. osz2 just places greater emphasis on this facet of map quality assessment and may force us to impose further restrictions on what is acceptable in a storyboard in order to keep performance the same across all users.
Guy-kun

KRZY wrote:

Add two and two, and we get the disastrous result that we are stuck with every kind of SB that a mapper may come up with and get ranked, regardless of how badly it lags our PCs or affects our gameplay.
This is pretty much what I always had with my old laptop, it didn't really affect me much. Some themes are annoying and makes me not want to play the map much, and some were unplayable because they lagged so badly.

However, I still enjoyed playing completely and was never bothered enough to go and remove themes.

For the few that may suffer from heavy themes, you'll have to just put up with it, it's like complaining at current-gen game companies that your shitty PC can't run their game perfectly at all points.

i think there is -no- need to ever remove themes, maps that have annoying/hard to use themes are crap anyway, deal with it.
maay
Being forced to play with storyboards will be really gay imo.
There will be more maps such as this to be ranked, and there are people who are easily distracted by the background animations or simply have bad eyesight. inb4 buy glasses

And what about the players that are affected by epilepsy?
Maps like this, for example, will either become unrankable or will be played by less people due to the amount of flashes.

I'm quite concerned about custom skins, too. We have maps with custom skins that LIE about the real slider follow circle size. Forcing custom hitbursts will reduce the amount of hidden scores a lot, too.
Topic Starter
KRZY

Guy-kun wrote:

i think there is -no- need to ever remove themes, maps that have annoying/hard to use themes are crap anyway, deal with it.

What if you just simply wanted to remove SB elements because you play better that way? One role of a game operator is to ensure that every player is given a fair chance, and disabling the choice of removing SB elements from a map is denying that chance to players who just cannot play with SB elements because they are distracted. I really do not see why the option of disabling SB is not offered, what Eph said makes sense but that is no reason to not offer SB disabling.


EDIT: to make myself clearer:

Ephemeral wrote:

this is why the requests for a SB toggle have been repeatedly denied; because such incidents should not even be happening in the first place
Well, is the fact that such incidents should not be happening in the first place really related to players' wishes that SB toggle should be available? If it does not matter either way, then why not just offer it? :P I think I fail to see a compelling reason to not offer an option to disable SB.
maay
GAMEPLAY OVER PRETTINESS
Vpalach
It seems, that this implemention is decided already and even the fact, that quite many players don't agree with it won't help at all :[
Card N'FoRcE
I still have to understand the whole fuss about this matter.

People say that Storyboards like Jarto's are badly drawn and distracting.
Well, that's the point? The same thing would happen even if it was a video, but you can disable it so you guys don't give a damn about that.
Also: they're funny.

People say that SB make the computer lag.
Oh come on. My PC is, like, 6 years old and it doesn't suffer from any SB, i even use the Shader Effects! It's true that sometimes some SBs are not optimized enough (storyboarding is more complicated than it seems, coding-wise) but there are already some limits for that (like the 800*600 max resolution for Backgrounds)

People say that SB don't let you play correctly.
You only think about scores, do you?

People is worried about epilepsy.
There's the warning for that, it appears right after you start the map.

People complain about SB using fake hitobjects.
I didn't really see many maps doing that, but i remember a few that were awesome in that aspect ( Megurine Luka - DYE for example)

People complain.
Yet i see lots of this "incriminated storyboarded maps" with posts saying "star" all over the place. Or with people being enthusiast for the work.

I'm a storyboarder myself, all these things people say just make me go "what the hell do you guys want?"
I see replays with people playing with a black BG and really small or no hitbusts at all just to "be able to FC it easily".
If you want my opinion, i want my maps to be enjoyed like i made them: BG, SB, hitsounds, skin and whatever i added.
You don't like that? Delete it, there are more than 20k maps in the database, you can find something else.

You guys still think that "everything should be played by everyone" but that's impossibile to achieve.

tl;dr: yes i want osz2, i've been waiting for it for more than a year.

inb4ragestorm against me.
dNextGen

SuperMaay wrote:

GAMEPLAY OVER PRETTINESS
^^



Card N'FoRcE wrote:

People say that SB don't let you play correctly.
You only think about scores, do you?
YES


Card N'FoRcE wrote:

People say that SB make the computer lag.
Oh come on. My PC is, like, 6 years old and it doesn't suffer from any SB, i even use the Shader Effects! It's true that sometimes some SBs are not optimized enough (storyboarding is more complicated than it seems, coding-wise) but there are already some limits for that (like the 800*600 max resolution for Backgrounds)
it makes my cursor dont move properly
Sup A Noob

Card N'FoRcE wrote:

I still have to understand the whole fuss about this matter.

People say that Storyboards like Jarto's are badly drawn and distracting.
Well, that's the point? The same thing would happen even if it was a video, but you can disable it so you guys don't give a damn about that.
Also: they're funny.

People say that SB make the computer lag.
Oh come on. My PC is, like, 6 years old and it doesn't suffer from any SB, i even use the Shader Effects! It's true that sometimes some SBs are not optimized enough (storyboarding is more complicated than it seems, coding-wise) but there are already some limits for that (like the 800*600 max resolution for Backgrounds)

People say that SB don't let you play correctly.
You only think about scores, do you?

People is worried about epilepsy.
There's the warning for that, it appears right after you start the map.

People complain about SB using fake hitobjects.
I didn't really see many maps doing that, but i remember a few that were awesome in that aspect ( Megurine Luka - DYE for example)

People complain.
Yet i see lots of this "incriminated storyboarded maps" with posts saying "star" all over the place. Or with people being enthusiast for the work.

I'm a storyboarder myself, all these things people say just make me go "what the hell do you guys want?"
I see replays with people playing with a black BG and really small or no hitbusts at all just to "be able to FC it easily".
If you want my opinion, i want my maps to be enjoyed like i made them: BG, SB, hitsounds, skin and whatever i added.
You don't like that? Delete it, there are more than 20k maps in the database, you can find something else.

You guys still think that "everything should be played by everyone" but that's impossibile to achieve.

tl;dr: yes i want osz2, i've been waiting for it for more than a year.

inb4ragestorm against me.
I'm agreeing with you here.

I'm one of those players who take on any storyboard, anyway.
Xgor
There is a problem if the SB makes it lag but with SB load implanted this shouldn't be happing.

And, about storyboards being distracting. Just see it as a additional challenge to the map~
dNextGen

Xgor wrote:

There is a problem if the SB makes it lag but with SB load implanted this shouldn't be happing.

And, about storyboards being distracting. Just see it as a additional challenge to the map~
No
maay

Card N'FoRcE wrote:

People say that SB don't let you play correctly.
You only think about scores, do you?
For the most part, yes, I do. But that's because I believe skins and storyboards CAN AND SHOULD be made in a way they don't ruin gameplay. Am I asking for the impossible...?

Card N'FoRcE wrote:

People is worried about epilepsy.
There's the warning for that, it appears right after you start the map.
suppose I have AIDS in my left eye and that I'd die from epilepsy if I played a map with many flashes. Currently, I could still enjoy the map by deleting the storyboard, even if not as much as I would if I played it with the storyboard. However, with osz2, I would no longer be able to play it. :(

Card N'FoRcE wrote:

People complain about SB using fake hitobjects.
I didn't really see many maps doing that, but i remember a few that were awesome in that aspect ( Megurine Luka - DYE for example)
oh come on, no one complains about those. In fact, I have only seen fake hitbojects in two maps: Marshmallow and ZUN's Emotional Skyscraper (and I quite like the effect).

Card N'FoRcE wrote:

You guys still think that "everything should be played by everyone" but that's impossibile to achieve.
Why is that impossible at present? Disregarding skill, of course...
Zekira

SuperMaay wrote:

GAMEPLAY OVER PRETTINESS
If there's something I can say about this statement, it's about balancing both. Not just SB; I've been bitched many, many, many times how I've overmapped almost every map I have, and while my mapping didn't really break anything, I am being asked nicely to tone it down just so that it would look 'appropriate', but that would usually mean a lesser score. In terms of gameplay, I still believe that only the best players deserve to Full Combo stuff, but seems like we can't live on that premise alone.

In regards to SB, I'm actually a bit half-half on it... I have maps that I don't want the SB deleted, but I also have maps which I don't really mind people deleting the SB. For me it's a situational thing...
Galkan
My PC can run Crysis on full details in 1280x1024, so simply I don't care about hardware lag due to flashy sb and that stuff. In the other hand, I feel sorry for those people who don't have that luck and play osu on 800x600 and low-end PC option turned on ('cause this way is really against them) But from the PoV of people who want osz2 ASAP is really crappy to delete every single thing in skin/sb only for achieving high score easier purpose. Isn't it just the function of them? IMO making game look better/harder isn't bad (unless it's in same or similar colours as background image, but this is the mapper's "fault" at this point.

Also, what Ephemeral said.
Mara
Get a better PC. SB effects are awesome and gives life to map.

Someone blamed Jarto SB, but I'll say those SBs are awesome.
ShaggoN

Card N'FoRcE wrote:

I still have to understand the whole fuss about this matter.

People say that Storyboards like Jarto's are badly drawn and distracting.
Well, that's the point? The same thing would happen even if it was a video, but you can disable it so you guys don't give a damn about that.
Also: they're funny. Yes they are, i can have fun and laugh a lot watching sb like that, or other cool stuff. However i care much about my acc, and i want to get ss. With SB on i'm usually not able to get it. Then i remove it, get my ss, and put it back in folder to have fun with it again.

People say that SB make the computer lag.
Oh come on. My PC is, like, 6 years old and it doesn't suffer from any SB, i even use the Shader Effects! It's true that sometimes some SBs are not optimized enough (storyboarding is more complicated than it seems, coding-wise) but there are already some limits for that (like the 800*600 max resolution for Backgrounds) Actually i didn't ever had any lag because of SB either. (Can't say that about kiai btw)

People say that SB don't let you play correctly.
You only think about scores, do you? Not really. Sometimes when there is song that i like a lot, and it's mapped great, oh i love the map and i want to enjoy the play. But annoying SB is not allowing me to enjoy it. I'm lucky that i'm still able to remove it.

People is worried about epilepsy.
There's the warning for that, it appears right after you start the map. Indeed.

People complain about SB using fake hitobjects.
I didn't really see many maps doing that, but i remember a few that were awesome in that aspect ( Megurine Luka - DYE for example) I never complained about fake objects, cause even if i fail on it, it's usually making me laugh cause it's funny.
I didn't considered other changes in osz2 yet, cause i just simply don't know them yet. :|
But if main change is include SB in file and make ppl not able to remove it and put back when they want then... NO! I don't want to see osz2, i'm scared of it.
Jarby
I don't think it's fair for the people with epilepsy to be effectively banned from playing the latest Nightcore map with outrageous strobing. Beyond that, I believe the storyboard is a part of the final map as a product and shouldn't be permitted to be removed.
Zekira
Just a thought: I think the implementation of this 'feature' in osz2 should also bring about stricter rules about SBing in terms of map playability. Like, strobing effects should be moderated more (but not fully purged) to at least make a epilepsy-prone person to survive for at most 10 minutes of good rest time after playing that map.

To compare, many video games warn the user about health problems, and epilepsy is one of the most common e.g. Time Crisis games have this both on the manual and as an in-game warning. And because they know of these risks, they can adjust accordingly to the effects they use in the game.
Galkan

ShaggoN wrote:

But if main change is include SB in file and make ppl not able to remove it and put back when they want then... NO! I don't want to see osz2, i'm scared of it.
Don't delete every SB you see (because it's just SB) until it annoys you to the point you can't play. Just stay neutral and try to play with it.
Topic Starter
KRZY
So far, the only plausible reason I have seen for not allowing the deletion of SB elements is Jarby's, who stated that SB elements should be regarded as part of the map as a final product and should not be allowed to be removed, just like you cannot remove notes from a map.

Well, I believe it is a preference matter. Some people, like myself, really likes to play with a black background and simple-toned notes because we simply don't like flashy and decorative stuff. This preference, imo, should be respected and not just ignored by people saying "deal with it." Understand that there are people who have different tastes than yours. Think of it on the same terms as people designing and using custom skins to play.

Also, the fact that something should not cause lags does not mean it does not cause lags. Please, understand the difference. As peppy has countlessly reiterated, lagging is a problem mainly concerned with individual PCs, not the code of the program.
Fuuko


I feel sorry for people with a low-end pc that tries to run that kind of map. lol ( I know it's been made before the SB Load was implemented, but come on, if you can't expect it to be THAT high, you're blind. )

I think not being able to delete a SB is really stupid. I've got a good pc now that basically doesn't lag not even with Bakaru's or Sterrum's stuff. Not even with kiai on those. But when I had a crappy pc, even a simple SB'd map like http://osu.ppy.sh/s/14690 made me lag. I don't care about the score ( hence why I'm, like, #15k lol ), but not being able to enjoy one of your favourite songs just because of the SB is something everyone doesn't want. I'm sure of it.

SBs are good, distracting, funny, you have a nice time with it. But that's ONLY when you can reproduce those. If you lag with it, and starts to miss with it, it's something really annoying.

Maybe trying to ask for something perfect is impossible, but come on. If people can't play some good map just because of lag, this game will be pointless.
maay

Zekira wrote:

Just a thought: I think the implementation of this 'feature' in osz2 should also bring about stricter rules about SBing in terms of map playability. Like, strobing effects should be moderated more (but not fully purged) to at least make a epilepsy-prone person to survive for at most 10 minutes of good rest time after playing that map.
yeah, I'm pretty sure that goes without saying. The ranking criteria would most certainly change when osz2 is implemented.
But then, storyboard effects would probably need to be waaay more simple so that most players could play the map without lag.
Beuchi
As a mapper: I waste my time adding/making skins and storyboards because it's the way I want the map to be played by others, therefore I agree with the decision of not being able to delete them.

As a player: Some specific beatmaps have annoying skins/storyboards that would improve my playing on them if I delete the skin/storyboard (examples here, here, here and here), therefore I don't agree with the decision of not being able to delete them.

I would say I'm neutral about this, but I'm not. Everything can be optimized and improved if we actually care and bother to do it, so people wouldn't complain that much about this. That's why SB Load was implemented and that's why there are some rules about sprites resolution and all that.

Exceptions? Yes, there are exceptions, but probably those are storyboards with a high amount of things going on at the same time (and most of them have usually a warning on the description).
Mistakes? Yes, there are mistakes, but we're all human and these kind of things happen.

ps: To be quite honest, I think Kiai Time lags way more than a storyboard and you can't delete that, but whatever xP
Shiro
I'm neither against osz2 nor for it. I'm neutral on this situation.

As a player, it annoys me when the custom skin for the map, or the storyboad, makes it impossible for me to play. In this case, I delete the skin/storyboard, and there you go. It's a bad move from me because I'm denying the work from the mapper, but I want to enjoy their maps rather than hate them for something that can be so easily overcome.

One thing though, about epilepsy: for now, epileptic people can remove the storyboards that cause epilepsy and can enjoy all the maps. But when os2 comes out, if as planned players won't be able to remove the storyboard, epileptic people won't be able to enjoy all the maps, and this is a problem.

Then again, some storyboards were made to be distractive (in some approved maps for instance), and some others are a very nice addition to the map (such as http://osu.ppy.sh/s/16008 ). Storyboards are part of the map as much as skins any the diff themselves.
However, people started abusing it, making storyboards and skins that made the gameplay not enjoyable. As for heavy storyboards and slow computers, not everyone can affort a very powerful computer that can run osu! at its full capacity. But there aren't many storyboards that are this heavy, so just avoid playing the maps.

As long as storyboards are concerned, what about collabs ? The storyboarded names are important to know who mapped what part. Although usually these storyboards are light and cause no problem, some maps have heavy storyboards on top of it, which may cause lag and be what some people whine about.

The only real issue I see coming with osz2 is epilepsy. I don't know how to fix it, but all the other issues are just people not being capable of adapting to what they face.

On a sidenote, how will modders check the content of the .osz file ?
Vpalach
I don't quite understand mappers way of thinking "i want it to be played like this", even if some players will find it as worsening of map. I thought u should aim to make every player enjoy ur map as much as possible instead.
Ibuki Suika
lol
if osz2 can allow me close SB,I'm very approval
But if not allowed to remove BG,I against

Everyone has his own pursuit of

When some time to their limit,
"remove BG will better"
How would they do?

I know some well-known PRO,Their experience of a one is "play HR(hight OA)+HD,must del skin&BG"
"Delete BG can improve the player's reaction time"

Why have that opportunity, but does not allow players to try it :?

In CTB.In the dark background, black fruit difficult to see,I often replace it into the gray
I think if i can't change it,I will Lost a lot of small fruit :o
deepsea
Some maps have awesome SB, I enjoy watching it when I am specing and I sometimes even watch that with auto. But those SB mostly fuck me up when I am playing. Maybe I just have bad eyes, but IMO, before we can have osu on NDS or something double screen, having option to enable/disable SB will be good.
0_o
Would it be possible to make it so that storyboard objects that are epilepsy threats could be flagged as such in the osb, then have a toggle to remove epilepsy-inducing storyboard elements?
Roddie
I don't really mind the Storyboard. That doesn't distract me as much. There are some good, some bad, and some not so much, but I won't delete them. Custom skins I have to play on some maps however...I don't like. Mostly because there are some that lag my PC for every 15 seconds when I start playing them. Sure it won't lag as much if I keep playing it, but I don't see that working as much. =/ And some that affects how I play. If I had to play a map with a bad skin, I won't be able to play it properly because it makes it hard to see and I keep getting a low accuracy because of it. :( Like this map for example. Seeing that osz2 is coming out soon...... I can't delete bad skins on some maps anymore and I have to play them by force. D; "Don't play that map with a bad skin, then." is not a good excuse. >_> When osz2 comes out and If there are maps that are pending and I have happened to play their custom skin that is bad, I'm going to have to ask the mapper that I strongly suggest on removing that. We'll see how it goes when osz2 comes out.

Edit: Fixed a typo error.
Guy-kun
One last thing to say at any reply after mine,

Customization > Elite gameplay

Go somewhere else (like stepmania) if you want elitist opportunities, osu! is more about the community and not throwing away mappers' efforts because you want to be 'the very best'
mm201
This doesn't happen often with storyboards. Most mappers sufficiently dedicated to SB will know better than to make their maps invisible. It is a pretty big problem with skins, backgrounds, and kiai use.

I forsee a mass removal of offending storyboards and skins coming once osz2 is out the door. Ranking requirements will be stricter and penalties will be harsher for BATs ranking bad storyboards.

Guy-kun wrote:

you want to be 'the very best'
Like no one ever was
deepsea

Guy-kun wrote:

One last thing to say at any reply after mine,

Customization > Elite gameplay

Go somewhere else (like stepmania) if you want elitist opportunities, osu! is more about the community and not throwing away mappers' efforts because you want to be 'the very best'
Just being curious, who made that formula?

Also, as a mapper, if efforts (skin, SB) make people annoying when "playing" then I will hope they can be turned off, instead of make people less fun.
Gabi
Storyboarding is imo not as big of a problem as the skin of the map. When osz2 comes out and you won't be able to remove the skin, gameplay is going to get ruined for alot of people. It doesn't matter if we have BATs/GMT's who are here to moderate these stuff, annoying skins/SB's will always get ranked no matter what. The thing i don't understand is, why would disabling a skin/SB bother anyone but yourself? If i remove the skin/SB of a map i don't like, no one else will be affected in anyway. All of you will still have your SB/Skin elements in your folders, so why should you put this restriction on us?
Guy-kun

Gabi wrote:

Storyboarding is imo not as big of a problem as the skin of the map. When osz2 comes out and you won't be able to remove the skin, gameplay is going to get ruined for alot of people. It doesn't matter if we have BATs/GMT's who are here to moderate these stuff, annoying skins/SB's will always get ranked no matter what. The thing i don't understand is, why would disabling a skin/SB bother anyone but yourself? If i remove the skin/SB of a map i don't like, no one else will be affected in anyway. All of you will still have your SB/Skin elements in your folders, so why should you put this restriction on us?
Elitism really,
the whole 'I'm so serious I'm going to remove the skin to get a higher score'
In my opinion anyway

[edit]
Implying that it really pisses me off when people feel the need to do it.
Fuuko

Gabi wrote:

The thing i don't understand is, why would disabling a skin/SB bother anyone but yourself? If i remove the skin/SB of a map i don't like, no one else will be affected in anyway. All of you will still have your SB/Skin elements in your folders, so why should you put this restriction on us?
Mismagius

Card N'FoRcE wrote:

People say that SB make the computer lag.
Oh come on. My PC is, like, 6 years old and it doesn't suffer from any SB, i even use the Shader Effects! It's true that sometimes some SBs are not optimized enough (storyboarding is more complicated than it seems, coding-wise) but there are already some limits for that (like the 800*600 max resolution for Backgrounds)
I am totally late, but I have to say you're a bit wrong there.
My osu! runs at 50-60 fps (even without frame limiter). If I play a map with heavy storyboarding (Like your Okami map), the fps drops to a unplayable 25fps, making it ridiculously impossible to even MOVE the cursor.

My computer isn't really old, only 3 years actually. Even when I had a better OS (XP) I had a lot of lags SB-related.

So yeah, the problem with me isn't "you can't remove the SB anymore", it's "you can't remove the SB anymore and fuck you if you have a shitty computer". Here in my country (at least where I live), "good" computers are ridiculously expensive, costing around US$3500.
NotShinta
Yeah, I hate how people won't appreciate something that took effort and is actually pretty good (e.g. Jarto) and are like LOLDELETE.

On the other hand, if a storyboard somehow stops you from playing, something's not right. I would support deleting SBs in this case, but the above irks me too much so no.

But out of curiosity, how will modders be able to check the folders like they can now with osz2 for something important? Or the mapper themselves if something explodes?
ShaggoN

Galkan92 wrote:

ShaggoN wrote:

But if main change is include SB in file and make ppl not able to remove it and put back when they want then... NO! I don't want to see osz2, i'm scared of it.
Don't delete every SB you see (because it's just SB) until it annoys you to the point you can't play. Just stay neutral and try to play with it.
Who said i'm deleting every SB? o_O

Guy-kun wrote:

Elitism really,
the whole 'I'm so serious I'm going to remove the skin to get a higher score'
In my opinion anyway
In most of my cases, i'm removing these things to have fun with map, which annoys me with sb, and it's awesome without sb. In specific cases when i want to get a good score play. I put SB back, to have fun with it in next plays (if i like this SB of course :| ).
Soaprman

0_o wrote:

Would it be possible to make it so that storyboard objects that are epilepsy threats could be flagged as such in the osb, then have a toggle to remove epilepsy-inducing storyboard elements?
Came here to make this post pretty much. There should be ability to disable SB elements when there is a legitimate health concern. However, being able to see past "distracting" storyboards and play the map well regardless is a skill, just like any other aspect of playing the game. Besides, sometimes storyboards can add something gameplay-wise to a map. (see maps like NB Rangers: Returns or Disturbia) It'd be really lame to delete SB from maps like that but I'm sure there are people who would... it'd be nice as a mapper to be able to make maps like that knowing that the SB I added won't be deleted.

A question about osz2: how would modding work? Would SB and whatnot be freely editable to modders while the map is unranked? Say someone were to delete SB elements while the map was pending, and then the map got ranked. Would they have a limited edition version of the map without SB elements in it? :P

edit: I guess my last paragraph kind of repeats what NotShinta said a couple posts up... still curious though!
K2J
I really can't make a final comment until I know the osz2 specs. All I've heard are comments by staff, there doesn't appear to be an actual list/description of what osz2 will do, except that it will apparently fix all sorts of problems at the cost of the system being proprietary, not a regular ZIP archive.

That being said, I would agree that storyboards are part of the map, and should not be able to be removed. There are enough hoops to jump through by the ranking process to prevent storyboard distraction and lack of epilepsy warnings. The newly implemented SB Load should help reduce the problems for older machines, which I am quite sympathetic to. After all of these efforts, it would be a great shame if the effort was thrown away as something extraneous.
Topic Starter
KRZY

Guy-kun wrote:

Go somewhere else (like stepmania) if you want elitist opportunities, osu! is more about the community and not throwing away mappers' efforts because you want to be 'the very best'

Guy-kun wrote:

Elitism really,
the whole 'I'm so serious I'm going to remove the skin to get a higher score'
In my opinion anyway

Responsing to the above two claims:


KRZY wrote:

Well, I believe it is a preference matter. Some people, like myself, really likes to play with a black background and simple-toned notes because we simply don't like flashy and decorative stuff. This preference, imo, should be respected and not just ignored by people saying "deal with it." Understand that there are people who have different tastes than yours. Think of it on the same terms as people designing and using custom skins to play.
There is more to this than just wanting a higher score.

Also, changed the discussion topic so that it includes skin elements as well as SB elements also since some posts convinced me to think that skin elements as well as SB elements can be a problem.
Zekira

Gabi wrote:

The thing i don't understand is, why would disabling a skin/SB bother anyone but yourself? If i remove the skin/SB of a map i don't like, no one else will be affected in anyway. All of you will still have your SB/Skin elements in your folders, so why should you put this restriction on us?
This is somehow one thing I am totally in agreement with. Though personally some of my maps just don't look right without the SB, it would be on the option of the player to delete them anyway... that doesn't mean everyone else will delete them. If everyone else did, then the SB is just probably that fugly.

Though if we take into skins into account... meh, I'll be more on the delete-able side of things. Unlike SB, the skin elements actually directly affect gameplay.
mekadon_old
Some SB's cause major lags on some PC's, especially those which have a video-like storyboards like Neko Miko Reimu or Don't Stop Me Now or whatsoever. Even my PC can run at 60fps (VSync) with those SBs with me having a single-core processor and a mere 1GB RAM and an IDE hard drive I still can play it well. (Note even my PC can only use OpenGL)

I don't see any problem with SBs though I have a mild epilepsy, which doesn't cause much problem with me even when playing StrangeProgram or Ritsuen; which I might conclude as a challenge rather than a restriction, though I might have a mild headache after playing them.

Skins however, like what Zekira said, slightly affects gameplay. HP bars, hitcircles, cursors, etc. might change the mood of gameplay on a certain map. e.g. if a map's skin is so goddamn horrible you don't have the will to play the map at all. However, that depends on a specific player as each has different taste on certain things.

IMO the only thing I think is okay to delete in a map is the skin elements. For SBs? I go for 50% of it, since I'm very confident that some people's PC specs are far worse than me.
anonymous_old
GUISE I WANT BIGGAR NOTES I CANT SEE/CLICK NOTES

AND SMALLER HP BAR ITS DISTRACTING

I WANT AUTOAIM TOO PLAYING WITH SHIT MOUSE IS HARD

WAIT THATS THEIR ALREADY RANKED IT PLEASE



Quick steps to not looking like a total idiot:
  1. Ensure you meet reasonable system requirements and have reasonable settings set in osu! and your environment which do not, by themselves, detriment gameplay.
  2. Report maps which cause problems.
  3. Don't post in this thread.
LaCreme
What about maximum fps regulation for SBs
and minimum contrast ratio for skins.

Some SBs have glowing/flashing effects at a relatively high fps that are really bad for our eyes and can cause lags.
Also, skins that have have almost minimal contrast from the background, I find ridiculous.
Anyways, I would definitely opt for an option to delete skins/sbs at my leisure.
Takuya
My only way to have a fluid gameplay is to toggle low-end pc, set 60fps(vsync) and keep the game at 640x480 (800x600 is still decently playable but I can notice the difference).At very least, I can use directX (OpenGL makes me barely able to complete spinners,it just slows down like fuck).Still, SB slow me down.When I find a SB I usually remove it, and leave the background wallpaper unless it's too colorful and makes me hardly see beats.Still, I don't remove simple stuff like vanishing text like "beatmap by dkfjghfkdjhg" as long it doesn't really bother me anyhow.
(My computer is from 2006, 1gb ram (extended from 512mb), ~2.0 GHz)
About skins, I don't really remove them unless they SUCK BADLY or are totally unplayable (First example in my mind: Honey by vocaloids).
However, I'm for NO at osz2 OR yes with noSB/skin mods.
peppy
We already have restrictions of SB load to ensure performance isn't affected by storyboards (if you find a map that runs very badly please report it so we can take action). Also I'm not reading this discussion, just saying :).
anonymous_old

LaCreme wrote:

What about maximum fps regulation for SBs
and minimum contrast ratio for skins.

Some SBs have glowing/flashing effects at a relatively high fps that are really bad for our eyes and can cause lags.
Also, skins that have have almost minimal contrast from the background, I find ridiculous.
Anyways, I would definitely opt for an option to delete skins/sbs at my leisure.
Read #3: viewtopic.php?p=610158#p610158

[Takuya] wrote:

My only way to have a fluid gameplay is to toggle low-end pc, set 60fps(vsync) and keep the game at 640x480 (800x600 is still decently playable but I can notice the difference).At very least, I can use directX (OpenGL makes me barely able to complete spinners,it just slows down like fuck).Still, SB slow me down.When I find a SB I usually remove it, and leave the background wallpaper unless it's too colorful and makes me hardly see beats.Still, I don't remove simple stuff like vanishing text like "beatmap by dkfjghfkdjhg" as long it doesn't really bother me anyhow.
(My computer is from 2006, 1gb ram (extended from 512mb), ~2.0 GHz)
About skins, I don't really remove them unless they SUCK BADLY or are totally unplayable (First example in my mind: Honey by vocaloids).
However, I'm for NO at osz2 OR yes with noSB/skin mods.
Read #3: viewtopic.php?p=610158#p610158

peppy wrote:

Also I'm not reading this discussion, just saying :).
No one is, or they'd realize what they're saying has been said years ago.

Also, read #--
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