so the nightcore mod does this thing where it layers in various drum sample. one of these samples is a loud cymbal crash that plays once every 4 downbeats starting from the most recent redline. this cymbal crash is intended to line up with the phrases of a traditionally-structured song (so, most of what gets mapped). this works out great when a song has just the 1 redline, but mixing in multiple redlines frequently leads to instances where this cymbal crash is unpleasantly desynced.
this desyncing can be remedied by placing another redline at the start of the next phrase, but current timing rc disallows, or at least heavily discourages, doing this.
this current rule is only detrimental to a beatmap, as it harshly lowers the play experience with nightcore mod with no benefits to the map, while parts of its reasoning for existing is because of how redlines affect nightcore.
even if this rule were to be amended to officially allow for nightcore redline placements, this would still mean multiple different versions of timing could be considered rankable, which theoretically makes no sense. since there are zero negative consequences to adding a redline to improve the nightcore experience, i suggest we standardize this practice in the ranking criteria.
uh so for the actual proposal i think it'd be best to split the previously mentioned rule into these two things for the most clarity:
this desyncing can be remedied by placing another redline at the start of the next phrase, but current timing rc disallows, or at least heavily discourages, doing this.
this rule makes redlines to improve nightcore finish placement illegal, because they are extra redlines that aren't resetting a metronome. up to this point these redlines would often be allowed as there is some reasoning for them, but that's mostly a fluke due to bns/qats not checking timing carefully. there are many, many instances of modders saying to remove a nightcore redline or mappers refusing to include them because of this rule.rc wrote:
There must not be extra uninherited timing points in any difficulty. These can affect main-menu pulsing, the Nightcore mod, and cause timing to shift due to millisecond rounding errors. Resetting metronomes to be as musically accurate as possible through uninherited timing points is acceptable.
this current rule is only detrimental to a beatmap, as it harshly lowers the play experience with nightcore mod with no benefits to the map, while parts of its reasoning for existing is because of how redlines affect nightcore.
even if this rule were to be amended to officially allow for nightcore redline placements, this would still mean multiple different versions of timing could be considered rankable, which theoretically makes no sense. since there are zero negative consequences to adding a redline to improve the nightcore experience, i suggest we standardize this practice in the ranking criteria.
uh so for the actual proposal i think it'd be best to split the previously mentioned rule into these two things for the most clarity:
first suggested rule wrote:
Maps must include additional uninherited timing sections to properly position downbeats and Nightcore cymbals. Nightcore cymbals must be located at the start of each musical phrase.
second one wrote:
There must not be extra uninherited timing points in any difficulty. These can affect main-menu pulsing, the Nightcore mod, and cause timing to shift due to millisecond rounding errors.