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Guide to making your own Beatmaps (now with video)

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peppy
19,318 posts
Here since the beginning
Topic Starter
peppy
This is a work in progress. If you think you can contribute in any way, please reply with your additions, or ask for mod permissions to edit this post!

To jump to a specific topic, click on its link below:

  1. Vital Tips
  2. Shortcut Keys
  3. FAQs
Video Tutorials:

Tutorial: Beatmap Setup, Timing, and Timing points. Youtube Link - Tutorial by MOOMANiBE
This tutorial addresses the vital parts of setting up your song in Osu before mapping it, and getting the timing right, on a newer version of Osu than peppy's older tutorial below. There are some small sound issues with the music being too loud, sorry! I only talk over the music once in the beginning though ^^;

Tutorial #1: High quality flash (~24mb streaming goodness) | Youtube
I'm sure I missed a few important keyboard shortcuts and was a bit brief (trying to stay under 10 minutes for youtube isn't easy), so hopefully more will come soon. Make sure you read the tips below as well!
eyup
osu! Alumni
549 posts
Here since the beginning
eyup
Vital Tips

Song Setup
  1. To enter a new song into osu!, drag the .mp3 file into osu!'s Songs directory.
  2. Open up osu! and click on Edit Mode. Your new song will be at the bottom of the song list, highlighted in purple. Click on it to bring up Song Setup.
  3. Enter in the song details and use your forum username for Beatmap Creator. Under Difficulty, enter in a sensible name - Normal, Insane, Sweatin' and Hard Rock are some examples.
  4. The other options can be set later, although it is recommended that you choose your preferred Circle Size before beginning.
  5. You can now start beatmapping! The first step is to add timing to the map. See below.
Timing
  1. Timing is vital - incorrectly timed maps will not be considered for ranking. Make sure your timing is perfect before putting any notes in. If in doubt about timing, contact a mod for help first. This will save a LOT of hassle later on.
  2. Watch the video tutorial for basic timing methods. Make sure the offset is correct first, and then adjust the BPM.
  3. For fine-tuning of the offset, slow the song down to 0.5x (or even 0.25x if necessary) and adjust the values until the beats exactly coincide with the metronome ticks.
  4. Take a look at the BPM gauge. If the number is very close to a whole number, it is probably (but not always) that whole number. If so, manually enter in the correct BPM.
  5. Some songs have multiple BPMs. You can cater for this by adding a timing section (Timing-->Add Timing Section) where the timing changes. The BPM and offset for the new timing section can be found exactly as before.
Note Placement
  1. The grid level can be changed for more precision by going to View-->Grid Level. Notes will automatically snap to the grid.
  2. You can override grid snapping and time snapping by holding shift while performing a move/placement action.
  3. Right-clicking on a note or a selected group of notes will delete them. Right-clicking elsewhere will toggle a new combo.
  4. Combos are essential in beatmap making. Make sure each combo is not overly long (15-20 is a rough maximum). You can also try and add colour by using new combos to your advantage!
  5. Common Windows shortcuts also apply in the osu! editor (e.g. Ctrl+A selects all notes, Ctrl+C/V is copy/paste, Ctrl+Z is undo).
  6. Notes will snap to visible sliders - so if you want to place a circle exactly on the end of a slider, place it while you can still see the slider and then move it forward/backward in the timeline if necessary.
Sliders
  1. Before you begin placing sliders, make sure you set the Slider Velocity (under the Timing tab) to your preferred value. This value will apply for the entire beatmap, so choose carefully! Changing Slider Velocity after placing sliders will result in wonky, mistimed sliders - try and avoid this eventuality!
  2. Begin a slider with a left-click. Add new points with more left-clicking, then finish it with a right-click. It is recommended to make sure the length of the slider is correct before adjusting the shape.
  3. To increase the repeats on a slider, drag the end of the slider in the timeline after finishing placement.
  4. There are three types of curves - Catmull, Bezier and Linear. Bezier is recommended as it produces the smoothest looking curves. Linear mode is useful if you want sharp (e.g. 90 degree) corners in your sliders.
  5. Drag an individual point to move it. Right-clicking removes a point, and Ctrl+clicking adds a point. If you want really nice curved sliders, use a lot of points!
  6. In the same way as circles, you can override any snapping by holding shift. This can be useful for aligning sliders perfectly.
Beat Spacing
  1. For intuitive play, your beatmaps should have good "beat spacing"! A quick illustration of what good and bad beat spacing is can be found here.
  2. In general, notes with more time between them should have more space between them on the map as well.
  3. The reverse is true - closely timed beats should have closer spacing.
  4. When placing notes, try holding down Alt. This will position the note at a distance appropriate for beat spacing. You can adjust the relative distance between notes by using your mousewheel whilst holding down Alt.
Breaks
  1. Before you start the map, play through the song and decide where you want the breaks - try include one at regular intervals.
  2. Use bookmarks to mark out these points on the timeline!
  3. Put in a temporary "marker" (a Normal hitcircle will do) at each bookmark, then click "Insert Break Time" whilst you are in between to add the break.
  4. An example is shown below. Note how the breaks are evenly spaced throughout the song and are not too short/long, ensuring the player gets adequate recuperation from their intense clicking marathon, without falling asleep in the meantime!
  5. Notice the bookmark at the start of the song also, to mark the first note. Bookmarks are useful! Use them to your advantage ;)
Selection
  1. Use Ctrl+A to select all notes in a song.
  2. Hold control down and click multiple circles/sliders to add them to the current selection.
  3. Drag along the timeline to select groups of notes.
Multiple difficulty levels
  1. To make a new difficulty level, choose File-->Save As..., and change the Difficulty name.
  2. Try and add variation between different difficulty levels for the same song. Add, take away or rearrange note combinations. At the very least, flip or rotate the notes! Do not simply change the difficulty settings (e.g. HP drain rate) and think that constitutes a new beatmap!
Backgrounds
  1. There are now some simple buttons in the Design tab to place a background colour, static image or video.
  2. BG Colour: Select your colour from the palette.
  3. Images: Images can be of .jpg or .png format. It is best if you keep them under 800x600 in size.
  4. Videos: Encode your videos using DiVX or xvid and try to remove the audio to save on size. See this thread by Gilrad for more info on adding videos.
Beatmap Submission
  1. Your pride and joy can be uploaded to the forums using File-->Upload Beatmap. The beatmap description and a download link will be automatically posted for you - simply enter a brief message and when the upload is finished, click Submit!
  2. The submitted .osz archives contain all beatmaps for that particular song - along with audio, video and image files.
  3. If you choose to post to the Completed forum, it will be reviewed by beatmap moderators and the general public and feedback left for you. If it is deemed to be of good quality, it will be ranked!
  4. If a mod suggests some improvements and you make changes to your beatmap(s), simply follow the same process for uploading as before to update the archive. If you have added any new files (e.g. background image, sound effects) since the last upload, check the "Force re-upload" box in the Upload Beatmap screen and the new archive will be re-uploaded.
eyup
osu! Alumni
549 posts
Here since the beginning
eyup
Shortcut Keys

General
H: Help (including these shortcut keys)

X: Play from start
C or Space bar: Pause/Resume
Left and Right arrow keys: Skip through the song. Hold shift for 4x speed

Ctrl+B: Add bookmark at current location.
Alt+B: Remove bookmark at current location.
Ctrl+Left Arrow: Jump to previous bookmark.
Ctrl+Right Arrow: Jump to next bookmark.

Ctrl+L: Revert to saved
Ctrl+S: Quick save
Ctrl+N: Remove all notes (but keep timing/song setup)

F1: Compose mode
F2: Design mode (only basics available at the moment)
F3: Timing mode
F4: Song setup

Compose
Number keys 1-4: Change selection/placement mode
Q,W,E,R: Change right-hand option modes
Delete: Remove selected notes
Ctrl+Z,Y: Undo/Redo
Ctrl+A: Select all notes
Ctrl+X,C,V: Cut, copy, paste
Ctrl+D: Clone the selection
Alt while placing: Snap distance based on time duration since last note
Shift while placing: No grid snapping
Shift while modifying: No grid or beat (time) snapping
J/K: Nudge circle backwards/forwards in time
G: Cycle through grid precision
Ctrl+1-4: Grid sizes (tiny,small,medium,large)
Ctrl+<,>: Rotate Anticlockwise/Clockwise
Ctrl+H,J: Flip Horizontally/Vertically

Timing
T: Tapping using the keyboard.
Shift while adjusting BPM/Offset: 4x speed
Ctrl+B: Reset current timing point


Mouse Controls:
Left Click: Place normal hit circles, start a slider or add a new point to a slider being placed. Select circles.
Ctrl + Left Click: Add new point to existing slider.
Right Click: Toggle new combo, end a slider placement or remove a point, remove a circle (only when in selection mode or while not playing audio).
Mouse Wheel: Seek forwards/backwards. Hold shift for 4x seeking.
Ctrl + Alt + Mouse Wheel: Change placement/selection mode while in gamefield.
Ctrl + Mouse Wheel: Increase/decrease the snap divisor.
Alt + Mouse Wheel: Increase/decrease the alt-snapping distance multiplier. Change timeline zoom while in timeline.
Dragging: Moving selections of notes (position and time), moving points in a slider. Dragging the end of sliders or spinners on the timeline to extend them.
eyup
osu! Alumni
549 posts
Here since the beginning
eyup
FAQ

Q.Why do the combo numberings on the circles change as I play through the song??
A. At the moment, if you have a circle on your mouse cursor (you are in placement mode) it will act as if you have placed it - changing the combo numbers/colours for any circles that occur after it. I am thinking of changing this due to a lot of misunderstanding, but for now it remains this way.
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