BEST-mix.net - DDR Simfile Tournament

Why do you like them?

Why do you hate them?

I don't see the big issue with them, as long as either one is done well. It's obviously harder for those who are good at doing awesome graphics to switch to video banners that can't be manipulated in Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro. But I know some of you really don't like them. Why is that?

The main problem with them is that they don't work in SM4. I don't like them, mainly because files that have them sorta overshadow files that don't on the music select screen.

What did they break in SM 4.0 that made them no longer work?

If only I knew...fortunately, the released version of SM4 should fix 'em. I believe that's just one of the things they're working on.

i think for a lot of people it's just an issue of tradition, but i personally don't think the usual banner song/artist text looks that good when placed over a video

I love a good animated banner. I've never attempted to make one, but they're great.

My main issue is with using them in tournaments. Some people find them really flashy, and sparkly things can sometimes cause a little bias, thereby not putting everyone on a level playing field in the presentation department. Not everyone has the option or the resources to create them, and I think it can occasionally detract from the quality of the file that actually counts.

Outside of that, if they loop properly and match the sample, I think they're really neat. However, as said, they don't properly with SM4.0 or ITG PC, so it seems kinda worthless outside of 3.9, which not everyone uses.

BLueSS wrote:What did they break in SM 4.0 that made them no longer work?

SM 4.0 obviously

Trick Master Mint wrote:and sparkly things can sometimes cause a little bias, thereby not putting everyone on a level playing field in the presentation department. Not everyone has the option or the resources to create them,

Your point makes little sense. Should somebody not allowed to use photoshop because not everyone has access to it? Should somebody not include a (background) video for their file since not everybody has access to it? If somebody has the ability to make their presentation better, they should do so.

While I enjoy video banners, I can completely understand if somebody doesn't like them because they're too flashy, or unlike real DDR files, or certain other reasons, but it doesn't give any kind of "unfair advantage".

IMO, I find them to be OK. If a simfile has one, I think "Oh, the author had some extra time to cut a video," though it's not something that can save a bad simfile

If I could figure out how to make a nice looking video banner, I would gladly do one.

But I find nothing wrong with a video banner as long the banner is not just the standard windows movie maker text slapped onto the video.

Video banners work perfectly in SM3.9.

They playback at hyperspeed in SM3.95.

With my Radeon HD4850 in OpenGL, they display 101% jibberish in my SM4.0 songwheel. In Direct3D, they playback at hyperspeed.


So yeah, SM4.0 is broken, has been broken, and will continue to be broken even if the devs release another official intermediate build, because they can never get everything right without breaking something (how do you even do that? Change every character of code between releases?)