Inconsistencies with tracks

[THEE_DEATHMASTER]

Well I suspected this for a long time but I finally confirmed it. I have the game and so does my brother. I played this one song so many times and even after getting every color block (mono pro) and stealth, I was still 8,000 points away from another guy who did the same song and same mode. So I copied the music file to my brother's computer and played the song on the same settings, the result was a completely different distribution of blocks on the track! I tried this with multiple files and they're always different on his computer! So are these scoreboards completely non-representative of anything but your own score? I'm thinking that even if the track 'shape' looks the same when you hover over someone else's score, there are no two people every playing the same song on the same track.

[Uupis]

I have experienced Vista (and probably 7) generating different ash (block layout) files from XP.

n people can definitely play the same track if they share their ash file regarding that track located in %SteamInstallDir%\steamapps\common\audiosurf\engine\AudiosurfHC. But you must make sure naming is correct so game uses the ash file you want it to use.

[lavacano201014]

Also, bitrate, file format, etc play roles.

[ViRUS]

you may want to take a look at this:

http://www.audio-surf.com/forum/index.php/topic,5262.0.html

[THEE_DEATHMASTER]

That's great and all, but it's not like you're going to get that from the guy who's got 10000 more points than you everytime. They may be unreachable, not give a sh17, etc. There should be some official path for a given song, but I'm not some software engineer so I'm not sure how one would implement such a thing. The problem remains on the large scale 

[Uupis]

Yeah I agree with you about the automatic part.

But really, most of the 'serious business' guys (the ones topping radio charts ) around here will always share their ash files... well maybe with some once-in-a-blue-moon exceptions. And if not one of them beating you, then you just ought to play a little more and get the throne.

[THEE_DEATHMASTER]

The main problem is when you get a perfect score and you're still 10,000 points away.

[Uupis]

Mhm, you might want to look into puzzle characters then.

[THEE_DEATHMASTER]

That's missing the point. I play mono only (not that I haven't tried the others).

[blue_h3x]

That's missing the point. I play mono only (not that I haven't tried the others).

mono by nature gets less points (then puzzle characters) as it's easier to play.

The generation of the track can not be standardised in a way that everyone has the same track as everyone uses a different file format, a different bit rate, a different operating system. These can not be over come by the software author, without such controls as limiting files to one file-type and one bit rate and one operating system.

[THEE_DEATHMASTER]

I think one suggested way could be comparing track length and if it's like the majority, make the player use the track that is the majority instead of generating one itself.

[Melodia]

I think one suggested way could be comparing track length and if it's like the majority, make the player use the track that is the majority instead of generating one itself.

That would cause a lot of extra pointless strain on the server, and also will totally mess things up if someone has an actual different track than the 'majority' one (and no, this isn't always tagged 'wrong')

[THEE_DEATHMASTER]

Reject significant deviants. How many different kinds of the same song can there be if they're the legal kind?

[Devil_Spawn]

piracy will distribute the exact same mp3 file spread to millions of different people - if you rip your own track there are far more likely to be differences between mp3s...

basically, there isnt much you can do, however pay attention to the fact that hitting every block IS NOT neccesairily the way to get the best score - missing a block or two to increase chain, or to stop a match being forced can often improve score.

puzzle characters are the way to go if you are going to be competetive. mono is just too simple of a game mode

[Melodia]

Reject significant deviants. How many different kinds of the same song can there be if they're the legal kind?

Sometimes there may be more than one album with a different version of the same music.
Sometimes one may be longer then the other on different countries' versions (this happens a lot in game music)
Sometimes there might be ambiuity as to exactly what piece of music it is (take the mant "Main Titles" or "Theme" in film music)
Sometimes there may be different artists with the same name.

For starters.