Topics

1

Discussion / How To Place Songs On Appropriate Scoreboards?

« on: June 10, 2012, 10:40:00 am »

We are all aware of the skewness that occurs on AS due to different versions on the scoreboards as well as different track shapes and traffic ratings due to different formats and bit rates. I have gotten into the habit of creating .mp3 formats of .m4a formats that I have purchased from iTunes to compare them on AS. I get mixed results: sometimes the traffic rating for .m4a is higher, sometimes the traffic rating for .mp3 is higher, other times the traffic ratings are identical. The only 2 parameters that are considered for placing songs on the appropriate scoreboards are the song title and the name of the artist. The length of the song is one of several parameters that needs to be considered when determining what songs should be posted to specific scoreboards. I have also ripped songs from CDs that were converted to .wma and at times the traffic rating can be different from the CD formats. The audio quality (high or low) can also cause variations in traffic ratings.  I hope there is a technological tool for Audiosurf Air that can do a better job than AS of determining which songs should be posted on the proper scoreboards to make the competition more practical. Dylan is probably the most qualified person to reply.

2

Troubleshooting / Audiosurf Can't Launch

« on: May 10, 2012, 07:42:41 am »

On this day I can't launch Audiosurf. As Audiosurf tries to launch I receive the following message as shown in the screenshot:

http://s1129.photobucket.com/albums/m517/GeoLuzSurfer/?action=view&current=Audiosurf-LaunchingProblem.jpg

I restarted Steam but I continue to receive the same message. I launched another Steam game and it launched normally.

3

Discussion / Can non-ASCII Characters Be Recognized On Usernames?

« on: March 24, 2012, 08:45:22 am »

There have been many unworkable URLs on AS that won't allow you to access a player's page due to non-ASCII characters such as Cyrillic characters. There also have been characters used to create fake accounts. Can the problem of unworkable URLs be fixed for Audiosurf Air?

4

Discussion / Audiosurf’s Randomization System Possibilities

« on: March 08, 2012, 07:56:16 am »

My friend fuzz_head recently expressed concern about Audiosurf’s randomization system possibly being vulnerable to hacking and there would be no proof of it. He asked me if it was possible for someone to hack into a character like Vegas to generate desired powerups such as red paints. I highly doubt that this hacking has ever happened. I also highly doubt that anyone could manipulate a track to generate desired powerups. The powerups you find on the track are already determined before the song actually begins. It appears that the randomization system is too hard coded to be vulnerable to hacking. I’ve observed a hacking method in which a player turned all blocks red. There was evidence of white blocks but that’s only because white blocks are just as randomized as powerups so the randomization system was intact. I created this thread to find out if there is anyone who knows something I don’t know about the game’s randomization system.

5

Discussion / ZippCast: A Possible Alternative to YouTube for Audiosurf Videos?

« on: February 14, 2012, 12:44:33 pm »

I just discovered a new video sharing site that may be an alternative to YouTube for your Audiosurf videos. The site appears to be in its initial stages and apparently relies on donations to cover its expenses. The design of the site makes it look like a YouTube clone. Users have been very impressed by ZippCast because there are no copyright issues-at least not yet. Maybe some Audiosurfers will be interested in uploading their videos without any concerns about legal issues. Some YouTube users believe that ZippCast can one day rival YouTube. I'm not sure about that, although it can be a viable organization. So far the site seems to be very slow in speed. If anyone is interested in checking out ZippCast for possible future uploads of Audiosurf videos visit the following address:

http://www.zippcast.com/

It looks like patience is required to enter the aforementioned site. It could certainly improve its bandwith.

6

Discussion / Why Do We Hate XenoRizos? Did He Design Eraser?

« on: February 08, 2012, 07:15:40 pm »

XenoRizos appears to qualify as the most hated Audiosurf player judging from the hostile reactions of his mates. He has been dethroning tons of scores with his eraser elite and that has caused this deep hostility. If he had done the same with pointman he would not be subject to such hostile reactions since eraser is a so-called “noob” character. He has been referred to as pretentious and that’s the nicest adjective used to refer to him (check his shoutbox). There were hostile reactions against one player for his eraser elite thrones and that caused him to delete his thrones. But this was before XenoRizos moved to elite. Those players must now hate XenoRizos ten times more. Knowing Mr. XenoRizos, he would never delete his thrones and he doesn’t care about how you feel about him. One player advised XenoRizos to play another elite character such as pointman or pusher but he has refused. It’s not like eraser is not available to the rest of the AS community and he is playing it the way it was designed to be played. Should we segregate the scoreboards by character? Should we wait until players stop caring if they haven’t already? I certainly would never support another rebalance since there is no rebalance that will either lead to perfect balance or satisfy everyone.

7

Discussion / Eraser Pro’s Luck Factor—Sometimes Greater Than Vegas

« on: January 14, 2012, 03:41:25 pm »

I know that the issue of character balance has been beaten to death by now, but I wanted to bring up the fact that I’ve seen many Eraser pro scores in which the best cluster (in points) is over 100K , sometimes close to 200K, and sometimes over 200K. That would mean a full board of reds + x4 multiplier + large chain + 100% board clearing bonus. So much has been made of Vegas’ luck factor. Well, such a large cluster (in points) would require more luck than Vegas. It would have to mean that the Eraser pro was in the right place at the right time with the highest possible multiplier. At least with Vegas one can set up a large cluster and combine paints with multipliers like a Pointman pro can. However, Eraser cannot save a powerup for such large clusters. Also Eraser pro has the advantage of collecting 100-200+ consecutive blocks without overfilling. Such a strategy would not work on elite since the eraser elite player would have to be more conservative with the blocks and more skilled. I bring this topic up because I haven’t read anything about Eraser pro’s luck factor on the AS forums. It just seems to be overlooked to me but I am not trying to bash Eraser pro or any other character at all.

8

Discussion / Unofficial Audiosurf Scoreboard Experience

« on: January 13, 2012, 12:23:30 pm »

I recently learned from an old thread (October 2010) how to create a forum signature on the unofficial Audiosurf scoreboard (http://http://zero.nil.com.mx/audiosurfstats/createsig). It's pretty cool and a lot of fun to receive random scoreboards and random song lists. The one problem I find is that the site seems to run very slowly, especially when using the search engine. Who is running this site now? Is it fergtm? The .mx would indicate that the site is based in Mexico.

9

Feature Requests / Filter Scoreboards By Country/Territory?

« on: January 10, 2012, 01:09:01 pm »

I checked out a website that contains the Audiosurf scoreboards and has a feature that allows the user to filter by scoreboards by location:

http://http://zero.nil.com.mx/audiosurfstats/songs/pedro_macedo_camacho/audiosurf_overture

I am wondering if it's possible to add a filter list by country/territory to the Audiosurf community stats website. I think such an addition would be nice for the purpose of knowing where players are from. Clicking on the embeddable scoreboard would display a scoreboard that looks like the one we see displayed by S. Eagle. By the way, the aforementioned website's servers always run very slowly.

10

Troubleshooting / Problem With .Ash File: Any Possible Solution?

« on: January 08, 2012, 10:38:56 am »

Audiosurfer fuzz_head recently published a screenshot on his Steam page. Here's the link:

http://http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006145545/screenshot/595832151321594231

He told me that the song is an .mp3. When he tries to play the song it immediately sends him to the scoreboard with zero points registered. This means that the song is unplayable. The screenshot shows a traffic rating of zero and the graph looks bizarre as it goes downhill. I find it unusual that an Eminem song goes downhill since I've played more than ten Eminem songs and they all go uphill. Anyway, the point is the traffic rating is zero and the song is unplayable on Audiosurf. If you pay attention to the medal goals it makes no sense that bronze is 14 points, silver is 30 points, and gold is 55 points for a song that is 4:47 in length. In essence, the medal goals are too low in points. I can only think that the .ash file is the problem, not the song file, because fuzz_head told me the song plays correctly on his media player. I wanted to know if there is a possible solution just in case I run into a similar problem.

11

Discussion / Audiosurf Friends List— Is There A Loophole?

« on: December 25, 2011, 09:26:34 am »

Audiosurf Friends List— Is There A Loophole?
I know we’re all aware that the maximum number of Audiosurf friends is 24. I was following liisaann76 for several months before a friend added me to reach the maximum number of Audiosurf friends. I continued to follow lisaann76 for several more months thinking that I could not have any more friends on my list in the future. She recently was able to add me to friends and now I have 25 friends. I am speculating that she could add me to friends but I couldn’t add her to friends. There are other other Audiosurfers  with either 25 or 26 friends. Could a loophole cause an Audiosurfer to have more than 24 friends?

12

Discussion / Audiosurf Videos on YouTube & Copyright Issues

« on: December 01, 2011, 12:00:24 pm »

In light of Razaeria's sad post on the termination of his YouTube account for copyright violations I have some helpful advice. It would be best to research videos for a song that you want to record on Audiosurf before actually recording them. Try to find links to purchase the songs on iTunes, Amazon, Android Market or some other site below the videos on the right side. The links indicate that the video for the song is being monetized by the copyright holder and is not being blocked worldwide. If the videos for the song you want to record does not contain links chances are high that the video will be blocked worldwide. I don't try to figure why the video exists. It's possible that a video will be blocked in select countries even if you see links to purchase the song in your country. This is a recent strategy I have utilized and each time the video has been monetized, not blocked. This generally applies to mainstream artists and their songs. This copyright issue usually doesn't occur with indie artists.

I understand that YouTube users are disappointed and outraged by YouTube copyright policy. However, it is not YouTube's fault. YouTube has to implement a copyright policy in order to protect its business from lawsuits. If you receive 3 copyright strikes your account will be terminated. You receive copyright strikes if you choose to file copyright dispute claims with the copyright holders for videos that are blocked worldwide. It is not YouTube's determination whether your video is infringing an entity's copyright. YouTube is issuing copyright strikes at the request of the copyright holders. 

13

Discussion / Question About Top Scores Of The Day

« on: November 22, 2011, 01:00:21 pm »

We all know that the top scores of the day are by skill rating. However, there are some scores on the daily list that seem to have a point deducted from the skill rating. When you check the skill rating in the extended stats it is exactly 1 point higher than you see on the list of the day's top scores. Other skill ratings on the daily list are exactly the skill ratings on the extended stats.  I'm just curious about why some top scores of the day have skill ratings 1 point lower than you would see on the extended stats. 

14

Discussion / Check Out These Extended Stats: What???

« on: November 09, 2011, 10:03:56 am »

I have seen complete extended stats for every player I check out with the exception of one player: ve51. His extended stats for every song he has played shows bizarre and incomplete extended stats, although on the surface his scores appear to be reasonable and legit. The screenshot below displays the bizarre and incomplete extended stats (45269 shuffles):
http://s1129.photobucket.com/albums/m517/GeoLuzSurfer/?action=view&current=ve51ExtendedStats.jpg

I'm not sure what to make of these extended stats. A skill rating is never displayed. The Audiosurf page (http://http://www.audio-surf.com/mypage.php?u=ve51) for ve51 shows no Big Kahunas despite many Vegas plays. The page displays only 2 achievements.  How is any of this possible?

15

Discussion / Fraps vs. Bandicam

« on: November 08, 2011, 08:24:11 am »

People in the Audiosurf community have typically used Fraps to record their videos. There is a rival app that has emerged called Bandicam. Bandicam allows you to record videos literally for hours without being split into multiple files. There is no need to compress the videos because Bandicam already compresses the videos. Therefore, the file sizes are not very large. I've always used Fraps for video recording. Has anyone used Bandicam? If so, what is your opinion of Bandicam?