ITG @ 505: The Guide

If you’re coming from DDR, the short of it is to “unlearn” stepping as wide and as hard.

Solution: Play on the right side (P2) instead. I’ve designated P1 to be the “high-difficulty” side and P2 to be the “regular” side.

If the online events and the cab’s song libraries hint at anything, it’s that ITG can get very demanding, so optimal form is a non-negotiable. We have a high-level (25s, 26s) player who claims P1 ↑ requires so much effort to trigger that he had to stop after one credit to prevent injury.

The truth is, I’ve received complaints from various players, on both sides, covering the entire spectrum of (in)sensitivity after modding them back and forth.

In advocating improvement, which I think is the whole point of this game anyway, I won’t be tweaking P1 to be any less sensitive than it is, unless a panel’s full stuck.

But if you want to pass harder stuff, most of us recommend getting used to P1 as a start.

>it’s always form issue

It indeed is!

Due to this arrow’s... unique situation (that’s a story for another time), the screws that hold the panel down can make or break the sensitivity of it.​ My solution to address issues has been to tighten or loosen the hex screws that hold the panel down. That means bringing an Allen key (4mm), which I understand is a tall, and shady, ask for players.

Sooner or later, this arrow’s internals will need a full renovation, but that is a project I’d have to find a large block of volunteering time for.

[May ’25] Recently, I’ve been getting reports that the PC is not booting successfully to the game, and it’s becoming more frequent. You may find the cab displaying a complete no-signal, or it will be idling at the​ desktop. I have a hypothesis as to what the issue is (storage/GPU), but when I can address the issue is a whole other matter.

Solution: Try restarting by unplugging the power cable and putting it back in. Staff rarely checks the back rhythm game section for problems, so if you happen to find it acting strange, it’s faster for you to solve the issue yourself.

The game will remember your credits across exiting/power cycles, so you don’t have to worry about losing them. If they are lost for whatever reason, you can ask one of the front staff to get them to reimburse the lost credits.

If you’ve found a way to replicate crashing the game, let me know. Example: one time there was apparently a pack (which nobody really plays) that StepMania didn’t like, so I just moved it out.

If you notice the cab in some weird state for whatever strange reason (say, a command line terminal, or there’s open windows in the operating system) I’d also appreciate a picture because who doesn’t like meme material.

I’ve tried to do a thing (systemd process) where the game will automatically restart if it crashes, but the catch is when that happens there’s no audio. Plug pulling is the easiest and most hassle-free answer as of now, albeit not elegant.

There’s been a sighting of the swipers stuck on a white screen that once affected maimai and ITG, and restarting didn’t seem to do the trick.

Unfortunately, although a given, the swiper’s not under my control.

Solution: Wait a few minutes, if the cabinet’s just booted up. I’ve encountered the swiper just on a blank screen instead of having its usual startup messages, and then after about 3 minutes it worked.

Otherwise, try doing a power cycle for good measure in the event the swiper choked starting up. If that still doesn’t solve the problem, it’s probably a crediting system issue, in which case the best thing you can do is report it to the staff so they can escalate it to the tech. Keep in mind the staff at 505 are CityHeroes people, so they probably have no clue how to fix Koko issues themselves!

Not a problem on my end. The bottleneck to getting content on the cab these days is the fact that the PC is quite heavily locked down, and requests to change anything must now go through the higher-ups.

Solution: If a song pack is on “The Spreadsheet”, mentioning the name should suffice. Otherwise, shoot me a link or something.

So long as it’s actually for the pad, and appropriately rated, it should be fine. If it’s obvious that it’s a keyboard chart, or there’s unresolvable low-quality stuff, there isn’t much incentive to put it on as nobody’s going to enjoy it.

However, if it’s your content and you just want it on for pad testing, that’s cool as well. It’ll likely go in the AUS Junk folder for miscellaneous stuff unless you’ve made an entire pack (whoa okay, mad respect). Us regulars here are always happy to playtest and review!

ECS is​ highly unlikely, or not advised:

• For the main individual ​event, the cab’s lockdown means I don’t have easy access to the PC to copy data to/from.
• For both events,​ you will be disadvantaged time-wise​ with Raw Output as you will have to cycle through the menus of the standard 3-stage credit.​​​ Koko would preferably not go through the trouble of figuring out how much hiring out a cab for 4 hours would cost.​

Otherwise, sure:

• ITL: In the Advanced Modifiers page of the settings menu (accessible by hitting enter twice upon selecting a song), enable all three options under FA+ Options for the best experience. Then, at the results screen, press ◀ or ▶ a few times (left takes less keypresses) until you see a QR code. Scan that, log in to GrooveStats if you haven’t yet, and your score should submit.
• SRPG: Same idea with the QR code feature.

The issue with LEDs is that apparently they depend on the original lights working. P1 ←’s connection looks busted, and P2 ↑’s input strobes when connected to the LIT board.

FSRs aren’t high on my priority list. If you want to crowdfund an FSRio and its sensors, I’m totally down, but then I’d have to consider how to interface the sensitivity controls – which means drilling panels for touch screens, getting them set up with Linux, then developing and testing. At the very least, I’d need a fair bit of help.

Actually, the PC’s set up for it and ready to go, but

• I’d need to drill a hole in the cab, and that’s a very low priority thing for Koko
• Random people can plug in input devices (keyboard, mouse, rubber ducky) and mess around with the system

It’s easier to send me your songs to put onto the machine itself.

You can do the following yourself:

• The HDMI cable from the PC connects to the TV on the left hand side. Keep in mind which port it was connected to. Connect the cable into your capture card, and provide passthrough back into the TV using the same port.
• You’ll have to record audio using an external microphone.
• A camera can be mounted on top of the TV; be careful though, that screen is pretty thin.

If I’m around (which means, you’ll have access to the PC):

• Provide a 3.5mm audio splitter cable to allow direct audio capture.
• I’ve written an API backend currently on the PC that can return score data for whatever you’ve played. You will need to provide your own WiFi dongle to connect to the PC, because your main one will be connected to your hotspot for the internet.

In the early 2010s, there was a DDR SuperNOVA2 cab next to the cinemas at Timezone (today, it’s a Koko, but today today, it’s turned into an extension of CityHeroes). After X, it was converted to ITG, and when the PC started to die out I was responsible for organising and setting up the new one. Our crew used to come out frequently to keep the pads working in top condition, and I organised a few competitions back in the day.

Timezone changed to iPlay, and in their final days, that cab was moved to Broadway Happydays (now iPlay), then subsequently went missing for several months. We thought with that was the end of an era for ITG here in Sydney, but thankfully we found it again at an iPlay all the way out in Edmondson Park. Nobody really goes there unless you happen to live near the area, so the pad’s been in a pretty bad condition. The last time I went there was to update the machine with ECS 10.5, but it’s unlikely I’ll ever have the opportunity to mod them given I personally know nobody at that venue.

Wanting to keep ITG in the city alive, I took an opportunity to purchase a DDR 5th Mix cabinet from a private owner who wanted it gone ASAP. As I had no space at all in my lift-less apartment, I decided to keep the cab at Koko and make it the next quality public ITG with the intention to sell it to them – which meant I had to get it in an “arcade ready” condition.

Update: As of 22/8/23, the cabinet is now theirs. We’ve made an agreement that I can continue to work on the pads as I’ve all this time.

What “arcade ready” means depends on how lenient you are. If you’re willing to overlook the lights not functioning properly (the Edmondson Park cab wasn’t either), the internal amp busted, or the PC occasionally rocking up some cursed states, the cab’s practically working the same as the old one.

By the way, I’ve never worked for any arcade (as floor staff or dedicated technician), and it’s not my intention to. You could call me a “freelance” volunteer who only wants to vibrate on good pads and help enable others to as well. If you insist, you can shout me some fud instead idk 🥣🍻

Software/Hardware:

• Ubuntu 20.04
• ITGmania 0.9.0 (built from source using commit 5d4f9dc)
• Simply Love 5.5.0 that I’ve slightly modified
• J-PAC, and LIT Board (not in use)

PC Specs:

• Intel i5-4690 6MB 4.10 GHz
• NVIDIA RTX 2060 (yep)
• SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB SATA III SSD (for WIP/current tournament packs)
• Seagate 2TB SATA III HDD (for most songs where the pack has been finalised)
• 16GB DDR3-1333
• Logitech Z-2300 2.1 Speakers
• Retrofitted Hisense 43" A7G @ 4K60

• Betson SN2
• Intel NUC, i5-7260U 4MB 3.40 GHz
• Intel 760p 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
• Patriot 4GB DDR4-2133
• Retrofitted Panasonic 40" TH-40FS500A @ 1080p60

The last time I worked on the pads were indeed the beginning of August. I haven’t heard any news, be it in Discord channels or personally, about anything that’s changed since.

Currently, all panels are pretty solid save for the following points below in Known Issues.

I was in the city for a meetup rather than a tweak sesh, so I didn’t bring my tools. Here’s my observations.

• P2 ↑ is busted 90% of the time; it needs to be stepped on in a very specific way such that you might as well call it not working. Play P1 in the meantime, but just note:
• P1 ← is very sensitive, and we suspect either tightening the screws of the corner brackets or raising the L bracket inside should do the trick.
• P2 ← is slightly less

There’s a guy who frequents Koko more often than I do, who, depending on his availability (more than me), may be able to help.

• Bootleg this Pack!
• Braeden’s Technicality 3
• DAN.(period)
• DDR A3 (3y3s challenge charts), DDR A20+ (Riot of Color challenge charts)
• DDR WORLD (Hollywood Galaxy update)
• Delins Incredibly Cool Content 2
• ECS 13.5 (Lower, Mid)
• Egg Carton 3
• Eventual Ascension 4
• forcednature's ​​​​OTOGE FUSION
• Full Difficulty Doubles Sims
• High Chance of Tech
• Highflyer’s Tech Advent(ure)
• ITL Online 2025 (Base Pack)​
• Lovely Techs 6
• Mozee Metal Reforged
• New Years Stepfile Feast 2024–25
• ReDoDance
• retronika’s 2024 simfiles
• Secret Stepfile Santa 2024
• Sefirot'S SimfileS 6
• Squirrel Vision 2
• Stamina Secret Santa 2024
• State of Trance
• Studio 24
• Tachyon Eta (v1.0)
• Tech-Bit Adventure 4
• THC2
• Turbulence
• Tuuc’s Crackers and Jams
• Wafles Unhinged Tech
• Xynn’s Mix Tapes 2

To get closer access to ITL, the default song has been changed to ITGAlex’s Compilation 4 → Upshift.

• [23 Jan 24] 5.1 converts of OG mod charts
• [31 Jan 24] Shpadoinkle’s new tech pack series, whenever it shows up on the sheet
• [31 Jan 24] Reinstate missing songs from Dingoshi Ramen 2
• [ 9 Jun 24] ITL 2024’s Polybius to be put in “Pass 6” folder, and renamed to “Pass 6+”
• [20 Mar 25] kpoop
• [ May 25] All unlocks of ITL 2025. This involves me participating and unlocking them all myself, so it’ll take a while.