[How-To] Playing Customs on PS3
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It is Harmonix’s home language, we don’t really have a name for it, I just call it dta. They use it for pretty much all their games.
It’s XML-ish, or maybe more accurately, JSON-ish, but it’s not really either one. Like Alternity said, it’s its own thing, but it does have a syntax that someone could write a parser for if they were so inclined. Like XML and JSON, DTA files are built on nested key-value sets, but sometimes a given set of parentheses doesn’t hold a key and its values, but rather a collection of values for a previously defined key. There’s no way to know without the context of the surrounding file, which is what makes DTA its own special beast.
Having said that, the simplest parser could at least make sure every opening parenthesis has a closing partner, and that could be enough to find what is breaking your customs.
Do you have an example of a specific custom with its own broken DTA? Because I still have to find any. The individual DTA file in each CON is generated when building in Magma. The only way I can think of a broken DTA within a CON, is if the authors used C3 CON Tools DTA editor to apply some metadata changes after building, instead of rebuilding in Magma.
I’m saying this because every time I had a DTA problem, it was only on the merged songs.dta rather than the original individual DTA of one custom, and it was always my fault because I often change metadata like instruments difficulty or track volumes, and introduce random errors. I am also open to the possibility that the Tools themselves might occasionally break something while merging or when removing songs.
Because of this, I prefer to keep a couple of backups of songs.dta from when everything worked, and if something goes wrong I just scrap the latest songs.dta and go back to the old, then merge again (you don’t have to worry about the converted songs folders, they will be overwritten). This is much faster than even trying to figure out the culprit by recursively halfing.
I did only about 300 songs and it worked. The last few comments have been really helpful and insightful.
I’m not really curious how hard it would be to build a code parser using that would work in Notepad++ and I cannot find the comment, but someone mentioned a fix for broken DLC. That’ll be a separate research project.
This is a very long long shot…
We already have a parser, but it’s hidden in C3 CON Tools and cannot be used directly. It is used by Setlist Manager and Quick Pack Editor. It is not really meant as a validator for DTA files, it will not tell you what is wrong with your DTA, but in some cases it may accidentally give you a hint.
To use it, open Setlist Manager, create an empty RB3/PS3 setlist, and drag-and-drop your DTA into it. A perfectly fine DTA will display songs in order by Artist.
Here are a few things I found by trying randomly:
– if a custom is missing the first “(“, the setlist manager will show that custom first in the list
– if a custom has one or more extra “)”, the setlist manager with first show all the custom which occur after the bad custom in the DTA
– if a custom has more “(” than “)” the setlist manager just shows all the correct customs before the bad custom
A couple of other possible errors might be visible after exporting to CSV, but make sure you select to export “everything”:
– if a song is missing the ID, it will show up “0” in the “Song ID” column of the CSV
– if a song has missing duration, it will show up “0:00” in the “Duration” column of the CSV
– if a song has a bad path to the midi file, you can see it in the “File Path” column of the CSV (it should be always songs/filename/filename)
It’s not much, but maybe in some cases it can give a quick hint.
How to put song updates for PS3?
Do I just need to copy the output song, and no need to update the songs.dta?
*for those first timers who will do these custom songs, I suggest to do it by batch.
In my case, I downloaded all the songs I wanted to add, then split it into 50 songs per batch.
It is easier to troubleshoot which songs might cause troubles.
How to put song updates for PS3?
Do I just need to copy the output song, and no need to update the songs.dta?
Depends on the update.
If the author has only fixed/changed some instruments chart, then you need to only copy the folder files, or maybe even just the midi.
If the author has added missing instruments or harmonies, or updated metadata (such as instruments difficulty ratings) then you also need to update the DTA file.
If you didn’t had the RB2 pack before; create an empty songs.dta file in the “Merged Songs” folder. If you did had the RB2 pack just copy the songs.dta from the pack.
Alternatively (if you didn’t had the RB2 pack) you can convert a song and then place it in the “Merged Songs” folder.
I love you man
I have 71 songs by Muse. I’ve looked at the DTA file in Notepad++ and did some code highlighting and could not identify any errors.
I opened the setlist manager and that could not find any issues either.
I exported to CSV and could not find any errors there either.
I delete all the contents on the PS3 target folder before copying my files for each test.
As I attempt to try again with with only 30 files, HEN is now starting with the text “Update Server Responded with an Error” or something like that.
It looks like it loads HEN, but when I launch IRISHman, it freezes after I select “File Manager”.
I’m half tempted to put in a new SSD into this PS3 and install HEN from scratch and start all of this with an essentially “New” PS3.
As I attempt to try again with with only 30 files, HEN is now starting with the text “Update Server Responded with an Error” or something like that.
It looks like it loads HEN, but when I launch IRISHman, it freezes after I select “File Manager”.
You could try to go offline so that HEN doesn’t try to update itself.
However if IrisMAN starts I think HEN is running. I don’t know why it freezes but I notice some weird behaviour with IrisMAN: when I have a specific 3rd-party wireless gamepad adapter plugged into USB, then I cannot properly enter a few IrisMAN sections like the File Manager
Disabling the internet gave me “Could not resolve update host” same difference I guess.
IrisMAN loads, but File Manager freezes still. Sigh. I think this was my sign. After so much time, this process isn’t nearly as streamlined as I would have expected after so many years, even for a community driven project. Maybe that’s the complexity of the task, or the lack of active development. Either way, I don’t know that this is worth the trouble.
Disabling the internet gave me “Could not resolve update host” same difference I guess.
That is not a problem. I get the same message all the time when offline, it simply means HEN can’t connect to check for updates but doesn’t prevent HEN from being enabled.
First I would check if it freezes also when the USB stick is not inserted. IrisMAN File Manager tries to open the last folder used, so maybe the problem is in the USB stick.
If it fails, I would try to reinstall IrisMAN,
Hey there. Im new in this topic and first off i must say thank you for this Project. Sadly i still face some problems. I got Hen installed and workin file managment is fine too. I did load 80 Songs and i can play them and see them in my collection. So that is great, than i added more, i used the exsiting Dat File and Data is getting added and songs are converted and merched.
When i start the game, i can see the 80 Songs i added before and thats it, the new ones wont show up.
I tried to add 120 from scratch the 80 included same issue, aftr 80 Songs i dont see more. Does anyone have an idea, what i can do?
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