[dragontology]

Update: I found the hidden CON Explorer application in RBtoUSB. So, this seems to be progress. I can now change album covers. However, the DTA file isn’t what seems to contain the actual metadata.

 

I’m looking at the song “So What?” by Metallica. The DTA file has the album as “Garage Inc.” and the year as 1998; however, on the Xbox 360, the album is still showing as “Metallica” and the year is showing as “1991.” (Technically neither is correct. “Garage Inc.” is a compilation. The song actually appeared on the “Sad But True” single, but for simplicity’s sake I’m trying to bundle it with “Garage Inc.” since that’s where most fans would look for it.)

 

So, if the DTA file isn’t where Rockband 3 gets its information, then how can I edit these fields? What’s interesting about this is, when I right-click the song in RBtoUSB and do Send to → Visualizer, it actually displays the correct (from the DTA) album name and release year. So, why can’t Rockband 3 see the same info? Why have 2 sets of information, and why not edit both sets of information in the same place? I get that modifying files on a closed system isn’t child’s play, I’m just looking for helpful instructions on how to get it done.

[dragontology]

I know how to change the artwork for basically all the music i have

Is this something you’re able to explain how to do? I’ve been asking on and off for years and either, nobody knows, or nobody is willing to share.

 

I have a LOT of bad metadata and I’d love to fix it. Even if people don’t want theirs fixed or whatever, I’d like to at least have it right on my local copy, though if someone did want the corrected copy, I’d be willing to share.

 

I see where to edit the DTA file, but that doesn’t get me the album art. I can extract a CON file and I know how to convert an image to the png_xbox format, but I don’t see how to recompile the CON file. The app that does, doesn’t work. You can only add one folder (out of like six or seven) at a time, or they all get nested… and either way the CON file doesn’t work.

 

I just have the C3 Con Tools. Hasn’t been updated in a few years to the best of my knowledge. Do I need something else (magma)?

[dragontology]

Well, I see your name on customs all the time, and I remember your handle because you write out a lot about the songs. To be honest I can’t recall which ones are yours, but I recognize your name, and posting style at least.

 

Thanks for the advice. Never had a song corrupt while (people were) playing.

[dragontology]

And you’re like, one of the main guys up here, and you don’t know? That’s crazy. Anyway, it sounds like something to do with the Xbox storage, which makes a lot of sense. They try to do this “media library” thing like iPhones do, and for the most part it works, but there have been issues with it. It’s not like it’s just pulling them out of the folder, the Xbox has to index them, and then of course Rockband 3 has to, as well.

 

When I load the CON file back to the drive, do I have to delete it off the drive first, or can I just overwrite it?

[dragontology]

Just wanted to say thanks for this, this is really cool. I think the karaoke mode alone makes this worth having. What would I do if my Xbox 360 dies? Maybe I could pick up another one at a pawn shop, but with this, I can play the customs on the PC as karaoke tracks and at least have that. I was never a good rhythm gamer. I sucked at Guitar Hero. When I play Rockband, I only sing. I can play bass up to hard up to about tier 4 and expert up to tier 1 or sometimes 2, guitar a bit lower, and I really don’t have the endurance to do drums at any level. But I can do vocals and I can pass just about anything on expert and do fairly well on anything on hard. My skills are nothing to brag about, except maybe to children. But I love music, and something that will play music in a different way like this is at least interesting.

 

Also, I can put this on a flash drive with a handful of customs, and take it anywhere. So that’s neat, too.

[dragontology]

So, the OP doesn’t really tell us anything at all. Which is the complete opposite of trailers that tell you the whole movie… which nobody likes. So you guys have something huge coming out in 2 months, with just enough vague hints to whet our appetites. Well, rock on! You guys already have done what Harmonix couldn’t many times over, which is bring those songs they couldn’t or wouldn’t get — I’m sure we all have a favourite song that Harmonix never released that C3 did. For me it was Runaway Train by Soul Asylum and Wishmaster by Nightwish. I don’t pretend to understand all the complexities of licensing, I just know you guys came through while Harmonix kept us wanting more. And I appreciate that. So I’ll keep coming for songs, and I don’t really have much to add in the forums, but I’ll try to say thanks in the comments for songs I really like, keep that love and appreciation flowing, and we’ll see what happens in 2 months. Keep up the good work!

[dragontology]

Of course, once you download the song, edit it to your heart’s content. Better yet, tell the person who supplied it what is wrong.

 

Anyways, the easiest way is to take the song and drag it directly into Con Tools, change what you want and hit save.

C3ConTools is the package I downloaded, and it has many buttons… mostly the one I focus on is RBtoUSB. Is ConTools another button on there? (It’s not on the computer I’m presently on.) I will look when I get to that computer.

 

Yes. I would want to be told. The only spit I would consider on the work is the spit you use when polishing something up. Which is what you’d be doing. When I first started authoring, I didn’t even realize how to get those to all group together or that the album art needed to be the same to be consistent, so I KNOW I’m guilty of it early on. Even now I try to ensure I’m using the same data so the albums group, but there’s others in the collection that are off as well. In any case, would be nice if you said what data needed to change and just make it easy to change out.

Are you a customs author, then? And then the problem is I’m not sure who edited what, though I suppose I can look it up and find the comments, and say what I changed. I just wouldn’t want to give the impression that the person who did all the charting left the song unrated when it should have been Supervision Recommended, as that’s such a minor thing. And I don’t think I’d ever set the rating level, I just really like the details to be complete. I think the most egregious mistake I saw was a song that claimed to be on an album it wasn’t. I was a huge fan of that band when I was a kid, so the mistake really stood out to me. And if that song had its proper album given, well, you know how if an album has three or more songs it gets its own heading. Well, I had two other songs from the album it was on, so that album did not have its own heading. A less important mistake is when the album art isn’t the same, so I would want to find the highest quality one and then just apply it to all of them, so as you scroll down in the game, the artwork does not change.

[dragontology]

Even Firefox said it was bad (info provided by Google). Firefox took it a step further and said that the specific file actually contained a virus or malware.

 

Google has pulled this crap before, when there was no security risk. At the behest of a company (likely a record company) Google has flagged the site as unsafe. It’s only potentially unsafe to some rich bastard’s wallet, and even that’s a heck of a stretch. I don’t think anybody’s downloading customs that they either haven’t bought before in some form or another, or that they wouldn’t buy if Harmonix actually made them available.

 

Having read the thread, I wasn’t going to don the tinfoil hat, until Firefox said it’s actually a virus. So either I’m crazy and I got a virus and my laptop is in trouble, or the file is perfectly fine and someone is having a laugh at us over expensive scotch.

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