Frets on Fire - PC

**Turbulence** · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 128

I played Frets on Fire long before I got Guitar Hero. I didn't have trouble finding good songs, if you know where to look you can get pretty much every Guitar Hero through GH3 song and chart.

I've spent the last couple of evenings trying to get my PS2 Guitar Hero controller to work with Frets on Fire, with no luck. I figured out that it may be impossible to get it to play well with a Guitar Hero controller, through the following attempts to troubleshoot.

First, I just used a PS2 to USB converter so that my WinXP PC detected the Guitar Hero controller as a joystick. For anyone who is interested, here's how the keys are translated:

Green - Button 6
Red - Button 2
Yellow - Button 1
Blue - Button 3
Orange - Button 4
Strum Bar Down - POV Hat 1 Down
Strum Bar Up - POV Hat 1 Up
Select - Button 10
Start - Button 9
Star Power Activation (tilt controller) - Button 5

Now, Frets on Fire detects the fret key input perfectly, but it had real problem with the strumming - sometimes it will get stuck on a strum, or just stop registering them altogether! Someone suggested using JoyToKey to translate the joystick output into keyboard button presses, and then assigning those buttons to Frets on Fire.

I went through all that, and it did work a lot better, but I kept getting extra strums. For a while I was convinced that the game was detecting both joystick input and keyboard input at the same time, registering double strums when you strum once, but eventually I ruled that out. I had Strum Up bound to "U" and Strum Down bound to "D", and when I grabbed the strum bar and cross-picked as quick as I could with notepad open, JoyToKey had no trouble keeping up - I had a long string of "udududududududududud". This is why I thought that Frets on Fire had to be getting extra input from the controller, or that JoyToKey was outputing longer key presses as opposed to quick taps.

I messed around a lot and finally figured out that wasn't the problem. I tested the controller going into notepad.exe again, this time strumming as I usually do - with a pick. Now I was getting "duuuduuduudduuu" instead of "ududududud". If I strummed all downstrokes, I would get something like "ddduddduddududddu".

It turns out that it was detecting the strum bar bouncing back after a strum as a separate strum. I moved the strum bar slowly and gradually and it would register a strum after moving it barely a millimeter - before it even clicked. It didn't register extra strums when I was holding the strum bar all the time, but I don't play that way. If you always hold the strum bar, you shouldn't have any trouble. If you use a pick or tap it from above, you will get unwanted strums.

It seems that the Guitar Hero games automatically are filtering out the extra input. Since POV Hat output is digital and not analog, it must be that Guitar Hero either only registers a strum if the strum bar moves that way for a certain fraction of a second that doesn't happen on bounce-backs, or it filters out alternating strums if they come too quickly after the previous strum, because I never have overstrum problems using a pick on Guitar Hero, and people who play in the more common way (tapping the bar from above) don't have that problem either.

The only way you can use the controller without holding the strum bar 100% of the time in FoF is to disable the upstrum, and play all downstrums. Then it works fine, but songs that require crosspicking will be impossible.

If there is a similar program to JoyToKey out there that allows you to fine tune what kind of joystick input results in keyboard output, it might be possible to get the controller to work with FoF, but I don't know of any such software.

**CleverTangent** · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:59 pm Post subject:

EDIT: ah crap, ignore this
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Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. ~Oscar Wilde

**Turbulence** · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 128

**Fedo25** · Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Posts: 4

Excuse me...I have a question...
I didn't find the guide anywhere in this forum...
Is there a way to convert the FoF files to GH charts or mids?

Thanks

**xtremeshredder** · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:19 am Post subject:

I know this is kind of necromancing a thread but I have a n00b question.

Can you convert custom songs on SH into FoF songs. Sorry if this is really n00bish, I have to know.
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GH3 Goals:
5-star TWIE [ ]
100% Mosh 1 in Raining Blood [ ] (3 misses!)
Publish myself as the best GH player in my school [X] (I win)
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**Spironic** · Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 1

**arweryn** · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:19 am Post subject:

Frets on Fire is fun to play. I think it is harder to play then with the controller. I also think our forms are better and people are less of a jerk on our site!!! Scorehero is awsome and send a message to OpenYourEyes at (360) 609-6697, he keeps track of who from scorehero called him.

I also have a few problems:

1) The game won't let me hit a three note chord.
2) It always lags at the beginning of a song.
3) How do I put torrent and RAR files on.
4) Sometimes it shuts down before i start a song.

Please help me.

Thanks
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I took off my goals to say this so it is important. Our website is a great website! It is a lot better than the frets on fire one! We should all be proud about that!
Probably the best quote ever:

Imterrible wrote:

devinring wrote:

I can't properly grip anything circular about 3-6 centimeters in diameter for like 30 minutes anymore or I get massive knuckle pain in my fretting hand.

I pray to god your not talking about your dick.

**Nollaig** · Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 1144 Location: Dublin, Ireland

**Darkest** · Joined: 05 Jun 2008 Posts: 932 Location: Cleveland, Ohio

So I downloaded the RF-Mod from this thread...and put a song in...but once I click the difficulty I want to play, it just turns black and then closes down on me...wtf! lol.
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**arweryn** · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:08 pm Post subject:

I have vista, and mine lags once in a while but i cant hit a YBO chord or a 4note one.
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I took off my goals to say this so it is important. Our website is a great website! It is a lot better than the frets on fire one! We should all be proud about that!
Probably the best quote ever:

Imterrible wrote:

devinring wrote:

I can't properly grip anything circular about 3-6 centimeters in diameter for like 30 minutes anymore or I get massive knuckle pain in my fretting hand.

I pray to god your not talking about your dick.

**Evai** · Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 18

FoF looks suprisingly good with some mods

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Clicky for my custom charts

**Whitt333** · Joined: 03 Dec 2007 Posts: 1535 Location: Minnesota

**Nollaig** · Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 1144 Location: Dublin, Ireland

**diegospbr** · Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 12 Location: São Paulo, Brazil

MFH Alarian modes, version after version, wanna be better and faster, and the laggy problem are on yours computer, not on game.

Currently, are on 3.021.

All mods, replying GH and RB, are awesome in all... this guys deserve it all credits to do this excellent job!
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MY YOUTUBE PAGE! .
JOIN! ;)

**ShiDuba** · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 478 Location: Finland

Diegosbpr, your avatar is way too large... the maximum size is 135x135.
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Proud ¯\(°_o)/¯