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Questions Regarding Pathing Notation and Activation Tricks

 
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Moonempress716  





Joined: 25 Feb 2016
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:30 pm    Post subject: Questions Regarding Pathing Notation and Activation Tricks Reply with quote

So, call me a scrub if you will, but I seriously just discovered Scorehero and the endless amounts of help it provides players. I'm proud to say I've made some pretty big steps on my own towards achieving top vocal scores. I currently hold the top score for "GIMME CHOCOLATE!!" and before the board wipe, I held the top scores for some Pearl Jam, Disturbed, and Fall Out Boy songs.

Now, that being said, I know there's a lot I'm still missing out on that I hope will help me improve my game. For example, after reviewing the RB4 on disc vocal paths thread, I discovered "Pause Kill" (imagine my surprise when I read this, WHAAAAAAAT). I've tried searching for some of these terms and am still uncertain as to what these mean and how to implement them. I'm hoping someone could dumb it down for me and explain the mechanics behind them. I did attempt to search for these terms through the forums and even on various other RB websites, but it seems all the results imply that the reader should know what it is before reading the post.

The following are what I'm talking about specifically:
-Pause Kill/PB
-BOD
-DOD
-ES/ESF/ESP (Is this like activating mid-phrase in "2 Minutes to Midnight" to get credit for a whole phrase?)

Now, I find myself in another conundrum. Lately, I find my scores behind the lead score by a significant amount, usually around 1,000, give or take a few points. If it were a hundred or so, I'd suspect squeezing would be the suspect but I have a feeling some of the above-mentioned "tricks" are the difference between me and the lead spot. "2 Minutes to Midnight" is one song I've had problems with, "More Than a Feeling" is another. Now before you accuse me of taking the wrong activation, let me tell you that I've gone through the pain-staking process of writing out songs, annotating energies and possible activation spots, and trying EVERY. SINGLE. SPOT. Is it possible I'm trying the wrong paths? Absolutely. Is it possible that I'm taking the wrong paths on this many different songs? Maybe. That's why I'm here to ask.

I'm really hoping some of the more experienced players can provide some insight for me and help me break this wall I've hit. I've been playing since RB2 but all of my vocal experience is from my own gameplay. I've sought help on the internet, but only now discovered Scorehero.

Thank you to those taking the time to stop, read and possibly reply to this post!
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dconrad23  





Joined: 23 Feb 2009
Posts: 55

PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pause kill means you pause during an overdrive phrase so that you won't get credit for that overdrive (this doesn't always work). This seems like a bad thing but for some songs it can get you a higher score by avoiding overlapping a later phrase.

BOD: activate before the next overdrive phrase. DOD: activate during the next overdrive phrase. I think PB applies to certain overdrive windows which appear too late to actually activate during them, and if you pause and back up the track, you'll be able to activate; I haven't had to use this technique in RB3 or 4 since you can use a button to activate instead of your voice.

ESF/ESP are where the real squeezing happens. For an ES (end squeeze), you activate in a window which appears during a phrase, like you mentioned with 2 Minutes to Midnight. Since the later part of the phrase will be scored higher, you want to sing as much of the phrase as possible AFTER you activate. ESF (end squeeze full) means it's possible to sing only the part after you activate and still get credit for the entire phrase, netting the most points possible. ESP (end squeeze partial) means you can't get credit for the whole phrase by only singing what's after the activation, you have to sing some of the earlier part of the phrase as well, but you want to sing as little as possible before.

The top scorers are able to get ESFs where everyone else is not able to, also much bigger parts of ESPs, which can lead to thousands of points difference, even when using the same path. One technique called vibrato (quickly moving your voice up and down slightly) can help you get more credit for part of a phrase, but that's where I struggle so I can't help much there.

Also, there are websites which have charts of songs so that you don't have to write them out like you described. I use this one:
http://site.tmullin.net/ipather/songlisting.php
I don't know of anywhere that has charts for more recent songs like RB4 or newer.
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Roman  





Joined: 01 Aug 2008
Posts: 80
Location: Texas

PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 4:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You don't have to worry too much about Pause Kills. They're pretty rare, but I'll explain. In certain songs, an extra energy (as you put it) can force you to take nothing but sub-optimal paths for the remainder of the song. However, it's possible to eliminate that extra energy by pausing during the phrase that should give it (as in the game won't reward it to you). Again, these are rare cases for pathing.

BOD and DOD aren't tricks. They're just notations.

Take "2/BOD" for example. That means you build 2 energies and activate right before the phrase that would give you a third energy. "2/DOD" means you build 2 energies and activate in the middle of the phrase that would give you a third energy.

If you're down ~1000 points from the high score, then it's likely the ES's that you're not doing correctly. Unsure if you actually understand how they work or not, but just in case:

Say you have a phrase with an activation in the middle of it. You sing the first half and it fills your pie halfway giving you 2000 points so far. Then you activate. Finally, you sing the second half to complete the pie and that gives you 2000 x 2 (because you're now under overdrive) for 4000. You end up with 6000 points in total.

To maximise points, you want to sing none of the first half of the phrase and leave your pie completely empty. Then you activate. Finally, you sing the second half and attempt to completely fill the pie with that alone. That's 4000 x 2 = 8000. So 2000 points higher than the other method.

Like was stated earlier, it's not always possible (or it's difficult for some) to completely fill the pie up with just a latter part of a phrase, so you sing as little as necessary before activating.

And vibrato fills the pie up faster if done correctly. So it's very important to use during ES's and whenever your overdrive is ending.
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NavyCherub  





Joined: 28 May 2008
Posts: 3396

PostPosted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How do you vibrato a talkie? (I'm having trouble with Short Skirt/Long Jacket's ESFs.)
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Roman  





Joined: 01 Aug 2008
Posts: 80
Location: Texas

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think the game likes low notes during talkies very much, so I would avoid that. Give them something between a medium and high note. I also think that the pie fills up faster during talkies if you overdo the vibrato.

So what I do is firmly press my thumb onto the lower part of my throat and shake it side to side moderately fast. Looks kinda silly, but it works for me.
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singemfrc  





Joined: 10 Aug 2007
Posts: 4406
Location: California

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 4:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PB is an obsolete notation. In the past when you could only activate with your voice instead of with select/touchpad/back button, some windows popped up and were so small you didnt have enough time to activate unless you hit the PauseButton which rewound the track and gave you time you scream like a banshee and hit that small activation window.

In RB4 if you see PB just change it to !, which means just "warning short window pops up fast".

Roman wrote:
I don't think the game likes low notes during talkies very much, so I would avoid that. Give them something between a medium and high note. I also think that the pie fills up faster during talkies if you overdo the vibrato.

So what I do is firmly press my thumb onto the lower part of my throat and shake it side to side moderately fast. Looks kinda silly, but it works for me.
What pitch you use during a talkie doesn't matter, but if you're using an RB1/2/3 mic, it doesn't pick up low pitches very well to begin with. RB4 mics work much better in lower registers.
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NavyCherub  





Joined: 28 May 2008
Posts: 3396

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Roman wrote:
So what I do is firmly press my thumb onto the lower part of my throat and shake it side to side moderately fast. Looks kinda silly, but it works for me.


Oh wow, thanks. I did something similar and it worked great.
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