StepMania 5 (previously known as StepMania SSC/"sm-ssc") is the next generation of StepMania. It makes the assumption that most players play at home (either with a keyboard, dance pad/controller/other input device, or even an arcade machine).

Some of SM5's features include:

• Per-chart TimingData (aka "Split BPM")
• The ability to enable AutoSetStyle, allowing for multiple styles (e.g. dance-single, dance-solo) during a single gameplay session.
• New game modes and chart types (e.g. kb7, dance-threepanel).
• Various new features for themers (via Lua bindings or otherwise)

At this point in time, the user experience may be a little rough for newbies. There is a guide for installing songs and other content, as well as some other documentation on the Wiki, but no real bona-fide end-user documentation yet.

Latest Version

The latest released version is StepMania 5 Alpha 1, released on 2012/01/08.

Using Windows?

Windows 7 (and possibly Vista too)

Don't install sm-ssc into Program Files. If you end up installing into Program Files, then you will need to run as Administrator. If you don't do this, UserPreferences won't work and you'll experience a crash.

Also see the FAQ if you're using Windows 7 and experiencing audio lag/bad gameplay.

Using Linux?

Generally though, we expect Linux users to build from the source code. If you are familiar with Mercurial and the general build process, proceed to Compiling. If you know how the build system works but don't know Mercurial, check out UsingMercurial and then Compiling.

If you do build from source, DO NOT use GameData.smzip from the binaries; use the NoteSkins/, Themes/, and other folders from the repository.

Chat

IRC is the preferred way of contacting the developers of StepMania. Discussion takes place in #sm-ssc on irc.badnik.net. If you don't have an IRC client, see the sidebar for a link to the channel using Mibbit.

Forums

The official StepMania forum is a good place to start.

Develop

Patches are always welcome. If you want a feature in StepMania, the best way to see it get added is to code it yourself and submit a diff. You can also clone the repository and work on your own clone. This makes it even easier to integrate your work into the mainline codebase. :) See also: SubmittingPatches

Contributors who submit multiple patches of acceptable quality (meaning we've implemented them) may request commit access. The best place for this is #sm-ssc (see above details for using IRC).

Advocacy

• There's our Facebook fan page
• The SSC's Twitter account (follow us!)
• There is also a list of sm-ssc developers on Twitter.
• and our Ohloh.net profile.