Creating an Ultrastar Deluxe Song - Part II

Part II: Basic Text File Edits

If you are completely new to this, you should refer to Creating an Ultrastar Deluxe Song - Part I: Generating a Text File first, as this will walk you through getting a text file made to edit. I also recommend reading my write up about the text file, UltraStar Deluxe - Understanding the Text File.

If you already have a text file ready to edit (these text files can be downloaded, and are usually, but not always, ready to be used with minor edits), read on.

You will not need to have UltraStar open yet. This first part is all done outside.

In your UltraStar Deluxe directory, there is a sub-directory called "songs". This is the directory your songs are stored in.

Make a new folder for the track you are going to create. If you'll remember, mine is Genesis - The Carpet Crawlers '99.

Creating an Ultrastar Deluxe Song - Part I

Part I: Generating a Text File

This is my attempt at a walk through, in English, for the purpose of creating an UltraStar Deluxe track from scratch.

I'm assuming you already know that UltraStar Deluxe is a SingStar style karaoke game that is played on the PC (Mac, Linux and Windows supported). I'm assuming you know you need that software and a microphone compatible with the game (such as the SingStar microphones you can buy pretty much anywhere, including the Internet.)

You can get the latest stable release of Ultrastar Deluxe here. It's free and open source and AWESOME.

UltraStar Deluxe - Understanding the Text File

Welcome to my tutorial on understanding the UltraStar Deluxe text file. The text file is the backbone of the track for play in UltraStar Deluxe and knowing what's what and how to troubleshoot will help you immensely.

My text editor is what is adding the gray column with the numbers.... this is NOT PART OF THE ULTRASTAR DELUXE TRACK!

The text file has 2 parts. The very top, which contains some basic information about files and basic time stuff and the bottom, which contains all the information about the notation and rhythm of the song along with the lyrics.

For starters, here's a look at a functional text file. You can see the beginning to the end.