quickie how to bn guide

Stage 1: Modding basics. (You should know how to use the editor)

1. practice modding. practice practice practice! Try to understand what the mapper is doing and if you see a problem, try to give a solution! The point of a mod is to improve a map. If you find a problem then there needs to be a solution.

2. Avoid short mods without explaining what the problem is. "move to 2" and "this is very awkward" are not very helpful mods if you dont provide a reason why and how you mod can help the map.

3. Concise and to the point mods are better than walls of text. Not everyone is good in English so make things clear and easy to understand!

4. General posts can be better than pointing out every single problem. If a map has a repeating problem that happens everywhere or in huge parts of the map, you can make a general post instead of using a timestamp for each.

Example:
Instead of posting each timestamp and saying "inconsistent, should be double for kick."
you can say in a general post, "This diff has many inconsistent kicks like 00:12:443, 00:14:223, 00:18:991, 00:21,654, etc. it would be nice if you can recheck all kicks in this diff."

5. Understand what the mapper is trying to do. If there is structure used in a map, try to limit your mods based on that structure or idea. If the structure or idea is bad, try to give alternatives!

6. Be aware of terminologies. Examples are PR, laning, layering, snap, etc. By practicing modding, you can see these terms used in discussion threads by other people.

7. Be respectful. Don't get personal or try to start arguments! You may come across a mapper who is very difficult to work with. If they becomes very rude, you can simply just report instead of going for arguing. Leaving the discussion thread is also an option. This will be very important going for BN.

8. Expose yourself and play different types of maps. By doing this, you get to become familiar with different types of maps and have a rough understanding of how they work when modding. Example: Modding an LN map is very hard if you have no idea on how they work and flow.

Stage 2: Working towards a BN application

1. https://bn.mappersguild.com/ online calculator to see if you have enough activity to apply

2a. The NATs look for certain stuff in an application. These are the following:
- Can mod hitsounds
- Can provide metadata
- Can mod a FULL SPREAD
- Can find unrankables and guideline breaks
- other stuff like modding X diffs, keysounds, all keys, are just bonus points.

2b. How can i do these
- Hitsounds: Most maps have hitsound diffs. Mod with 0% Effect and check if the diff used a wrong hitsound or forgot to use a hitsound for certain sounds. For consistency between diffs, you can use Dudehacker hitsound detective. https://github.com/dudehacker/Magic-Copy/releases/latest

Also you can check in audacity if a hitsound sample has more than 5ms delay.

One more thing about hitsounds is hitsound blending. If you cannot hear the hitsounds used in a amap, you can try to increase the effect volume and sample volume and inform the mapset owner to increase volume. If you still cannot hear the hitsounds after increasing volume, you should ask the set owner to change their sample to something else.

- Metadata: Ok, so a lot of maps will have correct metadata. But there is something you can do to show that you know how to search for metadata!
you can post: "here is the metadata link: (metadata link) It looks like your metadata is ok!"
If the song has a ranked map (preferrably 2019-2020) the discussion should have a link and you can use that.
If the song doesnt have a ranked map, you can try to learn how to find these links. For BMS songs, you can google "(song name) manbow". J-pop songs sometimes have wiki and the bottom of the wiki links to the album. Soundcloud, official youtube, and bandcamp are other good sources of metadata. Spotify and Apple Music are NOT good sources of metadata, stick with official website or SNS sources.

Very Important: Look at ranking criteria for standardization rules. There's a lot of them but you'll get used to them.

- Full spread: You should show that you can mod all diffs at least ENHI. IF the spread has a huge diff gap, point it out. If it has a consistency problem, point it out! This is something you will get better at with practice. Of course, before you go to modding full spreads, you should be able to properly mod single diffs. Consistency checks, diff spike checks, and other ways to improve a map will still be considered by the NAT.

- Unrankables and guideline breaks: A good amount of unrankables can be detected with a tool! https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/topics/943895 Also be able to point out timing errors and snapping errors. (Comes with practice)

For guideline breaks, it's good to have https://osu.ppy.sh/help/wiki/Ranking_Criteria/osu%21mania open at the side when modding lower level diffs.

Bonus points: Flex your special skills with timing, X diffs, and other stuff but here's a bonus. You can check for audio quality using a program called spek http://spek.cc/

Note the followng:
192kbps 18kHz 1:7.3
160kbps 17kHz 1:8.8
128kbps 16kHz 1:11
96kbps 15kHz 1:14.7
64kbps 11kHz 1:22
32kbps 5kHz 1:44

If an audio is 192kbps but only goes up to 16KHz in spek, you should use audacity to change the bitrate of the mp3. No tutorial for that now.

3. Ranking criteria test: Open the ranking criteria wiki at the side. VERY IMPORTANT: TREAT GUIDELINES AS RULES WHEN ANSWERING MANIA RELATED QUESTIONS

4. Common mistakes during the application process:

- Mistake #1: Submitting short mods that only mods a few diffs in a full spread. Unless these mods are able to improve a map in a huge way or point out fatal flaws in the general layering of a diff, you're better off submitting a full spread mod.

- Mistake #2: Forgetting / not submitting mods that show ability to mod hitsounds and metadata. Self explanatory. Please do not forget to do these as they are major points when it comes to being accepted into BN.

- Mistake #3: Interpreting the question "Would you nominate this mapset" as "will you nominate this in the future / will you nominate this map at some point". The question is asking if "Will you nominate this map in ITS CURRENT STATE or how it is right now." By answering yes, you subject yourself to minus points if unrankables and guideline breaks are found in the map.

3a Even if a guideline break is perfectly sensible in a map, if it is a guideline break, it's better to say No to the question and say "The map currently has a guideline break about... "

3b If you answer No to the question, it would be good to provide actual concrete reasons. "Map needs more polish" doesn't explain anything.

If you did all of these properly, congratulations! You should be able to get BN!