Definitions

Path

A specification of when to activate overdrive within a given song

Pathing

The process of creating a path

Registration

While it is not necessary to search for paths, registration is required in order to create paths and use iPather to calculate the score.

Once on the registration page, found by clicking the "Register" link on the upper right of any page, you have two options for registering. If you are currently signed in to Facebook, the form will be prefilled with your email address and you will not be required to provide a password. If you do not have a Facebook account or do not want to link your new iPather account with your Facebook account, you will need to provide your email address and a password. In either case, you must choose a username that will be associated with anything you submit to iPather and pass the CAPTCHA check. After clicking the "Register" button, you will be logged in automatically if the registration was successful or an error message will be displayed, such as the username is already in use, and you will be presented with the form again.

Finding Paths

To find paths that other users have submitted, you must first select a song. To do so, start typing the name of a song in the search box on the home page or upper right of any other page. If you stop typing, a list of suggestions will appear. Click an entry to go to that song's page. If you submit the search form normally, a page with a list of matching songs will appear or you will go directly to the song page if there is only a single match. The song page will display various information about the song. At the bottom of the page is a link to view paths for the current song.

Once on the paths listing page, you can refine your search by clicking the "Change search criteria" link. The dialog that appears allows you to change the song, path author, game engine for which the paths were created, and the instruments and difficulties for which the paths were written. Clicking on an instrument icon will turn it yellow to enable it or white to disable it. You can choose the difficulty for each instrument in the same way or the default difficulty will be used, which is set to expert by default just above the instrument icons. Clicking "Ok" will refresh the page with the updated criteria.

Listed on this page is a summary of all submitted paths for the given criteria. Each listing includes a description on the left, the author on the right, and the estimated score. To view the actual chart that the path represents, click on the score.

Once viewing a path, you may rate it or leave comments on the "Rating/Comments" tab.

Creating Paths

In order to create a path, select a song the same way you would to find a path as described above but instead click the "Create Path" link. Next, choose which game engine you are creating a path for. Currently "Rock Band 3" is the only option but other games may be added in the future. Now select which instruments and difficulties you want to include in the path the same way you would when refining the search criteria for finding a path. Once you click "Ok," the path editor page will load.

The path editor requires a modern web browser to function. This means you must be using Firefox 4+, Google Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer 9. Internet Explorer 8 may work to some degree.

Once loaded, the path editor will present a blank chart with the instruments and difficulties you selected. To add an overdrive activation, right click the spot on the chart where you want the activation to start and click "Insert Activation Here" to add an activation that starts where you clicked and lasts 32 beats or "Insert Activation..." to fine tune the start position and length. To adjust an activation after you have added it, right click somewhere over the activation and click "Adjust." To adjust the activation in a more visual manner, you can simply drag the activation around with the mouse to move it and drag the resize handle on the end to resize it. Every time you make an adjustment, the running score of each measure is recalculated and updated.

At any time, you may click the "Save Path" link at the bottom of the page to save your work. Be sure to provide a short and long description by clicking the appropriate part of the editor at the top right of the page before submitting a path.

Editing/Deleting Paths

Any path that you have submitted will have an edit and delete button next to them on the paths listing page. To quickly find the paths you have submitted, click your username at the top right of any page, then click the link next to "Paths Submitted" on the "Overview" tab.