Ranking criteria

Introduction

The purification criteria describes the rules and guidelines for all pure maps. Not every scenario is covered by it and most submissions will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Terms / Glossary

• “map”: a singular difficulty of a mapset
• “mapset”, “set”: a collection of multiple maps
• “pure”: commonly known as “ranked”

General

• All assets must be “safe for work”. This means backgrounds/storyboards/videos/etc. can not include nudity, near-nudity, violence, or similar.
• AI generated content is strictly forbidden in all regards. This includes; Maps, Backgrounds, Storyboard assets, and Songs. This does NOT include; AI upscaling, AI voice covers.
• AutoMod must be able to achieve 100% accuracy.
• Maps can only use 4k up to 8k as their base keycount. Lane switches with a keycount below 4 are allowed.
• There can not be multiple notes in one lane at the same time. Additionally, there has to be at least 20ms (0.02s) between every note in one lane. Tick notes can be closer together, but not stacked.
• Every lane has to contain notes.
• Maps must be at least 0:45 in length or greater. Additionally, the entire mapset needs to be above 2:00 in length.

• If the song length of any difficulty is...

  • Shorter than 2:00, the lowest difficulty has to be “Normal”, or have a proper spread with at least 4 difficulties.
  • Shorter than 2:30, the lowest difficulty has to be “Hard”, or have a proper spread with at least 3 difficulties.
  • Shorter than 3:00, the lowest difficulty has to be “Insane”, or have a proper spread with at least 2 difficulties.
• Every note has to correlate to a sound within the song.
• Sources for backgrounds, covers and similar have to be properly credited. This is only allowed to be left out if the creator does not want to be credited, or the original creator can not be found.
• Do not reuse your own pure difficulties in other mapsets.

Maps

• Custom difficulty naming has to follow a theme or pattern related to the song or map and shouldn’t be misrepresentative.
• A difficulty name cannot consist of just a username.
• A collab-host must have charted equal or more difficulties than any guest creator.
• Avoid special characters in the difficulty names.

Generic Difficulty Names

• 0-3 Beginner
• 3-6 Easy
• 6-9 Normal
• 9-12 Advanced
• 12-15 Hard
• 15-18 Hyper
• 18-21 Insane
• 21-24 Expert
• 24-27 Master
• 27-30 Challenge
• 30+ Challenge+

Timing

• Maps must be properly timed (correct BPM and Time Signature) and have the right offset.
• Timing points must be consistent across all difficulties.
• HitObjects must all be snapped to the grid.

Audio

• Audio files must... - ...be in the .mp3 or .ogg format. - ...for mp3 files: have a bitrate above 128 kbps and lower than 192 kbps (or equal to) - ...for ogg files: have the file encoded at either q4, q5, or q6.
• All maps in a set are required to share the same audio file.
• Preview points have to be consistent across difficulties.
• Audio files should not contain any audible and unwanted distortions. e.g. clipping, crackling, etc.
• If less than 75% of the song is mapped, it should be cut.
• “Compilations” should be properly mixed and not suddenly cut to other songs. They should all have the same volume and quality of composition.
• Avoid using the same sample for multiple notes in a chord. This can make sounds louder than they have to be.

Video, background and covers

• Every difficulty has to have a background image. Different files for different difficulties are fine.
• Background images must be in a resolution above 1024x576 and below 2560x1440. They can also only be 3MB in size max.
• Cover images have to be the same across all difficulties.
• Cover images must be in a resolution above 128x128 and below 512x512. The maximum file size for these is 1MB.
• Videos can have a resolution of 1920x1080 but 1280x720 is preferred for performance and size reasons.
• Videos can not contain an audio track. These must be removed with an external program.
• Videos have to be encoded in H.264.
• All assets should be in a reasonable quality. Attempt to find the original source and avoid unnecessary upscaling.

Effects

MEMORY MAPS ARE A CASE-BY-CASE SITUATION

• Maps cannot be fully blind.
• Every effect has to correlate to a sound within the song.
• Avoid creating overly epileptic/flashy effects such as strobe lights.
• Avoid creating completely unreadable effects.