Ultimate KIU Tutorial & Guide

by Darkness
translated from original Portuguese format by Turkeyslam
content and images from tutorial used with permission

Kick it Up... do you know about it? For nearly all of you, the answer would most definitely be yes! And for those who are new to Pump?

Not everyone knows of Kick It Up, especially the newbies, so because of this I will explain everything that is necessary to begin working with this little program, known also as KIU.

Before everything else, please note that KIU is not an emulator of Pump it Up, which many people think.

It is a program made to execute KSF files (the arrows/steps for a song) simultaneously with a music file (MP3) and an image in the background (BMP or PNG)

But referring to it this way seems a bit complicated. The right way to start this would be to download KIU just to make things easier.

Click here to download a copy of KIU.

After doing this, you will extract the files inside the zip file. Use Winzip to do this.

The KIU folder should look like this after extracting the files:

Pay attention. Now you should create a new folder to use as a jukebox for the game OR use the "Song" folder provided, which includes a copy of Banya's Beethoven Virus to use as an example. This folder contains the music for your KIU!

It should look like this:

Now that you have KIU in your hands, you need to download songs! For example, download this KSF which I have made: Dreamland KSF

Extract the song in this zip file and place it in the folder called "Song" or in the other folder which you have created. Look:

In this folder you'll see:

Remember what I said up above? About the KSF files, and the files for the images and music? Well, this is what you require to be able to play KIU.

When you go to put in more songs in your copy of KIU you should put them all in the same folder, and in this example, you would put them all in the folder "Song":

Well, this is basically what you need to know to play KIU.

CODES AND OTHER THINGS IN KIU

When you're playing in KIU, you'll notice that the steps will be really stuck together, and when it's this way it becomes hard to be able to hit them. Isn't it true? Look at an example of arrows all crammed together:

This means that you did not put in any code to alter the speed of the steps, like in Pump. But we can alter the speed of the arrows as they come up. This way it becomes much easier to hit the steps.

Look in this figure the codes which you should use in the screen where you select your song. If the code is put in correctly, a noise will indicate that you correctly have put in the code.

If you want to alter the speeds ingame as the song plays, there is another option. You can do so by hitting the number keys 2-8, but not the number keys in where the second player plays, and yes, under the F buttons.

If you're used to playing as the second player certainly it would have startled you to see that the steps are sometimes traveling in the middle of the screen, like in the below picture:

This "error" occurs when you hit the up/down/left/right keys on the right side of the keyboard, or when you hit 4 or 6 when the number lock key is turned off. I don't know if this is really an error in KIU, or perhaps a special feature. But anyway, to return to normal, leave KIU and return and press 4 or 6, or the up/down/left/right keys once more.

FREQUENT PROBLEMS

For many of you, when beginning to play, you might have been surprised by encountering with this message:

This is easy to fix, isn't it? The solution is to create a song folder and put music in it. If you downloaded KIU from Pump Haven, you may not encounter this problem.

Other problems which also occur:

If this happens, you should choose the "Skin" folder, and with the right button, click it and choose "properties".

Remove all attributes added, such as "archive" in Windows XP or "read-only" in Windows 98. Do this as well in the "default" folder.

Many other problems related to the "Skin" folder or with other folders can happen, so do this with all others. If you still have any problems of this sort with KIU, post in the forums to see if we can try to fix it.

CHANGING THE MUSIC FOLDER

You know that there is a limit of songs which you can put in the "Song" folder? When this happens, KIU simply stops working.

Some say that the limit is 100 songs. I tried to put the maximum number of songs possible in a folder and reached 141. At 142, this error appeared:

This error varies with other KSF names, as in, it also happens with Hard_1.ksf, Easy_1.ksf, and Crazy_1.ksf, among others. Be calm, because there is an easy way to resolve this problem.

Create a new folder (or, in the case of the KIU file downloaded here, use "Song 2") with a name of your choice.

Distribute your songs between these two containing folders. Try to limit the number of songs in each folder so you don't have errors. If you have a lot of KIU songs, create as many KIU container folders, called jukeboxes, that you need!

See, for example:

Now that you created this new jukebox, you may be wondering, "how do you play the new songs which are in the other jukebox"? Simple. Open KIU and in the song select screen, hit the TAB button. A screen such as this will appear, depending on the skin you have:

Note that up top you'll see the word "Song" - the folder which contains your music!

If you are player 1, on the left, use these keys to navigate:

A - move to the left
S - confirm
D - move to the right

And for player 2:

4 - move to the left
5 - confirm
6 - move to the right

There is also another common error.

This error may appear in this part where you choose the music folder. If there's too much in the two folders combined (the first one, and the one you're moving to), this error occurs!

If this happens, leave KIU and try once more, maybe switching to a smaller folder with more songs first, and then going back to the jukebox of your choice.

CHANGING THE SKIN

After playing KIU for a while, you might get tired of seeing the same menus and screens each time, same arrow style, etc. You can change this.

It's due to this that the "Skin" folder exists. In this folder, you can add extra "skins" with images and music totally different from what you're used to seeing when you play. To change the folder is simple. In the Skin folder, you have the default one, right?

You should put the folder for the new skin in the same place where you find the old skin.

Now enter KIU. Ingame hit the F2 button, and this screen will appear:

Bring the cursor down to the option "skin select". Hit enter to change the skin. After choosing your skin, leave the game. Re-enter KIU and enjoy your new skin. You're not limited to two either, you can continue on and add as many as you like, without having to delete anything. Look at this example:

Now you are ready to enjoy the best (in my opinion) KSF simulator of all time.

Tutorial by Darkness a.v
PD Team 2005