Learn How to Create Rocksmith CDLC for the 2014 PC Version

Welcome to my guide for How to Create Rocksmith CDLC for the 2014 PC version. This is part one of the overall guide, which will provide an overview of the process, and how to acquire all of the necessary tools in order to create a Rocksmith CDLC song.

If you’re new to Rocksmith 2014 then be sure to check out the Rocksmith 2014 Review first!

If you’re completely new to this particular process, then I strongly recommend that you first try to import existing Rocksmith CDLC. I already made a step-by-step guide for How to Get Rocksmith 2014 Custom Songs (PC)

Overview

Before I dive right into it, first I’d like to provide a general overview of this process so that you have a better understanding of how all of this works.

As you may already know, the Rocksmith 2014 store offers many downloadable songs (or DLC) available for purchase. As soon as you purchase a single song from their store, it basically creates an “unlock” code that can then be used to import any other Rocksmith custom song (CDLC). So then it’s just a matter of creating the custom songs so that you can import them using that single code that you already purchased.

In order to do this, you need to have a .mp3 of the song you want to create, a .gp5 (guitar tab) file of the same song, and a few programs. The .mp3 is needed as the audio source (obviously). The .gp5 file will provide the actual notes that Rocksmith 2014 uses for its software. The open source programs make it possible to import both the audio file and the guitar tab file, sync them together, and then combine them into a “bundle” file, which is recognizable by Rocksmith 2014.

Once you understand this process, then you can literally import any song/tab files and make them playable on Rocksmith 2014. So let’s get started.

Required Programs & Products

Optional Downloads

Resources

Items 1-6 above are required in order to create Rocksmith CDLC, so please either purchase, download and/or install each of them.

Ultra Star Creator is listed as “optional” because this is the program that you need if you’d like to add lyrics into your Rocksmith CDLC song. I have used this program successfully, but the process is very time consuming. Lyrics are not required in order to import Rocksmith CDLC, and since guitar is the main focus of Rocksmith 2014, then I’m going to skip over this one for now. However, maybe I will create a separate post about this in the future.

Once you get all of the required programs downloaded and installed, then we can start the initial setup.

Step 1: Download the .gp5 file

I received a couple requests from some August Burns Red fans asking me to make a PC version of the song “Chasing the Dragon.” So I’m going to use that song as an example for this guide, and I will be creating that song step-by-step along with you. I’ll post the final version of this Rocksmith CDLC at the end of the tutorials, and make it available for free download on both the website, as well as CustomsForge. For now, let’s download our .gp5 files.

Head over to ultimate-guitar.com. Search for the song you want to create. Download the “Guitar Pro” version, and check to make sure that it has a high rating. Remember, this file will determine the notes shown in Rocksmith 2014, so any mistakes in this file will directly correlate to the Rocksmith 2014 gameplay. After the file is downloaded, open it in Guitar Pro. Once the file is opened, you can listen to it and edit any mistakes, if necessary. When the file is ready, click File>Export>GP5 and save it to a folder of your choice.

Step 2: Download the .mp3 File

This step is pretty self-explanatory. You will need a good quality .mp3 audio file of the Rocksmith CDLC that you are creating. I’m purchasing mine from Google Play, and I also strongly advise that you purchase your track legally in order to support the artists so that they can continue delivering great content.

Step 3: Adjust BPM in the Guitar Tab File

Setting the correct tempo in the guitar tab file can save you a lot of time and effort, since we’ll eventually be syncing the .gp5 file to the .mp3 file. Default average beats per minute (BPM) set to .gp5 files are not always accurate. Guitar tab files are uploaded by amateurs, so in many cases BPM is just estimated, rounded, etc. You will definitely want to set the average BPM in the .gp5 file as accurately as possible.

In order to do this, go to this BPM tool and tap the space bar on your keyboard in sync with the beats, while your song is playing. This free online tool will automatically count BPM as you tap the space bar, accordingly. If the average BPM generated by this tool is drastically different than the BPM set within your .gp5 file, then you can manually change it. Be sure to save the file afterward.

This concludes the downloads and initial set up portion of the part one guide for How to Create Rocksmith DLC. The next guide will be about merging, and syncing the .gp5 and .mp3 files together in an open source program.