How to Add Songs to Clone Hero

Before adding a large song library

Launch Clone Hero once and create a profile before copying thousands of files. Confirm that the game opens, your controller or keyboard works in menus and the default Songs folder can be opened from settings. This separates an installation problem from a custom-song problem.

Start with one known-good chart. A small test tells you whether the path, extraction method and scanner are working. When a test chart appears and plays correctly, add larger packs in batches. Back up existing Songs, Custom and settings folders before moving from an older release or switching between Launcher and standalone installations.

Add downloaded songs step by step

1. 1

   Download a chart package

   Choose a chart from a source with visible title, artist, charter, instrument and difficulty information. Avoid song installers and unknown executable files.

2. 2

   Extract normal archives

   Right-click a ZIP, RAR or 7z file and extract it. Do not move the unopened archive into the Songs folder. An SNG package is different; leave it as SNG when your game workflow supports it.

3. 3

   Inspect the song folder

   Open the extracted folder and look for song.ini, notes.mid or notes.chart, plus audio. If those files are hidden inside another wrapper folder, move the real song folder instead.

4. 4

   Move it to a song path

   In Clone Hero, open the default Songs folder from Settings. Copy the complete song folder into that location, or into another folder already configured in the song path manager.

5. 5

   Scan songs

   Return to Settings → General and choose Scan Songs. Wait for completion, then search the song list by title or artist.

6. 6

   Test audio and notes

   Open the new song and confirm that preview audio, chart notes and the selected instrument are present. A chart may legitimately support only certain instruments or difficulties.

Where downloaded Clone Hero files go

Clone Hero can scan more than one folder when additional song paths are configured. This is useful if a library is stored on another drive, but the external drive must be connected and the path must remain stable. Changing the drive letter or moving a parent folder can make the entire library disappear until the path is corrected.

Keep one folder per song. Genre, pack and artist folders can be used as organizational layers, but avoid extreme nesting and confirm that the actual song folder contains its own metadata, chart and audio files.

Scan Songs and read badsongs.txt

Clone Hero does not automatically update the list every time a file is copied. Run Scan Songs after adding, removing or changing charts. The result shows how many songs were scanned and whether any bad songs were detected.

When a song is rejected, Clone Hero writes information to badsongs.txt. Read the reported path and reason. Missing notes, missing audio, malformed metadata, unsupported files or nested archives are more actionable than repeatedly pressing Scan Songs. Fix the specific folder, remove the duplicate or download a clean copy from the chart's original source.

If every song on an external drive disappears, inspect the configured path and drive availability before changing individual charts. If only one song fails, focus on that folder's files and metadata.

• Archive still unopened inside the Songs folder.
• song.ini or notes file missing from the actual song directory.
• Audio filename or format not supported by the chart.
• Song path points to a moved or disconnected drive.
• Duplicate or corrupted chart copied during a large pack install.

Why a downloaded song plays for two seconds

A song that opens for only a moment, has no notes or has no audible track is usually not fixed by moving it to another random folder. Confirm that the selected instrument and difficulty actually exist. Then inspect the audio and notes files, review badsongs.txt and try a fresh copy of that exact chart.

Do not assume that every result for a song title is identical. Another charter's version may use a different audio layout or chart format. Remove the broken copy before testing a replacement so duplicate metadata does not make it unclear which version loaded.

For more failure patterns, continue to the Clone Hero troubleshooting guide.

A repeatable way to add songs to Clone Hero

The most reliable way to add songs to Clone Hero is to treat every download as a small import: keep it outside the live library, extract and inspect it, copy the real song folder, scan, and test one chart. When that batch works, record its source and move to the next. This repeatable process is slower than copying an unknown multi-gigabyte archive once, but it is much faster than diagnosing thousands of mixed files later.

If you regularly add songs to Clone Hero, reserve a temporary staging folder and a separate backup. The staging folder holds new archives until they pass inspection; the backup preserves working content before changes. Neither folder should be added as an active song path. Only verified, extracted song folders belong in the library that Clone Hero scans.