Documentation on how to use Anarchy files and themes can be found here.

For the purposes of this tutorial, suppose your StepMania folder is “C:\StepMania\”. Just substitute whatever it actually is and everything will work great.

k//eternal recommends and uses Stepmania 3.9+, for full compatibility with Anarchy files and themes. (SM4 is a viable option as well, but certain files will have significant timing issues and none of the themes on this site will work.) SM 3.9+ does not come as a standalone download, and must be installed over an existing copy of SM 3.9.

Get SM 3.9 here.

To install SM 3.9+, just open the .zip file and overwrite the contents of your SM 3.9 install with it. SM 3.9+ can be found here.

All Anarchy songs are designed to be played on a dance mat. Therefore, if you want the full experience, so to speak, you'll need a PS2 dance pad and a USB adapter to hook that pad to your computer.

You can typically find good deals on a pad on eBay, although quality can be erratic depending on the seller. It might therefore be more practical to buy from an online store.

Play-Asia sells USB adapters.

MyMyBox sells dance pads.

Getting a quality pad is critical. For high-level play, make sure that you get a pad with a foam insert or a metal pad; flat soft pads have a tendency to scrunch up and/or move around significantly midgame, making continued play impossible.

Download files from one of the newer Anarchy eras by clicking the banner. They will be in .zip format.

Go to C:\StepMania\Songs\ and create a folder for the Anarchy era the file you downloaded came from (for instance, C:\StepMania\Songs\era-4\).

Place the .zip files you downloaded in the folder you just made, and unzip them. That's it, they're ready to play.

Download files from one of the older Anarchy eras by clicking the banner. They will be in .zip format.

Go to C:\StepMania\Songs\ and create a folder for the Anarchy era the file you downloaded came from (for instance, C:\StepMania\Songs\era-2\).

Place the .zip files you downloaded in the folder you just made. Right-click one, and click “Extract All…”, then use the default destination when unzipping the file. You'll have to unzip files individually. Sorry.

Batch packs of older Anarchy eras are available on KBBS and bemaniso. The procedure is similar to that above, but all the songs are contained in a single archive.

Go to C:\StepMania\Themes\ and create a new folder for the theme you will be installing (such as C:\StepMania\Themes\XIII+\). Place the .zip in that folder and unzip it.

Open up StepMania and go to Appearance Options, then look for the row titled “Theme”, where you can select the theme you just installed. StepMania will immediately load the theme after you leave the menu.

Go to C:\StepMania\Data\stepmania.ini and search (use Ctrl+F) for “GlobalOffsetSeconds=”. Adjust the number by increments of 0.02 until the timing feels right.

Unfortunately, StepMania's sync varies between computers, which is the origin of this problem. By changing GlobalOffset you can account for it, though.

You probably have FastLoad enabled.

Go to C:\StepMania\Data\stepmania.ini and search (use Ctrl+F) for “FastLoad=” and set it to 0. FastLoad lets StepMania boot quickly, but if you have it on, StepMania reads only from the cache, so updates won't appear properly.

You probably have the wrong version of StepMania installed. See the Getting Started section.

I can't guarantee that themes older than XII are going to be free of bugs, so it could also be that.