Centipede Controls.dat off -- Romlister

[jukingeo]

Hello all,

Tonight I wanted to figure out how many trackball games I had in my rom list, but when I did a search for trackball games via Romlister, I was a bit surprised that my Centipede didn't show up.   Centipede did show up when I clicked the box for "8-way joystick".   So I did a .csv file for all my 8-way and trackball games and then examined the controls for Centipede. 

Apparently the controls for Centipede is listed as "8-way Joystick & Trackball".

Now I have never seen an arcade game that had a joystick to control Centipede...has anyone else?  Apparently the search function in Romlister seems to be looking at the first figure in the controls data and the 8-way joystick is taking precedence over the trackball, which would be the more common choice.

Question:  Is there anyway I could manually correct this so this way Centipede does show up correctly in a Romlister search?

Thanx,

Geo

[Hoopz]

If the xml file shows it as ""8-way Joystick & Trackball", then you'd have to use the following command:

'trackball'

With no other variables selected, that option will show all listings that have trackball listed.  Since the XML file shows 8-way for Centipede, you have to use that syntax to see it.  

Romlister doesn't use the first listing.  Your search was for trackball and not the other options (not 2 way, not 4 way, not 8 way etc).  The not command eliminates any choices that have trackball and anything else....

It's an issue with the XML info from Mame, not with Romlister.  If you change how you search, it may show you what you are looking for.

It may not be intuitive at first, but once you understand the logic that it uses, it's easier to figure out.

[NOP]

perfect response (thanks hoopz!) except for this:

>Romlister doesn't use the first listing. 

That's not actually true.  Romlister uses the entire XML entry for the game.  Your 2nd bit there:

>Your search was for trackball and not the other options (not 2 way, not 4 way, not 8 way etc).  The not command eliminates any choices that have trackball and anything else....

Is exactly what was happening.  the "not 8way" eliminated centipede from the search criteria.  trackball brought it in to the selection pool, but "no 8way" took it back out.

now, WHY exactly centipede (and millipede) have 8way listed in their XML has been a mystery for eons.

[jukingeo]

Hello guys,

I managed to figure it out late last night before I got some shut eye.   I played around with Romlister and DID find out that the two conditions MUST be satisfied for Centipede to show up.  I did a search first without the '8-way joystick' and then without 'trackball' and in both cases Centipede didn't show up.  ONLY if I selected BOTH '8-way joystick' AND 'trackball', then it did show up.

now, WHY exactly centipede (and millipede) have 8way listed in their XML has been a mystery for eons.

This was my thinking and I figured I would need to eliminate the '8-way joystick' from the controls section of Centipede in the final .xml file I am using for my searches.  So with an xml editor, I opened the file up and did a search for "Centipede".  It was only a matter of time before I found the 'controls' sections that had both listings for '8 way joy' and 'trackball'.   So I simply deleted the '8 way joy' entry and saved the file.   Went back into Romlister and BOOM!  Now Centipede comes up with the selection of 'trackball' only.

Heh Heh Heh.  I guess that one wasn't too difficult to figure out .

Thanx,

Geo

[Hoopz]

perfect response (thanks hoopz!) except for this:

>Romlister doesn't use the first listing. 

That's not actually true.  Romlister uses the entire XML entry for the game. 

That's what I meant.     I was trying to type and watch the Super Bowl. 

[NOP]

Hello guys,

I managed to figure it out late last night before I got some shut eye.   I played around with Romlister and DID find out that the two conditions MUST be satisfied for Centipede to show up.  I did a search first without the '8-way joystick' and then without 'trackball' and in both cases Centipede didn't show up.  ONLY if I selected BOTH '8-way joystick' AND 'trackball', then it did show up.

To be pedantic, both conditions do not have to be satisfied to bring up centipede. 
Either 8way or trackball will work, but the trick is that the other controls would need to be set to "don't care" (grey checkbox)
The "don't care" checkbox effectively removes a criteria completely from the search, thus eliminating the "must have this" and "must not have this" rules.

It took me awhile to get my mind wrapped around it too.  trying to have a GUI to input a human's idea of a search is really a tough thing to do!

[jukingeo]

It took me awhile to get my mind wrapped around it too.  trying to have a GUI to input a human's idea of a search is really a tough thing to do!

Well, I didn't take the test that far.  Since it goes without saying the "8-way joystick" control heading didn't belong, I just removed it from the scenario .

Geo