Keeping total "Play Count" per game in sync between Mala layouts

[megabreath74]

Hi All,

First time post for a long time lurker.  There's NO way I could have finished my project without this site... 

I have a question about Play Count tracking in Mala.  I want to display the Play Count per game regardless of which layout it was selected from.  That's not happening right now so my Play Count is out of sync between my 2 layouts.  I don't like the inconsistency between the two and I'm clinically obsessive compulsive.  I swear to God that this is something I must solve or I'll need my meds increased.

Here's my 2 scenarios:

A) My "Arcade.mll" layout is using the "All Games.mlg" gamelist.
B) My "Arcade Top 20.mll" layout is using the "Most Played Games.mlg" gamelist.

In the Mala Layout Editor, I'm displaying the Play Count using "~g_played".  I have this setup for both layouts mentioned above.   I'm finding that the Play Count for roms on the "Arcade Top 20.mll" layout is much higher than the Play Count on the "Arcade.mll" layout.

When I select a game from "A", the Play Count increments by one here and in "B".  However, when I select a game from "B", it only increments the Play Count here and not on "A". 

The "Most Played List" functionality is clearly doing it's job by tracking selections from the All Games list.  It appears to be a one-way street though in terms of tracking plays. 

Is there a workaround?  Am I using this functionality incorrectly?  Ideally I'd like to have a solution that allows me to store Total Plays per rom in a single location within the "MaLa174" folder.  I'd then like to be able to reference this location in the Mala Layout Editor by using a command similar to "~g_played". 

Any suggestions are appreciated.