Software Support > controls.dat
controls.xml outdated
NOP:
wow.
All I can say is amazing work, and I wish I had your skills/freetime/dedication to this. How you're able to juggle this and all the other apps you do is beyond me. Hopefully this will really kickstart things and make it so easy, a caveman could do it.
It would be great to get an overview/instructions for simpletons such as myself on how exactly to fill in all the data, what stuff should be filled in, and where to go looking for information if we don't have 1st hand info.
headkaze:
--- Quote from: NOP on September 06, 2008, 06:45:24 pm ---wow.
All I can say is amazing work, and I wish I had your skills/freetime/dedication to this. How you're able to juggle this and all the other apps you do is beyond me. Hopefully this will really kickstart things and make it so easy, a caveman could do it.
It would be great to get an overview/instructions for simpletons such as myself on how exactly to fill in all the data, what stuff should be filled in, and where to go looking for information if we don't have 1st hand info.
--- End quote ---
If you coded in C# rather than C++ you would probably have the benefit of rapid development that the .NET namespaces provide. It really does make short work of projects like this, although I have classes I reuse all the time. Like I'm re-using code from CPWizard, Colors.Ini and GameEx DBM all in this project.
I'm going to need help with this as well because I'd like to automate as much of this process as I can. Data entry can be boring so the more things I can automate the better. Where do people go to find info? What other info can I use to help the user determine the controls? Playing the game or viewing the game's CP is one way, and using the dip switches is another way. Are there resources on the Net where control info/labels can be found? Is there an online database I can grab data from?
Also I was curious what UseServices means? Is it the same as the "Service Mode" in the dip switches? So if it has a "Service Mode" dipswitch can I assume the "UseServices" should be set?
Here is some dipswitch data I got from Mame's output. I will be using data like this to help determine Alternate and Cocktail modes, I just wonder if the "Service Mode" is the same thing as UseServices?
--- Code: ---<dipswitch name="Alternate Controls">
<dipvalue name="Off" default="yes"/>
<dipvalue name="On"/>
</dipswitch>
<dipswitch name="Service Mode">
<dipvalue name="Off" default="yes"/>
<dipvalue name="On"/>
</dipswitch>
<dipswitch name="Cabinet">
<dipvalue name="Upright" default="yes"/>
<dipvalue name="Cocktail"/>
</dipswitch>
--- End code ---
SirPoonga:
--- Quote from: headkaze on September 06, 2008, 07:01:26 pm ---I'm going to need help with this as well because I'd like to automate as much of this process as I can. Data entry can be boring so the more things I can automate the better. Where do people go to find info? What other info can I use to help the user determine the controls? Playing the game or viewing the game's CP is one way, and using the dip switches is another way. Are there resources on the Net where control info/labels can be found? Is there an online database I can grab data from?
--- End quote ---
That's partly why controls.dat started, there wasn't a good central location for that type of information.
--- Quote ---Also I was curious what UseServices means? Is it the same as the "Service Mode" in the dip switches? So if it has a "Service Mode" dipswitch can I assume the "UseServices" should be set?
--- End quote ---
There's a bunch of gotchas in mame you have to watch out for. In controls.dat, if I recall (since the site is down I don't know off hand), playchoice 10 uses service buttons which are not normal buttons. That entry is hard coded because it didn't fit well with the way everything else in mame works.
This is where some of the "inaccuracies" come from. I know there are games that just have a singe fire button but controls.dat says it has two. That's what mame reports. if you research the game it actually had two buttons that did the same actions. It's stupid but they had seperate buttons on each side of the joystick (for lefties and righties) wired to their own pins on the board. They could have just wired the buttons in parallel.
SirPoonga:
--- Quote from: TheShanMan on September 05, 2008, 09:10:51 pm ---SirPoonga, I was hoping you'd respond to my idea - would you be in support of an unofficial controls.dat and the promotion of records to the official version upon proof (see prior posts for more detail)?
--- End quote ---
Unofficial is fine. People wanted me to add the color information to proect. The reason I didn't is because there are so few games that had specific colors for buttons it wasn't worth the effort to add it. That's the perfect thing as an individual project.
TheShanMan:
--- Quote from: SirPoonga on September 06, 2008, 07:30:33 pm ---
--- Quote from: TheShanMan on September 05, 2008, 09:10:51 pm ---SirPoonga, I was hoping you'd respond to my idea - would you be in support of an unofficial controls.dat and the promotion of records to the official version upon proof (see prior posts for more detail)?
--- End quote ---
Unofficial is fine. People wanted me to add the color information to proect. The reason I didn't is because there are so few games that had specific colors for buttons it wasn't worth the effort to add it. That's the perfect thing as an individual project.
--- End quote ---
Glad to hear it. Then I would hope that whatever is done to promote the concept of an unofficial controls.dat will also have a mechanism for submission to the official controls.dat. I just don't want to see the official one get neglected to the point of obsolescence if the unofficial one becomes very popular, because I do see value in the approach taken with the official one. And any new features (like colors) I would hope to see shared between the two if possible.
Headkaze, will the generated controls.xml files have some sort of flag indicating whether a record is official or unofficial? Do you think it would be beneficial for apps like CPW to have the ability to differentiate between official and unofficial as a means to convey trustworthiness of the data?
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