Software Support > controls.dat
Unofficial Controls.xml Update - Preliminary Release
Howard_Casto:
The reply box is acting wonky so continuing my thought...
The reason we haven't updated is unfortunately Woogie has dropped off the face of the earth and for the longest time sirp couldn't update the database and then he was busy with real life stuff. Also mr do doesn't do control panel image packs anymore, no cp pics means not a lot of source material for us to get control labels from. Then take into account that the bulk of the entries were done by me, rebel and cd and I, at least, fell off the face of the earth. ;)
Also I think everyone needs to understand that the primary reason for controls.dat is documentation. Retrogaming is alive and well even in commerical form via the wii virtual console and xbox live arcade. The problem is while the games themselves are prefectly emulated and will undoubtedly be preserved via mame at the least, you are forced to play on bastardized controls and the developers don't seem to care. The physical interfaces of some of these rarer games need to be preserved or else 20 years from now people will think it's perfectly acceptable to play tron on their xbox with dual analog sticks. ;)
SirPoonga:
HC, I think we need to accept unverified and flag them. Because the documentation now is getting slim (like you said) at some point we need to add unverified to make the file more useful.
At some point I have to recode the project. It is painfully out of date. I might modify it so when it generates the dat file for any games not entered it will put in a stub and have the labels be unknown. Just a thought right now. It might encourage people to find the controls.
headkaze:
The ControlsDat software he's using does have a "verified" tickbox so the data can be separated. If the official project requires each entry to be verified with proof then I seriously think there should be an unofficial ControlsDat project.
Howard_Casto:
No guys, at some point we need to actively search for documentation ourselves instead of depending on guys like Mr. Do to do it for us. It was a fine partnership, but when we started I scrounged the net for every single entry so I can tell you it is possible to still get data for entries.
I'm sorry HK but unverified entries that are manually created are about as usless as jpegs to hellen kellar. It's obviously not the "real" labels so why bother? Filtering isn't an issue either, you can get all that from mame. I'm not sure why people are afraid of proof either. It just requires extra effort. Oh wait, I think I just answered my question. ;) Seriously though, it's really hard to find a game that you can't at least find a manual for. It doesn't HAVE to be a pic of a control panel, we just prefer it for obvious reasons. Besides, I thought your software WAS the unofficial controls.dat project. Without verification, there's absolutey no reason to have a centralized website, afaict.
Also as I've said, having unverified entries lead to people being less willing to verify. Hell I'm not even going to bother myself if people make all kinds of fake entries and since I did the bulk of the entries myself that pretty much kills the project before it gets restarted doesn't it?
Sirp you are gonna get mad at me for saying this, but a main reason controls.dat is out of date is the fact that you never kept the site up to date. Now this primarily isn't your fault, woogie is hard to get ahold of, but when the database is still at .111 and some of the contol constants have changed since then, it makes it a tad hard to keep doing entries. Remember, I tried to get you to add some constants for over a year when I still frequented the scene. The stub thing is a good idea I guess, but I don't understand why app developers dont' take the extra initiative and just have their app get this data from mame. Expecially on the xml version adding the stub data is gonna be HUGE! I think as an option it should work though.
Just tellin it like it is guys. If we are gonna do it, let's just do it! All I need is a centralized database to keep track of new entries and documentation and an easy way to do things to it like add/modify new mame constants and update the mame version. I've offered to help, I've offered to take over, I've offered to get someone else to take over. It's all on you sirp, get us a new site built and I guarantee you that new entries will get done cause I'll do em myself if I have to.
headkaze:
Actually ControlsDat is just a piece of software I wrote to help people add entries, it's just a tool and is not necessarily associated with the official or non-official project. It's purpose was to get people adding in unverified entries, and the software allows you to export "unverified only" for them to be sent to be properly verified. But I can see your point if they arn't verified at the source they have to be re-done or checked anyway. So I think there is still room for an unofficial unverified ununderthescrutinyofhowardcasto version :P (welcome back to the boards BTW :cheers:). But at least you're not just here to spout off but to offer help with the project. BTW CPW does use Mame info when there is no entry in ControlsDat, it just uses numbers as labels instead. With ControlsDat (the program) it adds an extra attribute called "Verified" so you could infact ignore the unverified entries if the data you needed had to be correct. For most people though IMHO it's so they can view the controls for a game they want to play and in most cases even unverified labels that help you play the game would be better than none at all.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version