Alternative MAME version, from the control panel

[Stormrider]

I have a layout with just one emulator: MAME. This is launched with button 1 in my control panel. Now, in controller, keyboard, external applications, I can tell MaLa to use a different version of MAME if I use Enter in my keyboard instead or button 1 to run the selected game. Is there any way I can configure this in order to use button 2 in my control panel. Also, when using this method, MAME is not totally hidden, so you can see the window at the very beginning of the emulator execution. Is there any way to fix that?

PD: I already know the way to pre-setup this for certain roms, but I want a way to do this manually too.

Create a text file called mala.cmd in your MaLa folder. Now, in options, basic, mame executable, instead of mame.exe write the path to your .cmd file (eg. d:\mala\mala.cmd). Edit mame.cmd and add this:

if %1==pacman goto mameold
if %1==name-of-rom-here goto mameold
if %1==name-of-rom-here goto mameold
if %1==name-of-rom-here goto mameold
if %1==name-of-rom-here goto mameold

d:
cd\
cd d:\mame
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
goto end

:mameold
d:
cd\
cd d:\mameold
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd\
goto end

:end

[SGT]

What window are you referring to that you want to be hidden?

Also did you know that you don't have to add the "if %1"  line for every rom, but you can just put these roms in their own folder and use only one "if %1" line using this method:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=68419.0

[Stormrider]

When MAME is launched from the emulator, you shouldn't see the command prompt window. MaLa, unlike EmuLoader, for instance, does hide that screen, so it's more elegant. However, when using the 'external application' method for running a game, you can see that window for a millisecond. Anyway, it's not a drama, but I'd like to know if it can be fixed. Maybe a MAME command line parameter?

As regard your idea about the code, I don't want to have my roms in different folders. This is just for a dozen of games, so it's ok as it is.