Looking for a games controls list.

[IIOIOOIOO]

Been searching around *some* for this via google, but it's a tough one to come up with useful limiting keywords, so I figured I'd give it a shot here...

Does there exist an easily machine-parsed file listing the controls for each game in popular emulators? I.E. One saying something along the lines of Emu xxx Game xxx P1B1 Fire P1B2 Special P1B3 Dance. If so, where can I find it? If not, is there any interest in one existing, at least for MAME? My wife would kill me if I took the time to do all of them, but I would be happy to set up the file format and split the labor with 2-3 other people.

On a related note, what's the fastest way to generate a parent-only list of games supported by MAME, or is the fastest route for me to just toss together a quick little app to get that from the -listinfo output? Also, are there any examples someone knows of where the controls are different between parent and clone?

[SirPoonga]

http://fe.donkeyfly.com  look there.  I'm working on it, stop hounding me!!!!

Then look up something called mame content manager.

[IIOIOOIOO]

It looks semi-dead to me. I think the problem is that appears to be an open-ended collaboration, which seems to be notoriously unworkable.

[SirPoonga]

No, it's just in hibernation.  I've been working on it this week.

[Tiger-Heli]

On a related note, what's the fastest way to generate a parent-only list of games supported by MAME, or is the fastest route for me to just toss together a quick little app to get that from the -listinfo output?

Emuloader http://www.mameworld.net/emuloader/ will let you list only Master (parent) games, but I don't know if you can export it.

SortInfo http://hem.passagen.se/robert.palmqvist/Downloads/downloads.html might be able to do this also, if you've tried it.

Also, are there any examples someone knows of where the controls are different between parent and clone?

TopGunner Bootleg allows you to use a rotary joystick to control the machine gun.  The Parent (Jackal) does not.  And there are version of Golden Tee Golf for joysticks and trackballs (maybe CABAL also).  There are probably more, but these sprang to mind first.

[SirPoonga]

Oh, for parents only, look in the mame.ini file at the clones option

[IIOIOOIOO]

I'm not at home yet, so I'll ask here. I want to EXPORT a list. If I change the clones option in mame.ini and do a say... -listinfo, will it only list parents? Then I assume that I can just mame.exe -listinfo > SirPoonga4Ever.txt, ne?

[Tiger-Heli]

I'm not at home yet, so I'll ask here. I want to EXPORT a list. If I change the clones option in mame.ini and do a say... -listinfo, will it only list parents? Then I assume that I can just mame.exe -listinfo > SirPoonga4Ever.txt, ne?

Never tried it, but that sounds right!!!!

[JoyMonkey]

I've done a quick list of games, excluded clones using SortInfo and saved it as an Excel spreadsheet.
Don't take the Input.Control field as gospel, SortInfo has always had problems identifying games controls. But its a start.

http://mame.joymonkey.com/noclones.zip

Hope it's of some help.

JoyM

[JoyMonkey]

I've done a quick list of games, excluded clones using SortInfo and saved it as an Excel spreadsheet.
Don't take the Input.Control field as gospel, SortInfo has always had problems identifying games controls. But its a start.

http://mame.joymonkey.com/noclones.zip

Hope it's of some help.

JoyM

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the very first game in the list should be called 005, Excel keeps changing it to 5 and I've never been too good at getting Excel to do what I want.

[IIOIOOIOO]

Lot's of times, if you're outputting a file for excel, you can "" wrap the field to force it to a string. If it's a CSV, that is.

[JoyMonkey]

Lot's of times, if you're outputting a file for excel, you can "" wrap the field to force it to a string. If it's a CSV, that is.

Okay, it's fixed now. Just had to change the 005, 1942 etc. cells from numberical to text (duh).

[JoyMonkey]

A file like this sounds like a very good idea.

Wouldn't it be great if frontends could use a file like this to display each games controls when selected? It would be especially helpful to people who aren't familiar with a games controls.

If you want some help, I'll go through part of the list and take note of the controls. We'd need to decide on what kind of file to use and what fields are needed first though. It'll take a hell of a long time too, but I suppose somebodys got to do it.

[IIOIOOIOO]

That's what I was thinking. Also, I was going to take it and revisit DinoRogers LED matrix software/hardware solution. pm me with your email address, and I'll drop you a line with my idea tonight. Let's just figure on the two of us now, as it seems that getting much beyond 2 people with this stuff is a deathblow.

[JoyMonkey]

Does there exist an easily machine-parsed file listing the controls for each game in popular emulators? I.E. One saying something along the lines of Emu xxx Game xxx P1B1 Fire P1B2 Special P1B3 Dance. If so, where can I find it?

Just out of curiosity, is there a game that has Button1=Fire, Button2=Special and Button3=Dance?

[IIOIOOIOO]

Unfortunately, life is not that good.  I've always been a fan of games with "pose" buttons, esp. spectator friendly ones. I still promise to email you tonight. I snuck downstairs to do it, and ended up trolling the forum for a few mins instead!

[SirPoonga]

I'm not at home yet, so I'll ask here. I want to EXPORT a list. If I change the clones option in mame.ini and do a say... -listinfo, will it only list parents? Then I assume that I can just mame.exe -listinfo > SirPoonga4Ever.txt, ne?

Yep, I think with clones set to 0 you get just parents.  I'm trying to get the mamedevs to add other FE friends options into that section since they put that there.