Software Support > controls.dat
Controls.dat and related projects
Howard_Casto:
Cool man....
I have a single issue that popped up around that time. Mame internally used to parse rom/parent/driver/default, but since then it has evolved into rom/parent/romof/driver/default. As a whole I don't think this really effects controls.dat much, but.... the question arises..... should the neogeo entry be renamed to neodrvr? I'm not sure if both work or which one overrides the other. My cab is out of commission atm so if anyone could check that it'd be extremely helpful. Also... I hate to admit it, but it might be time to add start buttons. Probably a dedicated label would be overkill but maybe something like we did with the service buttons. It's mainly because since we started controls.dat all these devices that light up buttons have popped up.
Finally it might be nice to have some way of linking to the resources.... I would be willing to go through the resources and manually add in hyperlinks, but it might also be nice to have a local copy of the control panel packs on the site. That way if somone has a pic of the panel but is unwilling/unable to make an entry they can upload the image and somone else will have the reference handy to do the entry. Also, believe it or not there are still games in the packs that don't have entries. This is mainly due to the fact that they have "wierd" controls and at the time we were waiting to add/modify that control type before doing the entry.
Just sugggestions since you are starting from scratch. Again let me know when/if you need me.
u_rebelscum:
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on February 15, 2010, 07:28:31 pm ---I have a single issue that popped up around that time. Mame internally used to parse rom/parent/driver/default, but since then it has evolved into rom/parent/romof/driver/default. As a whole I don't think this really effects controls.dat much, but.... the question arises..... should the neogeo entry be renamed to neodrvr? I'm not sure if both work or which one overrides the other.
--- End quote ---
Hmm... I think of "romof" as "biosname". And IMO both "neogeo" and "neodrvr.c" are fine and on the same level. (I'm using the ctrlr file system names, which do need the dot cee to be include for the name to work.) AFAIK, all games that share a bios are in the same driver, and if one game in a driver uses a bios all of them use the same bios set (zip file). This puts the two on the same level, and neither are above the other.
One reason to use the driver name and drop the romof is all games have a driver, but not all have a romof. And since the two are near equivalent, dropping one shouldn't cause problems. And of the two, we can't drop driver name.
Of course, the name "neogeo" is more identifiable by users. And if the bios<->driver link ever is unlocked, it would be good to support both. But until the link is broken, we don't how it will be broken, so the exact hierarchy isn't set in stone.
As for why the hierarchy is so flexible, here's an example. Two companies, say Art & Way, team up and share a hardware system with only small differences. Each company uses similar but different bios, say BiosA & BiosW. Mamedev could group all these in the same driver, and group the bioses in one zip file. However, it's possible that there's one driver & two bios files. Or for one bios file and two drivers. And for either to be split or joined in latter versions of mame, of course.
If anyone knows of any in mame, I'd like to hear if there are any real examples.
Anyway, I think ATM they are interchangeable, but we should support both ways if possible.
SirPoonga:
Good news, I got the database moved over. Bad news, the only backup I have is from 106. I will have to see if I can create a diff between 106 and 111 and update the db with the changes.
Next goal is to move over the php so a website exists. You will not be able to submit for awhile. I have to look into using this forum's cookie to determine user name.
Once I get the site moved and working like is use to I will probably delay putting in updates that have been requested. I am thinking about learning Silverlight and using this project as a way to start. Part of the idea then would be the site will have a simple control viewer. Since Silverlight can be launched standalone some people might find it as a control viewer for an FE. For an FE dev I think all one would have to do is embed a web browser and point it to the control viewer.
Howard_Casto:
I've been thinking about this. If you do the controls viewer idea we MIGHT want to also do a flash version. Flash isn't as universal, but it is easy to scale. Also it might be cool to have it read the users controller files. It isn't difficutl to do programmatically, espeically considering we have to deal with xml anyway, it's just a matter of giving the site permission to read it. Perhaps a manual add that puts the info in the cookie?
It might nto be worth it, I'm just snowballing since you basically want to start over.
garwil:
I'd love to get back on board with updating the DB but I'm in the final year of my nursing degree and my dissertation is due in June. I'll be available on the 23rd of June, ableit with a monster hangover! :cheers:
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