Command.dat question

[TheManuel]

Hello.

I'm using CPWizard to display commands from the command.dat file.  I've noticed that on mk3, the run button is displayed as "@R-button", which is the notation for alphabetical "R" button and looks a bit cumbersome.  Is this perhaps because CPWizard doesn't have an image for the letter "R" button and it simply displays the text literally?

Thanks.

[Howard_Casto]

Command.dat's tags are archaic and outdated.  They come form an era where icons were hard-coded into a custom build of mame. 

Those files really need to be re-worked. 

That being said, unless there's been yet another change to command.dat, it's symbols don't look like that.  they usually have a "^" symbol "_", "@" or something similar followed by a single character. 

That is indeed the flag for that particular button, but it isn't a proper flag.  It only seems to be used for mk3, it's too long and it's just in the wrong format.   Looking at my set there isn't a Run icon an "R" icon or anything suitable. 

[TheManuel]

Do you think then my only alternative is to use text for that action, as in "Run"?
I tried copying  the png file for one of the existing buttons and renaming it to "@R-button" but it did not show up in the command list in CP Wizard when I launched it.  I did not think it was an invalid flag because the code below at the end of the command.dat file does contain that shortcut for alphabetic buttons.  I thought simply the graphics were missing.

Code: [Select]

$cmd
Alphabetic Buttons (for NeoGeo): A~Z
-----------------------------------------------
 No Glyph  Description           ShortCut
  1 | _A | BTN__A          | __A | @@A-button
  2 | _B | BTN__B          | __B | @@B-button
  3 | _C | BTN__C          | __C | @@C-button
  4 | _D | BTN__D          | __D | @@D-button
  5 | @E-button | BTN__E          |    | @@E-button
  6 | @F-button | BTN__F          |    | @@F-button
  7 | @G-button | BTN__G          |    | @@G-button
  8 | @H-button | BTN__H          |    | @@H-button
  9 | @I-button | BTN__I          |    | @@I-button
 10 | @J-button | BTN__J          |    | @@J-button
 11 | @K-button | BTN__K          |    | @@K-button
 12 | @L-button | BTN__L          |    | @@L-button
 13 | @M-button | BTN__M          |    | @@M-button
 14 | @N-button | BTN__N          |    | @@N-button
 15 | @O-button | BTN__O          |    | @@O-button
 16 | @P-button | BTN__P          |    | @@P-button
 17 | @Q-button | BTN__Q          |    | @@Q-button
 18 | @R-button | BTN__R          |    | @@R-button
 19 | ^s | BTN__S          | ^^s | @@S-button
 20 | @T-button | BTN__T          |    | @@T-button
 21 | @U-button | BTN__U          |    | @@U-button
 22 | @V-button | BTN__V          |    | @@V-button
 23 | @W-button | BTN__W          |    | @@W-button
 24 | @X-button | BTN__X          |    | @@X-button
 25 | @Y-button | BTN__Y          |    | @@Y-button
 26 | _Z | BTN__Z          | __Z | @@Z-button
-----------------------------------------------
$end


[Howard_Casto]

Yeah I don't have a clue what that legend is all about. 

You can do a test for yourself... take any of those long-hand buttons and do a search... you won't find them used anywhere.  That's why we ignored them when making our command.dat viewers.  Mk3 is the odd-ball out for some reason.  Command.dat died mid-revision and the mame build that used to support it was cancelled, so that might have something to do with it. 

But headkaze can chime in on this one... I don't know if he's hard-coded the icons or not for his viewer. 

[TheManuel]

There were two or three other games that use that type of alphabetic character flag, one of them being Power Instinct, which uses @O-button, if I remember correctly.  At any rate, they are indeed very few and probably not worth worrying about it.  What I ended up doing was replacing "@R-button" with simply "R" and defining "R : Run" in the button definition section.

Thanks for your help, Howard.

[Howard_Casto]

Well I didn't really do anything, but sure. 

Maybe I can revisit the updated command.dat format I started last winter.

[TheManuel]

Well, you saved me from digging any deeper for something that just doesn't work