What's controls.dat?

[simplygriff]

And how does it work?
-G

[Tiger-Heli]

And how does it work?
-G

Well, it's actually controls.ini or controls.xml
Short answer is it's a file that lists MAME gamenames and what each button does, for example:

[armorcar]
gamename=Armored Car (set 1)
numPlayers=2
alternating=1
mirrored=1
tilt=0
usesService=0
miscDetails=I think a bit of how to play info might be necessary.  The sawhorse button releases a police barrier to crash cars.  The 2nd gear button makes you go faster, but only while it is held.  
P1NumButtons=2
P1Controls=4-way Joystick+joy4way
P1_BUTTON1=Sawhorse
P1_BUTTON2=2nd Gear
P1_JOYSTICK_DOWN=Down
P1_JOYSTICK_UP=Up
P1_JOYSTICK_LEFT=Left
P1_JOYSTICK_RIGHT=Right

By itself, it's only useful for reference purposes, but there is a viewer (johnny5) available that will load an image of your CP, check with MAME for your cntrl.ini assignment, check controls.ini for button functions and then label which button does what for you.

More details here: http://fe.donkeyfly.com/yabbse/index.php?board=10

Also see the thread "proof of concept of Howard's idea" for WIP on incorporating this into MAME.

[simplygriff]

That sounds really interesting.  I was wanting to  replace the images I have of real control panels in MAMEWAH with some 3-D renders of my own CP and some brief instructions so they would actually be useful.  This would be the way to do it.  I thought that was what it was.  

So how do I get started?  I looked around in the fe dev link you posted but there was a whole lot of code speak in there that was way above my head.  I can do a little coding and have a friend that can help but how would a newb get started?
-G

[SirPoonga]

You can click on the Controls.dat project link at the top of the page at http://fe.donkeyfly.com.  However, right now it is down do to maintainence.  Here's the FAQ.
http://fe.donkeyfly.com/controls/faq.php

[Tiger-Heli]

That sounds really interesting.  I was wanting to  replace the images I have of real control panels in MAMEWAH with some 3-D renders of my own CP and some brief instructions so they would actually be useful.  This would be the way to do it.  I thought that was what it was.  

So how do I get started?  I looked around in the fe dev link you posted but there was a whole lot of code speak in there that was way above my head.  I can do a little coding and have a friend that can help but how would a newb get started?
-G

Ok, first download and unzip the file. http://fe.donkeyfly.com/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=112  There's a default layout that comes with it.
You will need the VB6 runtime files and I never got it working under 98SE (works fine under 2K, though).

Eventually, you will want to set-up and image of your CP, and I had to manually position the labels to make them work.  See my comments in the support requests on the other forum for more hints.