Sorting Controllers / sort info

[fredster]

I have a problem.  It may be me, but I can't get this to work with .88
It's a cool program that used to sort out what games took what controlers -
http://hem.passagen.se/robert.palmqvist/Downloads/downloads.html

This sort info utility seems to need the -listinfo parameter in mame.  I tried to get it to do this with every version of mame .88, and that -listinfo parameter isn't there anymore.

What I want to do is pretty simple -
I have a mame machine I built that has 1-8 way joy and two buttons per player, with a trackball in the middle.

I want to sort out games that use that format, then create a file that has the rom names so I can copy just those games and put them in my roms directory. That way I conserve the disk space on this old 466 engine I'm using for this machine.

It's a monumental task with all those roms to maximize this limited machine.

Any software utility out there that can do this?

[SirPoonga]

I bunch of people have wanted to do the same thing you want to do.

sortinfo works on old mame, as you found out.  I don't remember if it takes a file as a parameter.  You can make the output it needs using the xml2info exe with mame.

BTW, this will be highly inaccurate.
The controls.dat project is more accurate and we are always looking for more volunteers to help.  The popular games pretty much have been added.  http://fe.donkeyfly.com

[fredster]

Can you sort controls.dat like this?

I don't understand the controls.dat program myself.  It looks like a history file more than something useful.

Are you trying to rename Player 1 button 1 to say 'jump' in mame?

That way you universally program the third button that outputs 'a' to be 'jump' and then mame picks up which button is jump from the .dat file?

Is that what that is all about?

[SirPoonga]

First, read the FAQ.  Second, look on the REports page.  The closest you can get with the project right now is the list of games sorted by control tpye.  Until someone comes out with something better....

[fredster]

I read the FAQ and I still don't understand.

Sorry. It didn't make any sense to me.

[SirPoonga]

The main goals of this project are:

To accurately document the controls a game used, using more descriptive terms. Like 270 Wheel, 380 Wheel, Throttle, etc...
 
To accurately document the CORRECT controls, I.E. a game uses 3 buttons instead of 4, or uses and up/down spinner instead of a trackball.

To make dealing with inconsistancies easier. 720 is this example. In the controls.dat this will always output 720 controller (or whatever we have defined for it) even if in mame it changes from dial to stick.

To relate the above controls with how they are defined/hacked into mame. This allows FE devs to accurately display control information. An example of this is the Johnny5 viewer. With this part HowardC's Viewer can read your ctrlr files and accurately display what controls you have do what in mame for a particular game.


Ok, that's straight from the fact.  If you don't understand that Try, with just using mame, find all the games that require a steering wheel.  Try and find out if dotron uses an up/down spinner.  Try and find all the games that use 1 button and only 1 button.

[fredster]

I have never, ever, never been accused of being a genuis.

So it's a programming thing. No wonder I didn't understand.

Good Luck.

[screaming]

Hang tight bro, I'm working on making one!

[SirPoonga]

So it's a programming thing. No wonder I didn't understand.

I am confused at this statement?  what does "it" refer to?  If it refers to the project, no, it's a documentation thing.  No programming involved except for the people who want to make a program to display the information better.