changing controller setting in mame

[BlackFox]

i want to take all of my snk games and change the button layout, but the only way i see of doing that is to change every single game individually. any suggestions?

[sc1103]

Ctrlr Files will do that based on driver name.  Look up the EasyEmu guide for a walk-through for both old and new methods.  If you go w/ the old method, then use HowardC's converter, found on his page, to switch to the new versions if necessary. 

[BlackFox]

okay this is a little more confusing, which of the .cfg files do i edit or do i just make a new one. and are all of the current cfg's used with mame, because ive already programed my panel into mame. so these dont look at all like my control setup. im using 0.101
i understand how the config file works, its basically html, just differen titled tags, but i dont know what to do with the current files.
i guess i would just put neogeo as the driver name though. i just need to know if i need to make a new file and if i can delete the ones there without breaking anything because thats really confusing the hell out of me.

[sc1103]

Ctrlr files were a PITA for me...i ended up just changing my winIPAC settings to use the slikstik file, then setting the cttrlr field in mame.ini to to the slikstik panel.  this way it already had the drivers there to change and everything worked cleanly.

[BlackFox]

okay, but what im wondering is where is mame reading the ctrlr information from right now. or how do i select where it is reading from, because i didnt see it in the mame.ini.
i dont mind doing a little bit of typing and thinking to get it all setup the way i want it. i just need to know if i have to write a new one, and if so how in the hell do i get mame to read it, and can i just delete the other cfg files.
and do you know of anywhere else that could have some info on this.
what the hell is PITA anyways? Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association?
Edit: i want this (Fig. A) to be this (Fig. B)

[thebrownshow]

what the hell is PITA anyways? Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association?

Pain
In
The
Ass
 

Aside from that, what I usually do is just modify each game when I first play it in MAME.  It was a bit of a pain to do it at first, but now when I play a new game that needs to be configured, I just get into the menu and modify the controls for that game only.

[sc1103]

okay, but what I'm wondering is where is Mame reading the ctrlr information from right now. or how do i select where it is reading from, because i didn't see it in the Mame.ini.
i don't mind doing a little bit of typing and thinking to get it all setup the way i want it. i just need to know if i have to write a new one, and if so how in the hell do i get Mame to read it, and can i just delete the other cfg files.
and do you know of anywhere else that could have some info on this.
what the hell is PITA anyways? Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association?
Edit: i want this (Fig. A) to be this (Fig. B)

Okay to do this, all you have to do is have your WinIPAC keycode set up the way it is in slikstik, but with their buttons 1,2,3 corresponding to your 1,2,3, then have 4,5,6 correspond to your 4,5,6 keycodes.  Then for the Neo-Geo Driver, just set the keycodes to be the same as the format you want there, with p1button1 the one your have labeled 1, etc. etc.