controls.dat for consoles

[ppilot]

As far as I can figure out, there is no controls.dat resources for console systems.  Is there any interest in this?  I think I'm going to do some work on it for myself and if anyone else cares I might make up something 'official'.

Just wondering.  Thanks

[SirPoonga]

This can be a much more difficult task.

First
Nintendo
Button 1 = A
Button 2 = B

Hehe.  I know, not that simple.  You want to know what the button does in game.  Well, that can be very difficult as the buttons may have multiple uses, especially if in combo with another button.

Then you have later systems like psx that some games have different control schemes.

[mccoy178]

I like the idea.  I'm of no help, but I like the idea.

[ppilot]

This can be a much more difficult task.

First
Nintendo
Button 1 = A
Button 2 = B

Hehe.  I know, not that simple.  You want to know what the button does in game.  Well, that can be very difficult as the buttons may have multiple uses, especially if in combo with another button.

Then you have later systems like psx that some games have different control schemes.

Agreed, it's not simple, and that it can't work for newer systems (using the existing fields) but I think it would be nice for classic systems.  I was thinking the miscDetails field could hold 'multiple use' information, as well as things like 'game select' information for the 2600, etc.

[SirPoonga]

People have been asking me to add console stuff to controls.dat ever since it started.

As you see consoles are a whole different beast.  It really should be a seperate project with it's own format.

[jcrouse]

How about this. I have modified CPViewer making just a layout designer that will handle 4 players with 12 inputs (labels) each and 12 additional miscellanous inputs (labels). The plans are to modify CPVW to handle the additional labels. Then add the functionality to parse through a static console controls.dat (nothing official, you can create your own) that would be platform specific, not game specific. Like so:

Nintendo
P1B1 = A
P1B2 = B

Super Nintendo
P1B1 = A
P1B2 = B
P1B3 = C
P1B4 = X
P1B5 = Y
P1B6 = Z

It will also have a logobox at the top that will display a graphic image (logo).

I currently have a similar setup for every platform I have on my cabinet but I use static background images with CPVW. This makes it very difficult to maintain and change button labels.

Does this sound like a useful endeavor?

John

[ppilot]

How about this. I have modified CPViewer making just a layout designer that will handle 4 players with 12 inputs (labels) each and 12 additional miscellanous inputs (labels). The plans are to modify CPVW to handle the additional labels. Then add the functionality to parse through a static console controls.dat (nothing official, you can create your own) that would be platform specific, not game specific. Like so:

Nintendo
P1B1 = A
P1B2 = B

Super Nintendo
P1B1 = A
P1B2 = B
P1B3 = C
P1B4 = X
P1B5 = Y
P1B6 = Z

It will also have a logobox at the top that will display a graphic image (logo).

I currently have a similar setup for every platform I have on my cabinet but I use static background images with CPVW. This makes it very difficult to maintain and change button labels.

Does this sound like a useful endeavor?

John

I think that's nice functionality, but if I'm understanding you correctly, it won't allow different labels for different games within the systems.  It'd be nice to know which buttons are used/not used, as well as what they do.

Or am I misunderstanding?

[Necro]

Honestly, I don't think this will happen anytime soon - a catver.ini hasn't even been generated for a console yet (any of them) and that would be more beneficial to more people, IMHO.

I'm going to setup static images to show what buttons/controllers to use for console games - I figure people can figure out the rest as they play.  Heck, rental games stopped including directions if I remember correctly (Back in the nes/snes days).