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Mame 108 XML Schema Question
Boz:
Ok... so the reason I was checking this out was my serious lack of enthusiasm with a very popular front end that people use. In fact, after futzing around with most of them, I've come to the conclusion that while their ideas and vision are well intended, the implementation leaves a LOT to be desired, at least on a Windoze machine. None of them aim to impress IMHO, no offense intended.
So, not that we need YAFFE (Yet Another %!#@$ Front End), I'm considering making one for myself that does just what I want it to do.
What would I use to ensure I have *accurate* data since the game listing coming out of Mame has a number of inconsistencies? Can I assume that ROM name, description, date, MFG are mostly accurate from the Mame XML?
Oh... and the history on defender says that they released a cocktail version of Defender, which, following the logic presented here, would mean that <input players="1"> is inaccurate. Right?
Also, what's up with coins="3"? Is that a reference to coin mechs? What could we possibly use this information for?
Howard_Casto:
--- Quote from: In2ishun on September 10, 2006, 03:46:06 pm ---What would I use to ensure I have *accurate* data since the game listing coming out of Mame has a number of inconsistencies? Can I assume that ROM name, description, date, MFG are mostly accurate from the Mame XML?
Oh... and the history on defender says that they released a cocktail version of Defender, which, following the logic presented here, would mean that <input players="1"> is inaccurate. Right?
Also, what's up with coins="3"? Is that a reference to coin mechs? What could we possibly use this information for?
--- End quote ---
The non-control data in mame is usually 99.99% accurate. It is actually archived while the control info is generated via a macro that looks at the input port defined for the driver.
No, defender doesn't have a cocktail dipswitch, so the parent rom only has one set of controls as it doesn't have a cocktail mode. So defender's entry is accurate.
Coins is the number of coin slots. This is useful as multiplayer games often have a dedicated slot for each player, but a few "pool" coins, meaning that everyone playing can take a credit just by pressing start. It isn't terribly useful but the data is printed out because it's part of the macro mame uses for the bookkeeping files.
The thing about displaying controls data inside a fe is... well it's a dumb idea. Some very basic info might be ok but there simply isn't enough room to show that much data. That is why I always reccomend calling johnny 5 from within the fe when you are curious as to controls. Now the other data doesn't take up as much room and I like to put that in a skin sometimes.
Minwah:
--- Quote from: In2ishun on September 10, 2006, 03:46:06 pm ---Ok... so the reason I was checking this out was my serious lack of enthusiasm with a very popular front end that people use. In fact, after futzing around with most of them, I've come to the conclusion that while their ideas and vision are well intended, the implementation leaves a LOT to be desired, at least on a Windoze machine. None of them aim to impress IMHO, no offense intended.
--- End quote ---
I could be wrong but it sounds to me like you are disappointed with fe's based on inaccuracies or flaws in the information given by Mame, since that is the only problem you really mention.
While I know the control types given from Mame are not always exactly 'realistic', they do give a very good starting point for filtering games lists (particularly since v0.107 when this info has become more detailed). As Howard says, there is no too much point displaying this data, you would be better off using controls.dat.
I personally in the past have used Mame's control info and catver.ini to filter games lists for my various control panels, with very good results. There are normally a few games which need manually sorting just due to inaccuracies or inconsistent info, but generally it works OK.
u_rebelscum:
--- Quote from: In2ishun on September 10, 2006, 03:46:06 pm ---What would I use to ensure I have *accurate* data since the game listing coming out of Mame has a number of inconsistencies? Can I assume that ROM name, description, date, MFG are mostly accurate from the Mame XML?
--- End quote ---
The mame XML is as accurate as mame, ignoring the few generalizations done to simplify for human readability.
The control area has the most generalizations. For example, as mentioned before, "players" is really "the highest player number used in the input stack in the game's driver". Another example, "buttons" really is "the highest button number used in the input stack in the game's driver". If a button number is skipped, it's not noted (AFAIK, no driver skips more than one button). If a button is used as a hack for something it can effect the button number (if it pushes the buttons numbers up, like pacman) or the players number (if a different player is used to keep the button count correct).
The easier stuff (name, description, etc) have a much higher accuracy rate, and are changed if found and agreed to be wrong. The high accuracy is mostly because they are easy to check, verify, and change.
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on September 10, 2006, 04:08:28 pm ---
--- Quote from: In2ishun on September 10, 2006, 03:46:06 pm ---Oh... and the history on defender says that they released a cocktail version of Defender, which, following the logic presented here, would mean that <input players="1"> is inaccurate. Right?
--- End quote ---
No, defender doesn't have a cocktail dipswitch, so the parent rom only has one set of controls as it doesn't have a cocktail mode. So defender's entry is accurate.
--- End quote ---
Looks like one of the following: mame doesn't have the cocktail version ROM dumped (if it was a different ROM), that part is not emulated, or the history is wrong. I'm guessing the first one.
--- Quote ---... Some very basic info might be ok but there simply isn't enough room to show that much data. That is why I always reccomend calling johnny 5 from within the fe when you are curious as to controls. Now the other data doesn't take up as much room and I like to put that in a skin sometimes.
--- End quote ---
Yes, the controls can be too much sometimes, while the basic info is easy. Take the 50 or so different input types (from controls.dat), and the hundreds of different combinations they have been used, even after mame's simplification of the inputs to a dozen types, and you've got a tangle to mess with.
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