Per-Game Key Layouts in Mame .79b

[LsLSpamMatt]

Hello again guys.  It's been forever since I posted because my arcade project fell to the way side for a couple years (?!)  I finally got it into a playable state tonight, and have a question about setting up the keys in Mame version .079b.  This is before the XML update, so I'm not sure if there's a good solution to my problem.

My buttons are laid out like this:
        123
      7456

I use the standard Capcom button assignments for just about everything, but I'm wondering if there's  an easy way to make all the NEOGEO games use buttons     123
                                                                                              7

I know I could go through and manually reassign the buttons, but it'd be great to just create a controller config that only works on the NeoGeo games. 

Is this possible in Mame before the XML change?  Is it possible afterwards?  Should I buck up and buy a set of 111 or 112 Roms when they become available?

I'd really appreciate any feedback / advice any of you can offer.

Thanks again,

Matt

[u_rebelscum]

You could do that now and then.

With 0.79, mame used the old ctrlr/ini files format.  You can still find a lot of information at easyemu ctrlr page, about 1/3 down and below, from "Creating ini file (For Older Versions Of Mame)" down.  And the mame binary from mame.net should come with example ctrlr/ini folders that include neogeo.ini files.

If you read the easyemu page and still have questions, let me know.