Just like @steveboura I'd like MAME to keep my controllers' configuration even when I unplug some of them.
From what I read, MAME has a fix for this problem, and it's supposed to be this: http://docs.mamedev.org/advanced/devicemap.html.
I tried to follow this guide, helped with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmjfwLuZ_X0&feature=youtu.be.
But I encounter a "mame could not load controller file" message when trying to set this up. Does anyone here tried it too and found a way to make it work?
Thank you.