Configuring NEO GEO X-arcade controls in MAME

[MayorQwert]

So, I'm trying to get my tankstick set up with MAME so that NEO GEO games use a different config from other games.  I see this is already built into the X-arcade.cfg file I put in the ctrlr directory a while ago, but I realize it is looking for a 'neogeo' system.  Right now, I don't think this is set up, since it is currently not formatted according to what it says. Right now, it's using "Ctrl, Alt, Space, X", but I want to use "C, Shift, Z, X" as seen in the X-Arcade.cfg. How do I define what games are part of the 'neogeo' system in mame as displayed in X-Arcade.cfg?

 

 

[SagaXIV]

I know it's not exactly what you are asking for, but I use a x-arcade too.

Have you tried using the piece of software called "X-arcade to X-input", that virtually turn your tankstick to x-box contrllers, and work from there? I am still in the process of configuring several emulators with it, but so far, it works for quite some stuff that isnt a wiimote, or dosnt use D-pad+analog.

By the way, I know that software interface isnt quite good, I wish it was much simplified...

 

[MayorQwert]

22 hours ago, SagaXIV said:

I know it's not exactly what you are asking for, but I use a x-arcade too.

Have you tried using the piece of software called "X-arcade to X-input", that virtually turn your tankstick to x-box contrllers, and work from there? I am still in the process of configuring several emulators with it, but so far, it works for quite some stuff that isnt a wiimote, or dosnt use D-pad+analog.

By the way, I know that software interface isnt quite good, I wish it was much simplified...

 

Haven't really given it much consideration. I'm personally fine with it registering the tankstick as a keyboard, as I have a lot of custom binds already set that would be a pain to redo and I like being able to have controllers separate for specific applications (or games that are >2p).  I just find it somewhat convenient as I have grown pretty used to treating the tankstick like a keyboard. I just can't figure out this specifically and I know it's possible since I see plenty of people talking about it online, but without any sort of guidance about how they did it. I know it involves making a cfg file for the Neo Geo system that is named the same as the BIOS file, but I have no idea what sort of contents would be within it...

Edited December 28, 2017 by MayorQwert

[MayorQwert]

Just want to go ahead and give this a bump, still haven't figured out how to configure this, and I know it's probably something simple but to my understanding all I need is some kind of config file that lets the X-arcade ctrlr file know when a Neo Geo game is being played.  Can anybody help?

[SagaXIV]

Bump for you, + possible solution : 

 

[damageinc86]

Can't  you just remap your keyboard presses in the mame menu when inside a neo geo  game? I know it might be tedious, but eventually they would all get done.

Edited January 4, 2018 by damageinc86

[Replay]

You could use a neogeo.ini that points to a different cfg directory location that would be different than what other games use. This way you set it once globally for neogeo and you're done.

[MayorQwert]

10 hours ago, SagaXIV said:

Bump for you, + possible solution : 

 

I like the sound of this, but can't quite follow his procedure. Not sure what me means by "loading up any game and got my default config perfect." as well as the following sentence.  Also confused on whether he just makes an empty file called 'neogeo.cfg' to begin with and how this exactly works.

8 hours ago, damageinc86 said:

Can't  you just remap your keyboard presses in the mame menu when inside a neo geo  game? I know it might be tedious, but eventually they would all get done.

While yes this would be possible, there are hundreds of NeoGeo games out there and it would be far too time consuming to do it for every single one.  Plus, if I am able to get a cfg properly set up, if I add any games later I will not have to worry about going back and remembering to modify the controls. I know this is a possible thing, they wouldn't have bothered adding that segment to the X-arcade.cfg if it wasn't, just no idea why there isn't any documentation.

7 hours ago, Replay said:

You could use a neogeo.ini that points to a different cfg directory location that would be different than what other games use. This way you set it once globally for neogeo and you're done.

I'd like to try to stick with the existing cfg files if possible, but could you possibly provide a bit more exposition of this method? Sounds like it could work, I'm just relatively new to the MAME scene so I don't have a good understanding of properly using ini and cfg files.

 

 

Thanks for keeping this thread alive, hopefully I can figure something out soon, I'm sure I haven't been the ONLY person to have an issue like this and I know somebody has to have figured it out!

[damageinc86]

don't most neo geo games have the same or very similar button configurations?  Like those 4 button cabs that had several different games to choose from?  I guess maybe I don't know about any others lol. 

[MayorQwert]

Yes, all Neo Geo games have a 4 button config, although some games don't use all four. There are a lot of them though and the default setup and Mame has a very awkward control scheme for four button play. Actual Neo Geo cabinets have the buttons in a line with the first diagonal to the other three. With the layout I mentioned in the beginning post you can emulate that somewhat. It's just that there are a lot of Neo Geo games and, although I did go and manually map controls for the few games I have now, that will not be as easy for when I end up having a lot more new games being added.

[Replay]

Quote

I'd like to try to stick with the existing cfg files if possible, but could you possibly provide a bit more exposition of this method? Sounds like it could work, I'm just relatively new to the MAME scene so I don't have a good understanding of properly using ini and cfg files.

As a test you could extract a fresh MAME into an empty directory. Create a fresh mame.ini by executing in command prompt *mame64 -cc*

Insert the path to your roms in rompath option and then launch any game but in your case I'd pick a neogeo game like Metal Slug *mame64 mslug*

With the emulation running TAB into Input (general) and set your controls exactly how'd you want in only neo geo games. Once you close the emulation you'll have a mslug.cfg file in the cfg folder.

 

For simplicity lets say this fresh extracted copy I just talked about is at location J:\MAME\TEST and your old setup is at location J:\MAME

Now navigate to location J:\MAME\ini and create a file named neogeo.ini in this file paste the following:

cfg_directory             J:\MAME\TEST\cfg

The above method should work to keep your neogeo game controls different than other games.

[MayorQwert]

On 1/5/2018 at 12:17 AM, Replay said:

As a test you could extract a fresh MAME into an empty directory. Create a fresh mame.ini by executing in command prompt *mame64 -cc*

Insert the path to your roms in rompath option and then launch any game but in your case I'd pick a neogeo game like Metal Slug *mame64 mslug*

With the emulation running TAB into Input (general) and set your controls exactly how'd you want in only neo geo games. Once you close the emulation you'll have a mslug.cfg file in the cfg folder.

 

For simplicity lets say this fresh extracted copy I just talked about is at location J:\MAME\TEST and your old setup is at location J:\MAME

Now navigate to location J:\MAME\ini and create a file named neogeo.ini in this file paste the following:

cfg_directory             J:\MAME\TEST\cfg

The above method should work to keep your neogeo game controls different than other games.

Tried your method, although it's a bit roundabout it definitely did the trick.

1. I just made a copy of my Mame executable, moved it to an empty folder
2. Ran it and added the ROMs path (so it could find games)
3. Ran a game (to be honest though I don't think the game mattered)
4. Set General inputs, only changing any that were going to be different from the MAME default (P1 & P2 Buttons 1-4 and UI Close (I have a different button to quit))
5. Renamed the created default.cfg to neogeo.cfg and dropped it in a custom folder called neogeo in my MAME's cfg directory
6. Created the aforementioned neogeo.ini with the appropriate path for cfg_directory (in my case D:\Emulation\MAME\cfg\neogeo)
7. Finally, and this step is important, went back and deleted any existing .cfg files for NeoGeo games that already had one, as this new setup will auto-generate one with the correct setup when the game is run only if there isn't already a cfg for the game.

Now any new NeoGeo games will have a cfg file created with the appropriate setup in the neogeo folder with no extra work on my end, I actually added about 30 new NeoGeo games just last night and they are all using the correct control scheme with no setup!

As a bit of an added bonus, I'm pretty sure you could do the same set of steps for any game set that uses a specific bios, although there aren't any cases that really come to mind outside of NeoGeo, just remember it's always an option, though.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

 

Edited January 18, 2018 by MayorQwert