Feature Request for MAME control panels

[stephen]

I just posted a message over at EmuMovies forum, but I thought this might be better suited for GameEx.

GameEx just uses image folders for marquee, cabinet, controls, etc. This means all of the images are static. It would be nice if there was a plugin or something, that would generate these images on the fly. Here are some of the benefits:

• Control Panel preview would always reflect the actual configuration.
  
• The control panel image could be customized to exactly match the machine's control panel.
  
• This system could even take advantage of GameEx's Theming system to allow the user to customize the location of the buttons.
  

This could be a process run once; or it could be run on the fly if a change to the configuration was detected.

First question, does GameEx have an extensibility point that would allow me to write a plug in to do this today? If so, can I get a pointer to some help on how to do it?

Next question, would other GameEx users find this useful? I suppose after you get your system set up, you don't really care about this kind of thing any more. I am still at the stage of putting final touches on my cab.

Thanks.

[Adultery]

Headkaze's CPWizard does a lot of stuff, including most of what you mentioned here, and it works natively in GameEx. Read more about it here: http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=cpwizard

[stephen]

Thanks for the heads up. I have CPWizard up and running. It is exactly what I was looking for.