Best Options for MAME Control Settings?

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So I’m finally getting around to doing something I’ve intended to do for a long time. I’m finally digging into my MAME control settings so that any game I load will respond in a predictable fashion with predictable control assignments. In doing so I’d like to setup my controls to handle a variety of MAME input types. For instance, I’d like to set up one profile optimized for 4-Way input, one for 8-Way input, one for Spinner input, one for Trackball input, 270 degree wheel, 360 degree wheel, etc. This is for my HTPC system, so the controls being used are two DualShock style controllers (one Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2, and one Logitech F710). I can envision a couple of ways to accomplish this goal, but I’m looking an additional input as to what the best option might be here. Here’s what I’ve considered thus far:

1) Setup a good set of default settings to cover as wide a range of games as possible. Next use RomLister to generate lists by control type and set up those games one by one from within MAME. Address any fringe cases as the need arises. Downside: This could potentially take a long time.

2) I’d like to incorporate Xpadder into this setup anyway, so set up one Xpadder profile for each MAME input type (i.e. a 4-way profile, an 8-way profile, a spinner profile, etc.). The nice part about this is that I can use a single set of default MAME control settings, and leverage Xpadder to map those default settings accordingly. (In other words, the number of keys referenced in my MAME settings can exceed the number of physical buttons on my controller since each profile can reference a different set of input cues). Downside: This would require that I launch the Xpadder profile appropriate to the game being launched from GameEx. I could pull this part off using a combination of RomLister output and a (big) batch file, but the resultant performance hit would be hard to predict (if the batch file needs to analyze thousands of rom names in order to determine what Xpadder profile to launch, it could take a while to run).

3) Exotic solutions. I’m very vaguely aware of Mame ctrlr files, but don’t have a good idea of where to begin with them. I would think I could accomplish what I’m looking for using a combination of RomLister output and ctrlr file(s), but I don’t know if there are any automated processes available to help out here. I’m curious to learn more about this option. I also know that Tempest has a CFG Magician utility that I think could potentially handle these configurations, but all the instructions I can find reference CFG Magician data files which I can’t seem to find anywhere. Downside: I just don’t know enough about these options to determine whether it’s worth my time to figure them out.

I have a feeling that the ctrlr file solution might be my best bet here, but I’m looking for any additional input regarding my best options. There’s a whole solar system of MAME utilities that I’m only vaguely aware of (and most not at all), so yeah almost any advice is good advice at the moment.

Thanks!