Question WiiPlacement(1st mod project)

Kojo

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Hey guys, this isn't so much of a question as it is an introduction. My name is Kojo and I have a somewhat remedial experience when it comes to electronics. I'm not afraid of soldering or taking things apart. As far as actual experience goes well:

- I opened my old 360 to replace a wire when it got a RROD(success!).
- I've taken apart and spray-painted numerous Wii and 360 controller cases for myself and friends.
- I'm working off of 1 yr of high school electronics classes, so I know the basics of soldering and I remember what certain things like resistors do. This was 10+ years ago, so I'm not sure if I could read a really complicated schematic.

In other words, I'm coming in as a patient but ambitious noob that loves to work with his hands and figure out problems.

What brought me to these boards is my broken Wii(it's a Netflix machine, now). But I also saw what you guys were doing with GCPs and I really, really, REALLY want to design and build one for myself. I've looked at your projects(and I still am); I'm taking down what equipment I need to get my hands on(the right kind of soldering irons, batteries, etc.); currently watching tutorials on how to install a megadrive and gauging my own abilities(I'm considering V5). I'm really serious about doing this, but I'd appreciate it if you guys could help, when I have questions even when they sound dumb. I know I'm starting from zero, and I have a lot more research to do as far as power, screens, and actually getting games to play. I hope to start buying some basic stuff tomorrow(GC console, controller, hopefully a WASP fusion and a megadrive V5 if I can find them!). As for the rest of it, I'll need to keep reading on what specs are needed so I can plan this properly. I'm willing to try this more than once if it doesn't work the first time, but thanks in advance for your help and expertise; I've already learned a lot from this board and from ModRetro. I'll be in touch when I have more plans and create a separate worklog. Until then, if you have any tips on where to start after I first take things apart, I'd much appreciate it! Maybe a super basic order in which I should do things?
 
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Seeing how you've yet to buy any parts, I suggest going with a Wii Portable instead. It's better in pretty much every aspect.
I'm currently in the process of buying parts for my Wii Portable project.
 

pengy

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I agree with Ratchet Russian, the Wiip is the way to go now. Read the stuff in the wiki here and you will be highly satisfied.

Now, as far as a basic order for portablizing, it really depends what you're doing and how you like to work, and the wii trimming will complicate it, but i work something like this:

Once you take the console apart, get it down to the motherboard and get to work. First by bypassing any switches necessary like disk lid switches, then remove ports you don't need, try hardwiring power or video to it, trim the motherboard, relocate any USB ports or memory cards you'll need, etc. I always try to test it whenever I do something even somewhat major, that way you can keep track. Again, for the wii, trimming will be a major effort and you will want to follow the guides closely for all prep of the wii mobo.

Get your batteries wired to the protection circuit and taped together if necessary.

Try to get your case and your buttons and screen attached ASAP. Once you get that stuff figured out you will be able to drop in the motherboard and your battery pack as prepped and start wiring everything together. It is obviously more involved than that but that's a fairly basic rundown of an order to complete things in :p
 

Kojo

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You really think so? Which would be easier to work with for a first project? I heard that the circuitry is the same when installing certain components, and it would be nice to be able to play all of the Wii games I've built up.

But then there's things like the sensor bar to think about. I guess I have to research how those have been integrated into portable designs, or what kind of controls they have.

I'll seriously look into it before buying anything(I still have my broken Wii from trying to load a region-locked game), but the original plan is still for a GCP. I'm getting more components than what I need though, so I can start one project after another. Thanks!
 

Kojo

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What are the pros and cons of working with a Wii portable vs. a GCP? I know I'll get tons more games, and the circuit board might be a little smaller(haven't seen it yet) but is there as much documentation on how to do it properly? I already know having a readily available SD slot is a plus(though I might have to mod it, i'm not sure at this point)
 

Shank

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Welcome to the community! Here is a list comparing Wii and GameCube Portables
Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 12.31.18 AM.png

Once you have made the right decision, you really should check out the Definitive Wii Trimming Guide. Its an amazing resource that many members have put countless hours into creating to make this process much easier.
 

Kojo

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Haha! Point well taken! I guess I've got more research to do! Thanks guys
 

Kojo

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I'm sold folks. I was looking forward to getting my hands dirty with some soldering with the WASP and Megadrive, but they seem hard to find anyway. I'm already ordering 2 Wii's; one for the portable, and one to replace the old one. I'm not sure how my Wii games can be played on a portable(using a wiimote), but I still like the idea of having a Wii that isn't region-locked. I ran across something that said you could create a switch for that. I've spent all day filling myself with info, so if ANYTHING is wrong or scrambled don't hesitate to correct me!

-Or maybe PortabalizeMii plays Japanese ISOs along with US ones?

As for the WiiPortable, I checked out the PortablizeMii page and I'm totally down with it, but of course I still have some questions. I want to get started on this ASAP.

-What does the chart mean when it says it can play native Gamecube games but not emulated ones?

-In order to be able to trim the board to make it portable, I need to any Wii that isn't RVL-001(white with GC controller ports) so a black one with GC ports should work for that, right?

-What are you guys using to cut boards and cases? I think I've run across someone mentioning a Dremmel rotary tool. Is that what I should use if I'm going to do this more than once? It seems very versatile. And how much should I invest in things like this and a soldering iron? Let me know if I'm overthinking things.


Once you take the console apart, get it down to the motherboard and get to work. First by bypassing any switches necessary like disk lid switches, then remove ports you don't need, try hardwiring power or video to it, trim the motherboard, relocate any USB ports or memory cards you'll need, etc. I always try to test it whenever I do something even somewhat major, that way you can keep track. Again, for the wii, trimming will be a major effort and you will want to follow the guides closely for all prep of the wii mobo.

Get your batteries wired to the protection circuit and taped together if necessary.

Try to get your case and your buttons and screen attached ASAP. Once you get that stuff figured out you will be able to drop in the motherboard and your battery pack as prepped and start wiring everything together. It is obviously more involved than that but that's a fairly basic rundown of an order to complete things in :p
This helps a lot pengy, thanks! Just a few ?'s:

-The battery/power part is confusing me the most at the moment, and I'm going to read up on terminology so I don't blow my hands off. I THINK I know what kind of batteries I need (14.8V (4S) battery pack?). Is the protection circuit already in the system(to be connected to the battery), is it bought separately, or can it be bought with the battery? I'll do more homework on this.

-What's a wii mobo?
 

JacksonS

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-What does the chart mean when it says it can play native Gamecube games but not emulated ones?
It just means that the Wii isn't emulating GameCube games when it plays them; it's playing them much the same way the GameCube does.

-What are you guys using to cut boards and cases? I think I've run across someone mentioning a Dremmel rotary tool. Is that what I should use if I'm going to do this more than once? It seems very versatile. And how much should I invest in things like this and a soldering iron? Let me know if I'm overthinking things.
I use a Dremel with a cutting wheel for boards. It works well for boards and plastic, but it might leave a rough edge on plastic since it can melt the plastic. I also use miniature steel files for plastic to make flat edges and corners.

-What's a wii mobo?
That's short for Wii motherboard. So the console itself.
 

cheese

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PortablizeMii will play any region ISO on any region console. When he says "not emulated", he is referring to the fact that unlike the other consoles, GameCube can be natively run on the console without the need for emulation (this is an oversimplification, the full reasoning is needlessly complicated).

A black would be rev 40+ which is perfect for trimming. There are a few revisions between 01 (the first) and 40 (the first easily trimmable).

I cut my boards with a dremel and then sand. Casework is mainly whatever you have on had to work with. As for investments into tools, it really depends on your budget. I would personally suggest getting a soldering station, since they work much better, but they come at a cost, usually around 100$ vs the cheapos at Radio Shack being around 10$-20$.

If you plan on trimming the board, you can follow the trimming guide and wire regulators to it, when you power the regulators, the console will come on automatically. There are no switches to bypass or anything in the Wii :P

For the Wii, you'll want to do 7.4v (2S) batteries. If you want longer run time per charge, you can do two batteries in series and two of those in parallel (basically connect the + and - of two 7.4v packs together).

Mobo = the green board inside the Wii that has all the parts on it.
 

Kojo

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Welp, I've ordered the Wii's, the Dremel, and I'm looking up what I can do for a case and soldering.I'll stay glued to this board cause I know I've only gotten through 5% of the questions I'll have. Thanks for all of your help! I hope to have a more general idea of what my end goal is soon!
 

cheese

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If you'd like, I can move this to the Wii section, or we can start a new thread there (since this seems to no longer be about gamecube).
 

Shank

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Just to reiterate whats already been said in terms of which Wiis to buy.

Bad boards for trimming (6 layer boards):
RVL-CPU-01
RVL-CPU-10
RVL-CPU-20
RVL-CPU-30

Good boards for trimming (4 layer boards):
RVL-CPU-40
RVL-CPU-50
RVL-CPU-60
RVK-CPU-01
RVK-CPU-02

4 Layer Flowchart.png


Edit: Fixed image
 
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It's looking like I'll be posting all of my GameCubes and wasps/megadrives for sale here soon after reading through this thread haha. I'll be following this thread as I start to get back into modding after being away from it for a year or so. Can't wait to see what you plan to do with yours Kojo.
 
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The wii would be a better choice imo. If you want to incorporate the wii side of the unit you can wire and mount the sensor bar port on your case, its what im thinking of doing.
Aside from that rewiring the bluetooth module isn't super difficult either. At least from what i hear.
 

Kojo

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Thanks cheese. I was wondering if I could put it in the Wii section now that things have ::cough:: changed for me.

Just to reiterate whats already been said in terms of which Wiis to buy.

Bad boards for trimming (6 layer boards):
RVL-CPU-01
RVL-CPU-10
RVL-CPU-20
RVL-CPU-30

Good boards for trimming (4 layer boards):
RVL-CPU-40
RVL-CPU-50
RVL-CPU-60
RVK-CPU-01
RVK-CPU-02

View attachment 736

Edit: Fixed image
So Shank, it looks out of the two I bought, one of them is specifically listed as RVL-CPU-01 but that's ok with me because I don't plan on cutting it; just adding PortablizeMii so I can keep the Wiimote and GC controller functionality as easily as possible. This is to replace the destroyed Wii that brought me onto these boards in the first place. (I'll call it WiiPlacement, from now on)

-Um... that IS possible, right?

As for the second purchase, from reading your INCREDIBLE Super Thread that I just found yesterday, I believe it's either a RVL-CPU-40 or 60,(black) which makes for good trimming for a portable.

- The http://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/shanks-wii-super-thread.66/ really gave me a wealth of info and answered a lot of questions! I'm still scavenging the parts I think I'll need, and I guess this depends on which games I want and such, but when it comes to storage I think I'm going to use USB 3.0 flash drive for the WiiPlacement. it'll have GC, Wii, VC and other emulators on there as far as games are concerned, but I still plan on being selective with what I put on there. I'm willing to pay for more than 32GB, but I don't have Windows to reformat drives for FAT32. Would you guys say 32gb is enough space for what I'm looking for(the WiiPortable may need less than that, but I may go the SD card route for it.
 

pengy

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I don't know much about wifi stuff, but if you have to store any games on there it'll fill up very fast. My ps2p is using a 128gb stick and its full.
 

Shank

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Thank you for your kind words! I put quite a bit of time into making that thread.

If what you are asking is replacing a motherboard, that should be fine. As far as I know, you can run portablizemii on an untrimmed board just fine. Keep in mind though that portablizemii does not support SD cards. This shouldn't be an issue because USB is more than adequate for pretty much anything.

As for a USB, go with the Lexar 128gb. Works with everything I have tried so far. I also use a Mac, and I was able to format this drive to be fully functional using the preinstalled Disk Utility. I formatted that drive as MS-DOS(FAT) and MBR (Master Boot Record) and everything works properly. I have yet to verify on windows if the cluster size is 32k, but everything works as intended. If you need more detailed instructions, Ill gladly help walk you through it.
 

cheese

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Can confirm portablizemii works on any revision Wii, the only limitations of the lower revisions are trimming (and higher power draw)
 

Kojo

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As for a USB, go with the Lexar 128gb. Works with everything I have tried so far. I also use a Mac, and I was able to format this drive to be fully functional using the preinstalled Disk Utility. I formatted that drive as MS-DOS(FAT) and MBR (Master Boot Record) and everything works properly. I have yet to verify on windows if the cluster size is 32k, but everything works as intended. If you need more detailed instructions, Ill gladly help walk you through it.
Ordered and in my possession now. The RVL-01 for the WiiPlacement is supposed to arrive today too, so I may get that done sooner than I thought! I'll definitely be asking for your help when it comes time to format my USB, so thanks.

I have one or two ideas about the case designs for the WiiPortable, but I still haven't had a look inside of one up close so it may end up being a little bulky. What tool can I use to shorten heatsink fins, and how short can they be? I think what I have in mind is doable, but I need to add quite a bit of extra room to a Wii U gamepad(if that's a good idea for a first-timer) and I'll need to do some frankencasing for that(and for the GC buttons!). When I'm more sure about specifications, I'll start a new thread in the right place.
 
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