Bacteria's Multi-Console System: Screen+Case+N64 - FINISHED

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:20 am

WhatULive4 wrote:Are you going to keep pretty much the same design, or are you going to go with something a little sexier?

Pretty much along the same design, however it will be sexier as:

* I will have the paper covering smoother, the edges of the case will be straighter and I will use a mini paint roller to apply paint before varnishing.

* The mid section (the back of the screen section) will be smoother and also painted, which will make it look far better.

* I will house the batteries inside a covering to make the area look nicer.

* The areas around the buttons and joysticks will look far better this time around.

My Father got rid of his old PC (he gave to Mum ages back) as he got a new one recently and gave her his old one; it is a 1.4Ghz Intel one, which is better than my old 800Mhz Intel one I have been using. Spent today getting the PC Dad gave me (free!) reformatted, reinstalled and getting most of the programs loaded. No project time today; Nights tonight and tomorrow night, but will have time on Thursday and Friday for project working.

I need to "play" with my new camera too, so I can get used to using it and know how to get the best pics from it. Another job for Thursday!

I might be able to add the Jaguar to my list of consoles to mod, it is a big board and will have to extend down my casing by about 7cms; however as it by default only takes a TV arial output, and I need composite or RGB, I will have to hunt on the net for a pinout so I can make alternative connections - anyone know the pinout for the Jaguar video and audio outputs??

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:09 am

http://pinouts.ru/Video/AtariJaguarAV_pinout.shtml

That?

Dbstew · Post by **Dbstew** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:44 pm

HBN wrote:http://pinouts.ru/Video/AtariJaguarAV_pinout.shtml

That?

And this
(It's pretty much the same as HBN's post, but it has a picture explaining the pins, can't go wrong now

, EDIT: it's confusing though, I guess this is the cable pinout-side (even though it says "Jaguar AV console", the picture has a female connector), and HBN's link is the console-side, because the pic is the other way around)
Looking forward to seeing your new system!

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:06 pm

Good show Dbstew.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:36 pm

Excellent, thanks for the links, I will look at them later today.

Only issue with adding the Jaguar to the list of systems is not just the sheer size of the mobo - if I recall it is about 215mm x 240mm or so, pity the board can't be reduced; it also uses an unusual control comprising of a D-pad and three buttons (no problem) and also a dozen buttons on the front of the controller. I will need to open the controller up and see how easy it would be to connect contacts to them.

If I plan to incorporate the Jaguar into this project, I only have two options:

1) I really only bought the system to play Wolfenstein on it (although I have a couple of other carts too); I could ascertain what buttons on the main pad the Jaguar uses, as long as it only uses a few of the buttons (as it should), I could make the system only work for the one game and use the existing buttons on my system.

or

2) Incorporate a dozen buttons on the case for the Jaguar, although this might look silly if I don't get it right; I only have one space left on the case for any other controllers after all (top left).

I think I will need to rig up the Jaguar to composite (and audio wired too) to work on my television, so I can decide what I need to do - ie do it, or not.

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:18 am

My suggestion, because I've seen the Jag's controllers, is to not put the control in the case. Far to much work, and the end result could end up messy and confusing. Just wire a P1 controller port. Faster, easier, and not nearly as messy/confusing.

Up to you. Thats just what I'd do when faced with a controller like the Jag's.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:37 am

HBN wrote:My suggestion, because I've seen the Jag's controllers, is to not put the control in the case. Far to much work, and the end result could end up messy and confusing. Just wire a P1 controller port. Faster, easier, and not nearly as messy/confusing.

Up to you. Thats just what I'd do when faced with a controller like the Jag's.

Opened up the Jaguar controller, just as easy to mod it and attach wires as any other controller.

I would have space on the case, top left, for 12 tact switches, which I would need to mount onto perf board for strength. Having this on the left top wouldn't look too bad as I have the PSone screen controls on the right top side....Tempting...Worth exploring...I also found a Jaguar forum, so will be worth looking there for any useful info too.

Can't progress with my casing until I make a final decision about incorporating a Jaguar into it.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu May 01, 2008 6:26 am

Ok, got the composite and video wires attached to the Jaguar AV extension and got it working fine on my television. Three good points:

1) Jaguar is quite easy to mod, the contacts inside the controller are like any other, actually bigger! The Jaguar mobo is big, which is annoying but ok.

2) The games on the Jaguar suck big time, they tend to use really bad polygons in low colour modes. Tried Cybermorph and Iron Soldier. Suck. Wolfenstein is good, similar to the DOS version but more polished sprites, which is nice. This game is one of my all time favourites, so am keen to play this version (I played about an hour and a half on it this morning BTW). I bought my Jaguar system for Wolfenstein anyway, so that's fine. I can e-bay the other two games to get rid of them.

3) Buttons - the Jaguar has three action buttons, no shoulder buttons, a D-pad and also 12 buttons in the middle. Wolfenstein only uses the following on the Jaguar: 3 action buttons, 3 buttons for game save slots, 1 button for the map, two combined buttons for reset, music button (no use), a pause button and an option button.

I will only make the Jaguar system work for Wolfenstein as I don't like the other games on the system, so there is no point making lots of extra buttons for no purpose. On my system I have a D-pad, 6 buttons (3 can be the action buttons, one for Option, one for map), my menu/other button can be reset, the select button can be pause, two shoulder buttons can be two save slots (I don't need 3). That means I will have far better controls than used on the Jaguar and I don't need to include any more buttons on my system!

I will add the Jaguar therefore to my list of system consoles for this project, however I won't need to modify the case to do so - bonus!

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Thu May 01, 2008 7:53 am

Whats your total number of systems so far?

Dbstew · Post by **Dbstew** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:36 pm

If you only play Wolfenstein anyway, you could also just mount the cartridge into the systems case.
Alien VS Predator is an awesome game for the jaguar, has great graphics for its time, and plays really smooth.
I agree the system has a lack of good games.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu May 01, 2008 9:19 pm

HBN - I am presently at the stage where I have completed my design and assembling the case, I have two of the sides up, done the corners, will get the other sides up today and can then get the paint job done before I start the innards assembly work. I anticipate having the first system (N64) completed in the next 7-10 days and then I can start documenting the project and have a go at the website work.

I anticipate being able to complete the following systems for this project over the next several months: N64, SNES, MegaDrive, Amstrad GX4000, plug 'n' play (various), GameCube, PSone, Jaguar (single game only), NES (maybe, but games dated and covered on plug 'n' play mostly), GBA, SMS (maybe but only for a couple of games, rest are too dated).

Dbstew - Yes, I thought that too, just take the cart apart and solder the cart mobo to the system. The other alternative is that I do a cart slot as with the other systems and use the extra size I need to incorporate the oversized Jaguar mobo to incorporate a dozen buttons fitted horizontally to add this functionaility for other games.

Alien vs Predator was always regarded as a best game for the Jaguar, as with Tempest 2000, however I don't rate either of these games from videos and screenshots I have seen in the past; I have been used to better games on other consoles and PC games. If I didn't love Wolfenstein from playing it for hundreds of hours on the PC (and GP2x as emulator) I wouldn't rate this on the Jaguar either, graphics suck; however I love the gameplay in it and the graphics of the enemy are far better than on the PC's DOS version; so I like it!

I can see why the Jaguar died so quickly, it was a bad system (a console is only as good as its games); only had about 27 games released and almost all of them suck from what I have seen.

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Thu May 01, 2008 9:24 pm

bacteria wrote:I anticipate being able to complete the following systems for this project over the next several months: N64, SNES, MegaDrive, Amstrad GX4000, plug 'n' play (various), GameCube, PSone, Jaguar (single game only), NES (maybe, but games dated and covered on plug 'n' play mostly), GBA, SMS (maybe but only for a couple of games, rest are too dated).

Damn... That'll be a helluva system. Cant wait to see it. Hey! At this rate it'll be done before the HBN64,

.

Good luck on the second time around.

WhatULive4 · Post by **WhatULive4** » Thu May 01, 2008 10:03 pm

You have a lot of work ahead of you. Once you finish, your website is going to get so many hits, it'll be down in seconds! I bet every major blogsite will cover this thing.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Fri May 02, 2008 1:53 am

WhatULive4 wrote:You have a lot of work ahead of you. Once you finish, your website is going to get so many hits, it'll be down in seconds! I bet every major blogsite will cover this thing.

Yup, major work; great, I love modding - it will be a sad day when it is all done!

I won't run out of allocated bandwidth using Host Papa - I have 1700Gb web hosting and 17000Gb data transfer in their Â£4.99 a month package!

I have registered on various forums at the moment, and modding sites; I intend to promote my work and website everywhere and aim to get lots of hits on the website. It will be interesting times. I will need to ensure I do a lot of work on the site to give people incentive to bookmark my page.

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:51 am

bacteria wrote:
WhatULive4 wrote:You have a lot of work ahead of you. Once you finish, your website is going to get so many hits, it'll be down in seconds! I bet every major blogsite will cover this thing.
Yup, major work; great, I love modding - it will be a sad day when it is all done!

I won't run out of allocated bandwidth using Host Papa - I have 1700Gb web hosting and 17000Gb data transfer in their Â£4.99 a month package!

I have registered on various forums at the moment, and modding sites; I intend to promote my work and website everywhere and aim to get lots of hits on the website. It will be interesting times. I will need to ensure I do a lot of work on the site to give people incentive to bookmark my page.

If you need cool graphics, let me know. I'm not a coder, but I can do some pretty cool stuff in PS.