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

hdx · Post by **hdx** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:00 pm

Absolutely amazing. All consoles would be attached via multiport or sth? Or you will pack it into one case?

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:06 pm

All consoles will be connected, as before, via hacked N64 game carts (pink in pic). The perimeter of the system casing will fit snugly into the screen section (as per sides in pic).

Key:

Grey - PSone screen and mobo.
Black - two sets of shoulder buttons on each side
Orange - two joysticks
Pink - multi-slot ports for system and screen/control sections to interact
Yellow - A and B buttons
Green - 4 buttons - SNES buttons in SNES, C buttons in N64, etc
Purple - speakers (50mm mylar 8.5mm high)
White - headphone jack
Cyan - Scart connections
Blue - D-pad

The two batteries will be housed above the speakers and Scart socket area.

The system is the size it is to fit the system mobos, also, as you see in the pic, things are quite cramped on the side I have completed, and the system needs to be symmetrical in any event.

I want to make this slimmer than my last version; by 1 or 2 millimeters (that is all possible). I want the whole thing, screen, controls, perspex, N64 system, to be 30mm total height. That is only 1.25" after all - slim.

To add to my list of systems, a friend GAVE me a NES with 5 games - the NES only flashes white and black when you turn it on and the power button flashes on and off. Anyone know how to make it work - apparently it works sometimes, mostly not. If I can fix it it will be about the 14th system I can get working on this system!

Dbstew · Post by **Dbstew** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:26 am

bacteria wrote: To add to my list of systems, a friend GAVE me a NES with 5 games - the NES only flashes white and black when you turn it on and the power button flashes on and off. Anyone know how to make it work - apparently it works sometimes, mostly not. If I can fix it it will be about the 14th system I can get working on this system!

As you probably know, the problem usually lies with the connector..
- Make sure you disable the lock-out chip (you'll only have to remove 1 pin of the lock-out chip on the mobo) When removed, the system is region free, but more importantly; less sensitive for dusty games for some strange reason..

- Clean your games (or blow in them before inserting

)

- Since I guess you're planning to relocate the connector anyway, you could replace it with a noac connector with tighter pins, you'll figure the NES connector is pretty bulky anyway..
The tightness of the (original NES's) pins weaken over time, this has to do with the NES's spring system, you could also check benheck's solution (link needed)

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:33 am

Thanks for the info on this topic and the one I put in the Nintendo 8 bit forum too, I know how to correct the fault now with the NES.

Anyway, as there are a lot of people viewing this topic, I thought I would give another update. Yesterday I designed and built another bookshelf and two cabinets from 18mm MDF, so that took the whole day, and I overdid it, ended up being sick and had pains in my abdomen for the rest of the evening and night - anyway, I am fine now.

This is what I built - I made the left bookcase before, built other and middle unit yesterday - wife has already nearly filled them with books! I also put up a Rolf Harris print I got her for Xmas.

Normally I would finish the edges with "D" shaped pine and paint the MDF; however keeping the MDF bare looks nicer for bookshelves.

Spent today on project (yay!).

This is what the screen and control innards look like so far, as per pic below. I need to wire up the right cart port and connect the D-pad, rumble packs, grounds, shoulder buttons, etc to it.

Yes, in the bottom right are TWO rumble motors, from GameCube controllers (flatter). I wired them to a 3v battery and held the console, it certainly vibrates it!! I figured as the case is larger than a controller that I would pop in two motors...

On the top right I need to have a TI step down regulator to make 3.2v.

The screen section is a couple of millimeters higher than I thought it might be, thanks to the rumble motors and joystick mobos. Not an issue.

Here is the front of the system - you may have noticed I have updated my sig with this pic:

Not only is the system far better than before, but I think this one looks far prettier now. What do you think?

I have a lot of work to do yet before I can turn the system on and do my first test; I need to finish the work I have indicated, and have to also make the battery holders - a lot of work yet, may take me a fortnight to get this completed and then get the first system in place - N64.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Wed May 14, 2008 11:15 pm

I think it looks much better! Very clean.

Dbstew · Post by **Dbstew** » Thu May 15, 2008 5:27 am

Much better indeed!..

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:04 am

Thanks. I like the raised joystick assemblies, used a little Polyfiller to stem the tiny gaps between that the case, then several coats of paint covered any blemishes. Used wall oil based paint applied by mini paint rollers followed by heavy duty clear varnish, also applied by mini paint rollers. Paint job appears solid and strong. I didn't want to go white in colour although I needed a light colour, I thought the shade I used works well against the multi-coloured buttons and controls.

I must confess after finishing the casing on my previous model (MK1) I thought it looked a bit dark and I wasn't overly happy with the button and joystick holes; I remedied these glitches in this (MK2) case. I learnt from experience! As a result, I think it is fair to say that this casing will look the best I can make it given the materials I am using.

Ben Cebhrem · Post by **Ben Cebhrem** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:55 am

The level of detail in raising and dipping certain parts of the controls simply screams that you spent too much time thinking/making it, not that it's a bad thing; rather congratulations, it looks great. Honestly, it looks more "Nintendo" now rather than a custom job, at least in my opinion.

hdx · Post by **hdx** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:57 pm

It's amazing. I like the paintjob. Screen seems to be very small but I think it's 5". Anyway, I like it a lot. Can't wait to see next photos.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:20 pm

Thanks very much for your comments, I am pleased you like it so far. Yes, hdx, it is a 5" screen; however as you see from the guts of the system, it is rather cramped inside the case!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon May 19, 2008 7:33 am

On nights tonight and tomorrow, so need to get a couple of hours kip now. Spent most of day on project. Wired up TI step down converter, wired up the 2nd cart connectors and the Scart. I need to do testing on the Scart as I haven't modded a Scart before. Opened up a composite and audio > Scart converter and connected my connections to those pins, as well as using pinouts from the internet of Scart connectors. I won't know if it is all done right until I get an RGB system connected instead of just composite.

Before rigging up a battery pack, I have soldered the connector for a PSone adapter (7.5v) so I can test the system working fully before getting in a battery construction (on bottom right in pic): I also have the Scart adapter plugged in to the system so I can test a TV plug'n'play game so I can check the sound and picture work fine; and the headphone jack.

No more time today, might have an hour or so tomorrow, although I will have lots of time on Thursday and Friday for project work.

Here is a pic of what I have so far, although I have a lot of testing to do - next job will be to turn it on, test the various voltages (7.5v, 3.2v, 5v) work fine, and hope I don't have any shorts, etc. I am taking 5v off the other 7805 chip on the PSone mobo - read somewhere it can output up to 1amp.

Not sure the final height of the screen/control system will be as it may end up being a few millimeters taller than I planned due to the joystick assembly, etc; although I might be able to reduce overall height (screen and system halves) to compensate.

This time around, I have wired up every other connector on the cart slots to ground, and made a loop for ground for the buttons on both sides of the case. I am using thicker wiring especially for voltage lines (ok up to 3amps it says on the packaging). I am hoping this time to not suffer from cross-talk and other issues with the wiring, although I won't know conclusively until I get the system through its various testings and rig up the N64 electronics I wired up before. If all is fine, job done!

hdx · Post by **hdx** » Mon May 19, 2008 10:19 am

It looks very messy with a lot of wires. Maybe you should try to tidy it up. Anyway amazing work. Can't wait to see final results!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:21 am

hdx wrote:It looks very messy with a lot of wires. Maybe you should try to tidy it up. Anyway amazing work. Can't wait to see final results!

Every wire is there for a reason and all wires are needed. Bear in mind this is not a normal portable working on one system, it is designed to work on many systems, hence extra components and wiring needed.

This is about as tidy as the wiring gets! All the insides will be invisible anyway as I will be painting the completed sections; so neatness wiring is not relevant.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue May 20, 2008 2:04 am

Ok, just did some initial testing using two plug'n'play systems I have; a Namco Pacman (5 games including Galaxians) which is ok but not great, and Capcom (1942, Commando and Ghosts and Goblins) - that one is a very good plug'n'play system. I just played for about 20 mins on it, couldn't resist - sound effects are far better than in MAME, which was nice.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, headphone socket fine, screen fine, video and audio input via Scart fine, both speakers fine, PSone screen controls fine (via the hacked board from Hyper 64 controller) although I got the contrast (+) and contrast (-) the wrong way around - very easy to rectify. The rumble motors are great, looking forward to feeling them in action in a game!

I just need to check the 3.2v and 5v lines are working, then I can make the back of the case area and paint it, after of course making the battery compartments. I plan to make these differently to before, if my idea works. I will also make the case back and battery compartments a single piece as it then makes it easy to remove the block to get to the insides of the case in case I need to make alterations or repairs. I am mindful at some point that the florescent tubes in the PSone screen will fail and need replacing, so I need to be able to get to it easily; I don't like the light and dark areas you seem to get with LED mods on the screen, so I will keep it unmodded.

Then it will be a case of making the system casing and adding the N64 electronics into it. As the case is a bit bigger than before, due to the fact that the SNES and especially MegaDrive 2 mobos are much bigger, I am hoping to take advantage of this to make the hand holding areas on the N64 system slimmer; although I haven't done measurements yet to confirm this.

No more time today, have to get some sleep; between two night shifts so need some sleep - sun shining outside, ho hum!

atarihacker · Post by **atarihacker** » Tue May 20, 2008 12:07 pm

that is quite impressive
it looks very cool
great job so far