Worklog for my New Wii Portable

[zack]

Hello fellow modders, this is my new worklog for a Wii portable. You may know me from the "Gamecuboid" GCP project that I've been working on for quite some time. You can read more about that on my worklog HERE, but basically I've fried my 3rd gamecube motherboard and will have to start completely over. Since I have to start over anyways, I figured I might as well try something new, so here it is.

(High Res HERE)

Right now there is minimal progress or plans for my Wii portable. I have it taken apart, tested it with a Wiikey Fusion and PS1 screen, and have plans to trim the copper edges and possibly fit it in a ZN-40 or ZN-45 case. Most likely the disc drive will be removed and games could be played through the wiikey, or through USB after I softmod it. Right now my plans are very flexible and I'm figuring things out as I go. If you have any tips or know of any good resources for Wii modding (because that info seems very rare) I'd appreciate it.

 

[zack]

One more thing, I will mostly be building my portable at a Lab in Tulsa, OK called the Fab Lab. http://www.fablabtulsa.com They have many machines and equipment for members to come in and use for anything, including three 3D printers, a vinyl cutter, a milling machine, a laser cutter, and an electronics workstation with soldering guns and lots of parts. Obviously I want to use these machines to my advantage as much as possible, so if you have any creative ideas for things such as casing, labels, trimming, etc, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Akira]

Wow with acces to all them tools and gadgets i expect something at the bar height like a apple product! Did you have acces to them for the gamecube project aswell?

Good luck

 

[zack]

Wow with acces to all them tools and gadgets i expect something at the bar height like a apple product! Did you have acces to them for the gamecube project aswell?

Good luck

Thanks, I'm just not good at figuring out how to use it all to their full potential yet, so I'm looking for ideas. And no I didn't have access to the lab during my gamecube project, this is a first for me.

 

[zack]

Made some minimal progress on Thursday. Called Nintendo and disabled some parental controls, because I got this Wii used from a neighbor. I also got my screen fixed. I have a 5" LCD that I bought off Ebay awhile ago, but it started having issues with the blue color channel. Colors weren't displaying properly, (as shown in this video) and there was also severe glitching later. But after a quick adjustment of the LCD's ribbon cable, it works fine.
So now I don't have to use my PS1 screen for the project, and can instead use this nicer 640x480 screen.

Also, this is my work area

 

[HuntheUniverse]

This looks great, Wii portables have always interested me.
I can't wait to see the final product.

 

[zack]

Slow progress, but I still want to keep this worklog going. Right now I'm softmodding the wii; installing the homebrew channel, USB loader, Neogamma, and lots of good stuff.
My next step is trimming the board and relocating components, to hopefully fit in a ZN-40 case. (or the ZN-45 which is a bit thicker).
Wish me luck...

 

[Life of Brian]

I saw your post on the Tulsa Fab Lab forums - I'm a member there, too. Cool!

 

[zack]

I saw your post on the Tulsa Fab Lab forums - I'm a member there, too. Cool!

Nice, maybe we can work together some time

 

[zack]

The wii has been fully hacked, got everything I need installed like the homebrew channel and USB loader. Since I've decided to skip using the disc drive entirely, installing apps like neogamma or MIOS would be pointless.
Also, I've trimmed the edge of the wii motherboard and it fits perfectly in my ZN-40 or ZN-45 case.
I tried trimming the board with a scrollsaw but the blade was too rough. Ultimately I just used a drillpress to drill multiple holes in the board, break it off, them trim it up with wire cutters. The board did short out when I tested it immediately after drilling the holes, but after trimming and filing it works fine and it came out much better than I expected.

A nice shot of the edge of the board and its layers.

Fits perfectly in my case.

 

[watsug]

You take relly nice and clear pictures! This worklog will be a joy to read
That zn40 looks to be the perfect size. Im also thinking about starting building a Wiip, just have to research a little more
Have you decided on a suitable fan/heatsink? Will it have gamecube controls or a classic controller? If I have understood it right can use a classic controller as a gamecube controller but not the other way around.
Anyway good luck!

 

[jrikard0]

nice project!!!

 

[Bum]

I just want commend you for having (IMO) some of the best pictures in any work log! Keep up the good work!

 

[zack]

Thanks for the compliments, I try to take nice pictures.

Have you decided on a suitable fan/heatsink?

Not yet, I'm still searching for one, or I might end up using the original heatsink with either a new or original fan. Simply put, I'll just use whatever works best for my design.

Will it have gamecube controls or a classic controller? If I have understood it right can use a classic controller as a gamecube controller but not the other way around.

Not sure I can answer your question on the classic controller because I've never owned one, but as for my own portable, it most likely wont have any built-in controls. I already considered doing this for my gamecube portable to keep things simple and professional without any messy casework, but since this is a Wii portable there's even less of a need to include them.
Then again whats the fun of building a portable if you barely mod anything? So I might still consider the internal controls.

 

[zack]

It's been awhile since my last update, and while I don't have much progress now, I just wanted to say that this project will continue on in a week or two when I'm finished with school. I'll have much more free time in the summer, so expect progress soon.

 

[zack]

This worklog is pretty much dead at this point, and so is the Wii. Somehow it's shorted out (probably due to the trim in the board), and at this point I don't think it's fixable. On the plus side, I got two free gamecubes today from a man at the lab. I'm going back to gamecube modding so expect a new topic soon!!

 

[BlueLemming]

Are you going without the DVD motherboard completely? The Wii won't boot games/apps correctly without one, unless you've found a workaround.. which I'd be curious to know about

Edit: Oh, didn't see the last post till now.. hahah. Sorry to hear about it shorting out. Although, still wondering what you had planned for the DVD

 

[Jiuai]

Are you going without the DVD motherboard completely? The Wii won't boot games/apps correctly without one, unless you've found a workaround.. which I'd be curious to know about

sneek or a ode chip.

 

[BlueLemming]

Doesn't sneek also have a problem with no DVD mobo? I've only tried uneek and I couldn't load any games if I remember correctly. I may have only tried a GC game, though.

 

[zack]

Are you going without the DVD motherboard completely? The Wii won't boot games/apps correctly without one, unless you've found a workaround.. which I'd be curious to know about

Edit: Oh, didn't see the last post till now.. hahah. Sorry to hear about it shorting out. Although, still wondering what you had planned for the DVD

I actually was going without the entire DVD drive, and it seemed to work fine (while my wii still worked). I never did run into any problems, with or without my wiikey fusion attached.