Cube64 Pro: SD Loading Madness

[Billxor]

So I recently finished a basic WiiKey mod for a GameCube and am enjoying my freedom from the clutches of scratched disks. But now my gamebit hungers for more...

When I first heard about the Everdrive 64 I was tempted to buy one and enjoy more freedoms from the clutches of dusty cartridges. Problem is that I do not have any N64 controllers and good ones are not easy to come by...

But alas a hero emerges, wielding a Cube64! With this (or four of them) surely I can enjoy some N64 games whilst keeping my analog sticks tight!

So here is the idea: combine an N64, GameCube, some Cube64 adapters, an Everdrive 64, a WiiKey, and one set of AV and power cables into one unit:


Unfortunately early efforts have proven pretty fruitless:


I will do my best to keep this worklog organized and keep major updates in separate posts. Now that I've got a decent camera on my phone I can get some pretty good macro-photos. If you guys have any questions about specific things about my methods that I forget to mention, please ask!

One more note: because I'm lazy I will be referring to the following items as such:

• GameCube = GC
• Nintendo 64 = N64
• GameCube Power Board = GCPS
• Cube64 Adapters = C64s

 

[Billxor]

First order of business was to prep the GC for its WiiKey transplant. Upon opening this one up I was slightly disappointed to find it is packing a CPU-11. Fortunately its also sporting a purple start menu, so I'm fairly confident I'll be okay modding this one. But just in case I'm not, I'd like to try my hand at a "plug-and-play" WiiKey adapter.

Thanks to the excellent pictures in kel01's post it was pretty easy to figure out:

Traces cut:


First wire on!


All wires on... Oh wait, forgot one


Glue applied for insulation and strain relief:


Sad chip is sad he'll miss his brother connector dearly:


Still need to trim the board, but I think I'll wait until I decide what to do about interfacing with the WiiKey itself. I'm thinking I'll buy another one of those adapter boards everyone seems to use, but try to merge it physically with my little GC motherboard adapter so it is more of one unit. The goal here is to keep things modular so that if I need to drop in a new GC motherboard I don't have to fire up the old iron.

 

[Billxor]

Now that my GC is ready and waiting for new hardware, time to focus on mister N64! I have never actually seen one on the inside, so it was fun to tear this one down. I seriously could not laughing at their idea of a "heatsink" for all the chips. Screws + big metal pieces + more screws = cool entertainment system? Yes, apparently so.

Once I got access to the board I wanted to see if the GCPS could actually power the N64 (although everything I've read seems to say so). I found that the connector on the GCPS made for great soldering spots. One tip if you try this though, scrape the pins with a scalpel slightly to get off some of the coating to help the solder stick. Once I did that on all the pins it went together smoothly:

(If you can guess what those dashes mean you get a prize. Here's a hint: LSB resides at the copper)

Got the original N64 power connector off and attached my new leads. Flipped the switch and everything worked perfectly!


Here are some notes I took about power consumption:
GC Needs:

• 1.9 VDC at 7 A
• 3.3 VDC at 1 A
• 5.0 VDC at 0.3 A
• 12.0 VDC at 0.05 A
• total = 18.7 W -> 20 W needed

N64 Needs:

• 12.0 VDC at 0.8 A
• 3.3 VDC at 2.7 A
• total = 18.51 W -> 20 W needed

Combined Needs:

• 12.0 VDC at 3 A
• 3.3 VDC at 3 A
• 5.0 VDC (for rumbles) at 0.5 A
• total = 50 W needed

Other than that, I just went around the board and removed any connectors I could find. Attached some leads to the AV output for some testing tomorrow. I also took off the power switch, as I will need to attach that to my main "which-console-do-you-want-to-play" switch system.


Goal for tomorrow is to get the wiring done for re-locating the cartridge slot on the N64. I'm not sure what kind of case this will all go in, but I'd like to turn the cartridge 90 degrees to lay flat to reduce the overall height I'll need. My plan is to put the original shielding and heatsinking back onto the N64 and mount my cartridge slot onto that giant bar of aluminum at the top.

 

[Billxor]

Well a couple hours and 48 pieces of wire later I've got the cartridge slot relocated! All went smoothly thanks to a new flux pen and good old fashioned lead based solder

I found that with just a little bit of trimming with a hacksaw I could easily mount the cartridge slot to the original N64 heatsink.


The only real concern is sliding it back enough so that it fits behind the expansion pack. Shouldn't be a problem though since I'll be stripping that down to the bare board, and the only cartridge I'll be putting in here won't have a case.




I suppose that just answers my question of needing to relocated the SD slot on the Everdrive, since the expansion pack will be right up against it. Shouldn't be too much of a problem though... I hope!

The pads were pretty easy to solder to, but a few of them were being a bit stubborn. Definitely not my best soldering job, but it works so I'm happy.


While I had the iron hot I finished removing some pieces and added jumpers for the old power switch.


Added some more hot glue, and only burned myself once! I'll consider that a victory.


Put it back together and mock-mounted the cartridge slot in place just to see how it looks. I'll have to wait until I have my Everdrive 64 to get the final spacing right.


After all that messing around it still works! I was actually able to jab the removed controller port back in and do a quick play test. Although since I only had one extra composite plug I could only test the video. I guess I'm just assuming the audio works too...

I did get the parts for the Cube64 chip assemblies on order, but that might be at least a week out. Next I'll start mocking up all the switching stuff I'll need to toggle the power and controllers between the systems. I also want to experiment with running both consoles through the same AV cables to make sure there aren't any interference issues.

 

[Billxor]

Too much football on tonight for soldering... So switch planning it is! Put together a quick diagram of how I'll do the power switching for the system:


The switch is a TPDT such that in the left on position, the left column is shorted to the center column. Then in the right on position the center column is shorted to the right column. And of course the center position will be totally off.

All other positive voltage lines for the GC and N64 will be hard-wired (or maybe through some internal connectors so I can service the boards) and the grounds will be switched to turn the systems on and off. The idea is that in the left position, 5 volts and N64 ground will be connected to power the N64 and provide power for the relays needed to switch the controllers to the Cube64s. Then in the right position only the GC will have power. I'm also thinking about using a bi or tri-color LED which lights up a different color depending on which console is turned on.

Also got tracking for my WiiKey and all the digikey parts today!

 

[Tchay]

Great work and documentation! Keep up the good work. Looks very interesting

 

[hailrazer]

I actually was in the middle of putting an N64 in my Gamecube.

Real life slowed me down.

PM me if you want to know how I was going to incorporate the N64

 

[Billxor]

So I realized today at work that my switching plan wouldn't quite work, but I should be okay with just a few adjustments. I'll work on putting up a better, more complete schematic tomorrow when I have something other than paint to work with...

I was starting to feel bad for the GC board so tonight was her night to take a hit from the soldering wick. Got all the connectors off except for the Digital Video, and actually managed to get the composite AV connector off without breaking it! Now I can mount that wherever I need in my case and can ultimately use the stock AV cables!

AV Port removed:


Other connectors removed:


Got more tracking numbers today so I should have all the parts in by the end of next week, so just in time for winter break!

 

[Billxor]

Well, first major issue discovered today. Seems like somewhere in my connector removal process I shorted the 1.9 V line to the ground... I checked all the connector pads and none looked explicitly shorted

Decided to give the board a washing out to clear out any bits of debris that might be left, and I'll work on it more in a couple days.

Meanwhile I got the rest of my parts for making the WiiKey adapter, so hopefully over the weekend I can get that done and put up some pictures of the assembled "package". I suppose it's a good thing I'm making this removable to make switching between GC boards easy...

 

[Billxor]

So I decided it was time to turn that oops-I-broke-a-GC-board frown upside down. The best way I could come up with was by buying a new one! For anyone in the southern New Hampshire area, this place Level Up Gaming in Manchester has pretty good deals on reto stuff. Working GC with controller and all cables for $17 I thought was pretty good.

On a related note, I did further investigation with my "broken" board and still cant' figure out how the 1.9V line got shorted to ground. Can't find any bad looking traces, or pins shorted together. Might have just been too much heat using that solder wick?

But more good news! Got the plug-n-play adapter for the WiiKey all finished and it looks pretty good! Here's the worklog for today:

Layout on top of the GC shielding. I will probably cover the metal with tape or plastic or something to prevent more shorts.



Had to solder a few wires directly onto the connector side which was pretty easy. In the future I might even try to just remove the connector whole, rather than using a little bit of board.


Grounding bus for the even pins. I just stripped a length of solid-core wire which seemed to work well on my last mod.

(yes the glue gun is pink, that's the Walmart "high temp" model...)

All finished! Those red wires are for 3.3V input and WiiKey toggle and GC lid switches. Once I get it all tested I'll add some more hot glue on those connector pins for some more safety.


For anyone interested, I decided to go with a connector from Proto-Advantage this time around. I have to say I was very pleased with the quality of the connector, and having the pins on there made it really easy to solder to. For a portable they may be too big, but you could always de-solder them off if you wanted. Got the board with the FFC connector attached for only $20 which I thought was pretty good.
http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3400013

Now that I've got a new GC and the connector made up I can test out the WiiKey pretty easily. Plan for tomorrow is to make sure all the GC stuff works with the new board and start trimming this one's connectors. Hopefully I won't break this board...

 

[t1m1d]

This looks awesome! Keep up the good work!

 

[Billxor]

Thanks t1m1d! It's been a lot of fun so far :]

One last update for the night! I had some time before dinner to sneak in a bit more soldering, and since I'm considering the original GC board scrap, I decided to remove it's memory card slots and the tiny connector for the front panel. The memory card slots might come in handy later, and the front panel connector I would like to use as an interface to the Cube64s so that I can just use the stock GC front panel plugs as part of my new case.

Front panel connector with wires attached. Wasn't too bad, but tricky to not melt the soft plastic on the connector itself with the soldering iron. Tip for anyone without a lot of soldering experience is to tin (apply solder to) both the contact and the end of your wire first. Then once you get the two lined up together just touch with the iron and you're good to go! Some flux helps too, but that isn't quite as important.


Top view of the same thing.


When I added to some hot, something went horribly wrong... Connector monster terrorizing a defenseless GC board!


Maybe a bit too much soldering for one day...

 

[Billxor]

Still waiting for the rest of my parts before I can really continue, so I threw together a more detailed schematic of the system. Seems that I've been able to simplify the power switching now that I've got a DOL-101 GC board.


12V in red, ground in black, thick green for controller wiring, thick orange for AV wiring, and split rectangles for quick-connects


I also ordered a nifty switch with LEDs to serve as the SPDT switch in that schematic.

 

[Billxor]

Well I think I've got all my parts in, minus the Everdrive64, so I'll have plenty of stuff to work on with my two weeks off.

Got a few things done yesterday, nothing super interesting though. First thing on the table was to modify the cheap little SD to USB adapters I got so I can use it to relocate the one on the Everdrive64.


Cut off the USB side.


Trimmed the board and the housing so it can be mounded flush.


Soldered on some extensions for relocation.



Next up was to install some of the Molex connectors I got. My goal is to make the console boards removable with connectors to make troubleshooting easier. For now just tried out the three-pin size for the N64 power.


Then did the same for the N64 board. I'll probably just secure the old N64 power supply shell to my casing to give me some extra room.



Finally, I started the assembly process for the four Cube64s on a little piece of breadboard. Got most of the DIP socket wiring done, just need to attach all the wires interfacing with the board, and wire up the data-switching-relays. The idea with those is to have the data lines pass to the GC with no power, and once the 5V from the N64 kicks on (when you select that system) the relays switch over the data to the N64 (through the Cube64s).


Top view shows the four DIP sockets. Figured that would be easiest so I don't have to worry about overheating the PICs. Plus I still need to figure out how to program them...



Should be many more updates soon! My goal for this week is to get all the electrical stuff done and working. The casing is going to be a bit of a monster... So I figure I'll save that for later. The very first picture I posted in this thread is actually pretty accurate to what I'm planning

 

[t1m1d]

 

[thecasperrojas]

WAAAOOoooooo.....

 

[Billxor]

Two lessons learned this afternoon: I do not operate well without breakfast, and don't skimp on perf-board quality.

First problem was that I broke the little GC front panel connector relocation I had done before. Serves me right for playing around with it! So I decided to remove the FFC front panel cable and just use that instead. This cable will run from the Cube64 board to the GC motherboard to share the controller inputs. It will make more sense once it is all together, I promise.


Then I soldered my little extensions into the Cube64 board.



Second problem was that I realized I will need to switch the 3.3V input to the controllers along with their respective data lines. I only had two DPDT relays, and I broke one, so now I'll need a couple more. With that in mind I decided to split the Cube64 perf-board layout into two little boards that I wills stack on top of each other. The bottom one will house the actual Cube64 assemblies and the top will house the relays. Got a little start on it with my remaining good relay.


Guess it's back to Digikey to buy a few more parts!

 

[Billxor]

So I got the replacement relays ordered (and a few more Molex connectors just for fun) so later this week I should have all the Cube64s up and running. Hopefully I can test at least one soon to make sure it all works. In the meantime I threw together a schematic to detail the controller switching.


The white circles indicate where the relays will switch the path from one to the other. Basically the relays switch 3.3V and controller data lines either to the GC or to the Cube64s. I'm only planning to re-host the rumble feature on the GC side. The connector on the right was what I made today.

Tomorrow I want to get the N64 back into a testable state, and work on successfully removing the ports from my new GC board

 

[Billxor]

Christmas Eve update! Big success with the N64 board: it still works! Got the AV port connectorized and attached to the N64 without any real issues.

First I "squided" the AV pins.


Then got the connectors attached, which is a bit of a pain without the proper crimping tool.


Finally got the mating connector onto the N64 AV outputs and added some heatshrink to keep the wires in check.



A quick test on the TV had it all works, with video and sound. Next I'll tackle getting the GC's AV connector attached and make sure he still works too.

 

[Billxor]

Finally done with the holidays and able to get some more work done on this project. Got all the soldering done on the Cube64 boards and the only thing left for them is programming the PICs and installing the discrete components.

Underside of the boards after soldering.


Final assembly with connectors installed. The schematic I posted the other day explains what all the connectors are for. Ultimately the two boards will be stacked on top of each other to mount into the case.


While I was working I figured I would get the AV connector attached to the GC as well. Tested it out with the relocated AV port and it all works fine!