How to prepare my GameCube with alll that stuff ?

[MockyLock]

Hello,
As i am waiting for the IDE-EXI adapter to be available, i study the different tutorials for setting my GameCube to the best configuration. Obviously, I have some questions!
Please, don’t laught at my ignorance. Don’t forget that English is not my birth language, I’m not a developer or else, and sometime it might be difficult to understand every detail ^^

So here some kind of summary of what I’ll have to do :

- Open my GameCube and desolder the DVD port connector.
- Solder the adapter replacing this DVD port.
- As I will use the original lid of the GameCube, solder a jumper on the lid pads.
- Solder a wire from the WKF Audio Fix pad of the port adapter replacement to the same use pad of the DVD insert.
- Solder a switch to the 2 pads shown in the megalomaniac guide, for simulating the Wii DVD drive eject .

At this point, I should be able to unplug my iron

For hardware stuff, I have 2 questions :
- Megalomaniac, in a topic, you said it would be usefull to recycle the original pins to solder the MEGAdrive to the main board. Do I have to desolder all of them, or just cut them ? Is it possible to solder the MEGAdrive directly on the port pads (after desoldering the pins).
- Use of the “Eject switch” : I read some guide on the web. The use of this switch if for entering the Wiikey Fision menu , right ?

Now some questions for the”software” part of this project :
- The WiikeyFusion will have to be updated to 1.3 firmware, right ?
- Is it usefull to flash the WKF with swiss as a boot menu ? Once it’s done, I don’t need SD reader in mem slot, right ? I add that I will use an IDE-EXI adapter in mem slot 2.

Once my gameCube is fully operational (everything mounted, WKF setted to PAL);
I’ll have to set the WKF menu options (as megalomaniac recommended):
WIIKEY FUSION: OFF (off = highlighted blue)
REGION OVERIDE: X
UPDATE BLOCKER: X
WII DISC AUTOBOOT: ON
FULL GC REGION FREE: X
Here my question : why do we have to disable WKF option. I read on guides that it was disabling the WKF SD reader.


Many thanks for all who help us here to learn more about that tiny GameCube

[megalomaniac]

looks like you have been busy doing a lot of reading and researching...
a lot of good questions im sure some other people may have these same questions....

- Open my GameCube and desolder the DVD port connector.
- Solder the adapter replacing this DVD port.
- As I will use the original lid of the GameCube, solder a jumper on the lid pads.
- Solder a wire from the WKF Audio Fix pad of the port adapter replacement to the same use pad of the DVD insert.
- Solder a switch to the 2 pads shown in the megalomaniac guide, for simulating the Wii DVD drive eject .

At this point, I should be able to unplug my iron

you will also have to solder a few wires and a switch...
the wires from the MEGA3 main board to the AUX board with the connectors on it...
and a switch to select YPBPR or VGA

For hardware stuff, I have 2 questions :
- Megalomaniac, in a topic, you said it would be usefull to recycle the original pins to solder the MEGAdrive to the main board. Do I have to desolder all of them, or just cut them ? Is it possible to solder the MEGAdrive directly on the port pads (after desoldering the pins).

ill find some time to remove another dvd port and post some pics on how to do it...
i cheated on mine because i have hot air desolder...but once i finally took it apart i realized it can also be done easily with an iron...
the holes may be too small to correctly get solder thru it with proper contact to both boards, thats why i recommend using the pins...These pins are extra long, 1 pin could be used for 3, maybe 4 holes

- Use of the “Eject switch” : I read some guide on the web. The use of this switch if for entering the Wiikey Fision menu , right ?

yes, normally closed switch only
normally open will not work

Now some questions for the”software” part of this project :
- The WiikeyFusion will have to be updated to 1.3 firmware, right ?
- Is it usefull to flash the WKF with swiss as a boot menu ? Once it’s done, I don’t need SD reader in mem slot, right ? I add that I will use an IDE-EXI adapter in mem slot 2.

with a DVD drive, 1.3 will be the best
no DVD drive, 1.4 or 1.5 will also work

Once my gameCube is fully operational (everything mounted, WKF setted to PAL);
I’ll have to set the WKF menu options (as megalomaniac recommended):
WIIKEY FUSION: OFF (off = highlighted blue)
REGION OVERIDE: X
UPDATE BLOCKER: X
WII DISC AUTOBOOT: ON
FULL GC REGION FREE: X
Here my question : why do we have to disable WKF option. I read on guides that it was disabling the WKF SD reader.

WIIKEY FUSION: OFF does not disable the WKF SD slot.
I dont know if is true for WII but this setting works fine with GC..


i hope not to confuse anyone with the following information so i will try to make this part very simple to understand...
WKF ON / OFF setting is very important because it affects audio streaming for the SD card and DVD drive in two different ways.


SD CARD
WKF: OFF, audio streaming IS NOT DISABLED which results in a typical audio streaming error. (WKF issue)
WKF: ON, audio streaming IS DISABLED making these titles playable from SD ( WKF AUDIO FIX)
TURN WKF: ON only if playing audio streaming titles from SD CARD.



DVD DRIVE ( after installing the "mega wire mod" )
WKF: OFF, audio streaming IS NOT DISABLED making these titles playable from DVD. ( MEGA AUDIO FIX)
WKF: ON, audio streaming IS DISABLED which results in a typical audio streaming error. (WKF issue)
TURN WKF: OFF only if playing audio streaming titles from DVD.



For anyone who plans to use a DVD drive with WKF, there is no reason to play audio streaming titles from SD CARD, so use setting WKF: OFF

[MockyLock]

Thank you once again for keeping ann eye on my questions !

About your tips about MEGA3, i didn't order one. You think I should ?

EDIT If we have to use the pins for soldering the adapter, why not leave them in place and cut them at about 1mm high ? We should then just "plug" the adapetr and solder it.

[megalomaniac]

Thank you once again for keeping ann eye on my questions !

About your tips about MEGA3, i didn't order one. You think I should ?

EDIT If we have to use the pins for soldering the adapter, why not leave them in place and cut them at about 1mm high ? We should then just "plug" the adapetr and solder it.

um yea, ignore the MEGA3 data

while its possible to leave the pins in place and slide the board right in, it may not be as easy as it sounds....
all the pins will need perfect alignment to slide the board in...thats 32 perfectly aligned pins...
ill try it out and see if there is an easy way to do this...but i dont think it will be very easy...

[MockyLock]

At least we could push the adapter along the pins untill it gets hard (some pins may bend a little).
Even if the board is 1mm away from the main board, we still could solder it. What do you think about this "wtf" solution ?

[megalomaniac]

you do not want any gaps between the boards....
dont forget, you need room for the drive insert too...

[MockyLock]

Still waiting for all this stuff in my hand ,
i was wondering what could be the way to boot an ISO in the best conditions.
I explain.
For now i'm using a GameCube with a QoobPro.
I flashed swiss v1.0 (or one of the earlier, i'm not at my home and i can't check) in the Qoob flash memory.
It allow me to boot swiss and access to my SD card (thru an SD Gecko) where there is the latest swiss version (maybe not the last rebuilt).
So, you'll ask my why not flash the latest swiss directly in the Qoob memory ? Simply because the last version is too big ^^
One swiss last version is running, i can access once again to my SD card and load a game (with no audio streaming obviously).
As I can remember, i have to leave a disc in the DVD player in order to play the ISO game from SD.

So this is my question, with my WiikeyFusion and my HDD thru IDE-EXI adapter, what is the method ?

EDITStill in progress for understanding the use of my coming-soon WonderGameCube, a new question came to me.
If i want to play a game from SD card needing audio streaming, i must boot the ISO from my SD (obviously) and i must have the disc of this game in the DVD player.
If i want to use a backup, do I need to chip my cube (XenoGC for exemple), or the Wiikey Fusion will do the trick ?
It seemed to me that the WKF can't boot backup disc, right ? I mean, like a Qoob would do for exemple.

[megalomaniac]

no need for xeno if using a qoob for DVD backups with audio streaming
viewtopic.php?p=16927#p16927

for IDE-EXI, you NEED SWISS

WKF cannot patch a DVD drive to play DVD backups. Only IPL replacement or drive chip can perform this.

[MockyLock]

Hello !
I just read the post you linked before this thread
So i'll have to find a Qoob.
I've surched the web almost an hour this morning for a Qoob and it seemes to be very difficult to find one :/

[megalomaniac]

Hello !
I just read the post you linked before this thread
So i'll have to find a Qoob.
I've surched the web almost an hour this morning for a Qoob and it seemes to be very difficult to find one :/

???
you have a qoob...just use the one you have...unless you are looking for another one, then you might not find one anywhere

[MockyLock]

Yes i have a Qoob (I bought it as soon as it was available working very well on my GameCube.
And i must admit that i'm a bit afraid to open and solder/disassemble it, with the risk to broke/brick anything.
I would prefer to find another one.
I should ask for one maybe in the market place.
emu_kidid sold some of these chips months ago. Someone may have some left...

It seems to me that Viper Extrem have an IPL replacemnt too, maybe it could be easier to find ?

[emu_kidid]

unfortunately I don't have any Qoob left and can't sell them even if I did.

[MockyLock]

Hello emu_kidid

Have you read about what we discussed with megalomaniac in thread “Plug and play drive replacement adapter Idea” page 21 ?

Here is the subject:
The goal was to use WiikeyFusion to play games from SD for best compatibility and fluidity ; and to use Qoob Pro and swiss app’ to manage games from HDD thru IDE-EXI to SD card (Gecko or else).
Yes, I’m looking for complications :]

My question was: Will it be possible to copy games directly from HDD to WKF SD card ?

megalomaniac already explained me that WKF use WBFS format, and swiss handle FAT32 format. Thus it would not be possible so easily.
He gave me a hint about using swiss as the WKF firmware.

Since you are the coder of swiss, and certainly the best in coding knowledge, what do you think about my request?

Thank you both for helping me so much !

[emu_kidid]

Flash your Wiikey Fusion with Swiss and then you don't need the Qoob at all.

This will be your boot sequence:
1. Boot Swiss on Wiikey Fusion with FAT32 SD Card in Wiikey Fusion
2. Put SD Card in SDGecko
3. Connect HDD to IDE-EXI
4. Copy from DVD to HDD (fresh rip) then from HDD to SD via SDGecko
5. Put the SD Card in the Wiikey Fusion SD Slot and now you have more games

[MockyLock]

The concept was to build a « all-in-one-never-plug-or-unplug » GameCube.
Trying to use the best features of every parts.

Qoob (or Xeno, or both) would allow audio streaming from backup too.

[MockyLock]

Hello
I will soon start this project.
A little sum’up : in my GameCube, I want to implement :
- a WKF using the MegaBoard
- a Xeno in order to read ISOs backup for streaming audio
- a IDE-EXI for ISO storage , with the IDE-EXi adaptor and HDD hidden in a GBA player

As we could see in many threads, it could be useful to keep the possibility of disabling some items in order to do some tests and investigations.
I would like to add some kind of “dip-switches” for at least Xeno and IDE-EXI adaptor.
More, I would like to keep the memcard slot B available for a memory card or a SD Gecko (you'll understand what i mean later with my explanations

So, this is my question (once again : how can I add those switches ?

For Xeno chip :
Using this wiring diagram :

I thought to solder a switch between the 2 pads PWR.

For IDE-EXI :
It’s a bit more difficult for me to understand which wires I have to cut.
Here is a drawing of my future installation:

I will use a spare memcard slot to re-wire it in a GBA player and plug my IDE-EXI adapter.
But I would like to be able to “turn it off” so I could use the original memcard slot for memcard or SD Gecko.
Which wire do I have to cut and switch ?

Thank you for all you advices and for the opportunity you give us to build such project !

EDIT : i have another question : what could be if a memcard was inserted in the same time as the IDE-EXI adapter (it become possible due to my installation) ?

[megalomaniac]

for a Xeno switch:
1. solder one wire to GND
2. solder one wire to the "O" in XENO
3. connect both wires to a switch


for IDE-EXI / SD Gecko:
There are a couple of different ways to do this, but maybe you should use serial port2 instead...(emu_kidid ???)

[MockyLock]

Thank you
FOr Xeno, even with the switch mod, I have to solder all pads of wiring diagram, right ?

[megalomaniac]

yes, solder all pads as shown in the pic you posted
+ the two wires to the switch

[MockyLock]

Excellent.
I'm very impatient to start all the works

[emu_kidid]

MockyLock, I'd wire the IDE-EXI to serial port 2 and wait for me to support that port

[MockyLock]

Aerh.. you're not funny
Seriously, even if i wire the IDE-EXI to the serial port 2 (i thought about using pinout from here http://hitmen.c02.at/files/yagcd/yagcd/ ... tml#sec2.4), how could i add a switch ?

And by the way, it's called "high speed port", is it a higher speed than Memcard slot ?

[megalomaniac]

no its called serial port 2
turn your gamecube upside down and look at the printed text

[tueidj]

The high speed port is the one used by the gameboy player, afaik nobody has documented how it works.

[MockyLock]

no its called serial port 2
turn your gamecube upside down and look at the printed text

I meant it is called such in the document i linked ^^