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Hardware Mods - the thread of "wtf is shorting out this time?!"

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Oh, I ended up with a counterfeit Advance Wars cartridge somehow. I’m still unpacking in my new place, but it’s yours if you are willing to pay for shipping.

Absolutely I will! I'll send you a DM or whatever they're called on nuTT
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
My stickers from Russia came, and my Metroid Fusion themed GBA is complete!

nKCsyQw.jpg


This is the front - note since I last posted a picture of this in the old forum, I've since replaced the red start/select buttons with yellow, and I think it looks a lot better:

9DWDBBH.jpg


Really happy with those stickers, I'm lucky to have them. Got em off Etsy, and it seems only the one guy makes them. I have a backup set, too, in case these ones get scuffed or something.
 

Riot.EXE

Fighting Game Enthusiast
(He/Him)
My stickers from Russia came, and my Metroid Fusion themed GBA is complete!

nKCsyQw.jpg


This is the front - note since I last posted a picture of this in the old forum, I've since replaced the red start/select buttons with yellow, and I think it looks a lot better:

9DWDBBH.jpg


Really happy with those stickers, I'm lucky to have them. Got em off Etsy, and it seems only the one guy makes them. I have a backup set, too, in case these ones get scuffed or something.
Showed that to my metroid loving homegirl, and she loves it!
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
I'm really glad I did this mod. The original GBA is the best form factor for the Game Boy Advance and actually being able to see what you're doing makes it a joy.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Right?! Especially when you're playing a game that uses the shoulder buttons. And your GBA looks better than any of Nintendo's official colors!
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
I'm playing through the F-Zero games again. They really weren't good to play on the SP, great though it was in other ways.

Edit: I need to play through Metroid Fusion again, it's an amazing game.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
It would be if the sticker didn't partially cover up the Nintendo logo. Urghh
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
I'm going to put a new Nintendo sticker over it, which itself will look crappy. I'm probably going to have to ask the Etsy seller if they can downsize the CV sticker a little bit. Damn. 2.5 inches is too big!
 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Switchroot finally released their Android 10 build this week. This one is supposed to be much more stable/performant/functional than their Android 8 build, so I’m thinking to see if I can get it running on my old Switch. Now running an OS off an micro SD card will murder it relatively quickly it with all the read/writes happening from what I understand, so my plan is to keep my use light weight by installing the XBox app on it and just using it like a WiiU gamepad for my Series S. Hopefully that should minimize I/O to the SD card so I can get more than half a year use out of it like I would if I was trying to play emulators on it.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
I made this thread and forgot all about it, and have been shitting up poor Tegan's Gameboy thread with my non-Gameboy mods. So:

Big day at Kazin's house:

eCRtyZZ.jpg


8KbXFy2.jpg


p4snsJQ.jpg


The Game & Watch was a trade for my Gameboy Micro from somebody on Reddit, which I never used since... well, I have several IPS modded GBAs and it just sat there haha. This is also my first real Game & Watch! It's the first one I've even held. I've had the Club Nintendo Ball from back when Club Nintendo was still a thing, and I just got the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch yesterday, since I'd organized this trade lol. It happens to be my favorite G&W, which I'd played on the DS collections, so I was happy to get this one. Greenhouse RULES. If you haven't played it, do so - it's a ton of fun imo. This one is in excellent condition.

The only thing I did with this Gamegear is reshell it. The new "McWill" screen was installed by the guy I bought it from on eBay. He doesn't seem to have installed it correctly, as I had to tape the screen in place with kapton tape because it was just flopping around in there (and arrived in the old shell all crooked). I got it for an okay deal, and it has been recapped, which I royally fucked up a few weeks ago, so I taped the screen in place and am going with it. I reread the listing, and he didn't BS me, so I'm not disputing it. Still, for the amount I paid, I would have liked a better install. All of that said, it works fine, and I'm happy with the reshell I went with. The Everdrive I have for Gamegear runs Master System games, too, somehow at full resolution, so that's rad, too.

During the reshell, I got a piece of dust in between the screen and the lens, and while it's very distracting, I'm not detaping the thing and redoing it all. I'll get over it. Annoyed it happened, though, I even used canned air and it still happened. Oh well. Time for some Shining Force!
 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Switchroot finally released their Android 10 build this week. This one is supposed to be much more stable/performant/functional than their Android 8 build, so I’m thinking to see if I can get it running on my old Switch. Now running an OS off an micro SD card will murder it relatively quickly it with all the read/writes happening from what I understand, so my plan is to keep my use light weight by installing the XBox app on it and just using it like a WiiU gamepad for my Series S. Hopefully that should minimize I/O to the SD card so I can get more than half a year use out of it like I would if I was trying to play emulators on it.
Got this working. There is a little bit of letter boxing. Not sure why since the aspect ratio should match between the Switch and XBox, but it basically results in a ~5 1/2 inch display window instead of the normal 6 inch one. Also, the home button maps to Android home, so in order to use the XBox Home button I have to use the touch screen to make the XBox home icon appear there and tap it there without accidentally pulling down the Android notifications bar in the process.

Aside from that it seems to work pretty good.
 
@Kazin Per my taste that is the best Gameboy Advance I've ever seen. The colour scheme of Metroid Fusion just works for some reason. Maybe one day we'll get a sequel to Fusion with triple gene spliced Samus.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
@Kazin Per my taste that is the best Gameboy Advance I've ever seen. The colour scheme of Metroid Fusion just works for some reason. Maybe one day we'll get a sequel to Fusion with triple gene spliced Samus.
Oh gosh, thank you! I really ended up liking it, too, mainly because yeah - Fusion's color scheme works really well. I'd originally had red start and select buttons which matched Samus's helmet, but I didn't like it. Still, as borderline gaudy as it can be, it makes me happy haha

I loved Fusion, too, and yeah, I'd love to see a sequel.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Full size backlit screen for the Neo Geo Pocket Color installed!

ngpcmod.jpg


As these mods go, this was easy for me, but I realize that might be, er, misleading since I'm well in to having done double digit number of handheld mods at this point. Requires shell modification, and I'm not paying $35+just for a replacement shell I don't even like the any of the color options of, so I cut some plastic out of the inside of this OEM shell. It's a minimal cut, though. Only downside is the image is sliiiightly cut off at the top, but that's just by the screen lens - as soon as someone releases a bigger screen lens to account for this mod, I'll buy it and my only issue with the mod will be solved.

Image quality is great (better than it looks in the picture, I'm just a horrible photographer), and it has "retro pixel" mode which I love and will be using.
 

demi

(She/Her)
Would anybody here have any resources for screen replacement for a DSi LL (Japanese XL model)? I got one from eBay to mod with CFW and noticed that its whites are all dimmer esp in the corners of both screens; it's especially noticeable next to spines' XL I've been playing on. I tried turning the voltage screws in the battery compartment but I can't seem to rectify the issue.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Would anybody here have any resources for screen replacement for a DSi LL (Japanese XL model)? I got one from eBay to mod with CFW and noticed that its whites are all dimmer esp in the corners of both screens; it's especially noticeable next to spines' XL I've been playing on. I tried turning the voltage screws in the battery compartment but I can't seem to rectify the issue.

I believe they use the same screens whether Japanese or North American, and you can find parts on eBay... as for replacing the screens, so long as you can open the system up, you should be able to replace the screens if you're careful (may want to get a spudger if you don't have one, will make removing the old screens easier). Most of the skill involved with replacing DS screens is tucking all the tiny bits and wires back in correctly, iirc. I've replaced the bottom screen touchscreen sensor, but not the screen itself, though it shouldn't be too much more effort, frankly. Just seat the cables correctly!

As for me... Wonderswan backlight install complete!

ws1.jpg


ws2.jpg


I think it came out really well. Honestly it was just the weird screws and the crappy, cheap screwdriver that comes with the IPS kit that I struggled with the most - it was kind of hard to close back up because the screwdriver sucked. Install was easy, though. Now to wait for the flash cart to get here, and I can start properly enjoying this system!
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
That is very pretty!

My RIPS V4 screen arrived and it's really beautiful. I can't finish the install as I'm temporarily without my soldering iron, which is pretty unfortunate.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
How long until you get your soldering iron back? And I want pictures!

I've got one of them on the way as well, though when I install it I'll have to desolder a bivert chip, so that'll be a pain...
 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
If anyone was curious as to a status update to my “Old Model Switch as an XBox Gamepad” experiment now that I’ve had it for a couple of weeks, it’s working pretty good for most of the games I’ve tried it with. I manage to mostly hide the Android menu bar by switching to gesture controls, so now the letter boxing is only a negligible bit, and was able to hide notifications so the touchscreen XBox home button isn’t obstructed.

The big issue is the dpad, as it appears the switch dpad confuses Android at least in the current build. Seems like the Switchroot devs were trying to force the Joycon to be recognized as X-Input, but holding one of the dpad directions for too long switches to another controller input standard. Some apps, like most emulators from what I gather, are able to keep up with this, but for apps that only accept X-Input, like say the XBox app, it’s a problem. So basically using this for XBox is fine as as dpad usage is limited to things like menu navigation, but running around in a 2D game isn’t going to work for long.

Honestly, it works for my use case (if I wanted to play a 2D XBox game, the Switch could probably handle it natively, I’m wanting to play flashier games the Switch can’t handle), but just something to keep in mind.
 

demi

(She/Her)
I believe they use the same screens whether Japanese or North American, and you can find parts on eBay... as for replacing the screens, so long as you can open the system up, you should be able to replace the screens if you're careful (may want to get a spudger if you don't have one, will make removing the old screens easier). Most of the skill involved with replacing DS screens is tucking all the tiny bits and wires back in correctly, iirc. I've replaced the bottom screen touchscreen sensor, but not the screen itself, though it shouldn't be too much more effort, frankly. Just seat the cables correctly!

As for me... Wonderswan backlight install complete!
Thank you for the information! I just looked up the guide and it's about 50 steps to replace the part (then as many more to put back together) with some soldering as well. I'll consider it, but it's much more complex and fragile than any other hardware spelunking I've done. Grats on the WSC mod too, it looks incredible!
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Thank you for the information! I just looked up the guide and it's about 50 steps to replace the part (then as many more to put back together) with some soldering as well. I'll consider it, but it's much more complex and fragile than any other hardware spelunking I've done. Grats on the WSC mod too, it looks incredible!
Ah, crap, I forgot about the soldering, sorry about that. For some reason I thought it was drop in, but you have to solder the speakers to the screen or something, right? Completely forgot.

Sorry if I got your hopes up. Glad you hadn't bought parts before looking that up!
 

demi

(She/Her)
Hahaha you didn't do any such thing lmao! I have soldered before, but mostly simple projects (Saturn modchip was like 2 wires? Replacing X360 DVD drive pcb was only a few as well), it's actually more the finesse part that I'm balking at. Even without coffee it's tough for me to keep my hands steady and there seem to be many delicate parts. If I feel brave and impetuous I may snag the replacement parts on an impulse, but for now the DSi is perfectly playable. The lower contrast is better for my eyes anyway haha
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
The soldering bit isn't too bad since you can isolate the screen and cable away from the rest of the system while you're soldering, at least (though the points are very close, so if you don't have a fine tip soldering iron it'd be hard no matter how steady your hands are). Though, yes, threading all the tiny speaker wires and whatnot through all the little areas is tough and a huge pain. Specifically the cable that runs underneath the cartridge slot, whatever that does again (microphone cable, maybe?).
 
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