Super Gp2x Mod Project Underway


bacteria

Modder & Portablizer
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Messages
1,119
Location
Hampshire, UK.
Website
moddedbybacteria.wordpress.com
I am about to start a "super GP2x mod" now. I may well fall flat on my face, but have put a lot of thought into this, worked out how to do it (in my head); although there are many factors which all need addressing; all need solving before the solution becomes reality - failure at any of these stages will mean project failure - and a lot could potentially go wrong; I have the creative know-how and the imagination to make it work, but my skills in some of the areas required are limited and may prove inadequate.

Background: I made my D-pad effectively 4 way instead of 8 way by widening the gap between the contacts (putting a piece of paper between the contacts did the trick, and is easily reversable). This made playing games like Wolfenstein 3D very easy to control. I have also played many other games on the GP2x with purely 4 way too; however there are many games which need 8 way (horizontal/vertical shooters, etc). The commercial D-pad is not really so intuitive to use as 8 way; a proper joystick is the best method - and the best joystick for this, in my opinion, are the ones you have on handheld controllers like on the GameCube and N64 - easy to use, responsive and no dead zones.

This means a hybrid - a GP2x with both a D-pad and a proper joystick to get the best of both scenarios. This means making a new (bigger) case for the GP2x. There are advantages to making your own case - no issues with mounting a D-pad (as people have discovered), you can use any D-pad of any size you like, and both the D-pad and joystick can be mounted easily, to your design - using proper commercially made parts designed for the job.

What I want to achieve with this project is:

1) integrated D-pad and joystick
2) better buttons (vol up, vol down, start, select, A, B, Y, X, centre push, left shoulder, right shoulder, on/off), bigger buttons, placed in a better layout
3) bigger batteries - you can get D batteries at 10,000NiMH - imagine how long they would last!

I would have hoped to have used the TV out function to drive a 5" LCD (eg PS one screen) but that seems frought with problems, so will have to use the default screen.

To-do list:

1) dismantle N64 and GameCube controllers I have - GameCube uses daughter boards for the joystick and D-pad, which makes things easier - the N64 uses a mechanical joystick, which might be easier to work with: if the joystick is only analogue it won't like ordials (digital), so I may need to see if there is a way I can make connections by other means - with aluminium foil contacts at the base of the N64 mechanical stick ordials would do the trick ;) . I need to see if I can work out how to do this. If this fails, project ends.

2) design a case (I will make it out of paper mache - very tough, strong, light, thin, inflexible, mouldable) with a suitable hole for the LCD screen, wider/longer to take the buttons and joystick and D-pad. This will need a lot of work to achieve, lots of testing and making. If this fails, project ends. I'm not looking forward to this part!

3) solder/secure wires to each button position on the GP2x, to secure to commercial press-button switches (Maplins). My soldering skills are not good, will try alternative methods - if I fail to make this work, project ends. Can use shoulder buttons from the GameCube/N64, as they are nice.

4) Secure the motherboard permanently to the case, with blu-tac and hot-glue. Secure battery compartment into case too.

5) use bigger speakers, maybe with a small amp (I have a couple of mini-speaker sets available) - or simply double the amount of speakers to give better clarity at volume - I have an old speaker from an original GameBoy and GBA, so can do this.

Big project, and it will be a slow project; but if it succeeds I could end up with a dual control GP2x which would be ideal for any game available on the GP2x, with buttons spaced properly and in the right places, and very long battery life. Downside will be no connection to the ext port (I don't use TV out anyway) and it is unlikely that I will be able to conduct any repairs on the system if it goes wrong, once everthing is sealed and finished.

Haven't decided shape of case yet, too early in project yet - either it has to be wider (left and right sides) which might not be ideal, or double height (screen top, all buttons and controls at bottom) which I am more likely to go for - a bit like a bigger GameBoy! I can't decide this until I can map out where things need to be. Finished result will need to be easy to use and not look too wierd. I imagine the final product's colour will be medium dark grey if I use the D-pad and joystick from the N64 (I have a hideous red N64 controller to dismantle - no loss), or light grey if I use the ones from the GameCube (standard one which comes with the GameCube - don't need it as I have two better ones)!

Anyway, early days, lots can (and will go wrong), and this project may end up being a non-starter - but it is worth trying this, and nothing ventured, nother gained! I may well fail with this project, however I think I have the skills to make it work (potentally putting my GP2x at stake though!!). I will provide some pics as I go along - updates may be slow, however, lets see how it goes. ;) I will try and make sure I have everything working (in theory at least) before I dismantle the GP2x itself, otherwise I will have to buy a new one. If I am not convinced everything is going to work out, even at the early stages, I will end the project and stay-as is. I would prefer to try this mod and fail, rather than not try at all - the result could be rather special!
 
chunkyktr posted on Sep 14 2006 at 10:14 AM said:
good luck to you bacteria, some serious modding there!

will follow this one with great interest so please keep us updated with pics

Bacteria - before you start this, be very, very sure that geoffstechno hasn't already copyrighted your idea, or anything even totally dissimilar.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Holy moly... that is some serious modding you are about to do there. I will follow with great interest. Good luck to you. Hopefully you won`t screw anything up. It will certainly train your skills.
 
ste_167 posted on Sep 14 2006 at 10:20 AM said:
chunkyktr posted on Sep 14 2006 at 10:14 AM said:
good luck to you bacteria, some serious modding there!

will follow this one with great interest so please keep us updated with pics

Bacteria - before you start this, be very, very sure that geoffstechno hasn't already copyrighted your idea, or anything even totally dissimilar.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Ok, dismantled the old N64 contoller (the screws were in tight!). D-pad connectors on motherboard will be (comparitively easy) to work with (pic below)

p1.jpg


The joystick is analogue (damn) - I took apart a generic N64 controller a while ago, looks different to this one from the official one - generic one is more basic, you can see the axis move - can't find it at the moment so will experient with the official one. I figure that I might be able to drill a large hole in the base (white bit) of the joystick, and hook up wires to 8 directions (yes, 8, it would have to be 8 for this design - would use the proper GP2x diagonals then, BTW!). Hope this works, and doesn't compremise the strength of the joystick design. This joystick may end up being too fiddly to wire up, time will tell though. Will need to make connectors at each of the 8 directions and bore a hole at the base of the joystick stick for the connector wire to be mounted - will be tricky. If this fails, I will have to dismantle a different controller and see what needs doing to that one (they all seem different somehow).

Haven't really got much more time today to get stuck into this project before I have to go to work, so will pick up on the project again tomorrow.

p2.jpg


Should hopefully be able to get some foil in there (ahem) to make the connections, to connect to wires. Will need to test it then a couple of hundred times for any wearing though. ;) :lol:

This is certainly going to be an involved project! (I like the challenge!) :lol: :lol:

xnopasaranx posted on Sep 14 2006 at 10:33 AM said:
Holy moly... that is some serious modding you are about to do there. I will follow with great interest. Good luck to you. Hopefully you won`t screw anything up. It will certainly train your skills.
Cheers, yes it is! Even if I fail to make it work, it will be fun trying, and yes, it will train my skills!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bacteria posted on Sep 14 2006 at 09:57 AM said:
2) design a case (I will make it out of paper mache - very tough, strong, light, thin, inflexible, mouldable)

4) Secure the motherboard permanently to the case, with blu-tac and hot-glue.


Thanks for making me laugh out loud :lol:

Sounds very ambitious... good luck and erm... have fun(!?)

"...and here's one i made earlier..." (don't forget the sticky back plastic)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
mrsnature posted on Sep 14 2006 at 12:03 PM said:
bacteria posted on Sep 14 2006 at 09:57 AM said:
2) design a case (I will make it out of paper mache - very tough, strong, light, thin, inflexible, mouldable)

4) Secure the motherboard permanently to the case, with blu-tac and hot-glue.


Thanks for making me laugh out loud :lol:

Sounds very ambitious... good luck and erm... have fun(!?)

"...and here's one i made earlier..." (don't forget the sticky back plastic)
Cool, man! :lol: :lol:

Things don't have to be made out of metal and plastic to work, you know! :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Man bacteria just go down to ure local secondary school ask if you can use their workshop for a littlebit.. make ureself a wooden mould and then get some thermoplastic and make ure case from that.... its easily year 7 level of stuff ! ... pay a visit to your old school and ask for a favour ;)
 
this is a great idea.
and i know you can do it.

theres only one thing that bugs me.
if you succeed in this, making a joystick and d pad, wont your gp2x take one step closer to the psp?
eh?

just a thought.
i think it would be awesome still.
 
DBH posted on Sep 14 2006 at 01:36 PM said:
Man bacteria just go down to ure local secondary school ask if you can use their workshop for a littlebit.. make ureself a wooden mould and then get some thermoplastic and make ure case from that.... its easily year 7 level of stuff ! ... pay a visit to your old school and ask for a favour ;)
Didn't have a workshop at my old school; anyway, a Retro console deserves Retro technology (I used papermache over 30 years ago - pretty retro!!). Anyway, I will have to make a mould for the paper mache - probably use clay, or something similar - mallable so I can make changes to it easily (wood is not so easy to "shape").

plounted posted on Sep 14 2006 at 01:37 PM said:
this is a great idea.
and i know you can do it.

theres only one thing that bugs me.
if you succeed in this, making a joystick and d pad, wont your gp2x take one step closer to the psp?
eh?

just a thought.
i think it would be awesome still.
It will probably look more like a big GameBoy, with addons! :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bacteria posted on Sep 14 2006 at 03:57 AM said:
2) design a case (I will make it out of paper mache - very tough, strong, light, thin, inflexible, mouldable)

your mod sounds awesome but after i read this i couldnt stop thinking about a giant GP2X Pinata, i cant wait to see the case though
 
Last edited by a moderator:
daclassicgamingmaster posted on Sep 14 2006 at 06:42 PM said:
whoa sounds pretty hardcore. Good luck and dont forget to keep us posted with plenty of pics and updates!
Will do. (I'm at work at the moment, ;) will be back on the project tomorrow! - I will post pics and comments as I progress). Thanks for your comments everyone! :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hmm, this thread has got me thinking...

Has anyone done tests to find the lowest voltage the GP2X will run from when powered by the AC adapter port? If it's the same as the battery connection, then a cool idea would be a D cell x2 holder with a cable that goes to the AC adapter port... between that and 2 AA's inside the unit, one should have a hard time draining it even over the course of a couple days.
 
BradN posted on Sep 14 2006 at 10:37 PM said:
Hmm, this thread has got me thinking...

Has anyone done tests to find the lowest voltage the GP2X will run from when powered by the AC adapter port? If it's the same as the battery connection, then a cool idea would be a D cell x2 holder with a cable that goes to the AC adapter port... between that and 2 AA's inside the unit, one should have a hard time draining it even over the course of a couple days.


Already tried just that, didn't work. I suppose there is some kind of resistor or something because when I connected the power pack it turned on with colored lines then faded. Very strange.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BradN posted on Sep 14 2006 at 11:37 PM said:
Hmm, this thread has got me thinking...

Has anyone done tests to find the lowest voltage the GP2X will run from when powered by the AC adapter port? If it's the same as the battery connection, then a cool idea would be a D cell x2 holder with a cable that goes to the AC adapter port... between that and 2 AA's inside the unit, one should have a hard time draining it even over the course of a couple days.
If you have space for D cell batteries (as I intend to do), you may not need to worry about an AC adapter. The D cells can be up to 10,000NiMH and of course are far bigger than the AA's, so the result should be considerably longer battery life.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top