Bacteria's project: "Project Unity"

[bacteria]

Success - the long wires work! You can see in the pic, i've got the drive unit well out of the way of the motherboard, and works fine. That is good, as won't strain the wires when the drive goes in/out.

[bacteria]

The weight of the drive unit is too much for the motor to work, not enough torque.

I could get a motor up to 12v and a pretty strong one, however it would likely slip on the cog mechanism, also i'd not know without having a few of them what motor i'd need; and is liable to be unreliable as a result; so therefore, i'll have to make it manual push in/pull out, which is no disadvantage, especially as different drive units in the project will be different weights.

So, manual method!


Been busy:

Here is a pic showing various relocations - the CD drive unit rewired (the yellow wires), the controller port relocation (green wires), shielded cable for the RGB and audio connections (going to the Unity SCART output), wired up the 8.5v, 5v and 3.3v lines to the regulators on the Unity system as well as the grounding of course - in other words all the hard stuff.



The Saturn doesn't need cooling, which is handy.

The white on the motherboard above is just spacer so the hot glued wires for the above are elevated enough.

Here's the drive unit with it's wiring - I need to make an enclosure for it, and guide for it to move back and forth along.



Here's a pic of the Saturn running a game (Dark Savior), rigged up to the Unity system (including original controller).



Need to mount the units on their board to go into the Unity system, make the controller section, shorten some of the power lines.

At least it all works - as you see in the pic above, there has been a fair bit of work into this so far.

[bacteria]

I bought a spare Saturn on ebay a couple of days ago, a bargain at only £7.50 including postage (console only, but working) - always a good idea to have a spare after all, these systems don't last forever and they are around 18 years old presently!

Interesting though that my console needs 3 voltages to run, 3.3v, 5v and 8.5v.

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Been looking at placement of what goes where in the Unity case.

Layer 1 is PS2 and the large fan exhaust for the system to keep the whole unit cool.

Layer 2 was going to be Saturn and DreamCast and layer 3 GameCube and NeoGeo.

I have however decided that the NeoGeo needs to be second layer along with the Saturn. The NeoGeo cart is massive, 190x145x35mm, and two long boards inside to pins; there's about 240 pins to connect a NeoGeo game cart. Being that long, it takes a bit of "push" to get a game cart inserted and removed, which means I need to build an MDF enclosure strong enough for that; building it around the exhaust fan makes sense as there is room, and also the enclosure can be screwed to the bottom of the unit and the side too for strength. Going to use 20mm MDF for that; the drive unit for the Saturn will end up about 65mm tall and the NeoGeo cart assembly about 40mm tall, so the extra 20mm for the MDF isn't an issue as will make both end up about level.

I've got two NeoGeo boards, one I think is dead although i'll test it after getting the Saturn installed ok, whether that board is dead or not, i'll need to desolder the 240 or so pins off the board, which in practice means i'll probably end up having to cut through the board anyway as the pins look hard to desolder; I have a 2nd NeoGeo board anyway!

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For those of you who struggle with relocating an N64 game cart with 48 pins, have a thought for poor ol' Bac who has to rewire this cart slot - between the two rows it's 240 pins. That's a heck of a lot of wiring.

Anyway, here's what my first NeoGeo board looks like, i'll probably have to use my 2 Kw hot air blower on the board to get the cart slots out, either that or sever all the connections, if they are separate.



The game cart for the NeoGeo is so large it isn't funny, and being two boards inside, means it takes a bit of "push" to get the cart in and a bit of a tug to get it out, so my idea is to use the plastic housing from the old board, secure it to some MDF for strength and secure into place on the Unity casing itself for support.

Firstly, had to remove the excess plastic so the MDF can be secured - cutting through a load of ABS plastic was very hard and also smelly; my Dremel was coping ok but struggling on torque, so I used an electric saw to cut through the plastic, the Dremel to cut through some of the struts in the plastic, heavy duty pliers to force the plastic to break away, and then sanding drum on the Dremel to get the areas flat. Took about an hour. You also notice the sides are reduced too, otherwise there would be no space in the Unity casing for the NeoGeo cart and a CD mechanism alongside - not a lot of space as it is.



Going to get this holder built, then can make the shelf that will hold the NeoGeo motherboards and also the Saturn section, then can resume the Saturn project.

[bacteria]

So, an update and state of play.

Moved my 32" LCD television from bedroom to project room as wanted to test the NeoGeo to see if still got same issues. Had to move the screen to my project room as I didn't want to move my Unity system around!

Tested with PS2:



Tested with Saturn:



Both in RGB mode of course - image as you see is lovely. For some reason, my PS2 isn't saying controller present - I think I moved the ribbon connector a bit, easy fix! (would have happened when I was installing the extractor fan for the system).

Those pics prove RGB works and is lovely on my set. The systems are working as one unit in my Unity rig of course.

Here is the problem - NeoGeo....

Image is black (not the colour in the pic) with white blur around image:



Looks awful.

Proves the image is no different on my old set than a modern television.

I can't see how a few resistors on the RGB lines will solve that issue, but may as well try I guess.

This is most annoying as the audio is lovely, if only the video would work nicely!

I'd appreciate someone pointing me to the solution to this crappy visual on the NeoGeo please!

[bacteria]

The setup to my system is that each console has their positive voltages connected all time, however grounding is segregated between systems to isolate them from each other, as proprietary consoles hate working together otherwise; segregating the ground keeps them all separate in effect, hence why it works. It is a complex project!

Each system runs into two 8PDT switch, one side for audio and video including RGB mode, and the other side for controller connections, to keep them separate from each other too, otherwise signals would get mixed and unexpected results follow. Each system has on/off switch too, and the whole system has an on/off as a master on/off switch.

I had had it so the idea was to press the single button that activated the two 8PDT switches, then press the master on/off onto on, then the separate console to on to get things working, however, i've discovered that gives the result i've had - if instead I press the button to activate the two 8PDT switch for NeoGeo and also the console on/off to on; THEN turn the master on/off on, I get the NeoGeo working perfectly now!

I have also wired all the 5v pins, 12v pins and also groundings together too, not sure if that contributed to the success.

So, YAY, NeoGeo working nicely! Tested on my three carts, Metal Slug X, Neo Turf Masters and Puzzle Bobble - look and sound great!

Success - NeoGeo will be incorporated in the Unity system!

[bacteria]

YouTube video updates on this project will be less frequent now but also more relevant and packed. The first videos were mainly opening systems up and modding them, rather than more to do with making them work and integrate into the Unity project.

The next video will be when the NeoGeo and Saturn have been completed and installed into the casing, along with the current PS2, installed and done, and the video will show a number of key areas.

I'm also going to make version 3 of the master controller too. Gripes I have with the existing one are:

* Looks nice but paint job could have been nicer
* The keypad wasn't central, even with good reason, not central
* The overlays in the keypad don't stay in properly, long term
* Using magnets to keep the controller casing section against the master controller works fine but not long term, the metal pieces can fall off, which will put pressure against the N64 cart traces and cause the pins in the cart slot to broaden
* I'd rather have the joysticks integrated into the main case, as i've worked out how to do it now
* The controller casings are good but I want to make them more like a proper cartridge

The existing master controller works great, don't get me wrong, however can be improved on.

I know this item is probably rare, but it's going to be the new keypad - it's from an add-on for the Atari 7800 for Star Raiders game - benefit is it is a pre-made construction so tailor made, and as you see, the overlay pops into place secured on two places at the top and bottom, easy to replicate overlays for.






I'll have to design my own case for this, and of course the d-pad, joysticks, etc and vacuum form it. Going to use a d-pad that acts more like a joystick as that's better for game control.

That is the thing with modding; you start with making something you've not made before, and make it as good as you can, however you always subsequently think "I should have done that instead" about some aspects, so, i'm doing just that - making a new master controller from scratch, more awesome than the last one - a final version! Going to do that once the systems mentioned above are installed in the Unity system.

[bacteria]

I do get strange experiences with PS2 fat consoles. Even unmodded ones seem to like to use some PS2 or PS1 controllers and not others, for no logical reason.

Used a different controller port from another PS2 and got that ok, as mentioned before, and it doesn't like my old controller now (the only one from several I had that that PS2 liked) and was trying another one that it seemed ok with (3rd party one). After a minute or two, it decides to not read the controller any more and gives "controller not present" for no reason. Found one of my official PS2 controllers that the console likes and was playing with it for several minutes and all ok. A back-up PS2 I have is flaky on the drive unit, even after cleaning the lens, I was resigned to having to use that board with the drive unit in my Unity system that boots a game about 9 times out of 10 (which is pretty good) first time, however looks like the different controller now is working good.

I've no idea why PS2 consoles (at least the several i've had) are so picky with controllers; some only like an official controller but not another, or none, some like third party ones but others don't; very much a situation of have several controllers and hope one works! My PS2 slim seems less picky, I don't really want to incorporate that into the Unity system in preference, unless my existing ones fail on me

[CRTGAMER]

I do get strange experiences with PS2 fat consoles. Even unmodded ones seem to like to use some PS2 or PS1 controllers and not others, for no logical reason.

I noticed this too, mainly some PS1 controllers not working. I have a 3rd party PS1 Flightstick that SHOULD be the same layout as a regular PS1 controller. It works fine in PS1 games, I can see which control matches to which stick and button. Even though the Sony PS1 controller works on a PS2 game, the 3rd party PS1 flight controller would not be recognized, very frustrating. Maybe something detected in the controller PCB or maybe the potentiometer resistance?

[bacteria]

Ok, a salvaged PS2 controller port from another console and that is what the old system needed to work. The holder for the ribbon was loose/busted before.

Hard wired the PS2 memory card to the memory port 1, will hard wire a PS1 memory card to memory port 2. I can't see i'd need to change them frankly, each holds several game saves and I tend to play a couple of games on the go at a time, so not like I need loads on at a time. Keeps the system look more streamline too.

Got a remote control for the PS2's DVD player which goes into the controller port normally, as a pass through. I'll see if I can get that working too, as would provide a nice extra feature to the system - only cost me £1.50 at a car boot sale so worth experimenting.

When i've done that bit of work, i'll have to desolder the large NeoGeo cart ports and relocate them, that'll be fun (not!).

[bacteria]

Got my JAMMA connectors today, bought 13, need 12 so gives one as spare. The boards are basically the traces on a board that I was trying to mimic with the N64 carts, but with about 4x longer traces (ideal!) only thing is the female JAMMA connector fits these boards in tightly so an issue on that level!

Trying to see if I can get one JAMMA female port that has the pins slightly further apart - if not, I can always cut a bit into the sides of the one I have which will help. This solution is far better than the old one I used before; so much easier to solder wires too and make the result look good, ready to use and also allows me to make home-made cartridges that look like proper cartridges for the project.

Brainwave - actually, I just had a great thought, and looking at it will work - a NES cart is thick enough for what I want and big enough too. The internal space on the external board is wide enough to take 26 traces (52 pins) compared to the 50 I have for the N64 ones, and will fit in the space nicely. Cheap too, can get cheap NES games at car boot sales most weeks, from £2 or £3 each; which is half the cost it would be if I vacuum formed them, and far less hassle as pre-made!