CodeWalrus

Development => Consoles => Topic started by: novenary on November 30, 2014, 10:13:56 AM

Title: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on November 30, 2014, 10:13:56 AM
Cross post from gc-forever : http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2547

I wanted to run homebrew with whatever hardware I had lying around so I grabbed my unused Raspberry Pi and a bare metal tutorial, and set out to make a XenoGC clone. That modchip allows to play burned discs and imports on the Cube. Since it doesn't have code signature you can also burn homebrew and play it on hardware.

Have some pics.

CN302 debug connector under the DVD controller board with wires attached :
(https://imgrush.com/gdCct7hwq2Hj.jpeg)

I tapped into the 5V line on the motherboard to power the Pi :
(https://imgrush.com/J3eEoc7WFcBt.jpg)

The wire harness comes outside the back through holes I'd made for a previous audio jack mod. I used a connector from a floppy drive ribbon cable to attach it to the Pi :
(https://imgrush.com/lnngg_gPcJYB.jpg)

And here's the finished product. I have a 2043 block memory card in slot A and a 32GB SD in slot B to load games and homebrew from :
(https://imgrush.com/5gyUsLURvabJ.jpg)

I should try to write some software for the Cube now. :D

Source and schematics attached on GC forever cause it doesn't fit in the limit here. I hope you like it.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Keoni29 on November 30, 2014, 11:44:00 AM
Awesome mod! I should get a pi some day. Perhaps when I run out of projects :p
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: pimathbrainiac on November 30, 2014, 02:45:45 PM
Awesome mod!
/me wishes he had a GC now.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on November 30, 2014, 03:07:45 PM
Welp the RPi is a bit overkill for this as the original chip uses an Atmega8L but it works. :P

And thanks. :)
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on November 30, 2014, 03:27:43 PM
Quote from: Streetwalrus on November 30, 2014, 03:07:45 PM
Welp the RPi is a bit overkill for this as the original chip uses an Atmega8L but it works. :P

And thanks. :)

That was actually what I wanted to say : isn't it a bit overkill?

(Atmega8L... Aren't these the Arduino chips?)
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Keoni29 on November 30, 2014, 04:38:20 PM
Arduino uses ATmega328/168. Not sure if ATmega8L have been used.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on November 30, 2014, 05:24:04 PM
Wow this looks interesting. I am glad you cross-posted this on calc forums for us to see. :) I wonder if GC homebrew is popular? You could write some games or emulators for it. :).

Also I don't know if it's due to the shopping mall wifi but your pictures took 2 minutes to load. O.O
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on November 30, 2014, 07:09:17 PM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on November 30, 2014, 05:24:04 PM
I wonder if GC homebrew is popular?

There is the Wii for that, it's more powerful, retrocompatible with GameCube and has a bighomebrew[/i] scene, big enough to have RetroArch (http://www.libretro.com/) ported on these. (Yeah, realtime rewinding is rad!).
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on November 30, 2014, 08:08:43 PM
True but what about Gamecube-only owners? :P
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on November 30, 2014, 09:08:38 PM
Well the Wii homebrew scene started with the GC. A lot of homebrew is actually cross compatible as long as you modify some things. :)

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on November 30, 2014, 05:24:04 PM
Also I don't know if it's due to the shopping mall wifi but your pictures took 2 minutes to load. O.O
Yeah lol public wifis are slow, the pics are like 8 Mpx. :P
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on November 30, 2014, 10:20:09 PM
Ah ok lol. I thought you meant that because the Wii exists we shouldn't do any GC homebrew, which would be a bit ironic considering you hack the console yourself :P

Also yeah sometimes public wifi can be 10 mbps over here but it depends where and it's often unstable.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Yuki on December 01, 2014, 02:57:14 AM
Yeah I dabbled a bit with Wii homebrew back in the days, I heard it's pratically the same as GC homebrew (and probably WiiU homebrew too), but since the GC only have a mini-DVD drive and no SD card or Internet, it's kind of harder to get your homebrew on, I mean, it's not as easy as loading a defective savestate on your SD card since there's no SD card.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on December 01, 2014, 05:54:15 AM
Yeah I guess. Also lol I was always wondering if the GC had any disk space before (even though I knew if it did it would be very limited). And yeah I had forgotten that the GC used mini-DVDs. I wonder why Nintendo took so long before finally using a common format... <_< (although maybe it was to fight piracy)
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on December 01, 2014, 07:14:40 AM
They still aren't using common format : for Wii U it seems they use a slightly different blu-ray format. :p
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on December 01, 2014, 05:13:24 PM
Quote from: Juju on December 01, 2014, 02:57:14 AM
Yeah I dabbled a bit with Wii homebrew back in the days, I heard it's pratically the same as GC homebrew (and probably WiiU homebrew too), but since the GC only have a mini-DVD drive and no SD card or Internet, it's kind of harder to get your homebrew on, I mean, it's not as easy as loading a defective savestate on your SD card since there's no SD card.
You can actually use SD cards on the GC but you need an adapter like I use. Also it has that ethernet module (and you can even GDB over the network with it) though it's kinda pricey on ebay.

Quote from: Eiyeron on December 01, 2014, 07:14:40 AM
They still aren't using common format : for Wii U it seems they use a slightly different blu-ray format. :p
Yeah lol that's part of the copy protection (at least on the GC and Wii). Here's an interesting article on how it works on there : http://debugmo.de/2008/11/anatomy-of-an-optical-medium-authentication/
What my mod does is that it detects if you have a regular DVD in there and makes the firmware switch to that format instead. Provided you can write to the burst cut area somehow, you could actually make discs that the console accepts if you modify a DVD burner. And that's exactly what Datel did for the ActionReplay, Freeloader etc.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Enaz on March 10, 2015, 12:46:24 AM
Hey guys, I know this thread is a tad old, but I was wondering if you could help me out. I really like this idea, but I haven't had much success. Is there any way I can get some more detailed instructions for the RPi SD card setup? Any help is very much appreciated!
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 10, 2015, 01:44:34 AM
Heya and welcome here. :) I myself cannot help but hopefully @Streetwalrus might pass by and offer some, since he modded his Gamecube. In any case, good luck!
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on March 10, 2015, 07:31:26 AM
Setting up the SD card is pretty simple. You need to set up raspbian like usual then you can replace the kernel.img on the sd card with the one I attached (the compiled code).
If you succeed you should be able to boot burnt game backups or homebrew like Swiss (http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1375) and then boot games off of an SD card provided you have an adapter. GC-forever forums are full of gurus and that's where I learnt to do all this so I owe them this success and if you need more advanced help that's also where you should ask. ;)
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Enaz on March 10, 2015, 10:39:09 PM
Thanks for your replies! :)
I'm going to try reinstalling Raspian, then replacing the kernel img. I'm also going to try some different media for my backups.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on March 13, 2015, 08:27:53 AM
Cool. Be sure to give feedback, I'd like to know how well it works for you.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Enaz on March 18, 2015, 05:31:57 PM
Ok, so I've spent the past couple of days tinkering and still no dice. I've tried the mod on a couple different game cubes and tried different releases of Raspbian. By booting into Raspbian normally, I was able to confirm that I am getting feedback from the GameCube, because the data values of the connected pins would change when I turned the GameCube on or off.

I've attached a pic of my sd card setup. Any ideas on what might be going on?
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on March 18, 2015, 10:16:11 PM
I have no idea. The Pi-side pinout should be independent on the revision. What are you trying to boot ? Fyi the chip should behave just like a xenogc (http://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=XenoGC) so try holding start on powerup with a disc inside the console (try an original first). Also you should hear the disc spin up, stop then start again during boot. The act/ok led on the pi itself should turn on to indicate it's working then back off. One last thing, the lid detector switch should be in the closed position or the drive will not initialize.

Btw the raspbian version doesn't matter as my "kernel" completely overrides it.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Enaz on April 12, 2015, 11:17:00 PM
Hey sorry I never got back to giving you feedback. I eventually determined that it was my soldering job that was to blame. The hack works quite well now. Thanks for the post!
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on April 12, 2015, 11:41:14 PM
Awesome to hear :D

Also I think Street :walrii: started doing Gamecube modding again a week ago.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on April 13, 2015, 11:49:09 AM
He has, he wants to make another thing with a FPGA or something.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 18, 2015, 03:00:27 AM
How do I rig this up for the DOL-CPU-10? the one supplied is for the revision models I have the earliest one.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 19, 2015, 01:34:32 AM
So it's not possible then?
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on May 19, 2015, 01:36:21 AM
@Streetwalrus  might know how. It can take a while before he replies, though.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 19, 2015, 02:02:12 PM
Alright, thanks.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 19, 2015, 03:05:59 PM
The motherboard shouldn't matter. You'll need to find different 5v and GND point for yours though. These should actually be on the DVD board as well. Probe around with a multimeter to find them (yes with power on).

And cool to hear Enaz. ^.^
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 19, 2015, 03:17:18 PM
Streetwalrus but when I look at the board from the back it doesn't look like yours so I don't know where to pin the raspberry.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 19, 2015, 03:18:59 PM
Or at the very least I don't see it.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 19, 2015, 03:41:03 PM
Please don't double post, it's against the rules. There's an edit button for a reason.

That said, did you remove the metal cover below the DVD drive ? The board you have to solder most wires to is in there.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 19, 2015, 03:45:00 PM
Oh! My bad I was looking at the wrong board!
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 19, 2015, 03:57:48 PM
That's what I was thinking. :P Have fun.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on May 19, 2015, 03:59:58 PM
Question: Are there different hardware revisions for the GameCube? For example, I think I recall some NES consoles that lacked the RCA jacks on the side and some SNES boards were a bit different. Was it the case on the Gamecube and could it prevent Streetwalrus mod from working on older or newer models or NTSC consoles (since his is PAL)?
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 19, 2015, 04:01:57 PM
Yeah there are quite a few different motherboards and DVD controllers. They're mostly compatible tho.

The only big differences are on video output tho, the rest is the same.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on May 19, 2015, 04:39:22 PM
Ok thanks. I was a bit worried since some console mods tend to only work in one region or hardware revision.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 19, 2015, 04:42:51 PM
Nah all modchip work on all boards (or almost, some Wii modchip that works in the GC doesn't like very early BIOSes).
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 19, 2015, 08:22:16 PM
Is there anywhere else I can pin gpio9? I pulled on the wire when my dog jumped on the table. The gold piece was stripped from the gamecube board
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 21, 2015, 11:17:06 AM
Yeah there are extra pads right next to the connector, just use a multimeter to find it.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 21, 2015, 03:35:52 PM
Thanks, I found them but It's not loading up Xenogc. The pi lights up and "tries" to patch through when I use a burned copy but I get nothing. ACT lights up on boot and when I insert a copy of too.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 21, 2015, 05:03:58 PM
Does the disc spin up ? It's supposed to start spinning, accelerate, stop and start again. If the ACT led doesn't turn off it means it could prepare the drive but not upload the patch.

Also did you put the top cover back on ? There's a switch on the drive to check whether the lid is closed. If it's not pushed down it won't work. :P
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 21, 2015, 08:37:47 PM
It starts (ACT lights up), stops (ACT lights down), restarts spinning(ACT lights up again), spins for awhile and either gives me an "insert a gamecube disc". Yeah, I noticed the switch to the right, I just put my e-tape on it  to hold it down.

If I press start from boot, it doesn't show me the version or anything. I have 2 different SD card, one with raspbian and the other with arch linux. Both have the kernel.img and both do the same thing.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 21, 2015, 08:39:14 PM
That's odd. Seems like it can't read the disc and the drive gets reset. Did you try an original to see if that still boots ? The drive should show the same behavior regardless.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 21, 2015, 08:44:00 PM
The original runs just fine on it. I tried resident evil the original and it runs.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 21, 2015, 08:45:28 PM
Then there's a problem with your disc that's causing the drive to reset. Trying something else to make sure it's not the modchip : hold start while the gamecube boots, it should show a special menu.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 21, 2015, 08:47:51 PM
How long do I hold it? I tried holding it from the start and nothing appears.

Could it be a bad copy even though the version is not loading up?
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 21, 2015, 08:48:44 PM
Before the gc logo fades out and the game starts, you can release it after it faded.

I should mention that this will cause the chip to upload more stuff to the gamecube so the led should turn on another time to indicate that it's doing that.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 21, 2015, 08:54:35 PM
Nada, the version won't load up or any of the backups but everything else works fine. Idk where to look now, I've checked the soldering and the power, I've swapped out the card x3 already.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 21, 2015, 08:56:18 PM
If you get to the menu then it's definitely not your soldering nor the code. Either your dvd drive is failing or your discs are crap. See this : http://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=Laser_Tuning
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 21, 2015, 08:59:23 PM
Noooooooo I feel like it's going to be the dvd drive or it would load the version up.

I'll clean it and report back if it changes anything.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 21, 2015, 09:10:44 PM
Get on the chat, I'll try to see what I can do.

Edit : actually, not tonight. Going to bed now.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 22, 2015, 11:54:33 PM
Err my earlier message didn't go though apparently. Well, thanks for the help, I got the games to load up by messing with the pot. None of them really worked, RE Remake and Metroid Prime got in to the game but always crashed. :P

Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on May 23, 2015, 12:55:56 AM
Could it be due to being the wrong region? I forgot if playing different region games is possible on the GameCube due to different TV signal.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: ArchReaper450 on May 23, 2015, 03:15:54 AM
All the games I downloaded were American I'm still messing with the pot setting and we'll see if it goes though eventually.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 27, 2015, 05:16:00 PM
It's exactly the problem I'm having, the GameCube is struggling with reading the discs. I gave up after a while since swiss + SD adapter is so much more convenient.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on May 27, 2015, 05:51:50 PM
How large can the SD card be for the Gamecube? I remember that with the 84+ USB8x app, they couldn't be larger than a certain amout of megabytes.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on May 28, 2015, 07:23:18 AM
There's no limit to the size. The largest cards currently sold are 128GB, so you can use that.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Snektron on May 28, 2015, 07:31:22 AM
You can actually buy 512Gb sd cards... for only €729.00 O.O (about $797 usd)
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Unicorn on May 28, 2015, 07:32:57 AM
such moneys O.o Theres a 1 terabyte usb stickfor less tho.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Snektron on May 28, 2015, 07:53:08 AM
Surprises me actually. Most usb sticks consist of a micro sd inside a housing with a small onverter
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on May 28, 2015, 04:43:19 PM
The smaller the storage medium, the higher the price I guess.  (unless it's from TI)
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Snektron on May 28, 2015, 06:06:28 PM
I guess they sell air? :P
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on May 28, 2015, 06:27:58 PM
No but they are so greedy that they attempted to sell TI-Nspire CX slidecases separately when the calc came out IIRC. There were even jokes about how they would eventually start selling the calc buttons separately as well.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Blazei Masteru on October 29, 2016, 05:57:59 AM
I'm sorry for the necrobump, but I'm interested in this but imgrush doesn't seem to be up anymore, and therefor the pics in your post don't work. Would you be able to reupload them elsewhere if possible? I would have PM'd you but I'm not allowed to. Thanks.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 29, 2016, 06:12:03 AM
Heya and welcone here. Hopefuy @Streetwalrus can help you :)
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: novenary on October 29, 2016, 06:42:31 PM
You don't need those pics, everything's in the zip over at gc forever.

For the record, I don't have those pics anymore unfortunately. This mod is a dirty hack that I put together out of boredom. You really should consider getting a proper xenogc instead, they're a few dollars on ebay or aliexpress or whatever else.
Title: Re: Raspberry Pi based GameCube modchip
Post by: Blazei Masteru on October 30, 2016, 12:11:07 PM
Ah got it, thank you. I am planning on getting a XenoGC but until then I'm going to try this, as I have like 3 extra RasPi's just laying around doing nothing. I know they're basically free for what you get out of them, but they generally all come from China and take a while to ship.

Thanks again, didn't notice that zip at GC Forever