GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[Kode-Z]

I'm seriously thinking about sprucing up my N64 (and other vintage consoles for that matter!)

This is one of the best I have come across on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG-loGv_qyQ

I wondered if anyone here has ever customised their consoles, and if they have any advice such as what paint to use, spraying techniques etc.

[Wreck]

How wild is this...
For the past few days, I've been looking into Wii customization. I'm dying to do something with the plain white console and controllers. I've even been checking out custom cases (XCM-I Cases, more precisely) online and reading reviews / instructions on them. Though I'm not totally sure on it, I am getting pretty close to giving in. Older consoles may be a better place to start, but the white Wii just seems like a blank canvas.

We'll have to exchange information regarding techniques as we proceed into the wonderful world of gaming customization!
_________________

YOUTUBE | TWITTER/X | FACEBOOK | VAULT | MOD DB | RHDN

[radorn]

you'll probably find help in benheck.com, as they are dedicated to console modding.

[Kode-Z]

I'm not the only one who wants a customised console here then!

Painting the console is one thing - but what about adding LED lights?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqVWzrEccXU

[Commandant]

That candy red N64 is beautiful.

I once had a strange emulation bug which produced a cool looking N64 pad in GE:

I'd love a pad that fancy!

[Wreck]

Kode-Z: With the Wii controller mods I have in mind, I'm thinking of possibly replacing the blue LED's inside the remote with red ones. I've seen some cool videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2-zgMe_to & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dFL8MMsreI & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am7DqaK3hIE) where people actually make each of the controller ID slots at the bottom of the remote a different colour. So player one would be blue, two would be red, three would be green, and four would be yellow. This would've been a great thing for Nintendo to have done. One also makes the "A" button light up in the corresponding colour. Really neat concept.

Commandant: That almost looks like a zebra print paint scheme.

Radorn: Thanks, I'll have to check out that link later tonight.
_________________

YOUTUBE | TWITTER/X | FACEBOOK | VAULT | MOD DB | RHDN

[Wreck]

I went over to BenHeck.com late last night and read over some of his blog entries. Those customized portables are really, really impressive. The fact that he actually models the casing and builds it himself adds such a high level of authenticity and professionalism. There's a handful of beautiful handhelds made by other modders on there, too. And to think that he built a portable PlayStation titled the "PSp" long before Sony released theirs.

Edit: Just watched a decent little video on YouTube showing an easy way to replace the LED in the front of the N64 console. Doesn't look very difficult. He didn't show exactly how to attach the new LED, but he says it's basically the same process in reverse.

Replacing an N64 LED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uzqPSWxBf8
_________________

YOUTUBE | TWITTER/X | FACEBOOK | VAULT | MOD DB | RHDN

[Kode-Z]

Wreck wrote:

Edit: Just watched a decent little video on YouTube showing an easy way to replace the LED in the front of the N64 console. Doesn't look very difficult. He didn't show exactly how to attach the new LED, but he says it's basically the same process in reverse. Replacing an N64 LED http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uzqPSWxBf8

Thanks Wreck!

What I meant to say was how would I add LED's to the N64 controller, like where to solder them to? I've been looking everywhere, but can't seem to find any information whatsoever!

[radorn]

http://forums.modretro.com/
http://forums.benheck.com/
http://nfggames.com/forum2/

[Kode-Z]

Thanks, Radorn - I'll check them out!

On the subject of N64 controllers, here is what the controller looked like in the Ultra BETA stage of development!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFRXiJrkHUo

EDIT: I can't seem to find anything related to adding LED lights to an N64 controller! I've sent a message to the guy on YouTube, but he hasn't signed on in 3 months!!!

I'm ok with changing the LED on the N64 itself, just adding them to the controller is where I need help!

If anyone can help, please let me know!

[radorn]

LOL, that's completelly not the real controller, just some guy's recreation of it besed probably on a written description by an actual witness.

This, on the other hand, are actual pictures taken by somebody that got his hands on real prototype controllers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tg9OcAXdc8

Anyway, on to technical terms.

I'm completelly against cosmetic modification of original equipment, like paint and so on. LEDs don't say much to me either, but that's OK I guess.
Anyway, you have to be careful how much electronics you add to an N64 because you could end up draining too much power and causing the N64 to become unstable and crash or fail to boot, or even mess up your saves, or perhaps destroying the PSU.
Some leds seem inoffensive enough, but I don't know, try to add low consumption ones just in case.

Adding them should be easy enough if you have a multimeter.
The cable coming from the console has 3 lines: Ground, +3.3Volt and serial Data. The data line is two way.
you need to buy leds for 3.3 volts and just route some wires from the board to the leds, locating ground and +v points with the multimeter.

NOTE: There exists a modification for rumble paks to make them draw power from the N64 directly instead of batteries, but it's said that if you use many of those at once, the N64 may become unstable because the rumbles would take too much power and leave the CPU and other essential components starving xD.

[Kode-Z]

Kode-Z wrote:

I can't seem to find anything related to adding LED lights to an N64 controller! I've sent a message to the guy on YouTube, but he hasn't signed on in 3 months!!!

Just got a reply from the guy on YouTube.

"I cannot remember sorry. Look for pinouts for N64 controller and then take 3 volts from there"

I haven't got a clue what this means! Does anyone have a clue?!

Thanks!

[radorn]

not to be negative or disheartening, but if you don't understand such basic terms, maybe electronically modding consoles is not your thing, Kode-Z

a pinout is the specification of what each pin/line carries on a connector/port.
He's basically telling you the same I told you.
You have to find +3.3 volt and ground on the N64 controller.
these 2 reach the controller from the cable and you can tap them on many points in the controller's PCB.
Just go to some electronics store, and tell them to sell you some LEDs, preferably low consumption, as I said before, so you don't drain the PSU and risk unstabilizing the console.
Needless to say, you'll need a soldering iron, some solder and some wires to route the leds to where you want them.

[radorn]

Hey Kode-Z

http://www.circuit-board.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=656&start=0

Just found that out of pot luck. It's in german but it's little text, enough so you can probably translate it with google.
It covers adding LEDs to an N64 controller. The most interesting part is that they say that you should add some resistors to the LEDS so they don't use that much current, as I said in previous posts.

They should also be able to help you with it in forums like gamesx/nfggames that I linked before.