- Joined
- Jan 16, 2016
- Messages
- 1,512
- Likes
- 3,941
- Location
- standing up
- Portables
- please do not ask!!!! I will NOT respond
Back in 2015, when BitBuilt and everything about modern Wii portablizing was still just an idea, I sent a text to our friend @Shank, wishing him a MerWii Christmas. To this day, I still deeply regret making this joke, but we're choosing to reuse it to wrap up all the presents that we've been working on for you guys this year! So, get your Santa hats on and prepare for some awesome updates and special previews for the Wii, as we come together during this holiday season to bring cheer and piizza to everyone.
[h]6-layer boards are now supported[/h]
For the last year, Wii portablizing has only supported the 4-layer boards, as they offer better battery life and create less heat, and more revisions of them exist. Today, that changes. Introducing "the Definitive Wii Trimming Guide 6-layer Expansion," this expansion of the original definitive guide introduces the "OM6 trim," designed to accommodate 6-layer boards. Thanks to PortablizeMii, and the fact that these boards have vias for Bluetooth(instead of requiring scratching solder mask from traces) these boards are now the easiest boards to trim for beginners. In addition, we are also adding a "Revision Identification Guide" written by Shank to the Guide Hub, so that you can easily spot the differences and find the board of your choosing.
[h]PortablizeMii gets in the spirit of Christmas[/h]
Last month, @Noah updated BitBuilt to have a winter theme, and @Acronell suggested that we port it to PortablizeMii. So, I found some time the other day and cooked up a Christmas theme! The thread for it, and installation instructions can be found here. We've also updated a few things.
[h]The LMAO trim is about to get a whole lot easier[/h]
Back in April, ShockSlayer went even further beyond the OMGWTF with the "NAND bend" technique, bringing forth the next level of Wii trimming known as the LMAO trim. About two months after that, it saw its first use in Gman's Wiiboy portable, proving that the trim was viable for smaller portables. Only accomplished by portablizing veterans, the LMAO trim has been mostly unavailable to the public, and due to the higher soldering skill required to utilize it, a suitable guide was never made. It mostly sat on the back-burner this year, as other things were constantly being developed and launched. Fortunately during said developments, "Team Piizza" was formed and a certain project splintered off of a larger one, and become referred to as the NAND board:
This is where you came in! Thanks to the community's efforts this year, the prototype NAND boards were entirely paid for by funds from the store, and the first run is also already paid for as well. This is a huge step for us as a community. We made this for you, thanks to you, and this is only the first of many projects we're hoping to tackle in the same fashion.
We are planning to release the NAND boards in the store next year. We were hoping to have these in the store by Christmas, but development takes time. And, like any other product we will be releasing, there will also be video guides to accompany it, so that they're easy to use and install.
[h]GCVideo comes to the Wii[/h]
Even before the definitive guide came out, we wanted GCVideo on the Wii. If you were ever around in teamspeak, you'd definitely remember the countless discussions with @megalomaniac about video, including the ins and outs of GCVideo, and basically anything related to video signals. This year, he's been working tirelessly on the ultimate GCVideo solution for GameCube, and has designed a new board that is much better than the standard one available online. Additionally, thanks to Aurelio, the GCVideo code has been updated for the analog version, which will allow us to get a VGA signal from the Wii, perfect for the many portable screens available online.
We are planning to release a full GCVideo on Wii guide in the future, including a release of Aurelio's modified source as well as precompiled files so that anyone can reprogram and install any prexisting GCVideo on thier Wii.
You can purchase the analog "PCB only" from badassconsoles.com, and in the future there may be an option to have the Wii firmware preinstalled.
Keep in mind, GCVideo does not include an audio solution, meaning we still require the AVE-DOL on the Wii board...or do we?
[h]WiiHUD, the first portablizing symphony of hardware and software[/h]
This is a pretty big step for Wii portablizing, the implications of which are too much to go into here. Aurelio has created a topic where he's explained more about this, and will likely be posting updates there as well as things develop. Check it out here!
[h]Even further beyond the LMAO trim[/h]
Astute viewers may have noticed something about the NAND boards...they relocate more than just half of the NAND. The LMAO trim typically requires that 8 data lines, 3.3v and GND are reconnected, and that the other half of the NAND is reconnected to the board. However, here you can see that all of the data lines have vias, meaning that the entire NAND is relocated. Wouldn't that mean you can trim smaller on the NAND side? What about GCVideo and Aurelio's audio overlay stuff? Can we remove the AVE-DOL entirely? What does all of this mean for Wii trimming? I'll tell you what it means in one word: OMEGA.
The OMEGA trim has been in the works since July. It is the theoretical maximum trim of the Wii, roughly the size of a Gameboy Color cartridge. It is currently untested, and requires all 3 of the aforementioned projects. Additionally, it requires a handful of component relocations, and solder-mask scratching for USB relocation similar to Bluetooth, making it the hardest trim to accomplish to date. Conceptually, the only way to go smaller is a complete board redesign or hyper-intensive RAM/CPU rewiring. Considering the density of the Wii board already, the already tiny size of the trim, and that the probability of success regarding either of those things is low, this is the penultimate form of Wii trimming.
Once it's been completed and tested, it will be posted in a similar fashion to the LMAO. I am excited to be the one to do this within the next few weeks, as it's the ultimate realization of everything we've been working on this year. This could not be done without the help of everyone in the community, but one person in particular I'd like to especially thank is @Aurelio. He's done a lot of amazing things this year, and is a huge part of why Wii portablizing is as good as it is. So don't put cookies above the fireplace for Santa this year, put a slice of pizza for Aurelio~
Finally, the last thing to mention in this thread: The Wii is not the only console that has an OMEGA trim on the horizon...
2017 is going to be a lot of fun.
MERWII CHRISTMAS!
Last edited: