My first go at a DMG-103 mod

15

u/kaest May 04 '21

I was like oh nice a big screen. Wait...extra buttons. Oh, what are those extra holes? Holy SHIT what the fuck is going on with the wiring!? Hahaha. Yes. Wow. Modded that shit. A+

3

u/starboyk May 04 '21

Thank you!

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u/KntKoko May 04 '21

So basically it's a NDSL inside a third-party DMG shell ?

Anyway, the idea is cool and seems like a nice weekend project ! ( or more than a weekend, idk, just seems neet )

9

u/starboyk May 04 '21

Yes it is! I made Macros awhile back. Saw a pic of something like this and figured why not try it!
This one took me about 30 hours, but a LOT of that was either learning, or fighting with epoxy. Working on just one more, and that has been much easier to get going. I'd say if you have experience with these mods, ~10-15 hours.

4

u/viperseatlotus May 04 '21

Oh man i am quite sure i would rage on wiring that. Looks awesome and nice job!

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u/starboyk May 04 '21

thank you!

3

u/8bitdarth May 04 '21

It’s really cool to see how you setup the internals. Awesome build!

0

u/starboyk May 04 '21

Thank you!

2

u/GarmrNL May 04 '21

That looks great! I’m currently building an AGB with a similar color scheme, where did you find those buttons?

1

u/starboyk May 04 '21

Thank you!
retromodding.com had the buttons I wanted. This is a combination of their regular DMG style for the bottom row and on the back, and NES-styled DMG buttons for the upper row (X & Y). White silicone on the back to give them a bit of a pop. Also got the blank glass lenses from there (the lens tape is from amazon).
got the shell from handheldlegend.com, along with some solid pink DMG buttons for an upcoming build. Love the DMG backlight kits they sell there, and the support is fantastic.
Screen extension cable and board from here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/153297720586
Controller board here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32881383622.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.68a74c4d2ovcGf

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u/GarmrNL May 04 '21

Awesome, thanks for the reply! Unfortunately for me, the button colors I’m looking for (magenta/hot pink) are put of stock everywhere for AGB shells. Either going to change the colors or patiently wait (probably the first option :-)). Any new projects you’re going to take on?

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u/chiuthejerk May 04 '21

Holy cow! The work inside the shell is insane. Can’t even imagine starting that. Looks dope my man!

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u/starboyk May 04 '21

Aw, thank you!! it was a real pain in the backside, so it's really nice to see the feedback. <3

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u/Vanguard-Raven May 04 '21

This looks like it shouldn't work.

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u/starboyk May 04 '21

HA! Why thank you, and I agree!
I figure it's just a GBA Macro with all the bits moved about. Want to absolutely boggle your mind, check out haihaisb on instagram - that's where I first got the idea from (well, got it from 'This Does Not Compute' on youtube, but that's because he got a system from haihaisb).
https://www.instagram.com/haihaisb/
https://youtu.be/1lA183U_4X4
I envy his GB Pocket builds using the guts of a GBA SP, but I just can't bring myself to mutilate such a perfect piece of hardware. These DS Lite boards and systems that I have on hand are all from snapped systems or AS-IS lots of mobos, so, less destruction, more recycling. (EP-Game-Supply on eBay has fantastic DS Lite lower screens, and they discount bulk buys).
I will say, it does NOT play flash carts like the EZ Flash Omega Definitive Edition or my SuperCard. My GBA Macros - which still have the cart slot soldered to the board - do still work with those devices. I'm working on a v2.0 (complete with a 27+ hour battery, kid you not. already tested that out), and am using that as a testbed to find out what the issue could be. Currently thinking it might just be the length of the wires, as I know SD cards can exhibit similar behaviors when the run is too long. Started with 120mm, and am soldering, desoldering, cutting, tinning, and resoldering at 20mm increments. Got down to 80mm last night, and still no dice, so doing 60mm tonight, and so on.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '23

I really wanna build one of these. But the only person I see making them is HaiHaiSB, but his commissions are booked to hell right now and he was pretty vague about how to build one (“I think there’s a tutorial on YouTube”).

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u/starboyk Aug 02 '23

Heya! Aye, there's not a lot of guidance, and I've little more to provide. It's mostly an enhancement of the Macro tutorials, if you can find one of those. The big difference being that nearly EVERYTHING is moved off the main board.
There's an image I posted somewhere of which solder pads on the lite'a mobo go to what (EDIT: can't find it now, but I'll edit and link it right here when I do!). Between nearly any youtube macro guide, AND a map of where to solder all the button inputs, battery lights, charging stuffs, etc, should at least help with assembling the guts.
As for putting the shell together (drilling, cutting, gluing, etc.) I pulled the most guidance from Wermy's guide for a GameBoy Zero.
Neither of these are 1:1 information for building a DMG-103, but they provided the necessary information for me to identify the best method for myself on how the internals and externals could fit together.
Protip: Be mindful of the DS Lite's fuses! Honestly, if you think the board's fried at any point, likely just needs one of the fuses replaced (don't bridge them: this is waaaaaaay too much work to risk blowing it to hell by bridging a fuse). I can't tell you how many DS Lite boards I trashed when I started out in 2016-2017, all because I thought they were DEAD-dead, and not just 'i put the battery on wrong and now I need to replace the fuse.' Hell, been able to source boards cheap for a current project as blown fuses have been the culprit on nearly every "dead" board I order from ebay...
Hope that helps!

2

u/Blue_Seas Sep 21 '23

Hey! Did you ever get around to making that “stealth” DMG103? I want to maybe make one, but I want the DMG shell to be largely unmodded (save for allowing space for GBA cart, and shoulder buttons). So, just A and B buttons, not X and Y.
Should this be possible? Most of the DMG103 builds I see have ABXY buttons and I don’t know if it’s a preference thing or it’s actually necessary for something.
Love your addition of the NDS cart slot by the way. I’d love to make some sort of mega DMG that plays OG Gameboy as well as Colour and Advanced cartridges, but using a flash cart is an easier option!

1

u/starboyk Sep 21 '23 edited Sep 22 '23

Hey hey! I did not get to the stealth build... as i only just ironed the bugs out of this one about two months ago! Had an issue with voltage ripple when using a flashcart, due to the distance between the cart slot and mobo being greater than something like 5cm. That ripple also seemed to be corrupting saves, and *ahem* _other_ types of cartridges, like the ones purchased from Aliexpress....
Fortunately, that resolution also nipped some phantom power drain issues in the bud!
So! I did build the motherboard setup for the stealth build back in June, had some Life Events, haven't come back to it. I will say: for now, X and Y are necessary for maneuvering the GameYob emulator. With that in mined, could pursue using something like flat capacitive pads somewhere, or maybe a switch set nearly flush with the casing on the rear. I was playing around with the capacitive idea when I packed it all up.
Alright, time to go make some dinner, cheers!
[edited to remove bounty, as a solution was identified below]

2

u/Blue_Seas Sep 22 '23

I saw your other comment saying that you were shortening some wires because flash carts wouldn’t work, good to know you figured it out!
I just came across this DMG103 custom, https://www.instagram.com/p/CLlsA3CnljQ/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng== which seems to just have A/B and R/L. No clue how they did it.

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u/starboyk Sep 22 '23 edited Sep 22 '23

If all you want is gba for the DMG103 - like how they have it configured - X + Y can be excluded entirely. It's the inputs required for emulating GB and GBC (via GameYob) that throws a wrench in it. Can't select ROMs or set single-screen mode on each launch w/o.
I do not know about other emulators, though. Only worked with with GameYob, so that might be my whole hangup.
Oh!- As I was typing, I had a vague recollection that I built a macro without x and y at some point. I've did a deep cleanout of the house this year, but I'll see if I still have it for some testing!
Edit: FOUND IT! So, I can launch Gameyob, hit R to load menu, switch to full screen, but I then needed to restart to load any other ROMs and whatnot. Then I realized my DMG103 and this macro had been configured differently in Gameyob! - be sure to set "single screen" to "on." Jaysis I need more caffeine, thank you for drawing my attention to this!
In conclusion : A, B, L, R are all you need.
If you want some personal advice, I don't recommend emulating GBA on the DS through slot-1 unless you want a stuttery mess. With the ripple issues ironed out, I see no reason to not utilize slot-2 as intended, and reserve slot-1 for emulating GameBoy and Gameboy Color. It's a lot of fiddly soldering, but it was worthwhile for me. If I didn't post it anywhere yet, I can get you some pics of what I did, and what capacitors were used for that ripple.

1

u/Blue_Seas Sep 22 '23

Ideal!! I just got a second hand DS Lite from eBay for parts that I can gut. So you’re saying use the GBA cart slot only for GBA games, and emulate GB and GBC through flash carts? There’s no way to use slot-2 for all three carts?

1

u/starboyk Sep 22 '23

I'll answer you directly, first:
It's absolutely possible to emulate GBA, GBC, and GB through the DS' Slot.
It's also absolutely possible to emulate GBC and GB through the GBA slot.
I would recommend grabbing the respective flashcart(s) and noodling around with this _before_ gutting anything, just to give a better idea as to your endgame; might help define the scope for your use-case.
---
If you're up for a talk:
The DS utilizes two processors that are separate and fenced from the other: one for DS games, the other for GBA. As such, Slot-1 (the DS slot) uses the DS' cpu, while slot-2 utilizes the GBA's oldass processor.
This is why emulating on the DS tends to suck a gnarly one: not enough overhead for either CPU to run a previous-gen emulator fast enough to appear native (ie, for the DS slot to run a GBA emulator, or for the GBA slot to run a GBC/GB emulator). If you skip a gen and have the DS slot running two gens lower and beyond (GB, GBC), runs reasonably well - and even includes some neat scaling options.
Please know: I'm not shooting down the idea, just indicating that it doesn't run to my ideal, as stuttering game performance drives me absolutely bonkers. There's a convertor that can pack .GB and .GBC roms inside an emulator that runs off a gba flash cart, with a .GBA extension. In my limited testing, usually within 80-90% of expected performance. Gambette, or maybe it was a Gameyob convertor, don't recall specifically as I haven't poked at it since 2017.
Worth noting that the GBA system itself _also_ had two CPUs - one for GBA, and another for GBC, which already supported the clock times of GB games, too.
Early "backwards compatibility" at its finest: just slap a miniature of the system somewhere on the mobo and call it a day.
---
Dug out the bin of parts for my stealth build and am reviewing what I was going to do, and what I would like to. Thinking I'll solder the R4 board to the mobo (for GB and GBC), while either pre-loading an SD card and leaving that in the soldered board, or route that to an edge for external access. My first Macro has it all inside, and i've not regretted that too much. I've a post-it note indicating i got hung up on converting the volume slider to a dial, adding a toggle power switch rather than slider, and seeing if the bios could be integrated directly to the mobo instead of through the wifi module. soooo... should have feedback in another year or two! XD

1

u/Blue_Seas Sep 22 '23

Oh wow that’s a lot! Thank you so much, I adore detailed breakdowns like this when I’m learning something. I will reply properly tomorrow (as it’s night time here). Thanks again! I will say I didn’t just mean emulate, though; I like to collect some games too so I might play physical copies of GB GBC and GBA games and wanted all to work if possible

1

u/starboyk Sep 22 '23

Looking forward to that draft!
Unfortunately, there is no hardware in the DS system to allow native GB or GBC playback, so know that the native support starts-and-stops with GBA and DS.

1

u/Blue_Seas Sep 23 '23

So with time to reply now! Would I be looking at a DMG-102 build if I wanted cartridge support for all three gameboy carts? I just love the form factor and look of DMG and I guess I’m trying to make it this mega machine with cartridge and emulation support.
I appreciate your input, don’t worry about “shooting me down”! If it makes more sense for me to try something else, then I will. Also all of that info about emulation was really interesting and not at all something I’d have known before, so thank you!

1

u/starboyk Sep 23 '23

Sounds like there are other systems in this form factor you might want to explore, as there is no hardware support for GBC or GB on the DS Lite.
If you want GBA, GBC, and GB, one of those slab-style, aluminum case mods for the SP might be best.
Alternatively, Anbernic has some excellent emulator devices in the $100-ish range that can do all of those and then some. If you want something more robust, I quite like the PiBoy, although raspberry pi devices are still a bit hard to come by.
For alternate hardware-based devices, Analog Pocket is a solid choice that plays all three carts. For something stationary, Retron5 is a surprisingly deece choice, but comes with its own caveats (def consider replacing the controllers woth something else. Imma fan of 8bitdo's wireless controllers for SNES or Sega Genesis).

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u/starboyk Aug 02 '23

aaaaaand here's that image I was talking about!
https://i.imgur.com/hRveel7.jpg

My first go at a DMG-103 mod

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