Darth64 (n64 portable)

This is what got me into modding. The Darth64

Hey, Hailraizer started me modding too! The first I saw was the N64 boy advanced (I think thats what its called.) that led me to SS's Gamecube which led me to modretro.

I seriously think portables are the most popular. They're obviously different. Really though wasn't ben heck the first guy who did something like that way back when?

No, there were others who did portables before BenHeck, he wasn't the first but was good at pubicity.

bacteria wrote:

No, there were others who did portables before BenHeck, he wasn't the first but was good at pubicity.

Oh okay. But were the guys before benheck making portables that looked as pro as his were?

probably not considering he has machines that cut everything to his exact measurements.

Modding-Halfling wrote:

probably not considering he has machines that cut everything to his exact measurements.

Actually at first he paid someone else with these machines to do it. You can to. Heck even I've contracted out parts of my mods in the past. Anyone can hire someone with the appropriate gear to make a case look pro.

that is so true. but with my portables i dont want anyone else laying a finger (on my butter fingers ) on my portable

Modding-Halfling wrote:

that is so true. but with my portables i dont want anyone else laying a finger (on my butter fingers ) on my portable

That'll really limit what you can do if you don't have the right gear. A good modder outsources and realizes that being a part of the community is better than being some sort of a lone wolf. I'm not saying you have to rely on other modders forever, but until you feel like buying the hardware yourself it doesn't hurt to pay someone else who already has all the necessary gear handy. I used to get people to burn and install eproms for me then eventually I got tired with bad service so I just said "screw it" and bought all the hardware myself. Most of my best modding ideas came from working with other modders and having them generously point me in the right directions. It's fun to discover things on your own but it's also fun to collaborate with other accomplished modders and learn everything that you can. Also you'll find that most of these established modders are willing to build you things for a price.

Really though there's so many things to learn about modding that will take ages to do yourself. But there's people out there who've already spent the time so if you listen and learn from these people and have respect for these people then what would take you months can get finished in a matter of days. In fact I've had people approach me over pm and message me saying "I could spend forever figuring this out on my own but since you already took the time I might as well just get you to explain it to me" which is the smart thing to do. In fact I had to cut some people off because all they'd ever want to do is leech my work off of me for free all the time. But really I get nothing but enjoyment from working with great modders because working together with people I often accomplish things that I'd probably never manage on my own.

idk... ill eventually buy the equiptment for sure. but theres something about vacuum forming... i like it and i like doing it. my first project ever was one of those air cleaners that the diy network show you how to make just i made a big heavy duty one with 4 xbox fans (i have a skyloft bed and i have my modding desk and everything under there. i dont really want smoke going into my mattress.) so in order to find something the perfect size for the fans, impossible i looked everywhere for the proper sized Tupperware and guess what they dont have the right size so i made a vacuum forming table using the guides from mbb and i made a nice little case for my fans and everthing.

i still use it now

Vacuum forming is great it creates cases with perfect corners cnc / laser machines can't do that quite as well. Just don't shy away from hiring other people and collaborating it would really limit you as a modder. Being a modder the whole goal should be to get something done as well as possible and sometimes that requires hardware that's too expensive to invest in until you've got enough of a client base to support the purchase.

This is the sort of portables that first came out - look really bad.

http://portablesofdoom.org/portables.php?page=completed&ordercat=id&order=desc

bacteria wrote:

This is the sort of portables that first came out - look really bad.

http://portablesofdoom.org/portables.php?page=completed&ordercat=id&order=desc

oh my lord the horror. Even my first supergun looked better than that..

Indeed, some are pretty hideous, also for N64's they didn't use a step-down regulator, just used AA batteries (bet that lasted like half an hour!)

wow....thats sad...

Well I'm sure at the time there wasn't a lot of resources showing people how to do it right. The other thing I like with portables is that people are finding ways to get the systems to run off of usb / sd / compact flash instead of cd drives as cd drives are a MAJOR power hog.

Yea

...and become unreliable over time too.

In saying that, playing from an original game doesn't feel like you're cheating and also has proper "retro" feel using original game on original hardware.

bacteria wrote:

...and become unreliable over time too.

In saying that, playing from an original game doesn't feel like you're cheating and also has proper "retro" feel using original game on original hardware.

It does but when you're playing on a tiny screen and speakers in a noisy public space you hardly notice the difference between the real hardware and a gba or psp or ds. I can understand using real hardware on a home system then the difference becomes extremely noticable.

i keep all the original consoles right in their places on my tv stand. all of the console clones i have go towards portables or my basement for when i have friends over.

after my FairNES is done i believe i may start a portable genesis (of coarse with clone hardware, i find using clones easier, and i love my original consoles to much to see them off)

It does make more sense to make a portable out of a clone. Although the argument is that if you want to do that you might as well just emulate the system on an existing portable that's on the market. Unless building a portable out of a clone will somehow save on battery life.

Clone hardware is just another variation on emulation if you think about it - sound issues, not working 100% speed as intended, slowdowns, some games play better than others, etc. Doug doesn't play his NOAC portable anymore I think, because even with the NES games, clones don't cut it.

Put original hardware and game alongside any emulator you like and you'll know they are different. Even endorced versions like the Blue Ranger Intellivision games (NOAC) - even they don't play the same as the original games, and also feel "flat" in comparison. Fine for the uneducated masses who eat MacDonalds and think they are eating nutricious food , but not to people who know! lol

oh well. Atleast ports of snes games on the gba are pretty close.