Mouse and Keyboard on the Nintendo 64 | N64 USB V2
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- I show you how I built a version two of my N64 USB so I can use keyboard and mouse on real Nintendo 64 hardware for a better gaming experience on games like GoldenEye, and StarCraft 64.
PCBWay: pcbway.com/g/b...
Patreon: / jameslambert - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Broke my heart all over again seeing Portal 64 for the first time since its cancellation. that project is the most fun i've had on my N64 in a long time.
yeahh
This guy and the other one doing Mario 64 60 fps are simply genius
i hate nitendo, why they care about taking down a project for a 1996 console nitendo is the worst game company ever
@@CanalDaZoeiraBrasil based
It was my first homebrew om the n64. Ill never forget it
Dope project also made me cry at the end. We all miss Portal64 and seeing your eyes during that part I can see your feelings for it are deeper than any of ours could ever be. It was a once in a lifetime project. Stay strong brother.
@@FearThePegasus I will never forgive Valve.
@@YourTypicalMental the only reason Valve took it down is because they didn’t want the community nor themselves to get sued by Nintendo so if there was anyone to be non forgiving to it would be Nintendo
@YourTypicalMental I heard peeps are trying to rebuild the project using non-hacked proprietary Nintendo tools which are the equivalent to abandonware anyways
@@Tman_10Valve as a company still isn’t great
@@Roomsaver Maybe, but compared to the rest of the industry, they're amazing
There's something wholesome for a guy filming the making of his niche project while his children play in the next room.
seriously, I hope to have a similar living situation when I'm older
"It was just a play, I already did this" lol.
By the way, I appreciate how you just jump right in with your videos. It's clear you respect people's time, but still have fun with what you make.
Just got done with the bringus now I'm here. It's a good day
At least we got to see some actual GAMING over here!
Same here
PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay PCBWay
@@_DRMR_But you definitely can’t play SONIC here.
I really hope that some how a full version of Portal 64 doesn't accidentally make it into the wild one day. That would be CRAZY.
doing that would be asking for insane legal trouble.
@randomcatdude i mean if some guy in Russia totally just happened to somehow get the file cause it was placed on an unsecured server and then was just sorta floated onto the net thru torrents I mean.
As far as I understand it wouldn't be illegal for him to keep working on the project right? Just distributing it. If I'm wrong in thinking that and it also means it's illegal to continue work on it whatsoever then yea, I could see that being an issue.
@@garypinholster1962 being cheeky like this, especially after explicitly being told by Valve's lawyers that you shouldn't keep working on this, would not play out like you'd imagine. james would still ultimately be responsible, and would be at risk of severe trouble.
if you were in his place, would _you_ willingly put yourself at risk of legal trouble with both Nintendo and Valve? does that seem like a good idea?
@randomcatdude after a few years? Absolutely. If it can't be proven. You're a okay. And let's be real, going against the grain of ridiculous rules for the sake of them existing (looking at Disney trying to prevent someone from suing them in wrongful death because of a clause in the ToS for using Disney Plus...) I'd say it's morally justified lol.
If he doesn't want to then so be it, but you, should learn to take things in stride, and maybe be a little adventurous sometimes. We don't get anywhere being idle. *shrug*
@@garypinholster1962 the only real hope is for the game to be rewritten in libdragon which would require him making the source code public
I think the RP2040 (or the newer RP2350), aka RPi Pico, would be a better fit - it costs $1 per chip (or 5 per board), has built-in USB, and is widely available. And you could've just used off-the-shelf board with USB host, I think Waveshare makes one
You're awesome with or without Portal 64!
7:58 "they start at index 0, like you should"
MATLAB haters unite
Lua is such a quirky language. I want to get annoyed at it, but there's just something so charming about it. I feel like every research institution language is like this (Python, Lisp, Smalltalk, etc.)
I was worried Portal 64 would get brought up 😭😭😭. Incredible work on this!
that portal64 segment was real 😭
It hurt so bad, but I understand.😔
1:14 every programmer ever can relate to that feeling lol
I'd never recommend QFNs for prototyping if there's a QFP version available. It's rarely worth the effort it takes to solder compared to a QFP
James, your channel is this beautiful breath of fresh air on TH-cam. Your passion and love for getting the most out of old hardware is so inspiring.
So keen to see if this project becomes something available to purchase. I'd love to try StarCraft 64 with a mouse on real hardware on my channel. The Blizzard ports to the fifth gen consoles like Diablo for PSX and StarCraft 64 have always been incredibly fascinating to me and I'd love to try them with a mouse.
Keep up the amazing work! ❤💙💚💛
Glad to see you’re still around yourself!! Been a fan of both of you for years
Oh man, you eneded with the dagger in the heart @14:45
Always love your projects! I had just a couple things I wanted to share:
1. If you start with a schematic in Kicad, it'll autogenerate nets for you! If you use net labels they'll have nice names, but even if you don't, the "rat's nest" will automatically work in PCBNew.
2. Stencils can be pretty cheap, like $10-$15 depending on the fab. When you get 5 boards for $5 it can feel like a waste, but it's a lot better than hand-soldering QFN imo. You can get a hotplate, or you can just freehand with a heat gun.
I'm excited to see you sell these! I'd love to hear how the FCC certification goes, I have a couple projects I want to sell and that's the part that scares me the most
this. it is definitely the standard workflow for kicad, a lot of its features are designed around it, and in more recent versions the integration between them has gotten really slick (if you have both the schematic and PCB open for example, when you highlight a footprint or a net on the PCB it highlights it in the schematic, stuff like that). plus it's just helpful to have a schematic; a lot of mistakes can slip through when you're just holding an abstract network in your mind, that become obvious when you lay it out on a sheet.
also, a couple tips about Filled Zones (which you're using for a ground plane):
- you mentioned needing to bridge out from pads to the ground fill using traces. it looks like your clearance is really big. you can see the thin red lines around component pads, that's the minimum spacing configured in the design rules, you can see the ground filled zone is way clear of that. edit the properties of the filled zone (right click -> properties, or just press "e" for "edit" (this shortcut works for anything that has properties btw)), and take a look at the "Electrical properties", where it says "clearance". you can dial that down to a more reasonable value there, and the fill will be able to flow into a lot more spaces.
- another thing that gets in the way of the ground plane reaching pads in tight spaces: thermal reliefs. by default, kicad will connect pads to a filled zone by a set of thin spokes, to make soldering easier as the ground plane won't work the heat away as fast. Also in properties, see the "pad connections" section. one thing you can do is set it to "thermals for PTH", and then it'll only enable thermal reliefs for plated-thru holes where the heatsinking effect of a ground plane is most problematic. this will apply to all the pads connecting to the zone; to override this behavior for specific components or pads, take a look at the "clearance overrides" section in the footprint or pad properties (again, just select a footprint or pad and press "e" for "edit"). If disable thermal reliefs for something, it makes the ground connection much nicer and easier, but the trade off is that you have to think about copper balance. if one pad of a SMD capacitor is tied to a giant ground plane and the other pad just goes to a thin trace, they're gonna heat up at different rates and not reflow at the same time, leading to it standing up on end in an effect called "tombstoning". in practice, especially if you're hand assembling boards this isn't a big deal, just something to keep in mind when you adjust these settings. if a part is larger or has more than 2 legs, it's even less of a concern as the surface tension of the molted solder on only one pad can't suck it in nearly as easily.
- In the "Fill" section of the filled zone properties, set "remove islands" to "always". that way you don't have bits of copper floating around that are nominally associated with a net but not actually physically connected. these "islands" can cause EMI issues. in the demo you give at 4:09 there's a large island visible. the way you can deal with this is, have a second ground plane on the back, and "stitch" them together with vias. it's not always obvious something is an island, so it's helpful for it to just go away if unconnected, prompting you to add stitching vias.
- make sure to set your design rules based on your board manufacturer's specs. take a look at "file -> board setup...", the "design rules" section as well as "pre-defined sizes" and "net classes".
- you don't need to open the design rules checker. you can just press b for... ok i got nothing but it does become muscle memory pretty quick. you can press b to re-fill the zones.
- finally, remember the purpose of ground planes. sure, there's some stuff about them acting as a shield, but the main thing is just, creating a low impedance return path for any currents flowing in the board. this works best if at least one ground plane is as unbroken as possible, so it can always take a straight line path back to ground, or for higher frequencies it can choose its own path to minimize inductive loop area.
Hi James it’s me, Tim Nintendo. I give you permission to finish portal64. Thanks
Wholesome and heartfelt. Nice to see you keep finding ways to push forward with new ideas.
Finish portal man, at least for yourself. No laws against that, just means you can't share it.
And all seriousness though that's awesome
yess !!!! I want them to do that !!!! it would be more than a dream !
Yes, finish portal. And then get "hacked" and have the finished build leak onto the internet.
@@Deathmonkey7 we need that to happen tbh
There is a fork that is development
"Portal 64 Still Alive" by mwpenny
Absolutely can share it, he can't sell it, there's a big difference
Would love to see you get one of these to Stop Skeletons From Fighting! This is the type of stuff that Uncle Derek would absolutely love :^)
Thank you for continuing this project, this has been something I've dreamed about for years.
Day one purchase from me at least.
Thanks so much for this video. Perfect timing because I'm having to design my first PCB for one of my projects.
This guy goes from porting one of the greatest games of all time to doing crazy shit like this. (This is a compliment)
9:18 brother, that song was already playing in my head as soon as you said "we're gonna do that" 😭
You wouldn't happen to know the name of that song?
@@LinxOnlineGames Sounds like a chiptune version of Pachelbel's Canon
15:18 why though? What difference does it make can you release it as a mod for the official game or just put the file available for download somewhere?
Could you work on Portal64 privately for just yourself and have the public-facing aspect be videos only, or is that still an issue? (or perhaps just not worth it for you?)
It'd definitely sting to not be able to play it, but it'd still be so cool to see.
Ya this is what I'm wondering
For KiCad, you are supposed to make a schematic first, which is a lot easier than creating nets, then you can do "update from schematic" in the pcb editor which auto-updates the nets for you. It makes it a lot easier and you can see how things are connected more clearly in the schematic.
So cool! A dumb PCB trick that makes the prototype nicer to work: add holes on the 4 corners. Then you can attach it, support it on screws, bolt on an add-on like you did, etc
that's awesome man! I'm sure many other retro enthusiasts would love to be able to have a USB dongle for their n64
do you need crowdfunding for mic stand?
Hahaha. I will probably be getting a boom mic for the next video. I may still hold the old mic form comfort though,
It's also possible to use a couple BlueRetro adapters to connect a bluetooth keyboard and moose. Of course that might add some additional latency, but the option is there. Anything is better than paying the crazy prices for the official accessories (the randnet keyboard alone is like $1,200).
Hey James,
If you design SMD-boards where you only populate 1 side I can higly recommend a "Miniware MHP30". It only has a 30x30mm heatplate, but for small projects it works really great! With this small footprints are no problem :)
There are bigger heatplates out there, but I like the MHP because its small and usb powered. So you can take it out, do 2,3 boards and put it back and don't need a dedicated space for it.
You need a mouse to stick mode where it doesn't snap back to center to play mario 64. Maybe add a physical switch to the pcb to choose which mode. I imagine it would take some adjusting to make it work well. e.g. when the mouse is moving back to center, bias it in that direction so it doesn't miss as easily as I'm guessing it would
Not sure how opposed you’d be but an “anonymous source” could dump a fully finished version of portal 64 onto the internet archive and avoid any copyright claims. I’m sure we’d all love to see it finished and flashed onto pirate carts lol
That approach only works if the person developing it was using an online identity from the start and is willing to wipe that identity from the internet when it's released. James was directly in contact with Valve about it, and even if he hadn't been, he's well known with his face and real name. And yeah, the repro carts is another problem--neither Valve, Nintendo, nor James is going to want to see it up for sale for $50 when none of them will be seeing a dime of that money.
He should release the open source part of it with the info how to get the patented parts into it and not endorse it...
Someone else or the community can finish it
imagine trying to skirt around nintendo's wrath, imagine risking getting in legal trouble with both nintendo and valve because they'll inevitably be dragged into this too
that's career suicide, plain and simple.
Also I would understand if you want to seek some financial reward, even if seeing everyone play your cool project brings you immense joy (been there)
@@SauraenIt would be a shame if he made a new friend, then the friend leaked it.
your style of explaining stuff reminds me of stuff made here
nice editing on this one. RIP Portal 64
Holy hell grab the stencils and solder paste next time, stencil it, stick it on a hot plate and then gently hit it with hot air after it's warmed 😭
Also don't worry about smaller parts until you know the enclosure size! No point killing yourself with micro soldering when you have oceans of PCB land between components lol
(An input idea, virtual joystick. Tap a button on keyboard to zero/lock on the mouse's current position, movement of the mouse modifies the position on the virtual joystick, tap the key to return to pointer mode)
Yep, a hot plate and/or hot air station makes surface mount stuff (including QFN) much easier, and is necessary for BGA parts.
Could we maybe have code in the firmware where a key combination could up or lower the sensitivity? Also, maybe to get round the joy stick issues such as m64, you could hold the middle mouse button to keep the direction?
I will NEVER let go of portal 64, sadly its revival project isnt as lively as I wish it was...
THERES A WHAT?
@@Butterscotch_96 Portal64: Still Alive
always a good day when there's a new James Lambert n64 project video. keep it up bro! 🙏
Awesome video, and extremely informative. I love your approach at explaining the process, makes it very digestible and easy to follow. Thanks!
My day job sees me writing firmware for PIC devices, and when you said you chose one I immediately said "uh oh." And then the first thing that happens is you run into an issue with the timer... then the VI checking... I thought "oh nooooo"... but then it turns out it was just the PMD, phew! PICs do some weird crap off the tape, but I'm so glad your issues don't come from the laundry list of errata that always seems to strike 😂
disabling error checking usually solves my programming problems too 😂
14:10 - Ahhh! Please get a mouse pad! You already put the effort into the dongle.
Remember those mouse mods people made for Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on emulators? Part of them were basically cheats that hijacked the X and Y values in the game's memory to better work with the raw input of a mouse, making it feel like a PC game.
I wonder if something like that could be combined with this invention to be able to do that on real hardware...
I highly recommend flow the chip into place , let go of the air, then hit it again with flux and a very slight top pressure (you'll prob get a little blob ceeping out with excess solder).
Retropublishing is a thing. No publisher talked to Nintendo yet about making Portal 64 real legally?
You should silently finish work on Portal64 and "accidentally" leak it.
If you could get this to work with the N64 port of Linux that would be really nice, typing with an N64 controller is so ass.
I wish u could just continue with portal 64, there is nothing stoping u, especially that people have been porting the code in a way where the older problems are not problems anymore
you should use solder paste and a heat gun, I went from trying to use normal solder to that and it was waaaaaay easier.
James, why not just rebrand Portal to your own style. You could design some cool new levels
Easily one of the best channels on this tube. Nice video James, cheers.
Man, if only Nintendo wasn’t so greedy and sue-happy
Using a PIC for anything in 2024 is absurd
Maybe a potentiometer or something to adjust mouse sensitivity?
Jesus dude what's with the eulogy for portal 64, did you need to bum me out so hard :(
the concept of Starcraft fiting in a 32mb ROM is surreal to me.
yes, such small chips can be really annoying to solder by hand.
I noticed that when I assembled the PCB for the DomesDay Dublicator project but it wasn't recognized at first.
Finding out exactly where the problem was can drive you crazy🤣
Thanks for being vulnerable and sharing your work with the world.
I like the ESP32 C6/S3! Is it overkill? Yes. But the community support and ability to google common issues is great, plus the wifi can make it easier to debug over a network! There's already lots of code out there for accepting mouse/keyboard input to use as a bluetooth controller too - and you could add bluetooth device pairing also! Plus you can get a C3 dev kit for like $2.50 these days!
Amazing project as always! I'll try to let go too. 😭
I thought you needed the S3 or C6 for USB host? I might be wrong though. More importantly, the ESP32s have Bluetooth, so you might be able to connect a Bluetooth mouse and/or keyboard to it.
@@Scrogan Ahhh, you're right, no USB host on the C3, only USB device.
We should... let it... let it g..... NOOOO I CANT 😭
Awesome project, creative as always! For Mario 64, maybe you could have a mode that remaps the mouse to C buttons and use WASD input for movement?
I made a Mario 64 hack called Mario's Point and Click that actually takes full advantage of an N64 mouse. The entire game is beatable too!
If you were to create a n64 to USB adapter like the adaptoid to use the controller on PC and also read the memory card, you would have my total support
Now you're thinking with po...inters.
Yes, I would buy a USB dongle for the N64.
I also know that apparently there was a port of Linux on the N64 so that means that if you could really get this to work and you can get me a OS to work on the N64 that would be incredible.
always a pleasure to watch your videos
That reenactment is perfect
Now add wifi, video input/output, and a UI for people to log into it and give their controller inputs, they receive game video, and we can turn this project into multiplayer n64 with og hardware. Would be like napster. Have one console as host, and then use 4 of these inputs into the N64 that people log into, to control the game. Have had this thought for awhile, but I'm not learned on this kinda programming yet.
I will never not be angry that they made you stop with Portal, but I still love your content
I understand why Valve said to stop, but if Valve let him keep going, they probably would not have gotten in trouble. Even him continuing would be a low chance.
@@Butterscotch_96 Nintendo are hella litigious, and Valve have lots of money. Suing James might not be worth it, but Nintendo could seriously stand to gain from winning a suit with Valve, both financially and reputationally (not their reputation with gamers, but they don't seem to care about that, they care about their shareholders as all businesses do).
Awesome project! It's fascinating to see what you're able to add to the N64.
I bet it'd work even better if you using a mousepad instead of sitting your mouse on a lacquered wood table.
What about the unofficial continuation project for Portal 64? Check out Portal 64 Still Alive!
Maybe you could make a portal clone that isn't exactly like portal
If you made that you could even add things that weren't in portal
Why not change the vibe of the portal game and call it something else? Like fantasy portals instead of sci fi.
Because the issue wasn't that VALVe didn't like portal theming being used, VALVe just warned james that Nintendo wouldn't like their leaked code being used.
I see this question about terminated fan games a lot. My personal take, as someone who has worked on his own fan game, the idea of doing that just kinda drains the passion out of it. If I'm making a fan-game, it's because I have such a love for that property and it's world and characters and vibe, and while changing those things might still result in something cool, it's hard to stay motivated knowing it's not allowed to be what you really want it to be.
In this case though, yeah, I think Nintendo's code is the problem.
Narbacular Drop 64
you are my favorite person to watch, I am so excited about your n64 homebrew game, I tried building it a while back but I'll need to have a go again since some things didn't seem complete!! keep doing what you're doing, it's sad to see that you're sad about portal 64 but you definitely have people that watch you for other reasons!!!!
I will never give up. Never quit never surrender no man left behind!!! release the portal 64!!!!!!
dang I've never manually set the nets pad per pad. I've just imported the netlist directly from my schematic
Don't feel bad about Portal64. As an exercise in backporting you've got the biggest eggplant swinging. It's a damn shame but you've made something that exists despite the legal woes associated with letting anyone else have it. If you let it out into the wild it'd be a legal nightmare for you, and there's not even a great way to "accidentally" have someone obtain it and release a rom to the wild afaik.
You might love to have Miyamoto and Gaben come to terms and have folks print up anachronistic Portal64 cartridges without fear of C&D letters, but until that's possible just show a live demo of portal64 to a new friend in a country that doesn't do extradition to the US who has a keen interest in archiving rare game hardware/software. No one could blame you for taking a 90 minute shite shortly after showing them that portal64 is basically 1.0 release ready.
I should not have watched this. Now I have a new hobby. 🤦♂️🤷♂️😂
Not sure if it could have worked, but maybe you could have used a pre-made board such as the RP2040-LCD-0.96 from WaveShare (RP2040, USB Controller, and LCD for debugging!). They have also some other variants such as the RP2040-Zero, which is smaller, and the RP2040-Plus, which have more flash memory.
Thinking about the static electricity on the screen coming off when you rub the screen lol blast from the past.
Very cool project ! And seeing Portal64 😢... For Mario64 you could add extra feature: when using scroll-wheel-forward - it starts going forward automatically and keep running until you "scroll-wheel" back.
Adb sideload to N64 anyone? Can it run Gamecube Os/games?
Whoa I didn't even know you could use KiCad without the schematic editor. Typically I draw the schematic in the schematic editor and then push it over to the PCB editor so all the connections are already set up.
Very cool! WIsh Portal64 could have been completed though. Maybe port using open source sdk?
I've seen a revival project for Portal64 going around. No idea how far along they are, but at least your efforts may someday come to fruition!
What about asset swapping portal64, like how bloodborne kart got turned into nightmare kart?
"I´ll try to develop something that I can sell..." I will 100% buy a N64toUSB adapter with XB360 Input! 😎
arduino is supposed to have usb host in itself. yes both the usb plug and the io pins. well at least the arduino has the usb plug host/device modes. whatever the arduino then talks to the n64 port through the io pins. great alternative to pcb's is wire harnesses. only. yes flat multiwire cables or just single wire jumpers. and cable wrappers or binders. you can do a de-acceleration curve for the movement axes. for cnc. why do you hate free projects. you just dont do it for money. ie for free. there is a distinct quality difference between sold and free stuff. why are people so obsessed about trading stuff for stuff. diy. well there is no market if none buys. thats the true market abc. assume none buys. then you can do stuff for free. well you have to.
I have a huge 30cm Nvidia branded circuit board ruler that I use all the time. Cool that pcbway gives them out too.
Nice, but: Instead of making a super super niche product the N64 community would profit a lot more of a revised Portal64 without all the Valve assets/designs.
will is support 3rd part usb controllers? games like fzero x could benefit from something like an 8bit do or logitech whatever the f its called, or maybe even xbox controllers.... psx with usb adapter, ps2, ps3, ps4... etc... you could just be onto something here :)
I wonder if ChatGPT or similar could have helped with your initial issue?
It is possible to add a Native MK Mode vor Homebrew Software With Native support vor Mouse and Keyboard ?
Just stumbled onto your channel, I enjoyed your primer on PCB design especially. I’m a professional designer/drafter, so I never really think about how strange it is to explain to beginners; it’s a field full of jargon and weird rules.
One thing to note about ground pours, they also can help avoid or cause bow and twist depending on how you match the amount of copper across your laminate.
Also, a lot of professionals look down on KiCad, but I think it’s pretty nice nowadays! Even better when you’re on Linux, which I noticed and appreciated lol
While it's super impressive that you made it work, using a mouse and keyboard to play existing games on the N64 defeats the purpose of playing the N64. Whatever you end up creating, hopefully it's the right use-case for mouse and keyboard (e.g. Portal, even though Portal N64 worked sufficiently well with the default controller) or an entirely new game concept.
now you gotta get it so you can place a Game boy ROM/save file on the device and read it like the Transfer pack
Is that a mixup cube in the background? Those are really fun, I've got one myself, haven't solved it in ages though.
Edit: Just noticed the mirror cube too, due to a shipping mishap, my first 3x3 was actually a mirror cube, so it has a very special place in my heart.
In a just world Nintendo would have given you their blessing to release Portal 64... sadly we're living in the evil Nintendo timeline :(
Neat to see the hardware simplified for the N64 USB though!