Using a Wii drive replacement on a GameCube

Background

The Gamecube and Wii DVD drives, although both looking quite different in appearance, are quite the same when it comes to their protocol used to communicate with the host (GC/Wii). Due to this, we are able to wire up a Wii DVD Drive or DVD Drive Replacement Chip to a Gamecube. The Gamecube uses a proprietary connector so we are unable to simply "plug and play" one device into the other, and also, the pin order is backwards(?).

File:Http://www.gc-forever.com/fusion/fusion1.jpg

Gamecube with Wiikey Fusion installed (with DVD Drive removed) by emu_kidid

All credit goes to Ashen from GC-Forever for figuring most of this stuff out :)

The Process

Things to know ahead of time

1. You will need some soldering skill to perform this mod. 2. If you want to retain the ability to hook the original GC DVD drive back up you may solder to the DVD connector pins on the bottom of the GC motherboard, just make sure you have the pins correct when hooking things up. If you plan to remove the connector a desoldering iron is recommended. 3. As of right now only original GC discs work with the Wii DVD drive mod. This may change in the future as different GC and Wii modchips are tested. 4. Not all Wii DVD drive revisions are tested. 5. When the Wii DVD drive is connected to the GC the disc insertion/disc eject (slot loading mechanism) acts kind of funny. 6. The Wiikey Fusion is not compatible with all Gamecubes! See the compatibility list below. 7. Last but not least, We are not responsible for anything you destroy or electronics that go up in a puff of blue smoke whilst attempting this Mod. If you read and follow this guide carefully you should be ok.

For those interested here is an early video of the testing of the Wii DVD mod: http://www.youtube.com/user/Ashen123451#p/u/3/sMeXMlDtaGE

and here is the most epic first video Zenloc made after hooking up the Wiikey Fusion to his cube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jht0PBJVTZE

and Emu_kidid running the WODE on his cube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKGwzPU0Bs4

That all being said, on to the meat and potatoes.

The actual Wii DVD/Wiikey Fusion/WODE Jukebox to Gamecube Mod

These are the connector pin out's and pin match between the two systems:

To avoid any confusion here are some pictures of the above referenced connectors: Wii DVD Drive: Wiikey Fusion: WODE Jukebox:

Pin 1 has been marked in reference to the above pin out. The power connector of the DVD drive/WODE has also been labeled. The power connections for the Wii DVD drive/WODE may be taken straight from the correct voltage pins on the GC regulator board if you have a DOL-001 with a revision A/B motherboard. If you have a DOL-101 with the integrated power regulator you will need to do some testing with a multimeter to find where to draw the correct voltage from. For portablizing purposes the 12v power connector on the Wii DVD drive has been tested (not extensively) and confirmed to work with as low as 7.4v, it should work fine with Zenloc's custom regulator.

GC Motherboard Connectors: DVD Interface Connector Top View (Processor Side): Power Regulator to Motherboard input (Rev A/B only):

Making the connections between the systems

However you decide to make the connection between the systems a high gauge 24-28awg solid insulated wire type is recommended. IDE wire has also been reported to be acceptable. Keep your wire length to a minimum. Anything over 5-6" wire length may run into latency issues. To sum it up, the shorter the better.

1. (DVD/Wiikey/WODE) Currently the best connection option is to order one of the connectors listed below. This option allows you to connect the flat ribbon cable directly from the DVD drive/Wiikey Fusion/WODE and provides good sized solderable pads/thru holes to run your wires to. Depending on the interest shown in this mod emu_kidid may end up stocking one of them in the web store. http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/pr ... id=3400013 http://www.newhavendisplay.com/index.ph ... ts_id=2476 http://en.esskabel.de/adapter/datasheet ... 0-set/186/ http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=6598834882 + http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=5686938034 http://www.lcd-store.de/xaranshop_k014013s001_1.htm (You have to specify that you need 32 pins though.)

2. (DVD Only) The second method is to solder to the test pads right on the Wii DVD drive daughterboard. As you can see in the photo above each connection coming from the ribbon cable has its own test pad that can be soldered to. Since there are so many different revisions of the Wii DVD drive daughterboard you will need to do your own testing and confirm what pads go to what pins.

3. (DVD/Wiikey/WODE) The third option is to solder directly to the ribbon cable leads. This can be very precarious work and for long term use may not be reliable depending on your soldering skills. However it is do'able. The easiest way I found is to split every lead on one end of the ribbon cable with a razor blade and fold every other lead back to avoid bridging. Hold the bent back leads in place with some double sided tape placed beneath them. Tinning the leads before hand should aid in making a proper connection. The leads on the ribbon cable are very easy to burn through so make sure you use as little heat and contact time as necessary with your soldering iron. After confirming continuity on all pins covering the soldered end of the ribbon cable in hot glue or epoxy is recommended to avoid future broken connections. Here is an example of this method:

Special Pins/Connections

Pin 29 (Wii side) controls disc sensing and disc eject. For the DVD drive/Wiikey Fusion/WODE to work properly a switch such as this needs to be wired in between this pin and the GC motherboard ground as such:

If you are using the same type of switch pictured above it is marked on the side of the switch which pins are "common" "normally open" and "normally closed" The common (C) pin should be run to pin 29 of the wiikey connector, the normally closed (NC) pin should be run to the GC motherboard ground and the normally open (NO) pin should go to 1.9v line from the GC regulator (1.9v is only needed for the Wii DVD Drive! Wiikey Fusion/WODE requires only the switch/gnd). Emu_kidid has stated that this connction on the WODE acts more like the GC lid switch. So you can skip the next part (pin's 23/12) if you are using a WODE.

Pin23(WII) to Pin12(GC) controls the systems "lid open/closed" signal. The Wiikey Fusion has been confirmed to work with multidisc games using a SD card swapping method. If you wish to retain multidisc compatibility wire a on/off switch between these pins (the normal GC lid switch is fine). If you are here for the purposes of portablizing and are going to make the Wii DVD drive top loading and scrap the disc insertion/eject mechanism you may also use this method.

SD swapping seems to work on the Wiikey Fusion for all multidisc games. When asked to switch discs simply swap the SD card to a SD card with the next disc .iso on it and flip/press your lid/open closed switch. There is however one other catch.

When adding games to SD card it seems that the Wiikey uses whatever "slot" the game is loaded to to identify what image to mount if the SD card is removed and reinserted during gameplay. So if on one card you have 5 games and on another card you have 3 games and the multidisc game you are playing ends up in a different slot than it is on the first SD card. The trick will not work. Ex:

SD card 1: 1. game x 2. game c 3. game v(disc1)

SD card 2: 1. game v(disc2) 2. game p

This will not work! The game needs to be in the same "slot" as such:

SD card 1: 1. game x 2. game c 3. game v(disc1)

SD card 2: 1. game q 2. game p 3. game v(disc2) 4. game r

This would work. I'm not 100% sure how WBFS manager arranges things on the card and why. Honestly the best way I can say to play a multidisc game this way is to just go buy two 2gb SD cards and put disc 1 on one of them and disc 2 on another.

Pin 32(Wii) 3.3v is only needed for the Wiikey Fusion/WODE. It supply's the modchip with power. The 3.3v on pin 32 is not needed for the Wii DVD drive. It will not hurt the drive if you do connect it however.

I ask that anyone who does this mod please report back here with the results you have gotten with different setups/wii drive revisions and GC/Wii modchips. Even if they are not working we need to know. Wii DVD drive identification can be done here: http://www.wiidrives.com/list All help testing various different setups is of course very much appreciated.

Confirmed Working/Not Working Setups

DVD Drives

Drive Version	Status
GC2-DMS	Working (tested on DOL-001 NTSC-U IPL v1.0 & IPL v1.1)
D4 (previously D3S) (newest revision Wii drive with smaller daughterboard)	Working (tested on DOL-001 NTSC-U IPL v1.0)

Modchips / Drivechips

Drivechip / Drive Replacement	Status
D2lite on DMS Drive	Not working
Sunkey on DMS Drive	Not working
Wiikey (first revision) on DMS Drive	Semi Working - Loads other region games from Wii DVD Drive (does not load backups)
Wiikey Fusion	Working (backup loading from SD only, Wii DVD Drive does not work when connected to wiikey fusion)
WODE Jukebox	Working (HDD/SD/Flatwode (passthru) Works!)