modding

modder-packs-an-entire-nintendo-wii-into-a-box-the-size-of-a-pack-of-cards

Modder packs an entire Nintendo Wii into a box the size of a pack of cards

gaming, modding, Nintendo, Wii / /

wii micro —

There’s no disc drive, but there are still ports for GameCube controllers.

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Its creator calls the

Enlarge / Its creator calls the “Short Stack” the world’s smallest scale model replica of the Nintendo Wii (bottom).

The miniaturization of retro tech has always been a major obsession for modders, from the person who fit an original NES into a Game Boy-sized portable to the person who made a mini-er version of Apple’s Mac mini.

One mod in this storied genre that caught our eye this week is the “Short Stack,” a scale model of the Nintendo Wii that packs the 2006 console’s internal hardware into a 3D-printed enclosure roughly the size of a deck of playing cards.

“You could fit 13.5 of these inside an original Wii,” writes James Smith (aka loopj), the person behind the project. All the design details, custom boards, and other information about recreating the mod are available on GitHub.

Like many space-saving console mods, the Short Stack requires a cut-down version of the original Wii’s PCB, retaining (and occasionally relocating) the original console’s CPU, GPU, RAM, and NAND flash chip. Power delivery, USB, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, and GameCube controller ports were all relocated to separate custom PCBs, which also allowed Smith to add HDMI output and a microSD card slot (the original Wii used a full-size SD card and didn’t support digital video output).

  • The Short Stack cleverly hides its GameCube controller ports behind a sliding panel on the side.

  • A headphone jack-to-GameCube dongle preserves GameCube controller compatibility while saving space in the console itself.

  • The cut-down Wii PCB, featuring the original console’s CPU, GPU, RAM, and NAND flash.

  • The Short Stack next to a deck of cards.

Some sacrifices were made in the name of miniaturization. The console’s disc drive is gone, so any games will need to be loaded from a microSD card instead. And the four GameCube controller ports are actually headphone jacks that work over a special adapter. Smith made these headphone-to-GameCube dongles pin-compatible with an earlier mod called the GC Nano, a project that did for the GameCube what the Short Stack does for the Wii.

Smith also designed custom front and rear PCBs for the console to handle things like the power button and the glowing blue light around the Short Stack’s (aesthetic, non-functional) DVD slot. A custom heatsink (Smith uses aluminum, though it can also be made with copper to improve heat transfer at the expense of weight) and a tiny fan keep the console cool.

Nintendo released its own Wii Mini toward the end of the Wii’s life in 2012, but it came with significant compromises: no online connectivity, no GameCube controller ports or game compatibility, and no SD card slot. The Short Stack loses the optical drive for space-saving reasons but otherwise retains all of the features of the original Wii.

Smith says that the Short Stack could probably be as much as 20 to 30 percent smaller without giving up features. But one of the goals of the Short Stack project was to make a scale model of the original Wii, and further shrinkage would make the project “tricky to assemble.”

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cities:-skylines-2-gets-long-awaited-official-mod-support-and-map-editor

Cities: Skylines 2 gets long-awaited official mod support and map editor

cities: skylines 2, city builders, colossal order, gaming, modding, Paradox Interactive, simulation game / /

Cities: Skylines 2 —

Modding was seen as the most important next step by developer’s leader.

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View of a rooftop terrace with sun umbrella in Cities: Skylines 2's Beach Properties expansion.

Enlarge / Kudos to the designer of this umbrella-shaded rooftop terrace at Colossal Order, perhaps the only worker who can imagine a place that isn’t overwhelmed by Steam reviewers.

Paradox Interactive

Under the very unassuming name of patch 1.1.0f1, Cities: Skylines 2 is getting something quite big. The sequel now has the modding, map editing, and code modding support that made its predecessor such a sprawling success.

Only time will tell if community energy can help restore some of the momentum that has been dispersed by the fraught launch of Cities: Skylines 2 (C:S2). The project of relatively small developer Colossal Order arrived in October 2023 with performance issues and a lack of content compared to its predecessor. Some of that content perception stemmed from the game’s lack of modding support, which had contributed to entire aspects of the original game not yet available in the sequel.

When Ars interviewed Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen in December, she said that modding support was the thing she was most looking forward to arriving. Modding support was intended to be available at launch, but the challenges of building the new game’s technical base, amid many other technical issues, pushed it back, along with console releases.

“[W]e can’t wait to have the support out there, so we can have the modding community ‘fully unleashed,'” Hallikainen said then. “Because I know they are waiting to get to work. They are actually already at it, but this will make it easier. … We just can’t wait to give them the full set of tools.” She noted that character modding, a “technically difficult thing to support,” would arrive further out, and indeed, asset modding is listed as “available later this year.”

The base-level modding support is now available, though in “Beta” and in a different form than fans are used to. Instead of working through Steam Workshop, C:S2 mods will be available through Paradox Mods to support console players. There are, of course, issues at launch, including slowdown with the in-game mod browser. Most non-incensed commenters and reviewers consider the tools themselves to be an upgrade over the prior game’s editing suite.

In addition to making mods, the in-game mod tools should make it easier to load preset “Playsets” of mod combinations. We’ll have to see how long it takes assets like Spaghetti Junction, the most popular mod for the original Cities: Skylines, to arrive in C:S2 so that all may experience the municipal engineering regrets of Birmingham, England.

Along with modding tools, Colossal Order issued some of its first proper DLC for C:S2. Beach Properties, an asset pack, adds both North American and European waterfront zoning and buildings, palm trees, and six signature buildings. There’s also a Deluxe Relax Station that puts 16 new songs and DJ patter on the soundtrack. The recent patch also contains a number of optimizations and bug fixes. Steam reviewers and Paradox forum members are asking why the beach DLC doesn’t contain actual beaches.

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