Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions, Skylanders Base Emulator - Project D.I.R.E.

Project D.I.R.E.
(UPDATE 29 NOVEMBER 2023)


We have been made aware that certain individuals are attempting to sell the community edition of this project on ETSY, a project that is explicitly offered for free. This action not only undermines the spirit of our community project but is also a move that capitalizes on the work of others in a very negative way. Furthermore, these sales include unauthorized distribution of bin files related to Lego, Skylanders, and Disney Infinity, which is a clear infringement of intellectual property rights. We strongly urge the community to maintain the integrity of the project by helping us address and curtail these unauthorized sales. It is essential to remind everyone that our project was created for free distribution, and it should remain that way. Your support in this matter is invaluable.

Special Thanks to the following individuals for their dedication and hard work. Without them this project would not be possible.

znxDomain -> firmware unlocker, tester, researcher
Lucky.peic -> firmware gui editor, tester, prototype, initial writeups, researcher
B47M4N -> firmware gui editor, tester, pcb and case creator, researcher, user guide writer
Bowman -> alt firmware, prototype tester
Mystic -> supplied test files, tester


Project D.I.R.E. (Disney Infinity Reverse Engineered) is a portal emulator for Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions, and Skylanders. This replaces the original portal in place of a custom created one to inject your own character dumps without the need for the original characters, vehicles, or playsets.

This emulator originally started several years ago after a talented coder named obiima did not release his project to the public. Obiima created and demoed a console portal emulator for 3 games: Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions, and Skylanders. Obiima never released his project into the wild and the project he did release privately was closed firmware meaning locked to the stm32 Bluepill. This project picks up where he left off.

The Firmware allows this device to select between games by holding one of the buttons during boot. Specific Button usage can be found in the User Guide. You have the option of using limited onboard memory or by using an SD card you can increase the character count in your base emulator. By adding your own character files known as bin files, you can inject them into the game without having to keep your original characters.

This emulator currently works on the Wii, Wii U, PS3, and PS4.
We CAN NOT confirm if this works on the PS5 or Nintendo Switch as we do not own those consoles with these games to test with.

We have been told Skylanders plays on the Nintendo Switch but does NOT use the Portal of Power.
We have also seen footage of Disney Infinity being played on a PS5 with a PS4 base.

XBOX 360 and XBOX One are Not Yet included in this release. There is a security chip required from an Activision portal to make this work and we have not yet discovered a simple method to allow these games to work on these specific consoles.

upload_2021-8-26_20-29-42.png


upload_2021-8-27_6-51-30.png


upload_2021-8-27_6-51-46.png


Some of the files are too large to fit in this forum post and have been attached via mediafire.
All files can be found here: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/9u87thpc42j9a/Release+Package
 

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  • D.I.R.E Template A06.pdf
    1.6 MB · Views: 336
  • D.I.R.E._3D_Case_Files_8-25-21_multiple_sizes_of_Button_Caps.zip
    4.4 MB · Views: 280
  • D.I.R.E._PCB_2021-03-12.zip
    63.9 KB · Views: 313
Last edited by Kfkboys,

jeffyTheHomebrewer

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When is someone gonna reverse engineer an action replay for use with Nintendo Switch. I miss those days
That'd be difficult if not impossible to just make a dongle that allows you to instantly use cheats. Just install homebrew on your switch (you might get banned) and just use google to figure out how to use Atmosphere to cheat.
 

SSG Vegeta

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That'd be difficult if not impossible to just make a dongle that allows you to instantly use cheats. Just install homebrew on your switch (you might get banned) and just use google to figure out how to use Atmosphere to cheat.

That's just it I don't want to get banned but I have considered making an account to get banned so that I could use cheats.
 

jeffyTheHomebrewer

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That's just it I don't want to get banned but I have considered making an account to get banned so that I could use cheats.
Well, I'm pretty sure if Nintendo sees that a console is homebrewed, it bans any and all accounts associated with it. I'd just buy another switch just for homebrew/cheats tbh.
 

linuxares

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Can this only be done with a raspberry pi?
No way to do it just as software for PC emulation?
Not until someone does an emulator no.

I don't get why people say "give me software". It's obvious the people would done software already if they knew how to do it. This one works on all as well.
 

SMFKRS

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Not until someone does an emulator no.

I don't get why people say "give me software". It's obvious the people would done software already if they knew how to do it. This one works on all as well.
well I have no experience with soldering so hopefully someone offers prebuilts in the future.
 
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rory2005

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well I have no experience with soldering so hopefully someone offers prebuilts in the future.

Really easy to learn to solder, Especially at this level, This is very basic soldering. I could possibly build them if you buy the parts
 

H4CK3RxDE

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I can confirm that this works on the ps5, at least with lego dimensions

also, does anyone else living in germany need a pcb, i have 4 lying around



seems like it doesn't work for the wii version of skylanders spyro's adventure on the wiiu, maybe because the portal is wireless on the wii?

EDIT:
PS3 version of skylanders spyro's adventure does work without problems, gonna test skylanders giants ps3 in a few days
 
Last edited by H4CK3RxDE,

fire10

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Be really good if someone is building these. That said could we have links to the correct part required. Many thanks peeps
 

FAST6191

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Be really good if someone is building these. That said could we have links to the correct part required. Many thanks peeps
From
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/9u87thpc42j9a/Release+Package
D.I.R.E._PCB_2021-03-12.zip
/CAMOutputs/Assembly/
DIB.txt
Partlist exported from C:/Users/Batman/Documents/EAGLE/projects/DisneyInfinityBoard/DIB.sch at 3/12/2021 9:40 AM

Qty Value Device Package Parts Description MF MPN OC_FARNELL OC_NEWARK POPULARITY
5 10-XX B3F-10XX S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 OMRON SWITCH B3F-1000 176432 36M3542 72
1 BLUE_PILL BLUE_PILL U$3
1 1.8"_TFT 1.8"_TFT 1.8"_TFT U$2
Farnell and Newark are two of the biggest vendors of electronics and those are the numbers they use internally. Sadly maplin have gone else you might have pulled that off from one of those, if you are anywhere near a Rapid electronics (they are mostly in Colchester) you can probably do it there, though looks like no compatible blue pill boards in stock at this point and you don't want to be soldering the standalone chips at this point.

The PDF guide ("D.I.R.E_User_Guide_A06.pdf") also includes a BOM (short for bill of materials, aka parts needed), and various things covering how the PCB is made if you want a custom one of those. 3.1 for the BOM and section 4 the rest.
"stm32 BluePill" is the main brains of the operation. The blue pill number from the manufacturer should be STM32F103C8T6, though stm32 bluepill is probably the better search term in the general internet. The PDF (and a search) notes some vendors/options will not come with headers (the small pins you see in some shots that connect down to the PCB below, or breadboard* maybe if you are going that way) or the headers having been soldered so that pumps the solder pin count from 72 to 124 if it is not. If you are half accomplished at soldering then it is a 5 minute job, if you are new to it then first learn on something else but they deliberately went with through hole approaches which are the easiest option.

Seems it does not have programming onboard (it is actually rare among such devices) so you will need a programmer too (ST-link v2 being the suggested one). Though if you have local friends you are building these with they might chip in for that as you will only need the one for initial programming and updates. If you know some good local electronics types they might also have one in stock as it is a reasonably popular brand. There is also a slightly fancier version (which will do the job if necessary) that allows debugging, however as you are probably not going to be debugging it with the others (or if you are you will be running premade code sent to you) then maybe consider the cheaper ones like pictured in the pdf (they are usually could be mistaken for a fancy USB thumb drive, as opposed to the debugging capable ones which are larger and more oval shaped).

The switches mentioned there are
B3F-1000 from Omron.
https://uk.farnell.com/omron/b3f-10...-0-98n/dp/176432?ost=36m3542&iscrfnonsku=true
They are just push to make switches (you can see it on the datasheet from the link above), albeit ones the PCB is designed for. If you are skipping the PCB or otherwise really wanted you could use another switch (push to make/ptm is really the most basic switch type available for most things in most grab bags of the things) or just touch wires together/a wire into the relevant hole on your breadboard/veroboard/whatever.

Screen numbers are proving harder to come by. Looks like "Arduino 1.8 Inch 128x160 SPI Serial" with SD card, fairly standard though also not necessarily that available. SD could also be implemented separately as there should be other SPI screens but I don't go there right now
https://www.okystar.com/product-item/1-8-spi-serial-128x160-tft-display-module-for-arduino/ looks to be the display, various listings on ebay as well. Might be worth looking around some of the arduino shops to see if they have it.

Everything else is means to connect it to other things, though as you don't want to be throwing that many wires around if going for the whole thing. Looking at the PCB in the image there (it says it is just double sided so I am assuming there are not hidden layers) the number of connections it wants is fairly minimal and something you could do with lengths of wire (possibly 19 of them but I was only counting on blurry photos rather than looking at the PCB like I would be if I was sensible, not going to be much more than that though if it is higher)
I don't know what PCB prototyping services will run around you for a low volume like this (can probably skip the silkscreen if you wanted and it makes it cheaper, though likely not by much), and you probably don't want to be waiting on shipping from China at this point. Universities or electronics companies might have such a service or be able to add you onto their next run for a fee (most PCBs are quite large and broken down, adding a small bit to otherwise wasted space and gaining them money in the process is great fun for them). Don't know if you could do that on veroboard/stripboard either, or at least not without more wires dangling and if you are not so familiar with electronics then probably not something I would necessarily want to learn on (though not the worst either).

The trouble with most electronics vendors is they have minimum orders else you pay a lot in shipping. If you are doing more than one for friends then this can get it down, personally I can spend millions in such a shop given half a chance but if you are not into electronics then that gets harder.
Prices on the quoted section are also a bit optimistic if my searches just now are anything to go by, though most places with anything in stock were hobbyist things likely looking to make their bit extra, or ebay which is awful at the best of times.

*you would probably have seen a breadboard in school or on various electronics discussions topics. They are small, usually white, boards with a lot of holes in them that people like to prototype electronics with. Might be an option here if you don't want to find a PCB creation service/prototyping service to do your PCB.
 
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DrAlexander

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The boards look beautiful. I went with classic green.
jlcpcb.com by the way.

They don't have holes though. Can I use a fine drill or is there another way?
 

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FAST6191

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The boards look beautiful. I went with classic green.
jlcpcb.com by the way.

They don't have holes though. Can I use a fine drill or is there another way?
Traditionally one uses tungsten carbide drills for PCB drilling. Fortunately unlike big boy tungsten carbide tooling then PCB drills are cheap as so many are made/used/they are so small.

You can get away with basic high speed steel that will be the thing you find in your local hardware shop but it is not good to; PCBs are made of silicon carbide which is basically a type of sandpaper. Your HSS twist drills then get chewed up and spat out, might only do a handful of holes. However they are also cheap and they will at least do a few before they fail .

You might also experience issues with them not doing through plating of the holes. Maybe enough solder will wick up the bottom to ensure good connections on the top but be aware of that one, or flow a bit of solder where there are traces going around on the top layer to ensure you have a connection.

I would also suggest having a drill press (ständerbohrmaschine/säulenbohrmaschine) for this, though as the holes are so small even the basic cheap home drill press thing and a drill in a dremel/rotary tool will be sufficient here (I certainly use one for PCBs despite having full drill presses in the workshop). https://www.hahn-kolb.de/Tischbohrs...019.sku/WuerthGroup-HAHN_KOLB.cgid/de/DE/EUR/ for the sort of thing I am thinking of, though I would not pay that price (see them all the time for way way way less than that on second hand sites).

Not sure what the errors the poster above is referring to other than the lack of a drill pass (common enough to not have/maybe a paid extra for a lot of prototyping services).
 

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[QUOTE="
Not sure what the errors the poster above is referring to other than the lack of a drill pass (common enough to not have/maybe a paid extra for a lot of prototyping services).[/QUOTE]

Hi @FAST6191 , I am referring to the lack of drill holes, As these are in the zip file, I simply dropped the full zip file into there system and it produced the above black PCB, Really am impressed with the quality. BTW that's some very in depth quality advice there, But thats a lot of holes to drill

Total shame @DrAlexander that they turned up like that, Check your order confirmation from them, it should have a picture of how they were finalised, If they show holes then ask them to make again
 

DrAlexander

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Thanks both for the feedback.
It's my fault for there are no holes. I didn't include the drill file because I only uploaded the Gerber files, not the whole .zip file.
Oh well. I guess I'll order again. Still less than 4 EUR, shipping included.

This is my first project like this so I'm ok with this. I will know about it next time.
 

Kfkboys

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@DrAlexander
I'm extremely surprised you had that problem.
That zip file is the one originally created for this project...
You should double check wherever you uploaded it that the file was accepted as a drill file and not something else. (I didn't see you had replied before I replied to your reply :) Sorry about that)



@rory2005 When I first got these made, I was planning on having 6 holes on the outer edges to fit perfectly into the 3d printed case with a peg or some sort of standoff, but there were still holes there too.... Yours seem to be marked but not cut.
 
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DrAlexander

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@DrAlexander
I'm extremely surprised you had that problem.
That zip file is the one originally created for this project...
You should double check wherever you uploaded it that the file was accepted as a drill file and not something else. (I didn't see you had replied before I replied to your reply :) Sorry about that)

Well, I guess it happens... ?
Maybe.
Anyway. Live and learn.
I'm still waiting for the other parts, so I can wait for another batch of the pcbs.
 

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