Hardware Misc Gamepad interference with 8 WiiU's in proximity

[ReynoldsCahoon]

I have 8 Wii U's in close proximity and the gamepads seem to suffer from intermittent interference. I realize these are broadcasting 5ghz signals to the gamepads, but is there any way to modify the signal to improve stability? Broadcasting on different hz in software or with hardware mods? Is this possible? Are there other solutions?

To those who will inevitably ask why I want to do this, I've got 8 Wii U's in a server rack shelf with custom 3d printed mounting hardware. I planned to set these up with Pretendo-docker locally on a Mac Mini to facilitate completely offline capable LAN parties with up to 8 players. The supported games are Minecraft, Splatoon, Mario Kart 8, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Pokken Tournament. I was going to mount them all inside of a server/audio rack on casters to make it portable. It will only require a single power cable to the wall, with a rack mounted 19 outlet PDU to power the systems, gamepad cradles, Mac Mini, and network hardware (these all use USB->Ethernet adapters). Included are some photos of the gear and a video of the issue.

 

[Deleted member 486901]

This is really cool. How much did everything run you if you don't mind my asking?

 

[mattdog1000000]

Might be a long shot, but have you considered modifying each of the systems' antennae? (Possibly going so far as to potentially modify each of their corresponding gamepads' antennae to be hardwired to each system?)

 

[Tur7L3]

Sorry are you implying OG Mario Kart 8 , Minecraft Wiiu and Splatoon had LAN parties??

 

[Exnor]

Very nice idea.

Kudos

 

[ReynoldsCahoon]

Sorry are you implying OG Mario Kart 8 , Minecraft Wiiu and Splatoon had LAN parties??

Through the magic of Pretendo hosted locally, these games can connect as if they're connected to an online service.

Post automatically merged: Jan 31, 2025

Might be a long shot, but have you considered modifying each of the systems' antennae? (Possibly going so far as to potentially modify each of their corresponding gamepads' antennae to be hardwired to each system?)

I don't know what modifying the antennae would do. I think the frequency/band/channel of the wifi is the same on every system, thus causing the interference. Perhaps there's a way through software via a Homebrew app or a hardware modification to modify half of the systems to use a different frequency/band/channel and that would reduce the interference?

I don't know enough to solve this problem, so I'm here to petition ideas from this community.

Post automatically merged: Jan 31, 2025

This is really cool. How much did everything run you if you don't mind my asking?

I'm probably in this $2000. I already owned the Mac Mini, so that's not included.

 

[AlexCasual]

Bro, this is so cool. I had a dream at one time to get my hands on the E3 2014 Splatoon Kiosk demo to make a similar LAN party, but unfortunately in the current times the game image is nowhere to be found. But as an option, if you're not afraid to make modifications to your consoles, you could make the build of your consoles similar to kiosk consoles. (I'll attach a picture of my kiosk).
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-wireless-controller-extender-hack.378742/
In this thread it is written how to make anthenna hack. But instead of using an antenna, you can replace the stock antennas from the 5 GHz chip with an RF port and also on the Wii U gamepad make an extension from the 5 GHz chip to a coaxial cable with RF port, thus making the connection between Wii U and Gamepad wired

Here is good video of Kiosk teardown to understand its contruction

Here is video of kiosk gamepad teardown

And also my kiosk concole pictures

 

[mattdog1000000]

Bro, this is so cool. I had a dream at one time to get my hands on the E3 2014 Splatoon Kiosk demo to make a similar LAN party, but unfortunately in the current times the game image is nowhere to be found. But as an option, if you're not afraid to make modifications to your consoles, you could make the build of your consoles similar to kiosk consoles. (I'll attach a picture of my kiosk).
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-wireless-controller-extender-hack.378742/
In this thread it is written how to make anthenna hack. But instead of using an antenna, you can replace the stock antennas from the 5 GHz chip with an RF port and also on the Wii U gamepad make an extension from the 5 GHz chip to a coaxial cable with RF port, thus making the connection between Wii U and Gamepad wired

Here is good video of Kiosk teardown to understand its contruction

Here is video of kiosk gamepad teardown
View attachment 483560
View attachment 483561
View attachment 483562

View attachment 483563
And also my kiosk concole pictures

That's awesome.
My suggestion to modify the antennae wouldn't have to be taken to this extreme to cut down on the interference, but that is certainly the cleanest and coolest way I could imagine doing it!

 

[AlexCasual]

That's awesome.
My suggestion to modify the antennae wouldn't have to be taken to this extreme to cut down on the interference, but that is certainly the cleanest and coolest way I could imagine doing it!

Yeah, well, there's no arguing that this method is extreme

 

[ReynoldsCahoon]

Thank you for the photos and the video links, these are really fascinating and this was an avenue I'd looked into previously. I'm not certain I have the skillset to install something like this, and the dev kits appear to have several daughter boards that I don't have access to, but I did find the teardown really useful.

I think my first attempt at a solution, will be inspired by mattdog1000000's suggestion. Since all of these consoles will be sitting inside a portable server/audio rack, the antennas of the 5ghz internal boards could be swapped for directional antenna, mounted on the outside of the rack, with 2 facing each direction. This would require players to sit around the rack, in the direction of their consoles antenna.

Looking online, most wifi antenna are omnidirectional, but there does seem to be some directional antenna that could be used.

As I still haven't settled on the rack itself, this now adds new considerations for exterior mounting, on top of the original considerations of airflow and portability.

I really do appreciate all of your suggestions. I'd started to lose hope but you've revitalized my spirits.

 

[cearp]

@ReynoldsCahoon good luck and please keep us updated because this is a really cool project!

 

[Gagarin]

I wonder how many of them are Hynix nand?

 

[ReynoldsCahoon]

An update, for those curious. Initial testing seems okay. Parts are on the way to perform this mod for all 8 racked systems and extend their antennas outside of the rack.

 

[almmiron]

you nerd

 

[N7Kopper]

Meanwhile I just disabled the 5Ghz band on my router because nothing needs it anyway.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I have 8 Wii U's in close proximity and the gamepads seem to suffer from intermittent interference. I realize these are broadcasting 5ghz signals to the gamepads, but is there any way to modify the signal to improve stability? Broadcasting on different hz in software or with hardware mods? Is this possible? Are there other solutions?

To those who will inevitably ask why I want to do this, I've got 8 Wii U's in a server rack shelf with custom 3d printed mounting hardware. I planned to set these up with Pretendo-docker locally on a Mac Mini to facilitate completely offline capable LAN parties with up to 8 players. The supported games are Minecraft, Splatoon, Mario Kart 8, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Pokken Tournament. I was going to mount them all inside of a server/audio rack on casters to make it portable. It will only require a single power cable to the wall, with a rack mounted 19 outlet PDU to power the systems, gamepad cradles, Mac Mini, and network hardware (these all use USB->Ethernet adapters). Included are some photos of the gear and a video of the issue.
View attachment 483518

View attachment 483519
View attachment 483520

The gamepads run on 5ghz. There is not enough bandwidth on the 5ghz spectrum to allow for 8 separate channels with no overlap, especially when there are other 5ghz networks taking up a lot of it. You may be able to improve it though, automatic channel selection is often not the best. I assume on a hacked Wii U it should be possible to force the gamepad to use a specific wifi channel somehow. And you can use a wifi analyzer app to figure out which channels to avoid.

Meanwhile I just disabled the 5Ghz band on my router because nothing needs it anyway.

It's wayyy faster (at least, 802.11ac and up only work over 5ghz)

 

[ReynoldsCahoon]

I have modded all 8 of the racked consoles and did some initial testing with directional antennas. Results seem good, will do real world gameplay testing soon.

 

[Technician]

Looks great. It's time for a mk8 lan-party. I wonder what your electricity bill says about that, Mr. Bezos.

 

[NostalgicMillennial]

don't lie. this is Scott the Woz's burner account isn't it.

 

[cearp]

Yep looking forward to your real world test!