Pip-Boy 3000, How to handle a paperweight, I think....

teslabe

Sr Member
I have two of the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Deluxe Bluetooth Edition props that went bad, so I thought I'd start a tread for anyone that are going to try and repair, modify or rebuild their "paperweight". This is what I've done so far. With the help of my friend "rworne", he is handling the software, I hope to get it working.... I have just done a temporary placement of the electronics, just in case we can access the software of the props original circuit board, then I can go back to that setup, this is just the start of this project. Feel free to add to the thread what you might be doing.... I'll be using a Raspberry Pi A+ for this version.
A stuck Pip-Boy.jpg
Pip-Boy 3000 01.jpg
Pip-Boy 3000 02.jpg
Pip-Boy 3000 03 just the start of the layout.jpg
 

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Nice. A couple things:
1. It's polling the GPIO for the vertical menus. I'll add a something to make the vertical menus work better. The keyboard controls do not have these issues.
2. There is audio output for the radio stations, it should be coming out the 3.5mm jack. Though it is possible since I gave you my MicroSD card for this version that it is going out HDMI. The visualizer is looking at the waveform of the audio, it just doesn't work very well. It's also a resource hog. Playing audio alone does not impact the performance.
3. I figured out the screen sizing issue so now it can fill the whole screen while improving the entire fake boot sequence.

I am glad to see the majority of the controls are working now.
 
Nice...

Love when props have added electronics! (hate static props!).

Question(s):

1.) in first pic... why the main RPi and the Zero?

2.) What 'board' is currently plugged into the HDMI output? (looks to be going the LCD screen driver board or something?)
 
Nice...

Love when props have added electronics! (hate static props!).

Question(s):

1.) in first pic... why the main RPi and the Zero?

2.) What 'board' is currently plugged into the HDMI output? (looks to be going the LCD screen driver board or something?)

In the first picture I was comparing the way the Pi Zero ran the code verse the Pi-B+ which was just a stand-in until the Pi-A+ got in, also, how well the composite video looked, the mini HDMI connector on the Zero was going to be a pain to work with since I already made some HDMI/VGA converter boards for the displays I have for this project. The other pictures show the Pi-A+ being used. Once the code is finished I will go back and see if the Zero can run it without being overloaded, I like it's small size and if the composite video is good enough I may use it in the end, still too early to say......
 
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A quick question, because I am super interested in making my own pipboy and this is the closest I have seen to one that isn't abandonware and is still very close to game accurate. Is there anywhere I would be able to get information on the boards that didn't come in the Bethesda-sold pipboy and also, would I be able to donate to rworne and potentially get an image of the software? This thing looks absolutely fantastic and would be pretty cool to tinker around with.
 
Donation?

No donations necessary, but it depends on getting ahold of the iOS PipBoy application, pulling out the resource files, decompiling the flash videos and Unity-related files. As for the music, there's plenty of sources for that.
 
Donation?

No donations necessary, but it depends on getting ahold of the iOS PipBoy application, pulling out the resource files, decompiling the flash videos and Unity-related files. As for the music, there's plenty of sources for that.
Is the raspberry pi running raspbian/linux as the base or is it a scaled down android?
 
It's running Raspian, with a heavily modified PipBoy source based on one of the PyGame submissions in GitHub. Based from sabas1080/pypboy.
However, it had a complete UI redesign in the process. It came out of the necessity of having something make the dead PipBoys useful again, as so far we have not discovered a way to dump the flash on them. In contrast, look at the Space: 1999 Comlock thread on here. That involved some firmware hacking, and the results came out pretty good.
 
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A quick question, because I am super interested in making my own pipboy and this is the closest I have seen to one that isn't abandonware and is still very close to game accurate. Is there anywhere I would be able to get information on the boards that didn't come in the Bethesda-sold pipboy and also, would I be able to donate to rworne and potentially get an image of the software? This thing looks absolutely fantastic and would be pretty cool to tinker around with.

The original circuit board is gone and replaced with a Raspberry Pi 3A+ as the main board, a display board that supports the original 5" 640x480 display is also been added. I also use a modified HDMI/SVGA convertor board that talks to the display and a boost regulator to supply the 12 volts it needs, the rest of the electronics run off 5 volts. I'm also using the Bethesda's original switches, but adding some different functions to a few of them.
 
Here is where the mod is now, got the sound working and made a new HDMI-VGA adapter with audio out, the first one I did was just video. I'll have a part 2 posted shortly on the HDMI-VGA adapter.


 
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And now, part 2....
This is just a supplemental video focusing on a mod I did for my PipBoy prop that might help others using a Raspberry Pi and a VGA display board setup, it helps reduce the footprint of the layout, hope it helps someone . I can add pictures if anyone would like, not sure where else to post this info.


HDMI-VGA mod.jpg
Modded HDMI-VGA adapter in place01.jpg
Modded HDMI-VGA adapter in place03.jpg
 
The UI clicks are in sound files on the micro SD card, so if you remove them, the application won't try to play them.

Try removing dial_move.ogg, module_change.ogg and submodule_change.ogg. the physical switches sound better than the audio files anyway.

For those interested in the base (unmodified) software, look up sabas1080/pypboy on GitHub. It still mostly runs on modern Raspbwerry Pi's and can be fixed to make it more reliable. The UI is horrid on it, and it uses an old version of Python/PyGame so even if you get it to work, you'll have a lot of work to do replacing all the artwork.

For the artwork, you can get it all from the iOS PipBoy application. How to do that is an exercise for the reader (thanks DMCA!).
 
I need to get back on my project. I have been refusing to use adapter boards, and been trying to do everything from scratch. However, I used to use adapters all the time on old PC mod projects.
 
What "adapter board" are you referring to, the Raspberry Pi, display board, HDMI/VGA converter board, or all of it? If it's everything, you must be planning a controller board of your own design.
 
The HDMI to VGA adapter. The display I am trying to use is DSI 4-lane. So, in theory, it can be wired directly to a Pi Compute Module with no need for anything other than a LED boost driver. I just haven't dug in deep enough with that portion of the project to get something running. But yes, I am trying to do mine with all my own designs where possible. But of course that is taking me loads more time without results.

I appreciate what your doing here. It is sad that Thinkgeek never even tried to remedy the unit that were bricked from day one.
 
I was fortunate enough to get a good price on a number of 5" 640x480 4x3 displays with driver boards, the very same display that is installed in the
prop and they only came with VGA/Composite Video input and since the core software outputted the sound through the HDMI port, the adapter
was a very simple option. I have too many other projects to spend the time to scratch build the electronics when other, easier options are available.
Besides, the modified HDMI/VGA converter can be used in other projects I have planed. I look forward to you getting back on your build, it was your thread that got me interested on the PipBoy prop in the first place.
 
Hi Guys,

Stumbled across this post in a desperate search to find a fix for the PipBoy 3000 I just purchased. Broke my heart when I discovered there was an issue with these units. I had been looking for quite some time hoping I could find one that works...that doesn't seem to be the case.

Question to the folks on this post. Would any of you be interested in fixing my PipBoy? More than happy to pay you for your time, shipping, etc.

Happy to see the level of interest for this product and thank you for any considerations.
 
Hi Guys,

Stumbled across this post in a desperate search to find a fix for the PipBoy 3000 I just purchased. Broke my heart when I discovered there was an issue with these units. I had been looking for quite some time hoping I could find one that works...that doesn't seem to be the case.

Question to the folks on this post. Would any of you be interested in fixing my PipBoy? More than happy to pay you for your time, shipping, etc.

Happy to see the level of interest for this product and thank you for any considerations.

Hi CreatuR,
Sorry for the late reply, let me first start by saying that unless someone finds a way to unlock the interface on the original boards so they can be re-flashed, there's not much chance of fixing the bad code that IMHO, bricked almost all the 5000 PipBoys sold and I'm pretty sure the ones still working will fail in the same fashion sooner then later....:eek: I thought I'd post my solution to getting something close to the way it was suppose to work without too much custom/modified boards. It's not the only way, just the way I felt was the most practical, I still have to move thing around to make it all fit in the prop.
I have to be very honest though, I could not have gotten the prop as far as I have without the hard work of my friend rworne fixing the code that was not completed by others. Now the bad news, I can't/won't supply the software/firmware that he rebuilt, to others, I don't own it, nor do I believe rworne will make it avalable for many legal reasons. I'll be happy to answer questions, I just won't be doing any building for others, this is just a hobby for me.
 
Hi CreatuR,
Sorry for the late reply, let me first start by saying that unless someone finds a way to unlock the interface on the original boards so they can be re-flashed, there's not much chance of fixing the bad code that IMHO, bricked almost all the 5000 PipBoys sold and I'm pretty sure the ones still working will fail in the same fashion sooner then later....:eek: I thought I'd post my solution to getting something close to the way it was suppose to work without too much custom/modified boards. It's not the only way, just the way I felt was the most practical, I still have to move thing around to make it all fit in the prop.
I have to be very honest though, I could not have gotten the prop as far as I have without the hard work of my friend rworne fixing the code that was not completed by others. Now the bad news, I can't/won't supply the software/firmware that he rebuilt, to others, I don't own it, nor do I believe rworne will make it avalable for many legal reasons. I'll be happy to answer questions, I just won't be doing any building for others, this is just a hobby for me.

Hi teslabe,

Thank you for the response. I understand your position and look forward to seeing the final prop. Fantastic work!
 
Just got my hands on one with the same issue. It looks to be also sticking at the initialization screen. Also glad this isn’t a dead thread from years ago, been looking to also get it to some form of use. I really like the idea with the zero and it’s small form factor. I purchased it knowing it was likely to have this issue, and really surprised it even turned on after charging it, with how cheap it was.
 

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