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Cases now available, and product back in stock!

Hello everyone!

I’m excited to announce that boards are back in stock, and I have also gotten a 3D printer up and running so I can offer cases as well! Price for case add-on is $5, at least initially, although I may increase it later depending on the effort required for upkeep.

Product Page Link: DacoTaco’s Bluetooth Passthrough Adapter V3

Eventually I plan to offer the cases individually, for anyone who purchased in the past and would like to add the case now. Price is TBD, but please feel free to add yourself to the wishlist here: 3D Printed Adapter Case

The case can be downloaded here: Case Download (STL)

Credits and Licensing: Original by Yodashut, modified by myself. Licensed under CC with Attribution (same as the original).

The case is heavily based on Yodashut’s original, which I have adjusted slightly:
1. Hole for button is more centered.
2. Additional support for board added near USB connector.
3. Bridge over BT board removed to simplify printing.
4. Solid areas (support cylinder and front blocks) have been hollowed out. No change in rigidity has been found in my testing.
5. Removed triangular ‘hooks’ on Bottom so the case would more consistently click together across numerous prints. This did not make any change to fit and finish. With these little finish bits left on, about half of my test prints would have the clips bulging out due to being unable to fully seat themselves.
6. Increased length of cutout for BT board in the bottom to avoid squishing on the connector side. Note this is length, not depth, so it isn’t any thinner.

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Low Stock Update

Hello everyone,

I am working on my next order batch now, but for the time being I have adjusted the stock count slightly since I still have a handful left. Until I receive the next batch, there won’t be anymore beyond the couple of units I added back in. It usually takes about 1 month from when the order is officially accepted to when I receive the final boards, but that could be impacted by shortages. I currently have them set to allow backordering, but I may turn that off depending on the production house timeline.

I also wanted to thank everyone who purchased one of these from my little shop. It doesn’t generate too much cash, but it’s really been a fun little side hobby and I love hearing back from those that bought one and were able to resolve their connection woes. My original version is still going strong in the living room for casual game nights, and I hope all of yours are as well!

As always please feel free to reach out anytime with questions, comments, or concerns. I may not answer everything (especially questions about adding new shipping countries, which is more involved than it should be sometimes) but I do my best.

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Removing Germany from Shipping Options

Hello everyone,

I’m sorry if this causes trouble for those in Germany, but due to shipping issues I have decided to remove them from the available country list. This is due to both the packaging I use, as well as the German post service. I ship via USPS, as it is by far the most economical option for international shipping. However, once a USPS item reaches Germany, it is sorted as either a letter or package, and to be delivered as such. A letter would be handled by Deutsche Post, and a package by DHL (a part of Deutsche Post I believe). The packaging type I use results in this being too large to be considered a letter (of course), so DHL should deliver it, but have not done so up until now.

Recently I ran into this issue with a customer, but this isn’t the first time I’ve had an issue like this when shipping to Germany (an ebay item). I refunded the customer, but USPS can do nothing, and to their knowledge the package is delivered.

If anything changes I will reevaluate, but at this time I’m going to take the safer path and just remove the option. Sadly any other shipper besides USPS is just far too expensive, with the cost often being equal to the item itself!

Again I am sorry for the trouble, and I will investigate a better solution.

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Price to increase on Bluetooth Adapter

Now that I’m back and rested from vacation, I’ve taken a moment to reevaluate the price for the Bluetooth Adapter, and decided to increase the price to $50. This is due to:

  • Higher shipping costs .
  • Higher transaction fees from both processor options.
  • Hosting costs (bill won’t be for awhile luckily, but it’s higher).

For the next two weeks the price will remain at $40, in case anyone wishes to grab one before the price hike. Please note that the prices for shipping will remain the same. I may reevaluate minor tweaks to the costs as I look into supporting more countries (see below).

Additionally, if you have contacted me regarding additional country support, I am looking into a better way to handle this. In the mean time please feel free to still reach out directly, and I’ll do my best to get back and add the country if the cost and any country shipping requirements seem manageable.

Link to the Adapter, in case you are interested in picking one up: DacoTaco’s Bluetooth Adapter V3

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DacoTaco’s Bluetooth Adapter V3

A new revision for DacoTaco’s Bluetooth adapter is now available for pre-order!

Total purchase price has been decreased slightly compared to V2. Shipping (within US) is now factored into base cost. Additionally there is a temporary discount during the pre-order phase, running from now until January 2, 2021.

V3 includes very minor tweaks, mainly to increase range a bit. You can read more on that here.

Listing: DacoTaco’s Bluetooth Adapter V3

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Modding Terminator: Resistance, and other UE 4.25+ Games

Required Software

  1. UE Viewer: https://www.gildor.org/en/projects/umodel
    1. Used to quickly sift through existing PAK files.
  2. Unreal Engine matching the game (for Terminator: Resistance that is 4.25): https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download
    1. Create new files (uasset, uexp, etc) to be packaged into mod.
    2. The correct UE version is needed so that the PAK files match the expected version. UE 4.25 PAK files are different from UE 4.27.
  3. Unreal Pak (included with Unreal Engine). Can be found in “UE_4.25\Engine\Binaries\Win64”
    1. Unpack and Repack files for testing and release.
    2. Notes:
      1. This utility is included by default with Unreal Engine, so replace “UE_4.25” with version you have installed.
      2. Separately released versions of UnrealPak are not supported. Changes have been made to the pak system over time, and the version matching the game (or newer) is required.
  4. Unreal Pak batch files: UnrealPakBatchFiles
    1. Batch files to make Unpack and Repack easier.
    2. Drag-and-drop these in the same folder as “UnrealPak.exe”.
  5. Programs to modify the desired files.
    1. For example, Textures (TGA) can be modified with Paint.Net
  6. Optional; QuickBMS: https://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms
    1. Extract everything from PAK files.
    2. Can be useful for ensuring you have your files in the correct folders for creating your own PAK.
    3. Will need matching script file. As of the time of writing this, you can find the script here. Just download the 4.25c version, and place it next to QuickBMS executable.

Downloads

Tutorial

  1. Open UE Viewer and point it at the directory containing the game’s “pak” files.
    1. Press the “…” button to browse to the folder, or manually copy/paste the path into the text box.
    2. Press “OK” to continue. No other settings need to be adjusted.
  2. Sift through the files to locate the Texture/Mesh/Model/Etc you wish to modify.
    1. Tip: Check the “Flat View” box in the upper-left corner to make searching with “Filter” easier.
  3. In this example, I will be removing the Lens Dirt effect that applies when Bloom is enabled.
    1. Through trial and error of modifying many files containing “dirt”, I found that “T_ScreenDirt01_w” was the offending texture.
  4. Double-Click the file to view it. If asked which engine version, select “4.25” or whichever version the game in question was built on.
    1. Press “OK” to continue and view the file.
  5. If this file looks like the one you wish to modify, export it.
    1. Tools > Export Current Object.
    2. Select folder to export to, then press “OK”.
  6. Repeat steps [2] through [5] for all files you wish to modify.
  7. Adjust the files as needed. In this example, I have made the Lens Dirt effect TGA entirely transparent using Paint.Net. This way it will effectively not appear in game.
  8. Launch Unreal Engine 4.25, and create a Blank project.
    1. Set a Location and Name within the “Project Settings” window. Remember these for later!
  9. Drag-and-drop the edited files into the Content Browser. They will appear with an asterisk once import completes.
  10. Double-Click the imported item in Unreal Engine, and Save it. The asterisk should now disappear.
  11. Cook the project by navigating to File > Cook Content for Windows.
  12. Verify the files were cooked successfully. They can be found in “<Project Folder>\Saved\Cooked\WindowsNoEditor\<ProjectName>\Content”
    1. <Project Folder> and <Project Name> is the location and name designated in step [8].
  13. Drag-and-Drop all files within this folder that match the name of the edited files to a new location for packing.
    1. Typically a “uasset” file, as well as “uexp”, “ubulk”, and more.
    2. ALL FILES ARE REQUIRED.
    3. In this example, I had a “uasset” and “uexp”
  14. Create a new folder named after your mod, in my example this is “ZAB01_NoLensDirt”.
    1. Within this folder, create a folder structure matching the original “pak” file.
    2. Drop the cooked files into the proper folder.
    3. Note that this may not match the structure indicated by UE Viewer in step [3].
    4. You can drag-and-drop the original “pak” files onto the unpak batch script UnrealUnpak.bat (one by one). Navigate through the extracted folders manually to find the original file’s correct location.
  15. Once everything is structured properly, drag-and-drop the root mod folder onto the pak batch script UnrealPak-Without-Compression.bat.
    1. Optionally you can use the compression version of the script.
  16. If everything is successful, a “pak” file will be created next to the root mod folder!
    1. If you receive an error, be sure you are using the UnrealPak included with the Engine version you downloaded. This Engine version should match, or exceed, the version used to package the original game.
  17. Drag-and-drop the “pak” file for the mod into the directory containing the game’s “pak” files (step [1]).
  18. Launch the game, and test it out! If the mod does not appear to have been applied, check out the Troubleshooting section below.

Troubleshooting

  1. Did you adjust the correct files? There may have been multiple copies. Search around more in step [2].
  2. Did you get all of the cooked files? Repeat steps [8] through [12].
  3. Did you get the folder structure in proper order? Repeat step [14], paying close attention to the additional notes for this section. File order is key!
    1. Open UE Viewer (step [1]), and point it to the game’s pak folder with your mod still installed. In the vast majority of cases, you should only see the file you edited appear once!
      1. Bad
      2. Good
    2. QuickBMS (optional download mentioned at the top) can also be useful in determining the correct folder location. Extract all PAK files, and match your mod folder up.
  4. Did you use the correct UnrealPak?
  5. Did you name the pak to load last? Ensure that alphabetically the pak’s name falls after the default paks.
    1. Suggestion: Start the pak’s file name with a “Z”.
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DacoTaco’s Bluetooth Board Now Available

Hello everyone!

I launched this site to make it easier for anyone interested in the bluetooth adapter board to pick one up.

Listing: DacoTaco’s USB Bluetooth Adapter Board

If you’d like to learn more about the board, please check the following useful links:
Creating your own custom board
Setting up Bluetooth Passthrough in Dolphin