Playing with a dead gamecube clock battery

[Tommyputt]

Hey all, I've been jumping back onto my gamecube animal crossing town recently, and as the title says, my clock battery had died

My question is, will the game punish me for changing the gamecube to correct date and time on each start up? I don't mind manually setting gamecube clock on each start up, but will the game think I'm constantly time travelling and punish me? Can't find any clear answers online so though I'd ask here.

Hoping I don't have to get the screwdriver/solder out just for animal crossing..

Thanks in advance!

 

[LordSheep78]

There's no penalty for time traveling, apart from weeds if you are traveling really far. If you have a wii you could use that also

 

[rocketspruggs]

I've had to time travel to fix the clock before, your game will be fine.

The GameCube clock isn't dead, it just won't move when you're not using your GameCube, so the time will stay whatever time it was when you last used the system.

For example, if you last touched your GameCube at around 5:20 p.m. on a different calendar date than it is in real life, the time and date will always stay that way, as long as the system isn't being touched again, so when you come back to the game, the clock would stay at 5:20 p.m. on a different calendar date, even if that's not the current time and date.

There's a chance time traveling would kick one of your villagers out of town if you have 15 at a time, and that if you have 14 villagers when time traveling, there's a chance that you will get a new neighbor.

So, you won't need a screwdriver to fix your clock.

 

[danmokun]

Hm, I don't know if that's correct, @rocketspruggs . I could've sworn whenever I've turned my Gamecube on and accessed the internal menu, the date and time have been up to date on its own, albeit sometimes off by an hour. But to your point, Tommyputt, if the Gamecube's internal clock system has indeed malfunctioned, you can always change the date within Animal Crossing itself. It might be slower that way, but it is an option. I'm guessing Animal Crossing compares the date of your last save file with the current time based on the Gamecube's date system and determines how much time has since progressed in your town. On a somewhat related note, Doubutsu no Mori on the N64 requires you to manually change the clock within its settings every time you play. Hopefully this provides some insight.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

my gamecube seems to be stuck in march, and when I tried to update it in ACGC, I ended up time travelling and getting the villager limit and a ton of weeds. That town got deleted.

 

[Halloqueen]

I didn't even know that this was a thing that could potentially happen since it's only a thing I ever really heard about with regards to game cartridges like Game Boy and Game Boy Advance Pokémon games, though I guess it makes sense since the Game Boy Advance and the GameCube were around at the same time and the GameCube had accessories to allow communication with the Game Boy Advance.

New fear unlocked, I guess. Makes me want to boot up the GameCube more often. I've tended to just use the Wii for GameCube games for years now due to its backward compatibility and GameCube controller and memory card ports.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

wait the wii had a memory card port? SINCE WHEN THE HECK DID IT HAVE THAT

 

[Corrie]

wait the wii had a memory card port? SINCE WHEN THE HECK DID IT HAVE THAT

Yeah! It's got two slots, if I recall. They're at the top where you plug in Gamecube controllers!

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

Yeah! It's got two slots, if I recall. They're at the top where you plug in Gamecube controllers!

...well now I know what to test next time I boot up my trusty old wii

 

[Tommyputt]

I remember finding out the wii had ports and memory slots in the top!

And thanks for all the tips everyone, it sounds like there’s no real difference to playing it with the clock battery active so saves me fiddling with tools and videos!

I would play on the wii, but I’ve been playing a bit of pokemon crystal on the gamacube gameboy player, so it’s been nice to just have one “retro” console out at a time. Love pushing the springy power button in and hearing the cube logo start up

Cool info on the Doubutsu no Mori N64, sadly a console I missed, but a friend got me one recently so might check it out.. Need more games for it. Rough going back to that controller though, I find the gamecube a lot comfier.

 

[Nuguns]

this is a video of a guy repairing a gamecube in the timespot where he replaced the clock battery and he replaces the spot with a plastic battery holder, it looks really nice

my gamecube has a dead clock battery too

 

[Tommyputt]

this is a video of a guy repairing a gamecube in the timespot where he replaced the clock battery and he replaces the spot with a plastic battery holder, it looks really nice

my gamecube has a dead clock battery too

Yeh that does seem like the way to go for futureproofing. Definitely worth doing to save getting the soldering iron out every 10 years.. I wonder if the Wii has the same issue with internal battery?

 

[Nuguns]

Yeh that does seem like the way to go for futureproofing. Definitely worth doing to save getting the soldering iron out every 10 years.. I wonder if the Wii has the same issue with internal battery?

honestly id wanna do it cause it looks easier to perform than soldering a battery directly. Bonus 10 year protection plan

 

[Tommyputt]

honestly id wanna do it cause it looks easier to perform than soldering a battery directly. Bonus 10 year protection plan

Will post back in the thread if I get round to it! Just need to have a bag big enough to carry the gamecube to work..

 

[Nuguns]

Will post back in the thread if I get round to it! Just need to have a bag big enough to carry the gamecube to work..

I just did it. I need to go back to a shop to get it screwed back together as I dont own the proper screw bit, until then it works fine still. I did the solding myself. All you need is a solder kit with a solder sucker to remove the stuff when molten, some flux to allow the solder to pool easily. Its like vaseline for circuit boards and solder likes to work well when its applied.

My particular plastic battery holder was too big for the slots and I had to cut some of the plastic away and super glue the metal stem for + lead back on. That took some tedious work. I also used scotch tape cause the battery holder struck the 4th controller slot and I had to cut away more of the thing to fit, and the tape went over the metal part of the 4th controller slot, whether or not it conducted, it cannot now. Putting the ribbon wire back was easy, its stiff enough to press into place by hand.
I also cut away the old nintendo battery leads you can see from the old battery on the disc tray, is removed; I soldered it to the new + lead so it would fit well. you can see it in the photo, behind the super glue blob, the wavy metal is the old nintendo thing only held by solder

 

[Tommyputt]

I just did it. I need to go back to a shop to get it screwed back together as I dont own the proper screw bit, until then it works fine still. I did the solding myself. All you need is a solder kit with a solder sucker to remove the stuff when molten, some flux to allow the solder to pool easily. Its like vaseline for circuit boards and solder likes to work well when its applied.

My particular plastic battery holder was too big for the slots and I had to cut some of the plastic away and super glue the metal stem for + lead back on. That took some tedious work. I also used scotch tape cause the battery holder struck the 4th controller slot and I had to cut away more of the thing to fit, and the tape went over the metal part of the 4th controller slot, whether or not it conducted, it cannot now. Putting the ribbon wire back was easy, its stiff enough to press into place by hand.
I also cut away the old nintendo battery leads you can see from the old battery on the disc tray, is removed; I soldered it to the new + lead so it would fit well. you can see it in the photo, behind the super glue blob, the wavy metal is the old nintendo thing only held by solder

Nice job! Sounds like a rough journey

Wonder if there's a replaceable battery made that would fit without the extra tinkering..

 

[Nuguns]

Nice job! Sounds like a rough journey

Wonder if there's a replaceable battery made that would fit without the extra tinkering..

the guy in the video was showing that, I bought it at my local electronic store since it was all they had, im sure you could easily find something else

all it was was time consuming.

 

[Nuguns]

Nice job! Sounds like a rough journey

Wonder if there's a replaceable battery made that would fit without the extra tinkering..

it was pretty fun to do, cept when I thought I couldnt do it cause the plastic battery thing was too big, so I brought out scissors. works fine!

maybe ask the video guy where he got his cause its guaranteed to fit