Sega Saturn disc reading question

[+Cafeman]

One of my favorite games for my Saturn is the import Radiant Silvergun. However, due to its rarity and value, I'm always afraid I'm going to scratch the disc or something.

 

Well, today I used my PC CD copier as an experiment, to make a backup copy. The copy function seemed to work fine with no problems. As I understand it, it is perfectly legal for me to make a backup as I own the original, incidentally.

 

The CD I used was an 80 minute "CD-R Music" one, made by Maxell.

 

Anyway, I put in my 4-in-1 and the copy, and the Saturn fails to read it. It can read the individual voice/music tracks. I think track 1 must be the game data.

 

Anyway, can any explain exactly why the Saturn can't read this disc? Is it some kind of copy protection?

[Lost Monkey]

To play a back-up on a Saturn you need a mod chip or to do a swap.

[+Cafeman]

What do you mean by "swap" ? Opening the lid of the Saturn would reboot it, wouldn't it?

[ubersaurus]

you have to do a mod to the saturn that lets it continue running while you open the lid. At a certain point it'll stop spinning the first, legitamite disc, and then you can swap it out for your backup.

[+Cafeman]

Ah, okay. I'm not modding my Saturn just for this so it'll never work for me, but that's okay, I'll just use the original. It was just an experiment.

 

But can you explain *why* or *how* the Saturn knows it is a backup? If I have copied the disc's contents, how does the Saturn know the difference? That's what I'd like to know.

[Lost Monkey]

Here is the first link you would get on Google for "Saturn swap trick"

 

 

http://www.emudek.org/saturn/model2.htm

 

This method supposedly is less stressful on the machine though:

 

Either way, you need to tape down the sensor inside the Saturn to fool it into thinking the door is closed.

 

First put the backup into the Saturn and turn on the power. Leave the door open.  The system will attempt to verify the disk and will eventually stop at the CD player screen.  This will take about 30 seconds to a minute, depending on the disk.  







Once the disk has stopped, remove it from the spindle and place an original disk on the spindle.







Make sure the sound volume is turned down so that you can hear the laser assembly motor.  Hit the reset button on the Saturn and the disk will begin to spin.  







The laser will [1] move to the outside of the disk (this will be the first thing you hear), [2] read the security code on the edge of the disk (you will also hear this), and then [3] move back to the inside of the disk (this will sound like the first noise.).  When you hear the third noise, wait at least 1 second and then swap the disk.  If the swap is performed correctly you will see the normal “Produced by or under license from Sega” screen, and the game will load.  If not, turn the Saturn off and start over.

 

You can also find some info on Saturn homebrew and emulator projects here:

 

 

http://www.litespeedcomputers.com/sx/

 

It's been a while since I've been following it but there was a neat Phoenix emulator a couple years ago.

[Lost Monkey]

What do you mean by "swap" ? Opening the lid of the Saturn would reboot it, wouldn't it?

 

This mod involves opening the Saturn and putting a piece of tape on the door sensor.

[Lost Monkey]

But can you explain *why* or *how* the Saturn knows it is a backup? If I have copied the disc's contents, how does the Saturn know the difference? That's what I'd like to know.

 

There is a security ring on the disk, outside the CD data area, that the Saturn checks for.

[+Cafeman]

Okay! thanks for the info again.

 

Is this a manner to get any import to work without a translator cartridge? If I wanted to get Radiant silvergun to play on my USA Saturn and I did not own a 4-in-1 cart , for example?

 

In this case, I'd ...

 

1. Tape down this sensor/switch.

2. Put in something like USA VF2.

3. at the appropriate time per the instructions, I'd swap it with my Japanese Radiant Silvergun.

 

Sound like that would work? And is it the same principle as running a backup?

[Lost Monkey]

 

Is this a manner to get any import to work without a translator cartridge? If I wanted to get Radiant silvergun to play on my USA Saturn and I did not own a 4-in-1 cart , for example?  

 

In this case, I'd ...

 

1. Tape down this sensor/switch.

2. Put in something like USA VF2.  

3. at the appropriate time per the instructions, I'd swap it with my Japanese Radiant Silvergun.

 

Sound like that would work? And is it the same principle as running a backup?

 

Nope.. the system is "wired" to run the discs of the same region. The mod for imports changes a couple of jumpers on the motherboard. Essentially, a US machine will run US discs and US coded CDR's.

[Mindfield]

Nope. Even a modded Saturn can't play games that aren't coded for the same region as the unit. You need to make an image of the CD, then run a program called SATCONV32 (easily googled) to change the region of the image to USA (assuming your Saturn is USA-region), then re-burn (performing the swap trick if necessary).

[icbrkr]

Okay! thanks for the info again.  

 

Is this a manner to get any import to work without a translator cartridge? If I wanted to get Radiant silvergun to play on my USA Saturn and I did not own a 4-in-1 cart , for example?  

 

In this case, I'd ...

 

1. Tape down this sensor/switch.

2. Put in something like USA VF2.  

3. at the appropriate time per the instructions, I'd swap it with my Japanese Radiant Silvergun.

 

Sound like that would work? And is it the same principle as running a backup?

 

You'd need both a ST-KEY or 4/5 in 1 cartridge to get around the region checking, and swap/mod chip for using a backup. I know mod-chipping is a pretty taboo subject, but if you have a round-button model Saturn, it's the simplist mod you can do (except for a no-solder mod ala Xbox). And they're cheap to boot ($19 or so for the chip).

 

Brian