Got my first ever Saturn... what mods are worth doing on it?

I use regular Maxell CD-R burned at 8x with consistent perfect results (on Dreamcast too I might add), I doubt it's your media. Check your 5V connection is good, the fact that the Saturn is reading original discs shows that the data from the laser is making it through the modchip to the main board, which is a good sign.

I'm not clear on which chip you have, but I'm guessing a V3 Universal if you've had to modify the traces on the back of the chip, does it have ribbon connectors for both 20 and 21 pin machines?

Like this ?


This is the kind sold at http://www.segastyle.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=76, and I have successfully installed one in my model 1 saturn. Together with an Action Replay 4-in-1 cart it allows me to play all original and burned games on my NTSC(U) Saturn (except In the Hunt JP version) and required just one soldered connection to 5V.

If you're having to modify one of the 21 pin chips like Racketboy sells because you have an early model 2 with 20 pin ribbons then you may have a hard time getting it to work, I've heard this is the hardest modchip install, and may not be successful even if done exactly right.

As a final note, even a bad burn (or a bad image burned right) will often boot if the modchip is working right, you'll just get video stutter and crashes.

EDIT: Doh! just saw your link, never used that chip but if it's from a guy called Rob Webb I know some people have DOA issues with his chips, that being said I've read at least as many testimonials from people who have had no issue with them. Good Luck!

 

If you are testing backups with the top casing off, make sure you close the lid switch when booting. If you turn on the Saturn with the lid open, discs won't boot.

 

Too lazy to press the reset button when you want to change the region but have no problem reaching into the expansion bay when you want to change the frequency? Different strokes for different folks I guess. A PIC programmer is a one time cost of <$10 and is useful for many other things besides this.

 

Does it say "drive empty"? Then I would guess it simply have a problem reading the disc, nothing to do with the modchip. I have several different Saturns and they all read Maxell discs without problem. Try cleaning the lens, and if that doesn't work try removing the modchip and see if it can read the disc - it should recognize it as a music CD. If it still says "drive empty" you either have to try different media and/or burners or go down the dirty road of trying to adjust the laser pot.

 

I'd like to give myself enough credit to realise this I've been holding down the switch manually while testing discs.

This. I've ordered some Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs anyway, as they're not too expensive. I haven't bothered trying to use the backups without a modchip yet, but definitely will do. If they don't show up as music I may adjust the potentiometer.

I've thoroughly checked the work I've done to the chip and continuity/lack thereof seems fine. I don't want to bug Rob about it until I've exhausted all possibilities first.

EDIT: I tweaked the laser pot and everything worked fine. Measured it with my multimeter, but have no idea what an acceptable limit for it would be? Anyway, now to move on to installing the BIOS and 50/60Hz chips from Bad_Ad.

P.S. Why do the online videos for pot adjusting always seem to disassemble the whole laser unit when the pot is easily accessible from behind?

 

I picked up my first saturn as well and bought the mod chip to play burned games. Was expensive around $70 but I installed it and so far played Panzer Dragoon 2 and Die Hard Arcade. I'm using RGB scart cable to component converter and the picture is great as expected with RGB. I also replaced the battery while installing the mod chip.

I ordered an action replay 4M plus a week and half ago from play-asia.com but haven't gotten it yet. I ordered it with the intent of playing PAL games, use action replay cheat codes, another place to save, and more memory for the games that need it. Will action replay plus let me do all that?!?!?!? Any guidance is appreciated

 

I wasn't implying you werent hitting the switch to test the games. I mean if you boot a Saturn with a modchip with the lid open (or do not hold the switch) when you close the lid (or switch) it won't boot. You have to boot the console with the lid closed (even if there is no disc in the drive) else it doesn't work properly

 

when the top of the saturn is off, there is nothing to press the lid open/ closed sensor, so stick some tape over the open/closed switch/sensor or hold it when it's like this so it thinks the drive is closed and will run the CD.

if using a modchip (not sure if all mod chips are like this) you need to power on the saturn with the disc in the drive and the lid closed for it to run.
if you power the system on with no disc, then put a disc in and try to run it, it wont run.

thats it as simple as possible.

 

OK, cool. As I said it turned out to be an unrelated issue anyway. Managed to install the universal BIOS without any issues (which surprised myself a bit) and just need to install the 50/60Hz switch, drive activity LED and try to make wireless pads for it. It's my first time programming AVRs, so I'm not sure about pulling off the last one, but the programming side seemed to go OK, even though I have to switch back to XP to do so.

BTW, does the 50/60Hz ONLY switchless kit need to be installed as per mmmonkey's universal BIOS guide? Only reason I ask is because you included a capacitor with it, which I can't spot on his pictures.

 

Cap goes between vcc and gnd. Its on his ultimate switch less guide and while it will probably work OK without it, you should add it to avoid trying to troubleshoot a power issue

 

Cheers, I thought as much but better safe than sorry.

 

Managed to get the wireless pad working, which I managed to surprise myself with. Now just need to shrink everything down to fit inside the pad.

 

nice one! shouldn't be too hard it's not overly cramped inside them, people have done it with snes pads

 

I'm trying to create a latching switch using a momentary push-button (i.e. the start button) to power on the controller. I've been attempting to use a 4011 NAND gate using this schematic, but there are a couple of things I'm not sure about.



It says to use anything from a 3V power supply (my battery is 3.7V), but the description mentioned 5V, so I'm not whether it would work. Also, would I have to keep the GND line from my battery where it is at the moment in the pic of my board above and would the GND line in the schematic above connect to that line as well? Also, the schematic doesn't show any VCC or GND connected to the NAND gate - would this be correct? I've absolutely no idea about NAND gates, so I'm just trying to go by the schematic.

 

I can boot to the Saturn menu, insert a burned disc and close the lid and my Saturn recognizes it as a game and allows me to run it. Model 1 with v3 universal.

 

that's good, i think some chips "go to sleep" after booting but not all of them, i'll have to test mine as i normally just put the games in before i turn the saturn on anyway.

 

x

 

Model 1 NTSC (U). VA0 board. (NA Launch console).

 

I like the universal modchip more because it's compatible with both systems, but when I modded mine, I also added a Svid breakout. I didn't care to do a region switch since i only play japanese Saturn releases. The S-vid breakout was not too hard. I also did an optical audio mod for a friend once, but unless you have a good reason to, it's a lot of work.

 

That circuit should work OK on 3.7V - the operating voltage range for that 4000 series CMOS is from 3V to at least 15V. You need to tie all the grounds together - so the ground on the battery, that circuit and the device you are controlling all have to be common. The chip does need power, so connect pin 7 to GND and pin 14 to the positive supply - I would also recommend putting a small cap (say 0.1uF) across the power lines on the chip as decoupling.

Also note that the 4011 contains 4 NAND gates, and you shouldn't leave CMOS inputs floating, so connect the inputs of the unused gates to ground (or supply, just don't let them float).

Finally, the output pin on that chip is quite high impedance and can only supply a few hundred microamps, so you won't be able to run anything off it directly - the simplest approach is to use a MOSFET as a high side switch (which in fact I see they also discuss on that page), and connect the source to the battery input, gate to the Vout signal and the drain to the load.