Loading Saturn backups with cartridge, normally possible?

Dead or Alive is a back up though. I also think that modchips let you boot any game.

 

From what I can see in the video the Saturn is chipped, the region must be set to NTSC-J which is why it boots DOA but no other games.

My PAL model 1 (chipped) Saturn is always set to NTSC-U as most of the games I play are american, however if I don't insert the cart (AR 4-in-1) or change region to NTSC-J using the installed switch-less mod then games like Radient Silvergun simply say "Game disc not suitable for this system".

Notice the keyword there, Game Disc, if it weren't chipped yours wouldn't recognize it as a game disc at all, just an audio CD.

Mod chips only let you boot CD-Rs from whatever region the console is set to they don't govern the region at all, you have to install a region switch or cart to boot backups from other regions.

Saturn mod chips aren't like PSX mod chips where the console will boot automatically into any region depending on the disc.

 

Simple test, burn more NTSC-J games and then you'll know if it's modded, which it is...

 

This makes a whole lot of sense! Thanks... You're right, my PAL Saturn would just show audio when it was working.

 

Yep, reading wht others have posted it does indeedseemlike you have a mod chip that will allow NTSC-J CR-R discs to boot but not PAL or NTSC-U discs. this is why the action replay is needed to bootthem. The action replay can boot other region discs on any region saturn.

Yakumo

 

No probs :thumbsup:

Just realized that PSX mod chips don't govern the region settings ether, it's the console itself which would register the disc and play as a different region. I know this because I used to disc swap my old old machine back when they were almost new.

Saturn seems to have a more intricate setup.

You should see the inside of my Model 1 Saturn, it has a mod chip which has been modified to work on model 1s with about 7 wires, and about 50 million wires installed on the main board to enable region switching! lol

 

Saturn requires a maximum of three mods, protection, region and display (50hz/60hz).

 

To clarify a few things.

The Saturn Modchip just injects the security data that normally is read off real discs. Region coding is not modified in any way. The result is that the Saturn Modchip is not useful for playing imports at all. All it does is bypass copy protection. The Action Replay and MANY other cartridges can bypass the region lockout.

As others have stated, your V-Saturn can only boot NTSC-J coded games, unless you use the Action Replay as a loader. This is because the BIOS of the V-Saturn checks the region before loading where as the Action Replay doesn't care. And actually the Memory Card Plus (I think InterAct made it) can also allow booting other region discs.

But your Saturn is definitely modded if it can play a disc without the Security Ring on it like a CD-R disc.

Playstation is quite different. Playstation's copy protection and regional lockout is actually the same mechanism. Codes are on each licensed disc that read either SCEI (Japan and maybe parts of Asia), SCEA (North America), or SCEE (Europe and other PAL terrorities maybe).

What happens when a disc is inserted is the disc is scanned for these codes. Each disc has this code on it 3 times. Likely for covering the off chance of a read error. If the consoles region is SCEA and it reads the disc and returns no SCEA codes, it knows the disc is not licensed (or not licensed for your region)/cd-r and will not allow the CPU to read from the disc at all. So to play imports on Playstation you must defeat both Copy Protection and Regional Lockout since they are the same thing.

So actually Sega Saturn was far more import friendly since with a cheap switch or a fairly cheap cartridge you could play all those great imported titles. Where as with Playstation you had to solder a modchip or use a swap trick which offer less than optimal results in many cases.


There is a region free Saturn BIOS available now that also had some of the copy protection removed but it still won't boot CD-Rs. If a hidden command is discovered it may be possible for a BIOS or just a program booted from the cartridge slot to unlock the drive's security similar to the System Disc which would be interesting. I'm not sure if anyone has looked at the System Disc program to determine if the CPU program is sending an unlock command or if the CD subsystem cpu is reading some code on the disc and unlocking itself.

 

FYI - The Chinese Magic Strong Card isn't a real mod chip. It simply stops the CD-ROM from spinning to make performing the swap trick easier. Unless you disabled the CD-ROM tray and were doing a swap, it won't help you. If your booting pirate games, then it has a chip. No other way around it.

 

I seem to recall some mod chips only booted imports and not backups. They would have been installed by independent retailers who wanted to sell imports, but not have people just pirate games instead.

However this was over 10 years ago and it's hard to confirm it with a quick google search

 

Yes, such "Anti Piracy" modchips did exist.

What happens in these is it looks to see that the "SCE" string is present and then it injects the proper final letter for the console's region. If done correctly you can make a system region free. But it is much easier and desirable to just have a full stealth modchip.

 

Anti-Piracy Mod v5.08, hex code isn't even a full kilobyte.

 

Interesting read, when I bought this Saturn it was never mentioned that it was modified, which is why it brought me to this weird conclusion.

It was mentioned that this system can boot NTSC-J and NTSC-U original games.. so maybe that's what the seller was saying instead of modified.

Is it possible to patch game regions or change the region on the Saturn without a switch?

 

x

 

Thanks everyone for their input, made a quick summary on my blog about the matter.

 

Can't even believe there's a thread about this when some simple screwdriver job would've taught you the same?

Also... SRP for you

 

I thought it was the cart, if you bothered to read the thread.

 

I did bother to read. Why do people here always assume I don't read threads? :shrug:

 

My apologies, I didn't exactly have the right screw driver, I need a new set. Besides it's a good discussion any how I learnt quite a bit about the Saturn's security.

 

Some times ago , I bought a modchip for my saturn !
I realized that if u want to boot other regions games , but could patch your isos with a tool called "Saturn Region Patcher v3.0 Gold Edition" .
I've tryed it a lot of times , and I can say for sure that it works