Saturn proof-of-concept bootloader Pseudo Saturn

Works fine, just flashed my AR+ back to 2.02C what you have listed as AR PLUS V2.02 + Codes

About to flash it back to PSEUDO with the swap trick..

If possible it would be nice to have some sort of progress for Erasing as some users would think it's not doing anything, as the erase process does take a bit of time without anything going on, on screen.

EDIT:-

Flashed PSEUDO back just fine also

My Hardware detects as

Flash Vendor ID: BFBF SST
Flash Device ID: 1010 SST29EE020

I have 2x PAL model 1 Saturn's one is modded for a swap trick the other is not I used the swap trick modded one for testing as I wanted to flash it back, the first flash was booted via PSEUDO the second flash was booted via the swap trick, both flashed fine

 

Is there an easy method of using the swap trick with the Action Replay 4M Plus still plugged into the Saturn, so I can use the Pseudo flash disc? Tried a few times, waiting for the disc to spin up again before swapping after pressing the final A button on the AR Start menu, but it just gets stuck on the Sega logo every time. Of the few times I've done it on discs without the AR plugged in, its worked fine.

 

I've done with with my AR still in, you just need to listen for the sounds of the drive.

 

cafealpha2: heres some rather crappy screens from my tablet camera
View attachment sat_caps.7z

this is on a JPN Model 2 with ARP

I guess that text readability issue is with that top line, the green on white...

 

Just tried again, It's just weird quazz, I know the timing for the swap trick, but a disc always gets stuck on the Sega blue logo when AR is plugged in, but without, it boots fine. I don't have the comm port Action Replay so can't flash it that way, only via the disc swap, which for me, currently isn't working. Am I missing something here? Are certain versions of AR "immune" to the disc swap method?

 

I had the same issue... so I just did the swap trick with the cartridge slot empty, and inserted the cartridge at the flashing utility's main menu. Probably not the best idea, but it worked.

 

The first swap yes very very easy

Boot the console with the CD-R inserted
Wait for the AR menu to fully load
Put the Retail disc in
Hit start game with no codes

Model 1 has a laser access light.. watch that if you have a model 1 the light should flash 3 times in quick succession when the light turn off remove the retail disc and replace with the CD-R

Model 2 you need to listen to it grind, once past that remove the retail disc for the CD-R

both the light and the laser grind is short and easy to identify and will happens quickly after you hit start game/start game with no codes.

 

Thanks zorlon, but finally managed to flash it using the Atlus software using the normal swap trick, and then putting the AR Plus cartridge into the Saturn when the software had loaded. Risky I know, but it worked with no repercussions. And so far so good, AR is now Pseudo Saturn 0.831, and every backup I've tried so far works great! Excellent job guys!

 

Thank you for the test !
By looking at utility source code, flash chip erase process for your flash chip is similar to write process, so it seems to take time to erase all pages.
I can add progress display, but in this case please re-test the utility.

Progress won't be displayed for other flash chips, because they are not erased page by page, and also because I don't want to break something that work fine

 

Thank you for the pictures !
I changed top line color, let's hope it will be more readable with latest version.
Can I post the second picture on my homepage ?

 

That works great for restoring a bricked AR+ or any other cart that stops booting, there is very little risk to be honest, it's as risky as removing and inserting a memcard in a PSX, the only real risk is when the device is being actively used that there is a risk factor, it's read both on boot and if you add codes or save data to it (and flashing obviously) otherwise what you see on screen has already been loaded into memory and the device is inactive and safe to remove, but like any ports they tend to get worse the more you pull and push carts into it over time.

 

hello cafe thanks for the link, can you make a cd version for the Action Replay 4M Plus? your programm install only original firmware or even the modded one? it have the check for the erase? thanks

 

what is this flash disk?? the action replay mod does not need swap method right?

 

Only installing the firmware requires swap trick on non-modded Saturn.
After pseudo Saturn is installed, firmware will boot CD-R games without the need of swap trick.

 

My utility is "one CD-R to rule them all", so you will find several models of Action Replay firmwares with pseudo Saturn firmware.
Hence, you can use the same install CD in order to install pseudo Saturn, or restore firmware to its original state.

 

cafealpha2: ya, go ahead. im gonna try another in darker light And is a new build out with the text fix?

 

I will try it. See if I can try to re-flash that Interact Game Shark again..

 

cafealpha2's flasher in action



P.S. you can use the video on you web page as much as you like

P.P.S. all the Action Replay and GameShark images have codes included just the C versions have a few extra codes (not that many extra either to be honest) a very very minor thing though

 

Error: This video is private.

 

ha ha you can't see it, will fix that

fixed, oops n sorry about that, changed it to unlisted