Which Region Mod Method is best for Sega Saturn?

Few Americans regularly advertise Saturn mods. I've worked with APE on other things before.

 

Yeah it seems to be mostly the PAL Saturn Owners that recommends the mods, in fact most of the tutorials I've seen were people modding PAL-Region Sega Saturn. o.o

Oh APE? does he still come around here?

 

If your getting someone to region mod your saturn, you might as well go for the region free bios. Region Free Bios = No flicking switches, pressing the reset button certain amount of times , can use original ram carts, can use external memory cards, etc. Just all around better than all the other region mods out there for the saturn.

 

But I can still do all of that with the Region Switch anyway can I? minus the Reset Button Thing.

But I'll check it out, I'm just not sure which is the best method because it seems that the Region Free Bios seems more complicated than the Region Switch.

 

If you installed a region switch it would switch between US and JP just fine.

I'm not sure why the original RAM cart thing was brought up - you can do that just fine in any region of machine.

 

I'm not sure this is a very good idea, this mod will not allow you to change video mode which means if you have a NTSC Saturn running in 60hz then games optimized for PAL 50 will run too fast and also be over cropped. Likewise if you have a PAL Saturn and run games optimized for an NTSC system at 60hz the games would run slower than intended and have large borders.

 

If you live in a PAL region then i would do the 50/60hz switchless mod as well but i dont really see the need in playing PAL games though if living in a NTSC Region.

 

True it's slim pickings. Mega Man X3 is too expensive in English, worse load time than the PS2 collection anyway.
Could try Riven if into that. The US region copies were somehow Brazil only.

 

Like I stated, I have no plans to do any of that 50hz/60hz mod since I find it unnecessary for me since I have no plans to import any PAL-Region Saturn Games.

 

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Yeah that's why I said the modder might not even charge you.

 

Yeah, if I were to get someone to mod, I'll just tell them not to add that in as I don't really need it.

 

Normally I would agree and cut the trace before the chip and solder the wire there, which is a lot safer. But there are motherboard revisions where the trace goes beyond the pin and under the VDP where it connects to something else. On these you have to lift the pin or it won't work until you correct it.
For the untrained who never soldered before I wouldn't recommend it either, but anyone with experience should be able to do this just fine

Do you know anything about the systems which can't be 50/60Hz modified? Some of them fries the VDP(?) (all black screen and no sound) when you do it. Even when lifting the pin to make sure the trace isn't connected to anything. I've tried that on three different consoles now. All Model 2, but one of each region (EU, US and JAP). I didn't write down the Motherboard revisions, but I still have the EU one so I could check. The US one that died had a really strange long shaft attached to a spring for the reset button. Never seen that on any other models :/
Reconnecting the leg to the original trace doesn't fix it, which is why I'm pretty sure something fried on these particular models

My soldering isn't the problem for sure. I know what I'm doing, and it's not the leg that broke on the VDP when lifting it either, as it would just be locked in 50Hz mode as you said. Really a bummer, because it doesn't make any sense to me. The theory behind the mod should apply to all models just the same, right? I've probably modified 7 or 8 Saturns over the years and the rest work perfectly.

If I remember correctly you once mentioned that you experienced the same thing with a Saturn?

For what it's worth, here is a picture of my "Cool" Saturn I modified a few years ago. Today I would probably have made the switchless 50/60Hz-part a bit tidier. But the mod works great on this particular Saturn:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/Konsolkongen/Various mods/Thisiscoolregionandhz.jpg

And there's pictures on this site of a region-free BIOS I installed for a customer about a month ago:
http://www.playright.dk/forum/emne/35870-saturn-mods#655341

Just to make it clear that I don't do half-assed sloppy work*. Since you don't know me, it would have been understandable if you thought that

*Not counting some of the first mods I did, of course. Those looked like crap

If you're getting someone else to do this you should go for the BIOS mod. It's by far the best and easiest to use. And if the modder has some experience this should really be a walk in the park for him. If he's in doubt then find someone else to do it

 

OK. My own present situation is somewhat opposite. Have a JP system and a BIOS chip not yet installed.
I'll see about 50hz on the reset button, it'd be odd to get only region switchless.

 

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Are you planning on importing Pal-region games or something? is that why you're considering adding that?

 

It does seem easier to use, but I'll see. c: Thanks though X3

 

Anyone who says otherwise is a liar: Region free BIOS>switchless region mod>switch based mod.

Switch based mods are mainly advocated by (from what I've seen) people who aren't skilled enough to do a BIOS swap. Switches are (usually) ugly and stick out of the case. The switchless mod is pretty spiffy overall but more work to install than a BIOS or a single switch.

An alternative to lifting the pin on the VDP2 is grinding the casing off with a rotary tool and soldering to what becomes exposed. Not sure I'd advocate anyone unskilled to even think about trying it but at the very least if you've got a Saturn stuck in 50hz mode you can fix it.

 

I may as well. Already have an RGB cable and compatible video CD card. Just one game who doesn't need it, Parodius.

 

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