Another daft question but...

[Funkstar De Luxe]

Ok, this may sound a bit stupid but here goes. As far as I can see the copy protection on a Saturn games is that litttle ring of data on the outside of the Cd, right? Well why can't this be copyed on to another CD? Surely there is some program out there that can copy Cd's exactly... I'm worried I'm gonna wear out my saturn doing the swap trick

 

[Mike G]

It's not a software issue. The ring cannot be read on standard CD-ROM drives, and even if it could, you would not be able to reproduce the pattern on standard CD-R media with standard CD writers.

Think of it this way - a program like CloneCD can (and does) copy a CD exactly, but the bit in the outer ring of the Saturn disc is not really part of the CD, it's entirely separate and proprietary.

Anyway, get your Saturn fitted with a mod board and you won't have to worry about wearing it out with the swap trick

Mike

 

[Funkstar De Luxe]

A Mod board is out of the question, I don't have the equipment or knowledge to fit one.

 

[Bocmaxima]

Mod board is easy...do you have a screwdriver and a soldering iron? You can even use tape in place of solder, but I wouldnt reccomend it. its almost a plug and play operation man.

 

[MasterAkumaMatata]

Mod boards are pretty cheap IMO. The thing is you have to make sure you get the right one for your Saturn (20 pin vs. 21 pin).

If you feel unsafe doing it yourself, get someone with soldering experience to do it for you, unless that too is out of the question for some reason.

Then there is always purchasing a modded Saturn unit, but that seems out of the question by default, LOL!

 

[SegaSaturnDDR]

if you're friggin scared of it just find a local electronics store, they'll be glad to charge you $20 for a minute of work

 

[Funkstar De Luxe]

I live in Scotland, I don't know anyone with a soldering iron or electronic knowledge and no where near me will fit one. I am competent, I just don't want to go taping bit's of wire inside my beloved saturn (anyway tape never really holds connections well.)

 

[megametalgreymon]

the soldering is pretty easy, but if you still dont want to do it, look at consoleking

£59.99 for a modded white jap saturn

all you then need is a stepdown transformer

 

[Funkstar De Luxe]

No, no, no. We're getting a bit distracted here. Back to my main point. Doesn't a Cd basically break down into 101010 (binary code)? Why can't we just copy this?

 

[IceDigger]

cause a cd is not read in bits, but in sectors. and those sectors are not readable, and partially out of range too I believe.

 

[Funkstar De Luxe]

Ahh...

 

[ExCyber]

I don't know what the exact problem is with the Saturn security area. The problem seems to be complicated by the fact that the security area is located outside the area occupied by the disc data, and thus won't be read by any normal tools. As a result, nobody (nobody who's telling, anyway) has documented what the area actually contains. It's worth noting though that the Saturn drive apparently doesn't just seek to it blindly - it will act much differently if it tries to verify a full CD-R (seeks to the end and apparently reads somewhat normally) vs. a non-full one (seek failure, the disc spins up much faster than normal and the laser doesn't find its way to the end).