Confirmation of mod questions please

[fistandantilus]

Hi, I am awaiting delivery of my new saturn from ebay, returning to saturn gaming after selling my original model 1 saturn about 8 or 9 years ago lol. I can't wait to play panzer dragoon zwei and guardian heroes again.

The new saturn coming is a model 2 Uk version with round buttons, not sure if its 64 or 32 pin yet till i get the beastie open. I have a mod chip coming that is compatible with 32 and 64 pin mods so thats ok, the question is this

Most of the games I will be playing will be us versions. From what I have gathered on this board the only thing I need to add is a 50/60 hz switch using jumpers 13/14 ? From what I have gathered this enable me to play us games at 60hz and also un-optimized pal games at 60hz too. I have read about jumper 1 changing for 60 hz too, whats the difference?

Will us games run on a uk saturn without any form of modification as the only difference seems to be the 13/14 jumper settings. Would us games just run slower on a uk saturn.

Any jap games i get I will just copy to cdr and region mod them.

Oh, i am a big fan of virtua cops and house of the dead, are the uk guns capable of working on us/jap games if you use the 60hz switch or are they pal only?

 

[dj898]

wonder why you went with UK saturn considering US one cost very little. Also PAL games run just fine on US or JP saturn with ARP4-1 cart.

for 50/60Hz switch there's instruction on Internet but it will involve bit of soldering and etc. You might as well put the region switch at the same time if you are confident.

one UK saturn I own is broken one I use it for junk parts to build other saturn... wouldn't mind to get my hand on 220/240 VAC PSU board though...

cheers

 

[mal]

Originally posted by dj898@May 26, 2004 @ 08:51 AM

wonder why you went with UK saturn considering US one cost very little. Also PAL games run just fine on US or JP saturn with ARP4-1 cart.

That's not quite true. Not all Euro games run just fine on a US or Japanese Saturn.

Any games that are PAL optimised will not display properly - sections of the screen will be over drawn.

one UK saturn I own is broken one I use it for junk parts to build other saturn... wouldn't mind to get my hand on 220/240 VAC PSU board though...

Just be aware that there are at least 2 different kinds of PSU in model 2 Saturns (a larger one with 64 pin Saturns and a smaller one with 32 pin/Sanyo CD Saturns) and that they aren't readily interchangable.

 

[dj898]

I know the different PSU but if I can get one I figure I can use it on one of my 100 VAC saturn.

At least handful of UK titles I have run just fine on JPN saturn. Granted I only have half dozen of UK titles but I generally go for import titles as language isn't much of problem for me...

Besides many of good titles were never got released outside Japan I believe.... Only titles you want in UK format would be the one with heavy language barrier like Burning Ranger or PDS...

cheers

 

[fistandantilus]

I got a Uk Saturn because I live in the Uk, easier and neater regarding the power supply. I liked the look of the white Saturn’s and thought about getting one instead but was doubtful about discolouration and also been able to swap the psu for a Uk unit and it would still need to be modded anyway. I prefer the NTSC games due to the fact of been full screen and at 60hz. I remember squashed slow games only too well as back when I had my Saturn before; i was not on the internet and had no idea how to get infomation on modding..

I even found a blue derby Saturn and a skeleton Saturn on my travels but £150 is too much a premium just for a clear case. The skeleton Saturn would be cooler without the "This is cool" on the lid, ironic eh? lol

Am I right in guessing that the only mod I need to play US games on a Uk pal Saturn is the 13/14 jumper switch then?

I am a big fan of the shooting games and hope to get a gun, am I going to be stuck with PAL games with a Uk virtua gun? My television is fine with NTSC; can a Uk gun be modded to NTSC perhaps? All these questions lol

Oh, I am perfectly at home with a soldering iron being a pro, but I was thinking more about how much smaller a single pole single switch will be, I can put in a switch that is about 4mm x 8mm, much more aesthetically please.

Sorry if i have repeated questions and seem to be rambling, comes with being an insomniac lol :huh

 

[dj898]

I don't see why US/JP guncon will not work on your UK saturn. It's not Dreamcast you know. Best one would be the one sold in Japan in black colour with black button unlike regular yellow button. If you are interested I have JPN official guncon with optional sight mount kit for sale.

Click here for the picture of it.

No you still need ARP4-1 cart to bypass region lock out to play US title on UK saturn unless you put the region switch which isn't something you can tackle easily - several different revisions of Saturn M/B do not help either as you will have to hunt down correct instruction from Internet.

cheers

 

[mal]

Originally posted by dj898@May 26, 2004 @ 10:21 AM

I know the different PSU but if I can get one I figure I can use it on one of my 100 VAC saturn.

Umm, no. If you get the wrong type of PSU you'd need to hack both it and the Saturn to get it to work. They are different in terms of size and shape as well as output voltages. And yes, I'm talking about different 240v PSUs.

There is no difference (that I'm aware of) between US, Euro and Japanese light guns. I regularly use a Japanese one on my Euro Saturn. The black ones do look cooler though.

 

[fistandantilus]

No you still need ARP4-1 cart to bypass region lock out to play US title on UK saturn unless you put the region switch which isn't something you can tackle easily - several different revisions of Saturn M/B do not help either as you will have to hunt down correct instruction from Internet.

From what I have read the only difference between US saturns and Uk saturn, (power supply excused) is the 13/14 jumpers are swapped to change the speed setting to 60Hz. Therefore I only need the one switch yes? Any jap games I acquire I will copy and patch to cdr for us region. I know I need to mod it with a modchip, heres fingers crossed the saturn is a 32-pin and not a 64 that a lot of people have trouble with.

I haven't modded hardware in ages, I remember once modding a master system so the pause button on a megadrive controller paused the game instead of having to reach for the actual console, lazt git i was. I remember i had to add a switch in the back compartment to undo the mod if I wanted to use a light gun as the light gun used the spare pin i used for the pause mod. Think I gave the ms to my sister in the end, only game i ever played on it was wonderboy III anyway lol.

Regarding the gun, yep, i must have got confused with the dreamcast, I take it any controller from any region works on any saturn then?

 

[dj898]

for UK you need two switches - one for 50/60 freq.the other for country setting.

As far as accessories go there's no country lock on them although some require CD which only comes in JPN version - FDD unit comes in mind. Another one is Densha de Go controller where the title was released in Japan only.

cheers

 

[mal]

Originally posted by fistandantilus@May 26, 2004 @ 11:47 AM

From what I have read the only difference between US saturns and Uk saturn, (power supply excused) is the 13/14 jumpers are swapped to change the speed setting to 60Hz. Therefore I only need the one switch yes? Any jap games I acquire I will copy and patch to cdr for us region. I know I need to mod it with a modchip, heres fingers crossed the saturn is a 32-pin and not a 64 that a lot of people have trouble with.

Basically, yes. The only differences between a US and a Euro Saturn of the same hardware revision are the PSU, the region setting, the video output and IIRC the bios.

I'm not sure which guides you've already looked at regarding region and 50/60Hz mods, but maybe you should check this one out while you're at it.

Regarding the gun, yep, i must have got confused with the dreamcast, I take it any controller from any region works on any saturn then?

Yes. The same goes for any accessories - memory cards etc.

 

[fistandantilus]

off topic but thinking back here are other mods i did. sure there are more but I forget.

modded a 6 button megadrive contoller to work on a snes, boy that was awkward, not much room in the offical 6-button megadrive pads. Was awesome for sfII. I hated snes pad d-pads. The 6 button MD pads are the best pads i have ever used, never actually used a 2nd gen saturn pad. I had gen 1 pads. Taking about 8 years ago lol. I hope the d-pads on 2nd gen saturn pads are as good as the 6 button md pads, guess i will find out when mine arrives in next couple of days

I used to love customising the neighbourhoods megadrives with different colour power leds. very simple I know but was fun at the time. I remember pale yellow was quite neat as well as a really bright orange. I even did a blue led but it weren't so hot, blue leds weren't that common in those days and they lacked the brightness of todays versions. I even messed around with the idea of a tri-colour led linked to a region switch ( a different colour for different region but never got around to it as my japanise Pal-I megadrive was region free anyway lol. Was a neat idea though,

I have a dreamcast arcade stick I modded to pc usb for use with mame and such. I even added an extra "credit " button at the back. there is room for a further 2 custom buttons if I wish. Anyone interested in buying it, I never use it anymore lol send me an offer. It is awesome for capcom fighters, i just never seem to have the desktop space for it these days.

 

[fistandantilus]

Was just researching more into all these mods and such and came across a switchless region mod using a multiplexer (the logic chips found in old megadrive pads) http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/sat_switchless.htm

Any one have any idea if this works, If so how exactly does it work? I assume its simply a matter of advancing to the next region each time you press reset? I can't see how it would auto detect the region code of a disc? Still pretty neat though although I like the idea of a locked switch better

 

[Pearl Jammzz]

To my knowledge it changes w/ reset hits. Am all-but %100 positive it's that way.

BTW, you a dragonlance fan ?

 

[fistandantilus]

yep, should have known better with it just being a multiplexer. Would maybe be better if it was connected to small discreet push button switch that was also connected to the reset switch, This way your saturn would default to one region on booting, (depends which way you wired it) and would only go to the secondary region if you pressed the button. Would be much neater than a switch. Mind you a UK/US/Jap cycle would require more multiplexs, and wouldn't be worth the effort.

Anyone know what happens if any of the jumpers are altered while the saturn is powered, I have not read anything anywhere mentioning about this. Can the region/speed be changed on the fly as such or do you need to power off first?

BTW, you a dragonlance fan ?

Yep i do like dragonlance very much, I rank the test/trial/war of the twins trilogy up there with tolkiens work. Maybe not so anally retentive when it comes to discription as tolkien but very very good. The dragons of spring/autumn/winter trilogy is very good too. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, think thats right (from memory) are definately the finest dragonlance authors.

 

[Pearl Jammzz]

first off, GO READ SOULFORGE! You'll love it......it's done by weis and follows Raistlin's early years and basically informs you of why he is how he is. It's up there w/ the other 6 books for sure...

eh, can't help ya on your question, haha. Not a techy .

 

[fistandantilus]

have read it about a year ago, I agree very good also. I still waiting for the sequel, has it been released yet so you know lol?