It shouldnt require new fimrware. the problem is software. From what im reading you can do the trick with clonecd by creating a custom .ccd format or whatever it is they use, but im not keen on drag and drop pushbutton windows garbage.
When doing DAO the software reads the bin/iso/cue sheet and determines what data to put in the subchannel on the TOC/lead-in and writes it. The problem im having is that I can add the necessary sector data to the file and burn it, the saturn will read it just fine, it just that it seems to check the length of track data and if its runs out to where the ring data is then it calls it unsuitable.
It would be nice if the cue sheet would support a toc section, have one set of rules to govern the track layout and another to say what you want the TOC to have.
It seems the protection relies on fact that most all drives rely on the toc to know where data is and what format. If for example the toc says the last track ends at 55minutes then it simply wont let you try to seek out farther than that. The saturn cd DSP allows you to control the stepper motor directly and move anywhere.
Theres one last check I want to try and if anyone else is interested is to take any saturn image and pad it out with all zero's to about 75minutes (or 80 if you have some of that media) and see if the drive reports unsuitable or if it does the constant reseeking like it does when you burn it otherwise.
When I take any normally bunred game and try to run it with no modchip it will spin and spin trying its damndest to read some valid data out there at the edge.Then it will give up and report it as only an audio cd. But Ive gotten it to the point where it will seek and return immediately and say unsuitable for this system so I think im making some progress. If by simply putting all zero data out there (blank audio with no data mode sector information) it returns saying unsuitable or audio only then it will confirm a suspicion i have of some extra checks it might be doing internallly.
So yea I lied , i am willing to burn some coasters, it was just too tempting
with 4 in the can im going to put efforts toward a tool for the job. cdrdao modifications look tempting but not very rewarding.