Faulty 4-in-1?

I just got this thing in the mail from game gizmos (www.gamegizmos.com). It works allright but..... I have two import backed up Saturn games that need a ram expansion, Groove on Fight and Vampire Savior. Both of these dont work, they boot up (with a swap trick, darn model 1) but I get a error message in Japaniese. I can make out the word "RAM" in english so I am guessing the ram expansion isnt working. Anyone know why or have had similar problems? Yes it DOES boot to the Action Replay screen meaning it IS plugged in correctly.
 
They can't seem to decide whether or not you're supposed to get one with expansion RAM:

This version does NOT include the 4 meg ram to play games that require additional memory!

Allows you to play all games that require an additional 1 MEG or 4 MEG of RAM

What particular brand/model of cartridge did they send you?
 
Yes I know, I called them and they said that it DOES include the 4 megs of ram. It says it on the cart, box, and instruction manual that the ram is included. I called them earlier and they cant figure out why (at first they thaught I was using the games without a modboard, which I technically am but I am using a swap trick) Once I told them that the games DO boot up but give me an error message in JAP (which most likely means they need ram expansion) they were stumped. They said that either my game was messed up or more likely the cart was faulty and I could return it. Help Anyone?

(So basically, its a backup Jap import region hacked to USA (this was before I had the action replay), the cartridge's bios screen (start game, codes, memory manager, etc) DOES show up, I do the swap trick ONCE after I click start game without codes (I know the guides say twice but my lens only moves AFTER I click start game, maybe casue I have a model 1 not 2?), the game starts. Then I get an error message in Jap that im 99% sure says that a rom expnasion needs to be installed.

Has this happened to anyone else before?

(BTW, I am aware that the first few versions of these had problems with some 4 meg games like Vampire Savior, I got diagrams that you can look at the back of it's circuitry to see if it is the one that works or dosent work with Vampire Savior, mine looks like it IS wired to work with it.)

Help Anyone? PLEASE!
 
Update: Ok, even the cart's extra memory dosent work. In the menager that opens up when the cart first initilizes it works and i cna bakcup from internal system ram. But In-game Neither the backup ram nor the 1-4megs of expansion ram work. I didnt try PAR codes yet.
 
You probably need to return it. It's almost certain that either they sent you the wrong kind of cart (you still didn't mention the brand/model...) or it's defective. It's possible, but unlikely, that the problem is with your Saturn. If possible, you should try testing the cart in another system to see if the problem persists.

I do the swap trick ONCE after I click start game without codes (I know the guides say twice but my lens only moves AFTER I click start game, maybe casue I have a model 1 not 2?)

No, I think you've just misinterpreted something. The first swap should be done before any major lens movement is heard, immediately after the TOC is read; i.e. you start the Saturn with the CD-R inserted. Since you have an AR, you can do the first swap at any time while in the AR menu. The second swap is done as you are doing currently. The double swap ensures that the Saturn uses the correct TOC data rather than the data from the original you're using to swap, which is why it's the preferred method.

It's possible (but extremely unlikely) that this is connected to the error you're getting.

edit:

In the menager that opens up when the cart first initilizes it works and i cna bakcup from internal system ram. But In-game Neither the backup ram nor the 1-4megs of expansion ram work.

That's how the 4/5-in-1 carts' backup memory works. They just don't have any direct-save capability. Also, they're often advertised as having 4 megabits of save RAM, which is generally false (the most popular kind only has 2 megabits of Flash total, and a quarter of that is used internally to store the AR program, not to mention that codes take up additional space...)
 
Why do you keep complaing about model 1's? Those are the kind with the light where you DON'T need to listen to laser movements.
 
Cause they cant be modded (at least not like 95% of them) and I use sound to listen to when to switch cds anyway, I find it easier then the light. But my main concern is this cart, I hope import backups that need a ram expansion dont ALL not work with swap tricks. If so im screwed.
 
I hope import backups that need a ram expansion dont ALL not work with swap tricks.

I can assure you that this is not the problem. The Saturn swap trick is essentially pretty clean, and shouldn't cause any problems with cart access.
 
I had a similar sort of problem with my Action Replay 4M Plus where the action replay screen came up but the ram/memory didnt work, I just unplugged it and plugged it back in a few times until the ram worked.
 
Now THATS strange. So thast what that 16 in vampire savior meant, it wasnt Ram, it was INTERNAL MEMORY! The game refused to start becasue I didnt have enough internal memory to save the data! (I found thsi out by trying it without the cart and got a totally different message). Now to try groove on fight, Im SURE the problem with that game was it didnt detect the cart but we shall see.
 
Just because it says ram, dosn't mean ram card. It could be saying you don't have enough internal memory to continue and that you must delete some before you can play. Although most games let you continue anyways.
 
Yep, groove on fight too. They werent refusing to load becasue it didnt detect the ram cartridge. It was refusing to load because there wasnt enough space to make a save file! How stupid is that? Lol, and man do *I* feel stupid.
 
Next time, read the screen. Usualy they tell you important things like "Your out of game memory" for a reason
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I would love to, but

1. The games are Japaniese

2. The warning screens are in Japaniese

3. I dont speak Japaniese

4. I probably didn't even SPELL Japaniese right did I?

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Im kidding
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But..... Silly boy, then don't play japanese games! You'l find that Japanese games have a lot of Japanese. Note the correct spelling, of Japanese.
 
Heh heh heh, but those are some of the most fun games out there.
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I am crazy over the Dance Dance Revolution series, I have 2 versions of it for my DC and around 8 versions of it for my PSX?
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(Yeah, Im a freak)
 
My ST-key plus, has an EXTERNAL switch to activate which ram you would like to use..

Does your's have anything like that?
 
I still don't know how the heck it's supposed to do that. I kind of suspect that it really just emulates a 4M cart all the time, because according to the Sega tech bulletin I saw, they're supposed to be compatible as long as 1M games don't depend on mirroring. I suppose it's possible that it looks at the title string and sets an internal register to change the mapping, but that could get ugly...
 
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