Official bootdisk useful?

It seems to work with NON-Sega realted disks...but not all. I've gone through my collection and can verify that the following games work with the boot disk...

Marvel Super Heoes

Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter

Alien Trilogy

Dark Legacy

King Of Fighter 97

Metal Slug

Elevator Action Returns

Langrisser IV

Dragon Force

Vampire Savior

Shinobi Legions

D&D Collection (both disks)

Dead Or Alive

Sega Ages Vol.1 (Not vol.2 though)

RockmanX4

Rayman

Shining Wisdom

Dracula X

I'm sure there are more, but from my collection this is all of them...

EDIT: I've uploaded to Lockecole's and Lerpa's FTP if you guys want it.

I also wanted to note that the games that don't work with this boot disk do one of three things..

1. Game Disk not suitable message

2. Cartidge not suitable message (?)

3. It'll treat the disk like an audio CD.

(Edited by 3rdman at 10:41 pm on Sep. 24, 2001)

(Edited by 3rdman at 11:28 pm on Sep. 24, 2001)
 
3rdman did you have to use a swap method or modded Saturn to load the boot disk? If not that is really cool and we might be able to make something out of this. Dogbert is my hero.
 
You HAVE to do the swap method to run the boot disk. However, if someone out there actually ever comes up with a working boot disk for all games, I'll simply cut out the rim on my most hated Saturn game (Revolution X...bleech!) and rig it somehow to the boot disk. Where theres a will theres a way. I already have some ideas that might actually work.
 
really interesting, and that only brings up the question of what the original bootdisk is capable of..

dogbert: do you have a saturn, and if so, test as many games as you can

i have a feeling that the copy that is now circulating on the net does everything that the bootdisk can do (except load w/o the swap method, of course). We should get a compatibility list going..
 
Does anyone here have access to a lazer engraver? I used to, but got shit-canned from that job some time ago. But what might work here is to do a vector cut to remove the edge of a game disc such as Revolution X or any other really crappy Saturn game that can be picked up for about a quarter, then do the same vector cut on a CDR with the bootdisc burned on. A simple disc label should do the trick to put them together, and with the vector cut, the pieces should fit perfectly. If that works, and it works on a good enough number of games, whoever is able to do all that will have a new market opened to them...
 
hey can i get the boot iso from someone to try out.

hum i wonder if we can get saturn games to be self booting. i have 30 or so. dreamcast games and half of the ones on cd-r are self booting...
 
The Dreamcast self-booting CD-Rs is, as far as I can tell, an intentional backdoor in the BIOS. From what I've heard even some of the "protected" models will boot CD-R with a trivial modification of the layout, and it should have been easy for Sega engineers to make the BIOS detect GD-ROM (or at least a standard GD-ROM session layout) if they wanted to. Besides, it really has nothing to do with Saturn's protection.

From what I've heard about the disc, I think the only real shot is to try putting the "unlock" routine in ROM (e.g. flash it to an Action Replay cart, though an upload to RAM via commslink would probably be better for an initial test).
 
zx7ninja, thats a real interesting idea...I've read about that possibility in a FAQ posted at Gamefaqs.com but the writer never really got anywhere with it. Perhaps this image has enough info to make something like that work. I will tell you one thing with my little experiment with it...For the games that work with the bootdisk, the CD didn't go looking for the security code. For the games that didn't work it would try to look for it.

My guess (from a COMPLETELY non-technical strandpoint) would be that the boot disk has already passed on the security information to the Saturn or has disabled the security search for the compatible games. I know...obvious...but the fact that the Saturn doesn't even bother searching for the security ring was (at least to me) interesting.

(Edited by 3rdman at 1:31 am on Sep. 26, 2001)
 
For those who care, I've put together a list of games that are NOT compatible with this boot disk...

Sonic R

Sonic Jam

House Of the Dead

Grandia (both disks)

Bulk Slash

Dark Savior

Sega Ages Vol.2

Die Hard Arcade

Cotton Boomerang

Shining the Holy Ark

Shining Force (All Scenarios and Premium Disk)

Psychic Killer

Gaurdian Heroes

Burning Rangers

Quake

Thunder Force 5

Radiant Silvergun

Legend of Oasis

Panzer Dragoon

Panzer Dragoon Zwei

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Magic Knight Rayearth

Sega Rally Championship

Resident Evil

Deep Fear (both disks)

Phantasy Star Collection

Street Fighter Alpha

Steep slope Sliders

WSB '98

Fighters Megamix

Sega Worldwide Soccer

Elan Doree

Sihlouette Mirage

Virtua Cop

Virtua Cop 2

Virtua Fighter Remix

Bomberman Wars

Blazing Heroes

DonDonPachi

Bomberman Fight

I hope thats helpful...

(Edited by 3rdman at 1:35 am on Sep. 26, 2001)
 
10MB seems a big disc just to remove the security check. I wonder else it might do.
 
yea, it's a 10 meg image, but for some reason it compresses down into nothing when you rar it.. it's literally only a couple hundred kb's compressed..
 
the compatibility reports do help, thanks, as i'm compiling that list of all the games that are and aren't compatible.. I have quite a few of my own to test, but i'll do that later..
 
guys iam in the dark how did you guys get the boot to work properly

i got it swap to the part where it says completed what do i do next

Did you guys changed the area code of the boot disk to match your own or somthing?

Need help
 
You can add Capcom Generations 5 to the list of games that work. I'v only tried a couple disks so far, but when I get more that work, I'll let you guys know.

I don't know about anyone else, but what I found interesting was NOT the ability to play certain cdr's,(for those who swap, anyway) but the ability to play IMPORTS without having to use a converter cart or a territory switch........

This might help those who might have mods, but can't find a converter or a PAR.

And I still hold out hope of booting homemade games.
 
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