Pseudo Saturn Kai official thread

[Ponut]

Well, that's good news if it still works.
The only thing left to account for is the laser in the systems themselves.

 

[3rdman]

So I tried a couple of more burnt discs and still the same. Magic Knight Rayearth won't boot past the opening FMV but at least now I am certain its the PS and not my laser because it won't play in my modded Saturn if I use the PS on it as well! On my modded Saturn, even if I exit out to the main menu and try to load the game, it won't load if the PS is installed.

I thought perhaps its the onboard memory so I formatted it but it still behaves the same.

The cart somehow interferes with the load of certain games...for me this list would include Magic Knight Rayearth, discs 2 and 3 of Policenauts, Die Hard Trilogy, and Xmen Children of the Atom. EVERYTHING else works without issue...weird. Conversely the same backups work if the PS is NOT in place (in my modded Saturn).

 

[privateye]

I've tested a burned copy of Magic Knight Rayearth with Pseudo Saturn Kai Lite v6.314 and it works just fine as indicated in the compatibility list; I was able to play a bit of the game after watching the opening FMV. The fact that this game is working on your modded Saturn makes me think that something is wrong with your cart. Perhaps a portion of your cart's flash ROM is corrupt, because this can result in strange behaviour like you're experiencing:

PPCenter :: devblog - PPcenter. Arts and craft for my Sega Saturn. Since 1847 !

Everyday life of a Saturn homebrew program developper

ppcenter.webou.net

Thankfully, this is easy to test; when Pseudo Saturn Kai boots up, press B to go into the main menu and then select the Self Test option. From here you can select how many times you want the test to run. Run it a few times and if you see any errors then you should re-flash your cart.

 

[3rdman]

Well...I ran 100 tests and had 0 errors.

Thus far, its only been 5 or 6 disks that display this issue and to be clear, the issue ONLY appears with these disks.

 

[Tappy79]

I wanted to jump in here as I have the same issue as what 3rd man writes about with a select few titles, using the red 4-in-1 cartridge (flashed with the latest software 6.314).

Games not working:
- Magic Knight Rayearth (boots, but freezes after the FMV intro, no menu screen). This for both the original as well as a back-up copy.
- Dragon Force I and II (no boot at Kai launcher screen)
- Policenauts disc 2 and 3 (no boot), disc 1 works fine. This for both the JPN original as well as a patched back-up copy.
- Torico original PAL version (Lunacy in US) (no boot)

It also does weird things in 1/4 MEG RAM mode, such as a forced reset every time after the 2nd or 3rd fight in Waku Waku 7.

As far as I can see, all the other titles I have seem to work fine. Self test (500 x) shows no errors... the titles above also work fine on an emulator (yabause) and they boot without the red cartridge in the Saturn slot. I also don't think it is my Saturn laser (boots other FMV heavy games such as Road Avenger or Tiger Heli just fine without any stutter/delay).

What can I do? Is the cart corrupted? Should I try to reflash it? Anyone else having the same experiences?

Thanks for advice!

 

[3rdman]

I wanted to jump in here as I have the same issue as what 3rd man writes about with a select few titles, using the red 4-in-1 cartridge (flashed with the latest software 6.314).

Games not working:
- Magic Knight Rayearth (boots, but freezes after the FMV intro, no menu screen). This for both the original as well as a back-up copy.
- Dragon Force I and II (no boot at Kai launcher screen)
- Policenauts disc 2 and 3 (no boot), disc 1 works fine. This for both the JPN original as well as a patched back-up copy.
- Torico original PAL version (Lunacy in US) (no boot)

It also does weird things in 1/4 MEG RAM mode, such as a forced reset every time after the 2nd or 3rd fight in Waku Waku 7.

As far as I can see, all the other titles I have seem to work fine. Self test (500 x) shows no errors... the titles above also work fine on an emulator (yabause) and they boot without the red cartridge in the Saturn slot. I also don't think it is my Saturn laser (boots other FMV heavy games such as Road Avenger or Tiger Heli just fine without any stutter/delay).

What can I do? Is the cart corrupted? Should I try to reflash it? Anyone else having the same experiences?

Thanks for advice!

Personally, I've come to the conclusion that our red carts have gone through a hardware change and there is a minor incompatibility to existing software...of course I am also talking out of my butt so I am probably wrong. 😛

 

[vbt]

@cafe-alpha is looking for testers :

SMALL REQUEST : I don't have the budget nor the free time to test DZ2SGM3 on all combinations and variations of cartridge and ODEs.
So it would be very appreciated to receive feedback about if it works on your own Saturn setup

Feedback can be left by simply adding a comment at the bottom of this article : it is free, doesn't requires any kind of registration, and takes something like 5 minutes to be written ♪ In advance, thank you for the feedbacks

answer here : Dezaemon 2 Save Game Manager 3 : test on CD-R - PPCenter :: devblog

 

[cafe-alpha]

Can I get some feedback from volunteers about Pebble Beach Golf Links ?
Because somebody reported it wasn't booting with Pseudo Saturn Kai while somebody else also reported that it is working fine on another testing environment. So I would like to know if that problem is linked to Pseudo Saturn Kai, or a combination of the wrong Saturn hardware variation and wrong game region, or the shape of the clouds, etc.

Testing results :
- US region on NTSC (Japanese) Saturn with Phoebe installed and frequency switch feature not used : black screen on startup. Plays fine from Rmenu or Saturn multiplayer.
- EUR region on PAL Saturn with all-in-one cart : OK, and also works if console frequency is set to 60 Hz.

 

[privateye]

I have performed some tests on Pebble Beach Golf Links under the following conditions:

• All tests were performed on a JPN Saturn.
• The Pseudo Saturn Kai tests were performed with the Rhea/Phoebe menu on the Saturn Gamer's Cartridge with PSK v6.314 installed.
• The Rmenu tests were performed without any cartridge inserted. The version used is the latest (v0.2).

EUR region game
CWX loader - Black screen on startup
JHL loader - Plays fine
Rmenu [Fast boot] - Plays fine
Rmenu [Full boot] - Plays fine

USA region game
CWX loader - Black screen on startup
JHL loader - Plays fine
Rmenu [Fast boot] - Plays fine
Rmenu [Full boot] - Plays fine

JPN region game
CWX loader - Black screen on startup
JHL loader - Black screen on startup
Rmenu [Fast boot] - Black screen on startup
Rmenu [Full boot] - Black screen on startup
Autoboot with game installed in folder 01 - Black screen on startup
Boot from multiplayer with game installed in folder 02 - Black screen on startup

I tested the JPN version using a Redump image and a Trurip image. Both of these images work fine in Mednafen so it appears that the JPN version is one of those rare games that is incompatible with Rhea/Phoebe.

As for the EUR/USA versions, they work fine with the JHL loader so please add them to the JHL autoset list. I have attached the header info for these two versions to this post.

EDIT: I'm not sure why it didn't originally work for me, but Pebble Beach Golf Links (JPN) now works fine on my Phoebe.

 

[privateye]

I have also tested a burned copy of the JPN version on a PAL Saturn with Pseudo Saturn Kai Lite v6.314:

• CWX loader - Black screen on startup
• JHL loader - Plays fine

Therefore, the JPN version can also be added to the JHL autoset list. Header info for this version is attached to this post.

 

[cafe-alpha]

Thank you very much, @privateye !!! Autoset table is updated and everything shall be publicly available on next release.

@EveryoneElse : When using Pseudo Saturn Kai v6.314, this game can be played by manually selecting "JHL" in loader selection menu. Next release will be fixed in order to boot the game directly from automatic game loader.
And, Japanese version seems to require changes around the firmware of ODE (Phoebe, and maybe Rhea) to boot correctly.

 

[JDE]

The only real problems i've had so far, is with a third party wildcat controller when using Pseudo. Swap the controller over to a factory issue pad and it fires up straight away? ...weird

 

[cafe-alpha]

The only real problems i've had so far, is with a third party wildcat controller when using Pseudo. Swap the controller over to a factory issue pad and it fires up straight away? ...weird

Sorry for the delay.
Are you using Pseudo Saturn Kai latest (v6.314) version ? Because it contains a fix concerning a problem similar to yours :
- v6.274 : third party controller may not work
- v6.314 : fixed support for third party wireless controller

If the problem with your controller is still happening with your wildcat controller, I'm not sure I will modify Pseudo Saturn Kai for it that time too. Because debug for such kind of problems are messy (IIRC, it took me around 3 weeks to get wireless pad problem fixed in v63.14 ...), and it won't fix similar problems that may happen on other applications or games.

 

[guv]

I have noticed, that in Mizubaku Daibouken there are occasional graphical glitches if I start the game through pseudo saturn kai. I have a phoebe installed in my saturn and if I start the same image through the regular rmenu, there are no glitches. They don't seem to be random, as they appear in specific spots as for example at the end of the 2nd stage, as seen in the picture below.
I'm using a gamer cart with version 6.314 installed.

 

[privateye]

I've tested Mizubaku Daibouken on my Phoebe with the Saturn Gamer's Cartridge and have found that these graphical glitches are being caused by the vmem module, which is responsible for SD card access. If you load the game by pressing Z in the Rhea/Phoebe image selection menu, and then select either 'JHL' or 'CWX -> No Device', the graphical glitches won't occur.

@cafe-alpha : I have attached the header information for this game, so please add it to the list of games with vmem disabled in the autoset list.

@EveryoneElse : For now, Gamer's Cartridge users can play Mizubaku Daibouken without graphical glitches by manually selecting 'JHL' or 'CWX -> No Device' in the loader selection menu. Next release will be fixed in order to boot the game directly from automatic game loader.

 

[cafe-alpha]

I have noticed, that in Mizubaku Daibouken there are occasional graphical glitches if I start the game through pseudo saturn kai. I have a phoebe installed in my saturn and if I start the same image through the regular rmenu, there are no glitches. They don't seem to be random, as they appear in specific spots as for example at the end of the 2nd stage, as seen in the picture below.

I'm using a gamer cart with version 6.314 installed.

Sorry for the trouble caused ! As explained by @privateye, the graphical glitches can be avoided by disabling virtual memory cart. In that case only Saturn internal backup memory is visible from the game, but theses saves are automatically backed up to SD card on Pseudo Saturn Kai startup anyway.

(Technical information, please skip if you're in a hurry ↓)
The problem looks like virtual memory cart module is writing to memory used by the game, which can be either the stack or work memory. In a previous release of Pseudo Saturn Kai, I added a workaround to avoid to use too much stack, so maybe the game is using memory officially reserved to virtual memory cart module ? In that case the fix is a game-by-game matter, which is quite painful to manage.
Also, game save data looks like to be relatively small (43 bytes according to the compatibility report file here) so that restriciting memory devices to Saturn internal one shouldn't cause any problem.


@privateye : thank you for the prompt support ! I will update Pseudo Saturn Kai soon and shall publicly release it around the end of the year.

 

[JDE]

Sorry for the delay.
Are you using Pseudo Saturn Kai latest (v6.314) version ? Because it contains a fix concerning a problem similar to yours :
- v6.274 : third party controller may not work
- v6.314 : fixed support for third party wireless controller

If the problem with your controller is still happening with your wildcat controller, I'm not sure I will modify Pseudo Saturn Kai for it that time too. Because debug for such kind of problems are messy (IIRC, it took me around 3 weeks to get wireless pad problem fixed in v63.14 ...), and it won't fix similar problems that may happen on other applications or games.

Yeah, i wouldn't worry about trying to fix this single issue mate. I should have been a little bit more specific when i made that random comment. I don't know where i got this wildcat game pad from but it most likely came bundled with a second hand Saturn console i picked up somewhere in the last two decades.
I don't see any Saturns around these days in second hand shops anymore like i used too. If i do, i get it straight away! So don't worry my dear friend, i have no shortage of legit Saturn controllers here, believe me. What i was trying to say with my "off the cuff comment" is, Pseudo Saturn Kia is just totally awesome!! and, realistically, if the only problem im having so far is a crappy third party controller causing one issue, then you are doing very very well overall! =)

There is nothing wrong with you being totally obsessed with getting you're Pseudo Saturn Kai "baby" just right as a legacy for humanity in general, or for us old school Saturn fans who truly appreciate what you and your dedicated team have done, i mean, i personally would give you a big man hug (closed fists-hold for 2.5 seconds-release) if i ever met you in person but please...PLEASE remember to stop and take a darn breath at least two days a week and play some Saturn games you love, i don't care which ones, just enjoy them in the "here and now" because life is short my man!!

In a lot of ways you are just like me and my DJ mix obsession. Im not a DJ pro but i seem to spend a lot of time goofing around making custom loops to mix up tunes with and all for what? I don't get paid for it? ...only other DJ's appreciate my work, the general public can not tell the difference, but i still do it anyway! When i was doing the odd DJ job years ago for Weddings and 21st party's, i used two Saturns along side my Technics SL 1200mk2 turntables to play CDs!! Got a pic of my old set up somewhere i will have to find for you now =O

Recently ive started to archive my work on youtube spanning 30 years. I hope this is not considered spam here because some sites it is, and i don't know what music your into but i've uploaded almost all of my mixes i made in my party years for anyone's ears to listen if they have the time @JDVHS

JDVHS

"JD" is my initials..."VHS" - Video Home Standard - for the majority of videos uploaded to this channel. Converted from analog VHS to DVD. Never had the HDD ...

www.youtube.com

..and please don't click on my chainsaw ring tone...going by stats alone this will be my most popular upload before too long! lols

 

[Summer19]

Hello all, new to this forum 🙂

Does anyone know if the red all in one pseudo cartridges work with a model 1 Japanese Saturn? I’ve read a couple of comments saying that it doesn’t.

 

[Solitario]

If your Saturn can read audio CD but is having problems with data CD, then trying to adjust laser intensity of your Saturn CD unit may give some results.
This can be done with the orange potentiometer located at the rear side of lens.
→ http://ppcenter.webou.net/divers/20171110_cd_unit_potentiometer1.jpg
→ http://ppcenter.webou.net/divers/20171110_cd_unit_potentiometer2.jpg
Too weak, and it won't read correctly ; Too strong, and it may shorten life length of your CD unit (or not, I don't know if that's true or not), so please adjust reasonably.

Additionally, you probably may want to verify this tuning with an original game CD-ROM : it's better to solve problems separately, and very common games (Sega Rally, Nights, etc) cost few bucks 🙂

Thank you very much, i was having the same problem,my saturn only run original games after i followed his tip to slightly increase the laser intensity worked perfect ^^

 

[mistamontiel]

Yello! I am new to Saturn M1 and Pseudo!

What's this! But on the DL page new version says good for all cartridge?

Any hope of make PAL run 60hz in the future?

EDIT: Also hope for a list for those titles that need, patch?