Wow. This approach open doors to another idea - connect sdcard to sh2 hw serial port, and as Saturn's communication port connector have weak 5v and lacks spare pin to use as cs (only few sd cards will work with grounded cs, if any, as its non standard),so, with same internal placement and wiring of sdcard module its possible to overcome all mentioned troubles by taking good 5v and same cs pin as used for gameport2 version and wiring rest to serial port lines going to communication port connector. Speed may increase dramatically.
SDLoader v0.12: run binaries from SD Card and backup/restore saves
- Thread starter Murzik
- Start date
Just did quick test build, configured to use sd card connected to master sh2 serial port (SCI) which is available at COMMUNICATION CONNECTOR (near A/V OUT).
It still use CS line from gameport2, but one may freely try to keep it active low by wiring it to GND, but porbably no one sd card will like it (as assertion/deassertion of CS used in standard sd card initialization process).
Also, dont take 5v from COMMUNICATION CONNECTOR, as it is too weak.
And last, but not least, it is not tested on real hw. As it is a first draft build, high chances that it will fail.
It still use CS line from gameport2, but one may freely try to keep it active low by wiring it to GND, but porbably no one sd card will like it (as assertion/deassertion of CS used in standard sd card initialization process).
Also, dont take 5v from COMMUNICATION CONNECTOR, as it is too weak.
And last, but not least, it is not tested on real hw. As it is a first draft build, high chances that it will fail.
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Tested！Worked perfectly ! Thank u
When will the backup function of external 4M memory card be added?
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Here is v0.126a with external backup ram carts support (press LSHIFT/RSHIFT to switch between Int/Ext). Same restrictions by petit fatfs applied (need to put files to sdcard root for SDLoader to write backup:
for save/for load/cart type/size
"bkramsv.bin", "bkramld.bin", "internal battery backed RAM", 65536
"bksv512k.bin", "bkld512k.bin", "ext. 4Mbit backup RAM", 524288
"bksv1m.bin", "bkld1m.bin", "ext. 8Mbit backup RAM", 1048576
"bksv2m.bin", "bkld2m.bin", "ext. 16Mbit backup RAM", 2097152
"bksv4m.bin", "bkld4m.bin", "ext. 32Mbit backup RAM",4194304
...files to save backups are included in archive)
Not tested at real hw. Please, report your result if its possible
Incredible work. I won't be losing my Sega Rally & OutRun records anymore!
Does this mean that we could load pseudo kai from an SD card and, for instance, place a netlink adapter into the cart slot to play online while using burned discs (i.e. without the need of a modchip)? Thanks in advance!
Does this mean that we could load pseudo kai from an SD card and, for instance, place a netlink adapter into the cart slot to play online while using burned discs (i.e. without the need of a modchip)? Thanks in advance!
0.127！When I press the RSHIFT（or LSHIFT）, the display flashes a bit, what is displayed on the screen does not change, and the backup mode is not switched.
（In addition：At real HW，The Sega Saturn does not have external memory cards larger than 4Mb [IC：AT29C040A 512KB]）
Knight0fDragon
Patron Supporter
no, the sega saturn must boot from Cart, MPEG slot, or CD in that order.
If Backup Ram Cartridge was set correctly, the Backup Ram switched（press the R or L button） with no issue，FYI
Thanks for replying. Then I didn't quite understand what he meant by that. Sorry for the ignorance, I'm a noob about this sort of things.
privateye
Established Member
Great to see this project steadily improving! It's probably not very well known that @cafe-alpha did some work on data transfer via the second controller port back in 2011, so it's cool that this method has been revived 🙂
Link: https://ppcenter.webou.net/devblog/article117/improved-sd-card-support
Link: https://ppcenter.webou.net/devblog/article117/improved-sd-card-support
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Thank you, tzmwx!
Now, it use bios functions to detect external backup carts.
But as safety measure, restoring function only enabled for Internal backup ram. Lets first check if it detects ext ram and dumps is.
And currently, no support for 3rd party backup ram carts, which use their own memory management boot code.
Thank you! In v0.127 i didnt used bios functions for ext cart detection, just checked Cart ID byte at 0x24FFFFFF
Now, it use bios functions to detect carts, so probably it will see any cart that is compatible with bios backup functions
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