What games boot sonic jam?
- Thread starter Nemesis
- Start date
well, i've been using virtua fighter 2 to boot all of my games, including sonic jam. I havent had a game yet that won't boot because of vf 2
try this instead. put in your backup, turn it on, then wait until it goes into the cd menu and the cd stops. then replace with your original and press reset. then the laser will move to the outer ring, then as soon as you see it travel to the center swap with your backup. you are not supposed to let it get to the center first, then swap. as soon as you see it move back to the center is when your supposed to swap. try that. it work everytime. and if that dosent work then you have got a bad burn.
DBOY is correct when suggesting you should swap during the lens move-in instead of half a second after.
During that 1/2 of a sec. the Saturn reads the "IP.BIN' off the CD, whose bootstrap code may not be "compatible" with that of the game you're trying to boot. In such a circumstance, the game will fail to load (i.e. frozen SEGA screen) even if you got the timing right, resulting in the grouping problem you exposed.
This means that, for every game you burn, you have to test it with all of your originals to find the compatible one, which leads to some frustration when you can't tell whether a freeze is caused by boot compatibility or bad timing.
This also means, by the way, that you do not have to patch the country code prior to burning, since it is read off the original's "IP.BIN", which also limits the choice of originals to those with the same country as your Saturn (you can't use, say, a japanese game to swap on a US Saturn this way).
In some cases you might even find yourself without a compatible original for a partcular burned CD, i.e. none of your originals boot the CD.
Conversely, performing the swap during move-in has the following disadvantages:
- You have to learn a different timing all over again;
- Depending on your model, the timing tends to be more unforgiving, a bit like when you mess the 17th button press during a 20-button combo in a fighting game. If you miss the timing, it's back-to-the-protection time;
- Unless you have some hardware way of defeating the country code, you must remember to patch the correct code into the CD image before burning.
But it has also some definite advantages:
- Once you learn to properly mid-swap, that's all you need to know. Provided the country code is taken care of, it will work with any original and any backup, as long as it's a good burn;
- The Saturn provides definite visible and audible hints to help you choose the timing and also to indicate a successful or failed swap;
- It takes less time to realize whether the swap needs to be performed again (you see the lens attempting to read the protection again, as opposed to booting into the SEGA screen and waiting five or more seconds before resetting on failure);
So, how do you go along and do the thing?
Well... perhaps another post is required to explain the mechanics. This one is getting longish already.
In case Nemesis is wandering, I used to perform your same swap technique when I first tried. It is hard to get off a habit once it works with yourself. It was tough for me to get the swap to work altogether, so I sticked to the timing that gave some results instead of no trace of accomplishment. Besides, some of my early burns were left with the japanese country code in the foolish hope that my PAL Saturn would boot them in NTSC with the ST-Key plugged in (which added to the confusion btw). Once I accidentally mastered the second, less fail prone method, I tried both alternatively, noticed strengths and weaknesses of each, and concluded that I'd go for the latter, simply because it was less of a blind swap. I knew when the original was needed and when the backup could be safely replaced and would boot.
So my final suggestion is: keep trying!
And forget the post-swap method. It only adds to the confusion.
All right folks, rant's over...
During that 1/2 of a sec. the Saturn reads the "IP.BIN' off the CD, whose bootstrap code may not be "compatible" with that of the game you're trying to boot. In such a circumstance, the game will fail to load (i.e. frozen SEGA screen) even if you got the timing right, resulting in the grouping problem you exposed.
This means that, for every game you burn, you have to test it with all of your originals to find the compatible one, which leads to some frustration when you can't tell whether a freeze is caused by boot compatibility or bad timing.
This also means, by the way, that you do not have to patch the country code prior to burning, since it is read off the original's "IP.BIN", which also limits the choice of originals to those with the same country as your Saturn (you can't use, say, a japanese game to swap on a US Saturn this way).
In some cases you might even find yourself without a compatible original for a partcular burned CD, i.e. none of your originals boot the CD.
Conversely, performing the swap during move-in has the following disadvantages:
- You have to learn a different timing all over again;
- Depending on your model, the timing tends to be more unforgiving, a bit like when you mess the 17th button press during a 20-button combo in a fighting game. If you miss the timing, it's back-to-the-protection time;
- Unless you have some hardware way of defeating the country code, you must remember to patch the correct code into the CD image before burning.
But it has also some definite advantages:
- Once you learn to properly mid-swap, that's all you need to know. Provided the country code is taken care of, it will work with any original and any backup, as long as it's a good burn;
- The Saturn provides definite visible and audible hints to help you choose the timing and also to indicate a successful or failed swap;
- It takes less time to realize whether the swap needs to be performed again (you see the lens attempting to read the protection again, as opposed to booting into the SEGA screen and waiting five or more seconds before resetting on failure);
So, how do you go along and do the thing?
Well... perhaps another post is required to explain the mechanics. This one is getting longish already.
In case Nemesis is wandering, I used to perform your same swap technique when I first tried. It is hard to get off a habit once it works with yourself. It was tough for me to get the swap to work altogether, so I sticked to the timing that gave some results instead of no trace of accomplishment. Besides, some of my early burns were left with the japanese country code in the foolish hope that my PAL Saturn would boot them in NTSC with the ST-Key plugged in (which added to the confusion btw). Once I accidentally mastered the second, less fail prone method, I tried both alternatively, noticed strengths and weaknesses of each, and concluded that I'd go for the latter, simply because it was less of a blind swap. I knew when the original was needed and when the backup could be safely replaced and would boot.
So my final suggestion is: keep trying!
And forget the post-swap method. It only adds to the confusion.
All right folks, rant's over...
If that was meant as a compliment, well, thank you.
I'm glad if this info is actually useful to someone.
And yes, I'm pretty bad at advertising...
If it was meant as a complaint, I apologise.
I am quite a verbose writer and this time round I got to about 90% of it before realising how long it was. Then I thought I didn't really want to scrap some potentially interesting info and so I left it as it were. I don't think reading through it will steal more than five to ten minutes of one's precious time or make one's life unbearable thereafter, so sue me if it does.
On a side note, I don't think I'll post anything about the gory details of swapping itself (thank God!)). It could end up sounding like I'm trying to explain how to drive one's car within a tiny gap between two big running trucks during the rush hour in order to get past the traffic. You best get the hang of it with practice and, hopefully, the assistance of a friend who already knows.
I'm glad if this info is actually useful to someone.
And yes, I'm pretty bad at advertising...
If it was meant as a complaint, I apologise.
I am quite a verbose writer and this time round I got to about 90% of it before realising how long it was. Then I thought I didn't really want to scrap some potentially interesting info and so I left it as it were. I don't think reading through it will steal more than five to ten minutes of one's precious time or make one's life unbearable thereafter, so sue me if it does.
On a side note, I don't think I'll post anything about the gory details of swapping itself (thank God!)). It could end up sounding like I'm trying to explain how to drive one's car within a tiny gap between two big running trucks during the rush hour in order to get past the traffic. You best get the hang of it with practice and, hopefully, the assistance of a friend who already knows.
I learned to swap on my own just fine.
As long as you remember to do the swaps while the lens is moving and not once it reached it's destination, you'll do just fine.
Oh yeah, when putting the new disc in, lean it from the side of the Saturn nearest the eject button. if you go fromt he other side the lens will pop up and grind against the disc for a second
As long as you remember to do the swaps while the lens is moving and not once it reached it's destination, you'll do just fine.
Oh yeah, when putting the new disc in, lean it from the side of the Saturn nearest the eject button. if you go fromt he other side the lens will pop up and grind against the disc for a second
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