EDIT: Need help with burning images (question at bottom)

Post by **GSZX1337** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:29 pm

I got my Sega Saturn! It came with two controllers (for a total of three), 10 games (mostly sports), and the power and AV cables. I got it modded yesterday also, (It was one of Racket's chips, but I got it at the FS/T forum). I tested the chip with a copy of my NiGHTS into Dreams sampler disc and it worked perfectly. The only problem is, I don't know which files to burn onto the CD. Do you need both the .bin AND .cue files, or do you just need one of those files? Also, is it worth it to get the Action Replay with the extra RAM like the one in Racket's store? I'm thinking that if enough games use it, I might as well get the cart for the RAM, and just not bother with the region patching (I haven't tried doing it yet, so I don't know if it's hard at all).

Post by **opethfan** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:54 pm

You need an app to burn CDs (I recommend Alcohol 120%), then goto image burning wizard and select the cue.

Post by **claudio** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 3:42 pm

you need a action replay for games like x-men vs. street fighter, astra superstars, and other giants from japan.

you also need to download the sega saturn region converter to patch games to your region if you want to play games from other regions since racketboys doesnt let you play games from other regions. do a simple google search and you will find the program. just patch the game before you burn.

Post by **Curlypaul** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:14 pm

The cue the file you need to select when burning, its just a text file that tells the burning app what files you want on the disc, namely the bin file in the case of rips but sometimes there may be other files/info included as well.

The ram cart will only be used if the game was designed to be used with it in the first place, it wont automatically 'upgrade' any old game that boot up, so it depends whether you plan on playing the games that use it.

The region patcher is pretty easy to use, load the disk that you want to patch, select the region that matches your saturn and click go. couldnt be simpler.

Saturn Region Patcher

Post by **D.D.D.** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:50 pm

I have the 4MB AR RAM cart for 5 games that use the memory and because I've had my Saturn (well, now 3 of them) since '96 and there was no one around my area (no way in hell was I going to mail it to someone) to mod it so I used it for imports.
Check the games, if you need/want one, go for it.

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2005/05/ ... b-ram.html

Post by **GSZX1337** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:33 pm

Okay, I got Christmas NiGHTS burned and working. The reason I couldn't get it to work earlier was because my Burning Rangers .cue was borked. Alcohol 120% and Ashampoo didn't know what to do with it. I GUess that's what I get for DLing my Saturn games from CoolROM.

Post by **Espio 1919** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:49 am

ya, CoolROM sucks for Saturn ISO's. I usually use stuff like SNESorama forums or sega-saturn.us for good ISO's. BTW Nero also works great for burning them (I dl'ed Megaman 8 last night and will put it on a disc once I finish work tonight).

Post by **GSZX1337** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:34 pm

Espio 1919 wrote:I usually use stuff like SNESorama forums or sega-saturn.us for good ISO's.

I got my Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams image from SNESorama. Nice site.

BTW Nero also works great for burning them.

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Nero. That's why I use Ashampoo.

EDIT: Can someone help me find a good, reliable Burning Rangers .bin/.cue? I've tried two torrents over at UG and one of them didn't work for me, and the other didn't have any activity. I'd look around more, but I've already used up 10 CD-Rs (only one of which was successful).

Post by **GSZX1337** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:44 pm

Okay, now I really need some help. Here's the situation:
I DLed a Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams image a while back from snesorama. I burned the image and it worked great on my Saturn. I DLed an image of Burning Rangers from Underground-gamer (their golden torrent of all US Saturn games) and it did not work. I tried many different images from other users and sites. None of them worked. I DLed a Contra: Legacy of War image from the same torrent I DLed the first Burning Rangers image (which is a golden torrent). The first time I burned it the system would only read the music from the game. The second time I burned it the system completely rejected the disc. I used CDBurner XP Pro and Alcohol %120. In alcohol, the options will only allow me to burn at the slowest 16x. I can't seem to find out if CDBurner XP Pro can support .cues or not, do I burned the .bin file at 8x.

I am using HP brand CD-Rs and I know my system can read these as my copy of the NiGHTS sampler and Christmas NiGHTS worked.
If you need anymore information, please ask and I'll answer ASAP. I really need help, wasting CD-Rs is a HUGE peeve of mine, and I don't want to waste anymore.

Post by **TheGMan** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:03 am

Here's what I found out works for me 99.9% of the time:
(Assuming you have a modded Saturn)

1. Download the file, it should come in .iso/.cue format or .bin/.cue format. It may also contain .mp3 or .wav files.

2. Open the cue file with notepad or an equivalent, and make sure all tracks point to the corresponding files.

FILE "SonicXtreme.bin" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE1/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:09:35
TRACK 03 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:31:35
TRACK 04 AUDIO
INDEX 01 01:55:62

The first FILE must point to the .bin or .iso. This is the game file, it will always be track 01. If you have an .iso but no cue, you can download Sega Cue Maker to automatically generate a cue.

TRACK XX AUDIO will either be contained in the bin/iso at specific time segments, or if audio tracks were supplied there will be separate tracks formatted like so:

FILE "Track03.mp3" MP3
TRACK 03 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00

Each audio file will be formatted to whatever extension it uses:

FILE "Track03.wav" WAV
TRACK 03 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00

Nero will automatically encode mp3s to wavs. I don't have too much experience with Alcohol 120%. Image files in .mdf/.mds are exactly like .bin/.cue but they are Alcohol 120% files. Use Alcohol to burn those types. Also note, ISO files are in MODE1/2048 and BIN files are in MODE1/2352 formats respectively. Save the .cue file.

3. Check the image region with SRP (Saturn Region Patcher) and patch it to whatever region your system is designed for. If you have a Pro Action Replay or Gameshark, you can skip this step.

4. If you changed the region from Japanese or European, NTSC or PAL, you may have corrupted sectors on the image after the patch. You need to download CDMage.

5. Start CDMage and open the image you want to check. Click the Action menu button and "Scan for Corruption". In the "What to search" prompt, search sector range from 000150 to 000151. If there is a problem with the image, it will find 2 errors. Towards the bottom of the program window there will be a tab with the word Errors on it. Click this tab and then select both errors. Right-click "Rebuild Sector Fields". Leave ECC and all the other stuff checked and click OK. You have just fixed the image.

6. Now open your favorite burning software; I use Nero. Go to Backup, and click Burn Image to Disk. You will open the .cue file (or .mds file if it's an Alcohol image). This step is important, make sure you burn the image using CD-Rs and try to burn around 4x. I've found 8x works for me, and it's not as slow. If you burn at 40x or whatever your highest setting is, the Saturn will not be able to read the disk. Burn your game and label it accordingly, you'll probably be doing this again soon when another game catches your eye.

7. Enjoy your game.

If the game did not work, try these steps again, or download a different version of the game. Always check your .cue files!

Hope this helps those who have problems!