HELP! - Modded Saturn thinks all JP games are music CD's

[NeoZer0]

I hope I can explain this correctly. I mod chipped a model 2 saturn and it has a region switch in it as well. Whenever I try to play one of the Japanese games I ripped from a friends originals it thinks they are audio CD's. The games I have tried are: Knights (JAP), Bomberman (JAP), Vampire Savior (JAP), and X-men vs. Streetfighter (JAP). I have a hacked copy of Radient silvergun I got off the net that is region patched and that works perfectly. Has anyone else experienced this type of issue?

[NeoZer0]

FYI, this is the second Saturn I have put this mod chip in, the first was another model 2 saturn that had a 64 pin IC and I experienced similar issues. Is it possible the mod chip could be bad? A good frined of mine has the same setup and his rig works perfectly.

[racketboy]

What about original games and non-imports?

[grittykitty]

i bet you copied the games wrong. if i use roxio toast (on my mac) it only copies the audio portion, so i bet that's what you did. as racket said, try some originals first to see what happens

[durkada]

If you downloaded a copy of Radiant Silvergun and that works, then you are good as far as the modchip is concerned. Originals should work fine.

As others noted, it seems that the problem is in the copy.

While the system may regard these as Audio Discs, it may believe they are games but will not play them due to regional incompatibility. If it displays a message that the disc is not compatible -- actual text -- then I would think the games are not properly region patched. I had this problem -- make certain that you are using the latest version of the Saturn region patcher (I mistakenly downloaded an early version which caused these failures). If the original image is built for two regions, make certain you patch it for two regions -- in my case, if its an AJ (Asian/Japanese) region, I'll change it to JU (Japanese/American). Close the patched image and reopen it in the Saturn Region patcher, simply to ascertain whether the changes you made are present.

Please note that my expertise only extends to Linux. I've burnt some things in Windows, and my mileage would vary from one program to the next. Alcohol did not burn the bin/cues as well as Nero, meanwhile Alchol worked well with the MDF/MDS (its native format, I believe). I would suspect there are probably settings to tweak on either program to make them work properly with different image types. Hopefully if you are burning with the same program you used to create the disc image, this won't be an issue.

You can also alter the region of the Saturn itself, using jumpers built on to the board. So, you could test your Japanese backups by effectively changing your Saturn to a Japanese model. If they work, there you go -- the patching is the problem. A special cartridge will do the same thing, if you have one handy -- perhaps your friend with the Japanese games will have an import cartridge you could borrow, as well. Again, this is just to test the quality of the copies and confirm its a region patching issue.

If you insert your discs into the system and it doesn't display an error message (such as "Disc Incompatible with this System"), then it truly does regard these as audio discs. In this case, make certain you are copying the disc as a mixed-mode (containing both data and audio -- although the game may not have audio tracks, in which case this is moot). Do not allow the programs to make any correction if it encounters errors. I believe it should be reading sub-channel data.

I've heard reports that using Karaoke as an image type sets the defaults perfectly. I've had no need to do this, so I'm not going to confirm that report.

If you still have problems, and if you believe its in the burning proceedure -- take some screenshots of your software's burning/ripping configurations. Take some more screenshots of the Saturn Region Patcher. Upload those so we can look for little mistakes/issues. And if the image is small, consider sending it to one of those free file hosting sites so others can take a look at it.

Cheers.

[racketboy]

If you downloaded a copy of Radiant Silvergun and that works, then you are good as far as the modchip is concerned. Originals should work fine.

I missed that part -- yes, if that is true, your modchip is working perfectly fine.
Your rips or burns are the issue.

[turkey]

your region switch sounds like it could be dud as the only working jap game you have had working is region patched, and you have confirmed your modchip works and by the sounds of it originals in your region. I would try the jap games on each switch setting no matter what it says, you might also want to rip one of the games again and patch it to your own region. If this works then you know you will have to open the saturn and redo the region switch.

Just to check... you realise the mod chip does not alter your region settings and to play a foreign game original or not you need a region switch or import cart...

[NeoZer0]

Woohoo, the region switch resolved all my issues. Even the games I thought I region patched are working on the Japanese mode. Guess I'm no good at the region patching deal. Oh well I always liked getting things to work via hardware instead of software anyways. Thanks for all your help guys!

Yo Racket, I got a model 2 saturn with a broken CD pickup and I think the motor is bad, any ideas where I can get a replacement motor?

Thanks!

[racketboy]

Woohoo, the region switch resolved all my issues. Even the games I thought I region patched are working on the Japanese mode. Guess I'm no good at the region patching deal. Oh well I always liked getting things to work via hardware instead of software anyways. Thanks for all your help guys!

Yo Racket, I got a model 2 saturn with a broken CD pickup and I think the motor is bad, any ideas where I can get a replacement motor?

Thanks!

Not sure if there is a good place to get a motor other than just getting one from a Saturn with a different problem.
Glad you got your other problem fixed though!