Help, properly burning Saturn games?!

[Xeogred]

I'm a total noob when it comes to this. The thing is is that I've looked all over racketboy, snesoroma, for guides and such but there's just so many programs and outdated tutorials, it gets really confusing. Maybe someone who's bored or whatever here can help me out ...

Basically I got a modded Sega Saturn (J) from someone here, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to properly burn and play games. I haven't even attempted (E) or (U) games yet, with converting the region and whatnot. So I have only attempted (J) games so far.

So far I have only successfully burned Radiant Silvergun and G Vector, both had BIN files. So it seems like those are good! But most downloads I'm getting are .iso/mp3... etc.

Other than that, I've failed with a lot of attempts burning other stuff that just has .iso image files, music files, etc. I just tried Blast Wind (J), and also converted all the .mp3's to .wav's, then used Sega Cue Maker to generate a cue sheet, but it didn't work. Track 01 is an image file, should I mount/burn that instead of a .cue file for something like this? EDIT: Well that didn't work either.

All these failed attempts have the Saturn bringing up the music menu, half of them still don't even work. I think Blast Wind is the only one that would actually play music (probably because I converted the files to .wav?)

I'm using Nero Burning ROM (Nero 9) for burning the CD's, at 8x.

Any help is appreciated.

I also have some games like Thunder Force Gold Pack 2, that are just three files, a large image file, a CCD, and SUB. Not really sure what to do with those?

[Anayo]

I'd like to see how this question gets answered. While I couldn't get my modchip to work, I tried in advance to find out how to burn games and the documentation was all pretty outdated and hard to follow.

[Ziggy]

edit: NEW GUIDE: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/hacks/20 ... tware.html

Jammed packed full of info! Puts the guide that was originally in this post to shame.

[Xeogred]

A lot of that sounds like what I was attempting, but perhaps I was missing one crucial step or something, lol. I just followed those steps and successfully burned a few games!

Also for the Thunder Force Goldpack 2 issue, I was able to use UltraISO to make an .iso file out of the files I had, then was able to go from there and made a working burn of that too. So if anyone is getting sets of .ccd/.sub files or whatever, I'd recommend using UltraISO to work with those (with this you don't even have to mount the game I believe, since it can just convert files).

So yeah, thanks a lot Ziggy587. The list of programs and everything helped a lot and now I think I'm good to go, just have to build up my collection!

Much appreciated.

[Ziggy]

No problem. The most crucial step is making sure you make the cue AFTER ever thing else. For instance, if you make a cue then convert the mp3's into wav files, then change the name of the ISO, the cue wont have the correct information.

As far as the ccd/sub image files, it's just a Clone CD format. If you have the program Clone CD, you can just burn those images directly with OUT any kind of conversion. If you're gonna convert them, though, use the BIN/CUE format. I've read that ISO isn't great for games, I don't know why. BIN/CUE is perfect for Saturn games, but most PS1 games tend to come in the CCD format.

[fast]

Ziggy said it the best way possible with free programs. Ziggy would you mind if we cleaned it up, added some pictures, and made it a guide on the site?

This is the main reason I liked the Cassini emulator. The Bin/Cue&ISO/Wav maker and Sat Conv were combined with the emulator in some versions. So you would just open the emulator, point at the game, and then you would have an iso come out ready for burning. Sadly there are so many versions of the emulator, and most are virus laden, it is not advisable to do it that way anymore.

[gtmtnbiker]

This is the main reason I liked the Cassini emulator. The Bin/Cue&ISO/Wav maker and Sat Conv were combined with the emulator in some versions. So you would just open the emulator, point at the game, and then you would have an iso come out ready for burning. Sadly there are so many versions of the emulator, and most are virus laden, it is not advisable to do it that way anymore.

I would think the version at Zophar's Domain (http://www.zophar.net/saturn.html) would be reputable, no?

[Ziggy]

Ziggy said it the best way possible with free programs. Ziggy would you mind if we cleaned it up, added some pictures, and made it a guide on the site?

I think it'd be worth it, this question gets asked often... everywhere. Do it up! I would offer to clean it up and get some pictures in there, but I don't have the time recently. I've got so many projects right now, from repro carts to remodeling a bathroom!

[gtmtnbiker]

If you make this guide, I suggest the following tips:

1. Test your image using an emulator such as SSF. You can use it to verify that the Region Patching works.
2. It seems that non-clear CD-Rs should be avoided. I was unable to use my Sony blue CD-Rs that the Dreamcast unit liked. I've had good luck with Maxell CD-R and this cheap Memorex CD-Rs. They're both clear on the data side.
3. If you're using a mod chip, you should have at least one commercial game to test your system out. If regular games won't work, forget about backup CD-Rs.
4. I agree with using ImgBurn for this. It's free and it works great.

[gtmtnbiker]

I was just trying to use the Metal Slug (J) image. I used the Saturn Region Patcher (see http://madroms.free.fr/#SRP). After patching it, I had to use the CDmage script to correct the ecc fields. Once I did this, I was able to play the image in SSF using the (U) BIOS. I haven't tried burning it yet but will do so tomorrow.

The next image I have to figure out is Bust-a-Move. For some reason, it doesn't work in SSF. I'll see if I