Homebrew Saturn emulation using Cotton/Guardian Force testing and debug

[lisreal2401]

No longer actively working on this project - the community ran with this in a manner I didn't expect and I love you all for going so far with this and the love of the Saturn.

Will continue adding threadmarks and watching this space... back to more hacky stuff.

This collection has problems but I managed to get it to run any Saturn game you'd like and a few other notes

Game is using an emulator I cannot place - I don't see references in the main in IDA though it might be in the Unity resource files. All the games here have unique ini files, but are encrypted and I'm not entirely sure to what extent they change the emulation per game

Quick instructions for injection

Create a directory for the title of your game in atmosphere/contents
Replace bin and cue files
Rename your cue file based on game - see below for reference, do not rename bin files
For other tweaks, see "Important posts"
play.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Install one of the games. Either the Triple Collection or each game as a standalone depending on where you "get" the game
Create a Title Id folder of your chosen game and place in your "Contents" folder for atmosphere or "Titles" folder for SXOS.
0100094014BE4006 for Collection
010077001526E002 for Boomerang standalone
0100A18015268002 for Cotton 2 standalone
Place a "romfs" folder inside the title ID folder
Place your Saturn roms in romfs folder in .bin format
Rename the .cue file for your saturn roms to either Cotton2.cue for the collection/Cotton 2 standalone or CottonBoomerang.cue for Boomerang Standalone
(Sometimes you have to reboot your switch for changes to take effect)
Launch game.

 

[lisreal2401]

POC

No audio since it's more annoying than useful - the playback for the audio in game sounds great in this example, seems to have problems with sound that isn't from the CD https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jpm9w9KXgEOzNfYX8AE_qtQIMgavqavB/view?usp=sharing

 

[Sm0k3r83]

any chance anyone can test Virtual Hydlide, not sure if it just doesnt work or if im not doing it correctly

 

[lisreal2401]

Amended tutorial since this assumes things not listed in the first post

I'd assume you need at least 12.0 or higher
Keys dumped and stored from Lockpick
NX dumptool

After installing the game or inserting, you want to dump the romfs of NCA 6, 7 and 8 toggled as layeredfs - you only need a single game, but these gives you the 3 to test with

Now in the dumped folder, you'll notice a single .bin and .cue file

Copy the name of the .cue file (NOT the file, the file name itself) and delete it with the bin file of the same name.
Place your bin cue files where we just deleted the files
Rename .cue to the original file name, and leave the bin files untouched

Launch the game, then pick whatever game you swapped. Game should boot - if you get an error, you most likely got hung up on the .cue file - I need to stress this, DO NOT use the original cue file

 

[cucholix]

Launch the game, then pick whatever game you swapped. Game should boot - if you get an error, you most likely got hung up on the .cue file - I need to stress this, DO NOT use the original cue file

The original .cue seems to be encrypted, the text is garbled unlike standart .cue.
Since you are using standart .cue for game swapping there's no issues with the audio?

 

[hippy dave]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

[lisreal2401]

The original .cue seems to be encrypted, the text is garbled unlike standart .cue.
Since you are using standart .cue for game swapping there's no issues with the audio?

You replace it, retain the file name of the encrypted cue

 

[ploggy]

I've tried this, I managed to get Clockwork Knight 2 to boot to the Main Menu but blacks screens after that and I got Decathlete to work but black screens after the first Event :/

 

[lisreal2401]

I've tried this, I managed to get Clockwork Knight 2 to boot to the Main Menu but blacks screens after that and I got Decathlete to work but black screens after the first Event :/

Sega Rally works with minor slowdown undocked, visuals look fine

Not surprised, though - hopefully the .ini and the emulator itself can be figured out. For now, if you get in game at all that will help not waste time for others.

 

[ploggy]

Sega Rally works with minor slowdown undocked, visuals look fine

Not surprised, though - hopefully the .ini and the emulator itself can be figured out. For now, if you get in game at all that will help not waste time for others.

Problem is I think we'd need to decrypt/re-encrypt the cue/ini in order for this to work without issues.
Vid of Decathlete. (blackscreens after this)


https://streamable.com/k0twiz

 

[lisreal2401]

Problem is I think we'd need to decrypt/re-encrypt the cue/ini in order for this to work without issues.
Vid of Decathlete. (blackscreens after this)


https://streamable.com/k0twiz

The issue being, I'm not a programmer, so the findings in my post is what I managed to figure out by looking through code and seeing what works - it's more of a PSA for anyone interested in breaking encryption while also a dirty emulation of the hardware that's doable now. I didn't think anybody was going to look at this title much and I'm happy I got this far

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Does anyone know what the .cue filenames are for Guardian Force and Cotton Boomerang?

Also, the emulator is wrapped inside Unity which people have reported the games have 10+ frames on input lag. Which is why games might feel weird if you inject them.

 

[Levine91]

This is awesome! I hope to see more come out of this and more people test games out.


EDIT: I'm wondering if using a game that has more than one .bin file could be causing any of the issues @lisreal2401 or @ploggy ran into? Did the HotD file that you used OP have issues with the audio or was that another game? I ask because I combined the 2 .bin files that Magic Knight Rayearth has and I've had 0 issues with audio, gameplay, or FMV. (Examples below)

Magic Knight Rayearth FMV test
https://lewd.pics/p/MZT3.mp4


Magic Knight Rayearth Gameplay + Save State Test
https://lewd.pics/p/4z8b.mp4

 

[Levine91]

Does anyone know what the .cue filenames are for Guardian Force and Cotton Boomerang?

GuardianForce.cue
CottonBoomerang.cue

 

[Levine91]

Sega Saturn Tribute Compatibility Spreadsheet (WIP)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X4iLL8J5sPMlxr_XbfZ-3f21IF9ni-otn2wwl-4hzsk/edit?usp=sharing


- Includes links to required/recommended configs. If nothing is listed, use Guardian Force's default config.
- "CPU MHz" column is the overclock you will need in handheld mode. If nothing is listed, then no overclocking is required.
- If you would like to contribute, click the "Public Sheet" tab at the bottom and add your finds there.
- If any games are flat out missing from the compatibility sheet, please make note of it within the "Public Sheet"
- The sheet is still a work-in-progress, so keep an eye out for changes on already tested games (Better config, less overclock, etc)

If there are any questions, recommendations, etc regarding the spreadsheet, feel free to reach out.



My Custom Sega Saturn NSP Icons / Covers
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_rjVgGDuTv0KTlYIRzhtCo_LBCfJXp6i?usp=sharing



BIG UPDATE!!! 4MB RAM and Stretched Widescreen is possible with a minor change to the .ini config!!!

Decrypted Configuration File

I have gone ahead and attached the decrypted .ini config, courtesy of @cucholix
download the attached "Config_Switch.zip" file, which contains the .ini file you'll need.
I would recommend editing the .ini config using Notepad++, but regular Notepad will work also.

---!!! IMPORTANT !!!---
Make sure to delete your save file after making any changes to the .ini config, otherwise the changes will not take effect!!
Additionally the .ini config will work with any of the 3 core games, you just need to rename the attached .ini config to the corresponding title.
- "Cotton2_Switch.ini"
- "CottonBoomerang_Switch.ini"
- "GuardianForce_Switch.ini"

Config Cheat Sheet
- WideScreen="0" (Widescreen OFF | DEFAULT)
- WideScreen="1" (Widescreen ON)

- CartridgeID="00" (No RAM Cartridge)
- CartridgeID="21" (Backup RAM Cartridge)
- CartridgeID="5a" (1MB RAM Cartridge | DEFAULT)
- CartridgeID="5c" (4MB RAM Cartridge)




Hiding the "Options" icon.
Thanks once again to @cucholix we are also able to hide the "Options" icon from the bottom left corner of the screen.
Attached is a "Texture.zip" file that contains the custom "Texture.tex" file you'll need.
Just simply replace the existing file in your /romfs/ folder with this one.
The options menu itself will still work upon pressing " - " on your controller.

Examples (also provided by @cucholix)

Compatibility

I've been doing some heavy testing of games and boy oh boy the results have been AWESOME!!!
Honestly blew me away with the results... everything listed was tested in HANDHELD mode, NO Overclocking.
Unless noted, I tried to play the first level/tutorial/race/etc to see how things held up.
I really look forward to other people testing more games out and hopefully someone can crack this emulator!

EDIT: Not sure if it'll matter much but every game I tested had all of it's bin files combined via CDmage (so 1 bin, 1 cue)



Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean (USA) (RE) - Perfect

Amok - Perfect

Astal (USA) - Perfect

Baku Baku Animal (USA) - Almost Perfect (Minor lag, consistently running ~50fps)

Burning Rangers (USA) - Almost Perfect (Minor lag at times, I was able to complete the tutorial no problem)

Bug! (USA) - Perfect

Bug Too! (USA) - Perfect

Bulk Slash (Japan) - Unplayable (Game hangs on black screen after start screen)

Clockwork Knight (USA) - Perfect

Clockwork Knight 2 (USA) - Unplayable (Crashes after main menu; use PAL version)

Clockwork Knight 2 (PAL) - Perfect

Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchau no Fukubukuro (Japan) - CK1 Perfect / CK2 Unplayable (Crash; Use PAL Standalone)

Dark Savior - Perfect

Die Hard Arcade (USA) - Perfect

Dragon Force (USA) - Perfect

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara (Japan) - Perfect

Elevator Action Returns (Japan) - Perfect

Gebockers (Japan) - Perfect

Guardian Heroes (USA) - Perfect

Gungriffon (USA) - Perfect

Keio Flying Squadron 2 (Europe) - Perfect

Legend of Oasis (USA) - Perfect

Linkle Liver Story (Japan) (English Translation) - Perfect

Loaded (USA) - Perfect

Magic Knight Rayearth (USA) - Perfect

Metal Slug - Super Vehicle-001 (Japan) (Rev A) - Perfect

Mr. Bones (USA) / Mr. Bones (Japan) - Unplayable (Both regions, game hangs on black screen and never proceeds)

Night Striker S (Japan) - Perfect

NiGHTS into Dreams... (USA) (RE) - Almost Perfect (Often there is a very minor frame drop, but the only reason I even noticed is due to the audio. Otherwise, you can't even tell.)

Noon (Japan) (Rev A) - Perfect

Panzer Dragoon (USA) - Perfect

Panzer Dragoon Zwei (USA) - Perfect

Panzer Dragoon Saga (USA) (Disc 1) - Almost Perfect (Minor audio cracks at random times, I was able to play on foot & riding on the dragon without issue)

Policenauts (Japan) (English Translation) - Perfect (Emulator will not read ISO+WAV+CUE, you will need to convert to BIN+CUE. I recommend AnyBurn to accomplish this.)

Powerslave (USA) - Perfect

Radiant Silvergun (Japan) - Perfect

Rayman (USA) / Rayman (Japan) - Unplayable (Both regions have an input bug. Both in the main menu & in-game, when you press a directional key (Joystick or D-Pad, both are effected), the game responds to the input VERY rapidly, even with a very light press. It ultimately makes the game unplayable)

Sakura Wars (Japan) (English Translation) - Perfect (Emulator will not read ISO+WAV+CUE, you will need to convert to BIN+CUE. I recommend AnyBurn to accomplish this.)

Sega Ages: Power Drift - Almost Perfect (Minor Graphical issues: vehicle disappears when you're on/under a bridge)

Saturn Bomberman (USA) - Perfect

Shinrei Jusatsushi Taroumaru (Japan) - Perfect

Sonic 3D Blast (USA) - Perfect

Sonic Jam (USA) - Unplayable (Crashes at "Press Start" screen)

Sonic R (USA) - Almost Perfect (Minor audio cracks at random times, I was able to finish a race with no issues.)

Steamgear Mash (Japan) - Perfect

Three Dirty Dwarves (USA) - Unplayable (Have to button mash Start+C to get past main menu, game crashes when the stage is 99% loaded)

Virtua Fighter 2 (USA) (RE) - Somewhat Playable (The game has a consistent amount of slowdown it seems, I would say it's in the 40-50fps range if I had to guess)

Virtual On: Cyber Troopers (USA) - Perfect? (For some reason the game initially makes you confirm 2 controllers before the start screen. However you can progress as normal in single player after this. No other issues)

Willy Wombat (Japan) - Perfect

 

[hippy dave]

Saturn Bomberman (USA) - Perfect

Aw yiss

 

[cucholix]

Panzer Dragoon Saga (USA) (Disc 1) - Almost Perfect (Minor audio cracks at random times, I was able to play on foot & riding on the dragon without issue)

It has background music?

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

If we could turn off vsync to lessen input latency would be great.

Also, if we could have multiple save states. Instead of a single one.

I tried setting up each game as an individual .nsp so then you could have 3 games with 3 saves on the go at once but it didn't work. Maybe the file layout are different for individual install? Anyone tried that?

 

[Levine91]

If we could turn off vsync to lessen input latency would be great.

Also, if we could have multiple save states. Instead of a single one.

I tried setting up each game as an individual .nsp so then you could have 3 games with 3 saves on the go at once but it didn't work. Maybe the file layout are different for individual install? Anyone tried that?

There are individual versions of all 3 games on the eShop and those can be injected and used separately from Tribute set.
All of which have different Game IDs. I'm currently testing more games as we speak going this route. (Having Tribute Set and the 3 individual NSPs all installed simultaneously)

Furthermore with the individual NSPs, they don't have a main menu like tribute does, so once you load the NSP from your home screen, it'll autoboot into the injected game! Optionally, Replace the NSP Icon, edit the title name, and you'll have a custom game even! (Now if someone can figure out how to get new borders in as well as I have no idea how)