Homebrew Saturn emulation using Cotton/Guardian Force testing and debug

[hotcofe]

For Sega Saturn emulation, the BIOS shouldn’t be renamed arbitrarily—Tico should accept any valid Saturn BIOS file as long as it matches one of the expected names: EDIT *( Only one bios file in the bios folder to avoid issues)*

• saturn_bios.bin
• sega_101.bin
• mpr-17933.bin

So if your dumps are named things like:

• SS - BIOS (E).bin
• SS - BIOS (U).bin
• SS - BIOS V1.00.bin
• SS - BIOS V1.01.bin

it’s better not to rename them, since doing so can cause unexpected issues.

I also noticed Guardian Heroes didn’t prompt me to choose between internal memory or cartridge memory. That might be related to CartridgeID=(usually set )"5a" setting being set to 00. In the meantime, save states worked, but I did run into a problem: after closing the game and exiting Tico, the Switch gave me a 10‑second delay followed by a application error message. This didn’t happen with Bulk Slash, so it may be specific to Guardian Heroes or tied to saving a state in that game.

Overall, this is shaping up to be the best Saturn experience on the Switch.

Regarding the BIOS issue, the actual situation is that when running Sega Saturn games through tico, if you start the game with the original BIOS file name, sometimes a black screen appears. Only by renaming the file can the game be launched normally through BIOS. Also, in the game, you can enter "Nine-Ball Mode" by pressing a key combination. I don't know if you had turned on the "skip BIOS" option during testing. If you didn't turn on this option but the Sega Saturn logo didn't appear when you started the game and you directly entered the game, it means that BIOS wasn't invoked. Later, I will test with other games to see if the game progress can be saved normally when BIOS is invoked. If everything is normal, it's possible that only some games experience the disappearance of save files.

 

[dragonz]

Regarding the BIOS issue, the actual situation is that when running Sega Saturn games through tico, if you start the game with the original BIOS file name, sometimes a black screen appears. Only by renaming the file can the game be launched normally through BIOS. Also, in the game, you can enter "Nine-Ball Mode" by pressing a key combination. I don't know if you had turned on the "skip BIOS" option during testing. If you didn't turn on this option but the Sega Saturn logo didn't appear when you started the game and you directly entered the game, it means that BIOS wasn't invoked. Later, I will test with other games to see if the game progress can be saved normally when BIOS is invoked. If everything is normal, it's possible that only some games experience the disappearance of save files.

I’ve never changed any of the default settings — I’ve never had to rename my BIOS, and I didn’t get the error message you saw. It’s actually pretty cool that the developer added a specific warning telling you which BIOS is required. Oh, and I don’t remember seeing the Sega Saturn logo at launch; the games just loaded right away. Good luck with your testing — I’m really interested to hear what you find.

 

[hotcofe]

I’ve never changed any of the default settings — I’ve never had to rename my BIOS, and I didn’t get the error message you saw. It’s actually pretty cool that the developer added a specific warning telling you which BIOS is required. Oh, and I don’t remember seeing the Sega Saturn logo at launch; the games just loaded right away. Good luck with your testing — I’m really interested to hear what you find.

Today, TICO has updated version 0.6, which is almost perfect for Sega Saturn alone. Added 1MB and 4MB RAM cartridge, fixed the issue of saving SRAM files, and now there is no longer a problem of Lost game save. In 720p mode, the running speed is very stable. The issue of error reporting after defeating the first boss in Castlevania, as mentioned earlier, no longer exists. In addition, the Castlevania hack 1.5 can also run normally. I haven't tested other emulators yet, but at least there has been significant progress in the emulation of Sega Saturn.

 

[dragonz]

Today, TICO has updated version 0.6, which is almost perfect for Sega Saturn alone. Added 1MB and 4MB RAM cartridge, fixed the issue of saving SRAM files, and now there is no longer a problem of Lost game save. In 720p mode, the running speed is very stable. The issue of error reporting after defeating the first boss in Castlevania, as mentioned earlier, no longer exists. In addition, the Castlevania hack 1.5 can also run normally. I haven't tested other emulators yet, but at least there has been significant progress in the emulation of Sega Saturn.

This is awesome news—huge thanks to the TICO creators for the progress! I won’t be able to test it myself until the weekend, but was csotn 1.5 the version we were all trying to get working before? Also, do you know if button remapping is possible in this update?

Edit: Does it support CHD or only .Cue/Bin ?

 

[mjci0]

Hey that's pretty awesome!

I did give it a shot and created a NSP of this version, but it had the same result as the v1.1 of the original PSP script and just crashed right away.

If I were to guess it looks like both versions are exactly the same, with this newer version just replacing the PSP script with the PS1 script

I'm currently trying to create the NSP file for this version by modifying the .ini parameters. I've managed to get rid of the error message, but it still won't run the ROM.

I assume you know that the Zebra emulator is derived from or uses the same configuration as SSF. Previously, this ROM wouldn't run on my SSF until I used the correct BIOS. Could it be that it won't run on the Switch due to a BIOS issue? Does anyone know where the BIOS should be placed to tell the .ini file to run it?

 

[hotcofe]

I'm currently trying to create the NSP file for this version by modifying the .ini parameters. I've managed to get rid of the error message, but it still won't run the ROM.

I assume you know that the Zebra emulator is derived from or uses the same configuration as SSF. Previously, this ROM wouldn't run on my SSF until I used the correct BIOS. Could it be that it won't run on the Switch due to a BIOS issue? Does anyone know where the BIOS should be placed to tell the .ini file to run it?

If I remember correctly, the Zebra Engine doesn't seem to be able to load the Sega Saturn's BIOS correctly yet.