Homebrew Saturn emulation using Cotton/Guardian Force testing and debug

[Ligeia]

Like what games? Have you tried just simply using title romfs method instead of using an injection script nsp thing

These ones :
- Toshinden U.R.A. (first and foremost)
- DBZ Shin Butoden
- Suiko Enbu - Fuuun Saiki
- D-Xhird
- Last Bronx
- Zen Nihon Pro Wres featuring Virtua
- Astra Superstars

I didn't know about this title romfs method, but found your original post about it doing a search. I'll try that, thanks

 

[lisreal2401]

Something that has mystified me even back when it was posted... does anyone have insight on how @ploggy initially decrypted the .ini for Cotton 2 in the first place?

I now have Assault Suit Leynos 2, which is almost the same in terms of structure as the first releases, but contains an additional .cdda file that may or may not be causing problems with bin/cue swapping.

Attempting my own initial instructions (of course) did not work.
Swapping the .cdda file with a .bin file containing audio did not work.
Swapping the bin with a Redump dump of the same game did not work.

Swapping the bin with a Redump dump of the same game, but with hex values from 0x0000000 to 0x00000100 inserted from the encrypted bin included in the release had some promise, the game passes it's "Now Loading" screen into it's pregame instructions, but shortly closes after that.

The unencrypted hex reads as this, for what it's worth. There's "some" checking going on in this portion at least.

00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 02 00 01 53 45 47 41 20 53 45 47 41 53 41 54 55 52 4E 20 53 45 47 41 20 54 50 20 54 2D 32 35 20 20 20 20 54 2D 32 35 30 31 47 20 20 20 56 31 2E 30 30 33 31 39 39 37 30 31 31 34 43 44 2D 31 2F 31 20 20 4A 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 4A 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 4A 55 55 53 4F 55 4B 49 48 45 49 20 4C 45 59 4E 4F 53 32 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 36 00 00 00 00 00 06 00 20 00 06 00 10 00 06 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

�ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ���SEGA SEGASATURN SEGA TP T-25 T-2501G V1.00319970114CD-1/1 J J JUUSOUKIHEI LEYNOS2 ������������������6������ �����������������

Encrypted hex from included binary if anyone wants to look at this without doing the dumping.

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

 

[Rockmaniac]

So a few questions from a n00b. Using CaVe Database Manager 1.4.6 I am trying to get a few games going - namely the 3 Mega Man games.... - my first try had no Audio - and buttons weren't the way I want them - is there a button setup in CaVe that I am missing? And same question goes for audio I guess. I hope you don't consider me stupid for asking these types of things @DarkAkuma -

Using Cotton Boomerang as base.

So I set it all up - except I have no game config.ini - am I supposed to make that myself? or can I find a list of game inis somewhere? My guess is an ini would solve both audio and button issue....

The program looks really great. I just wish I could understand the missing parts... in the Wiki / instructions you say that you can either choose an ini or it generates one? is that what the NEXT button does then? the settings? I do get an audio option in there..I tried to set that right.... but next try of the NSP again had no audio....do I need to add any files to get that?

And I saw settings for input.... which I suppose is controller button input?

Pad_0_0_0, which i suppose is controller 1 has this information:

1/0/1/1/1/2/1/3/1/5/1/4/1/11/1/7/1/6/1/10/1/8/1/9/1/15/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7/0/6/0/9/0/2/0/2/0/2/0/2/0/2/0/0

now all I'd like to change is to shoot with Y and jump with B. instead of as right now - jumping w A and shooting with B... I can't even beat the first boss w that setup.

So can anyone please help me w settings for audio and controllers. I managed to do widescreen and I love how it looks. But I need help w those two settings....

Is there a written guide of some kind? Sincerest apologies if I am stupid. And HUGE thank you for your work @DarkAkuma.

 

[DarkAkuma]

So a few questions from a n00b. Using CaVe Database Manager 1.4.6 I am trying to get a few games going - namely the 3 Mega Man games.... - my first try had no Audio - and buttons weren't the way I want them - is there a button setup in CaVe that I am missing? And same question goes for audio I guess. I hope you don't consider me stupid for asking these types of things @DarkAkuma -

Using Cotton Boomerang as base.

So I set it all up - except I have no game config.ini - am I supposed to make that myself? or can I find a list of game inis somewhere? My guess is an ini would solve both audio and button issue....

The program looks really great. I just wish I could understand the missing parts... in the Wiki / instructions you say that you can either choose an ini or it generates one? is that what the NEXT button does then? the settings? I do get an audio option in there..I tried to set that right.... but next try of the NSP again had no audio....do I need to add any files to get that?

And I saw settings for input.... which I suppose is controller button input?

Pad_0_0_0, which i suppose is controller 1 has this information:

1/0/1/1/1/2/1/3/1/5/1/4/1/11/1/7/1/6/1/10/1/8/1/9/1/15/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7/0/6/0/9/0/2/0/2/0/2/0/2/0/2/0/0

now all I'd like to change is to shoot with Y and jump with B. instead of as right now - jumping w A and shooting with B... I can't even beat the first boss w that setup.

So can anyone please help me w settings for audio and controllers. I managed to do widescreen and I love how it looks. But I need help w those two settings....

Is there a written guide of some kind? Sincerest apologies if I am stupid. And HUGE thank you for your work @DarkAkuma.

CaVE v1.4.6 has some bugs with saturn game nsp creation. It's generally not recommended atm. I forget what issues exactly off the top of my head. I think there was a issue with selecting a ini at all? And settings sometimes ending up blank?

Unless you have access to v1.5 of CaVE, where I fix the issues, id recommend other non-CaVE methods at this time.

As far as choosing a ini or generating one... the option to choose a ini is just that. In the wizard pages after that, regardless if you selected a ini or not, the settings configure an ini. You could say that selecting a ini is just to load default values for the settings.

The audio issue could be the bug with not loading settings. But I also learned of one recently with a setting using a incorrect value format. A number instead of a string. I believe that issue happened with euro games though. Again, fixed in v1.5 of CaVE, but not v1.4.6. I dropped support of that build. (but I am at least pushing to get v1.5 public again).

Anyway... Questions for me and CaVE should be posted to my CaVE thread. The community on this thread was not very receptive of my inclusion of ZerbaEngine support in CaVE. So I do not watch this thread at all.

 

[Rockmaniac]

CaVE v1.4.6 has some bugs with saturn game nsp creation. It's generally not recommended atm. I forget what issues exactly off the top of my head. I think there was a issue with selecting a ini at all? And settings sometimes ending up blank?

Unless you have access to v1.5 of CaVE, where I fix the issues, id recommend other non-CaVE methods at this time.

As far as choosing a ini or generating one... the option to choose a ini is just that. In the wizard pages after that, regardless if you selected a ini or not, the settings configure an ini. You could say that selecting a ini is just to load default values for the settings.

The audio issue could be the bug with not loading settings. But I also learned of one recently with a setting using a incorrect value format. A number instead of a string. I believe that issue happened with euro games though. Again, fixed in v1.5 of CaVE, but not v1.4.6. I dropped support of that build. (but I am at least pushing to get v1.5 public again).

Anyway... Questions for me and CaVE should be posted to my CaVE thread. The community on this thread was not very receptive of my inclusion of ZerbaEngine support in CaVE. So I do not watch this thread at all.

Apologies. will ask follow-ups in that post. Thanks for answering.

 

[rani]

Hi everyone,

I want to start by expressing my immense gratitude to all of you who have figured out how to run Saturn games on the Switch. Your talent and dedication are truly impressive!

I have a few questions I hope someone might be able to help with:

1. Has anyone successfully gotten the Castlevania SOTN 4MB hack working?
2. Can Die Hard Arcade run at full speed with proper sound effects?
3. Does anyone have a link to the spreadsheet with .ini files for each Saturn game and their compatibility tests?
4. Is there an English version of The Legend of Oasis that supports sound and has a screen that isn’t cut off at the bottom like the PAL version?

Also, I use Sega 2 NSP for creating NSP files. Each time it asks me to assign a number, is there a limit? I've been using IDs from 80 to 99 but wonder if any random number would work.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[AkitoUF]

Has anyone managed to successfully run the english patched version of Bulk Slash? I can load the title screen with sound just fine but whenever I want to actually start playing the game it just goes to a black screen.

 

[Reploid]

Has anyone managed to successfully run the english patched version of Bulk Slash? I can load the title screen with sound just fine but whenever I want to actually start playing the game it just goes to a black screen.

Worked for me using the script to convert

 

[AkitoUF]

Worked for me using the script to convert

Script?

 

[Reploid]

Script?

Create Saturn NSP v1.2 by Markus95

 

[AkitoUF]

Create Saturn NSP v1.2 by Markus95

Tried it but it shows a lot of error messages and nothing plays. Also when it's installed on the Switch it still shows Cotton as the game title. Can you change that?

 

[Reploid]

Tried it but it shows a lot of error messages and nothing plays. Also when it's installed on the Switch it still shows Cotton as the game title. Can you change that?

Oh, no Idea then

 

[dragonz]

Tried it but it shows a lot of error messages and nothing plays. Also when it's installed on the Switch it still shows Cotton as the game title. Can you change that?

I believe he meant that once you use Saturn to NSP, you can create a script (.ini) file to configure it accordingly. For example, I can choose option 6 to disable the menu from always displaying. By the way, I haven't tried running the game you're referring to.

Post automatically merged: Sep 18, 2024

A handful of games have gone from Unplayable to Playable/Partially Playable
Currently you will need to use the Full Compatibility config (see attached) along with the advised CPU Overclock.
The games likely can be optimized further if adjustments to the config are made, so please help us out by making and testing adjustments of your own. (Be sure to lower CPU OC as well after making config changes).

All Japan Pro Wrestling Featuring Virtua - 1683MHz
All Japan Pro Wrestling Featuring Virtua (Rev A)- 1683MHz
Casper (USA) - 1581MHz
Virtua Fighter Kids (USA) - 1785MHz (fps mildly lags)
Wachenroeder - No OC Needed

and of course, these have been updated in the compatibility spreadsheet.

Hi everyone,

Could someone explain how the Full Compatibility config file works? Can it be used in tandem with Saturn to NSP?

 

[DaSkanker]

single nsp basis

CottonBoomerang
010077001526E000 = icon.jpg / config.ini
010077001526E002 = bin + cue

GuardianForce
0100C67015270000 = icon.jpg / config.ini
0100C67015270002 = bin + cue

Cotton2
0100A18015268000 = icon.jpg / config.ini
0100A18015268002 = bin + cue

a little late to the party but dam thank you so much.
Been looking for this exact info for ages today.
This should be on page 1 lol

 

[dragonz]

a little late to the party but dam thank you so much.
Been looking for this exact info for ages today.
This should be on page 1 lol

How is this info helpful - I usually just use cottonboomerang and saturn to nsp

 

[DaSkanker]

How is this info helpful - I usually just use cottonboomerang and saturn to nsp

So I'm new to saturn on switch and this info lets me know where to stick custom titles and images to the 3 single games that contain the emulator, as well as where to put the bin and cue files.
My process atm is having a folder full of cue files that are renamed and I drop them into the folder that contains the bins with goldleaf.
Before finding this info I only had cotton2 and CottonBoom able to play other games (but no custom name or artwork) and I had Guardian Force working with custom artwork but not able to play different games.
I didn't know that I needed different folders to do each of those tasks. Now I do and I can trest up happy with this set up.
I've tried to make my own NSPs but all i get is errors when i try to run said program. Maybe i'm missing something but i got pissed off with trying and gave up so decided this way will do the job.
Fighters mega mix will forever live on one and then ive got 2 I can play with whenever i feel to.

 

[dragonz]

So I'm new to saturn on switch and this info lets me know where to stick custom titles and images to the 3 single games that contain the emulator, as well as where to put the bin and cue files.
My process atm is having a folder full of cue files that are renamed and I drop them into the folder that contains the bins with goldleaf.
Before finding this info I only had cotton2 and CottonBoom able to play other games (but no custom name or artwork) and I had Guardian Force working with custom artwork but not able to play different games.
I didn't know that I needed different folders to do each of those tasks. Now I do and I can trest up happy with this set up.
I've tried to make my own NSPs but all i get is errors when i try to run said program. Maybe i'm missing something but i got pissed off with trying and gave up so decided this way will do the job.
Fighters mega mix will forever live on one and then ive got 2 I can play with whenever i feel to.

I can help you ... I think - IMO this is the best way to make your own NSP
Download Saturn to NSP https://www.mediafire.com/file/q9hpypm26vwtw5h/saturn.rar/file
(Before using it, make sure you have the Cotton Boomerang - Saturn tribute nsp and prod.keys files. Without these files, the script won't function properly and will prompt you to add them.) I just followed this video and within minutes I had created my own NSP.
If you get stuck let me know . Otherwise Congrats on getting whatever worked for you.

 

[DaSkanker]

If you get stuck let me know . Otherwise Congrats on getting whatever working for you

Thanks mate, This is the same program i was using before. I have been using cotton2 as I thought that did the same job.
Not to sure what ime doing wrong but i have a feeling it may be something to do with pro.key files? I've got what i think to be right but that could be what i ave wrong. I'll try with boomerang tomorrow to see if that helps.
Again thanks.

 

[dragonz]

Thanks mate, This is the same program i was using before. I have been using cotton2 as I thought that did the same job.
Not to sure what ime doing wrong but i have a feeling it may be something to do with pro.key files? I've got what i think to be right but that could be what i ave wrong. I'll try with boomerang tomorrow to see if that helps.
Again thanks.

Fyi it has to be Cotton Boomerang otherwise it wont work. Concerning the "prod.keys" make sure that they are inside the tools folder and also in the saturn to nsp folders and you should be good to go.

Little extra info on using this method I got:
Guardian heroes (100% full speed)
Dragon Force (100% full speed)
Magic Knight Ray Earth (100% full speed)
Albert Odyssey (100% full speed)

Castlevania SOTN 1st English Patched (100% Full speed *except it slows down when there are large screen transitions or large special effects?* Not sure if this is also present int the Saturn version)

Got The Story of Thor2 100% full speed (About 5 % of the bottom of the screen is missing)
Got The Legend of Oasis 100% full speed (No sound)

Die Hard Arcade ( 80% speed , low volume and SFX )

Unfortunately I tried using the .INI option with Saturn to NSP but all test simply crashed the process.

 

[mspy]

Did anyone managed to make the updated version of this emulator work ?
(the version that came bundled with later games & updates)
It really seems it has less input lag.