Homebrew Saturn emulation using Cotton/Guardian Force testing and debug

[ZER-O]

To change the TitleID you must set it in the "main.npdm" file and in the "control.nacp" file (in the "control.nacp" you could also change the name and publisher of the game, also you need Hacpack to repack the game into a NSP but it need some extra steps to rebuild the NCAs before repacking into a NSP. I have a script that could repack GameMaker games like that, with some modifications I think I could adapt it for this, when I find some time I will try to investigate.

if possible, just rename the publisher and developer to
Game Name: Sega Saturn
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: SEGA
if you start working on it, ill provide you images for the game covers
i wont do anything until next week

also a way to rename
Cotton2_Switch.ini to Sega_Saturn.ini or SSF_Settings.ini
Rename all Files with Ctn2 to SSF (mostly ,tex files and 4 more files)
Rename Cotton2.cue to Saturn_ISO.cue
Also delete the Cotton 2 Bin File and see if you are able inject a sega saturn iso in its place and repack the NSP, i will probably have all of this made in a few days after i sort out what needs to be changed

this way we have stripped NSP from all references of Cotton2

ill do my custom NSP Packs with renaming each game i inject with its own Real Developer and publisher name, i prefer No intro and just go straght to the game

 

[Thorhax]

Right as that's the actual TitleID of the game. Shows that for me as well. But dumping the 3rd option provided me with the "...8002" folder (hence the TitleID Offset = 2)

SUCCESS Thank you so much for all the help!

 

[Levine91]

@ZER-O I just tested Mr. Bones (USA) (Disc 1) and it black screens after the main menu.... so that and the Rayman issue... it REALLY seems like this is SSF.

Also someone else had tested SotN 4MB Hack in the thread and was claiming it is working perfectly. (After adjusting the .ini obviously)

 

[ZER-O]

@ZER-O I just tested Mr. Bones (USA) (Disc 1) and it black screens after the main menu.... so that and the Rayman issue... it REALLY seems like this is SSF.

Also someone else had tested SotN 4MB Hack in the thread and was claiming it is working perfectly. (After adjusting the .ini obviously)

i put in in #1 spot because i cant Run it in SSF
the rest of the games i sent you will work, since i play all of them on PC
SokyuGurentai will not work unless fiddled with

i dont know if i should Praise the Developer of Cotton2 Port or Question their Ethics for using an Ancient PC Emulator to sell the games again

still this may be the only way we can Preserve Panzer Dragoon Saga and many Saturn Exclusive Shooters that will never be ported to switch

cant believe Treasure is setting on their Xbox 360 Live Radiant SilverGun HD port.....
anyway i edited the setti9ngs to have 4mp and full stretched Widescreen

now i wait for someone to share the best settings for each game, ill try and find the file for SSF for recommended changes

 

[Deleted member 323844]

i dont know if i should Praise the Developer of Cotton2 Port or Question their Ethics for using an Ancient PC Emulator to sell the games again

It is indeed the oldest PC emulator still active, along with Martin "nocash" Korth emulators (no$snes, etc) and MAME. It has been in development since 1999 (the first Saturn emulator to run commercial games, beating even GiriGiri), but it has been active until a few months ago.

I guess Shima, the author, is now member, or at least supporter, of City Connection, the studio behind the ZebraEngine. I can't see why it should be unethical. The mentioned GiriGiri was sold to Sega even before they made it public (it had hacked versions later, like Cassini) and SSF has been free for 20+ years.

It should be SSF, since the INI is just 1:1.

 

[cucholix]

also a way to rename
Cotton2_Switch.ini to Sega_Saturn.ini or SSF_Settings.ini
Rename all Files with Ctn2 to SSF (mostly ,tex files and 4 more files)
Rename Cotton2.cue to Saturn_ISO.cue
Also delete the Cotton 2 Bin File and see if you are able inject a sega saturn iso in its place and repack the NSP, i will probably have all of this made in a few days after i sort out what needs to be changed

The “Cotton” string references must be called from the main, if you want to change it you need disassemble the main, and patch the strings.

 

[hippy dave]

Only two gamepads are active once you launch the game. There must be a way to do that, since the emulator should support 8+ players, but I don't know how.

Even if SSF itself supports multiple players/multitap emulation, the Switch port doesn't necessarily have support for hooking up more than two Switch controllers to the emulator, especially if the games officially supported by it are only 1-2 players and that's what the interface handles. Might be worth some fiddling experimentation just in case, but I wouldn't be too hopeful, tho it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the work was done, or will be done for a future version of the emulator, if someone wants to sell a similar package for games that support more players.

 

[helvetinperkeles]

Any change that someone could make video tutorial how to make this edits? This all seem so over my skills but id really like to learn the secrets

 

[asper]

Can I ask you how you obtained the decrypted files ? I just extracted the .nsp using NxFileViewer but i obtain encrypted files.

 

[ZER-O]

i think we can use the 3 pack version of this game and add 3 saturn games
then we change the assets to match the games

we need a way to not loose our game saves, or all of this is pointless if someoine wanted to play games like panzer dragoon saga

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

i think we can use the 3 pack version of this game and add 3 saturn games
then we change the assets to match the games

we need a way to not loose our game saves, or all of this is pointless if someoine wanted to play games like panzer dragoon saga

Install the standalone versions. Thats what im doing.

1.Collection
2. Cotton 2 Standalone
3. Boomerang Standalone
4. Guardian Force Standalone

Allows your 4 different Saturn games with 4 saves at once.

 

[xYuunax]

i think we can use the 3 pack version of this game and add 3 saturn games
then we change the assets to match the games

we need a way to not loose our game saves, or all of this is pointless if someoine wanted to play games like panzer dragoon saga

Install the standalone versions. Thats what im doing.

1.Collection
2. Cotton 2 Standalone
3. Boomerang Standalone
4. Guardian Force Standalone

Allows your 4 different Saturn games with 4 saves at once.

Wouldn't saving under a different profile also work?

EDIT: nvm, misunderstood.. you guys were talking about changing the assets specifically to match a game

 

[ZER-O]

Wouldn't saving under a different profile also work

custom title NSP should make separate save files
i want a shared public easy way to just change the TID

Install the standalone versions. Thats what im doing.

1.Collection
2. Cotton 2 Standalone
3. Boomerang Standalone
4. Guardian Force Standalone

Allows your 4 different Saturn games with 4 saves at once.

then i will try and Panzer Dragoon Saga 4 Disc's into it and see what happens when i am asked to replace Discs
can someone give me decrypted text file from the Cheat_Switch > T_9904G > T_9904G.bin folder, i want to try and add cheats to it

 

[ploggy]

@ZER-O I just tested Mr. Bones (USA) (Disc 1) and it black screens after the main menu.... so that and the Rayman issue... it REALLY seems like this is SSF.

Also someone else had tested SotN 4MB Hack in the thread and was claiming it is working perfectly. (After adjusting the .ini obviously)

That would be me, @ZER-O The Castlevania 4MB Romhack works great and of course the menu opens and closes superfast

 

[lisreal2401]

If anyone wants the decrypted NSO for Cotton 2 let me know.

Before I even got anything booting searching for string "Cotton" gave me nothing.

 

[ZER-O]

If anyone wants the decrypted NSO for Cotton 2 let me know.

Before I even got anything booting searching for string "Cotton" gave me nothing.

i need it, i want to remove all traces of cotton2 and just rename to SSF and make it a general template to inject games in it
then we use another tool to replace the NSP icon image
also maybe delete Cotton image bin to make file small in size
send me a PM we can discuss it later

 

[zenjiki]

Just a reminder for people. You don't need to actually dump anything.

Just make a game title folder (change last digit 6 for collection/2 for standalone) > romfs > drag and drop your .bin and rename the .cue file

That's it. No dumping required.

New to dumping and doing all these, so what tool/utilities do i need to exactly do the above... Do I need still need lockpick and nxdumptool?

 

[lisreal2401]

New to dumping and doing all these, so what tool/utilities do i need to exactly do the above... Do I need still need lockpick and nxdumptool?

No

Create the folders in my first post on SD, and place the bin cue and ini files

 

[shadow256]

i need it, i want to remove all traces of cotton2 and just rename to SSF and make it a general template to inject games in it
then we use another tool to replace the NSP icon image
also maybe delete Cotton image bin to make file small in size
send me a PM we can discuss it later

You can add me in the private conversation if you want, I can make a script to use these template files to build a NSP with easy changing of the TitleID, Titlename, Publisher, Version, Icon, Logo and Game files suplied by the user. After that I think I will integrate a function in the script to edit more easily the ini file, at least for the options witch need to be adapted frequently.

This project is realy intresting so I will take some time to work on it.

 

[matt!]

No

Create the folders in my first post on SD, and place the bin cue and ini files

This is still unclear to me. In your first post it says to dump?