Homebrew Saturn emulation using Cotton/Guardian Force testing and debug

[Deleted member 323844]

But the PAL game is cut screen up!

Oh, right.

The problem is the PAL game running on an emulated NTSC console, that why the game is cropped. Have you tried "c" in Areacode?

I think PAL games can be patched as well for 60Hz, that could help.

 

[helvetinperkeles]

No. Only one value (BlockClock="200", for example). I meant that that was the safe range, but I don't know what is the highest working value, it could be higher than 250. I would be interesting since the higher the value, the better the performance (probably not much difference tho).


According to xYuunaX, VDP1DrawThread, AlternativeDecode and Deinterlace could benefit the performance in some cases. You could try SH2Cache as well.

Here are some profiles to test, if you don't want to mess with the settings: https://github.com/xYuunaX/SegaSaturnTribute/tree/main/config


I haven't tried more games, but if the translation does not change anything important, it should work out of the box. Aside that glitched very first area.

Holy hell. I changed blockclock from 250 to 200 for Virtua fighter 2 and now it's running very good without any overclocking. Cool! Also Virtua cop 2 plays ok with same setting.

 

[Deleted member 323844]

Holy hell. I changed blockclock from 250 to 200 for Virtua fighter 2 and now it's running very good without any overclocking. Cool! Also Virtua cop 2 plays ok with same setting.

Weird, Virtua Cop 1/2 shouldn't need any tweak.

 

[helvetinperkeles]

Weird, Virtua Cop 1/2 shouldn't need any tweak.

When i previously tested VC2 it had so bad studder and sound lag it was unplayable. But now it's very playable.

 

[AyanamiRei0]

Is there a tutorial on how to make the borders/wallpapers?

 

[Deleted member 323844]

When i previously tested VC2 it had so bad studder and sound lag it was unplayable. But now it's very playable.

You mean the performance, oh, ok. For some reason I thought it was giving you a black screen.

 

[helvetinperkeles]

You mean the performance, oh, ok. For some reason I thought it was giving you a black screen.

No just bad performance

 

[Zomorph]

its really not that difficult
makes sure you have the latest Ultimate-Switch-Hack-Script-master
on your pc desktop just make a folder named rom no () or ... or anything else just a simple folder name
place the Guardian_Force_Saturn_Tribute nsp in the rom folder make sure its the standalone game not the 3 in 1 as the 3 in 1 does not work with the current Ultimate-Switch-Hack-Script-master
place your prod.keys and title.keys in the Ultimate-Switch-Hack-Script-master folder just for convenience
place your saturn game in the rom folder bin and cue again no () or ... or anything else just a simple name like Sega Rally Championship.bin rename your Sega Rally Championship.cue to GuardianForce.cue

now run the script make sure settings are correct font lucide console blah blah
press continue
select n if you have the latest version
then 2
then 6
then 16
then n
this gets you to the injector
now press 2
press continue and select Guardian_Force_Saturn_Tribute nsp
press continue and select rom folder or whatever you named it
press continue and select prod.keys in the Ultimate-Switch-Hack-Script-master
press continue and select title.keys in the Ultimate-Switch-Hack-Script-master
just keep pressing n at this point until you get to ID: the just press continue
name your nsp keep it simple like Sega Rally 95 and press continue
name author again keep it simple like Sega and press continue
name version something like v1 and press continue
press continue now choose folder best to just save nsp in the rom folder
select y
let it build nsp just ignore the key errors i did and it still works just fine

once you have mastered the basic injection process you can start playing with icon/tex/wp and so on
hope this helps

massive thanks to @shadow256 for the script hope this saves you a load of question
and to the op @lisreal2401

THIS was exactly what I needed. An idiot proof guide. Crystal clear. Unfortunately it still didn't work In fact, shit got weirder and there is an echo in the script now. I assumed maybe I had another copy of USHS open/running but if there is I can't find it. Totally confused...

 

[EddieRiggs]

What is this Blockclock option actually does? It's got something to do with CD drive emulation? I can confirm that changing this option to 200 along with 1438 overclock give a better perfomance in Baku Baku Animal. CD audio is still sometimes stuttering, but not as much,
Normally I've used Blockclock=450 (i've got config from github)

 

[Prb]

THIS was exactly what I needed. An idiot proof guide. Crystal clear. Unfortunately it still didn't work In fact, shit got weirder and there is an echo in the script now. I assumed maybe I had another copy of USHS open/running but if there is I can't find it. Totally confused...
View attachment 280742

its just the log so you can check for errors
use
1: Intermediate log mode no echo
2: Full log mode echo

 

[Zomorph]

its just the log so you can check for errors
use
1: Intermediate log mode no echo
2: Full log mode echo

Sure- but it seems to being doing it in duplicate. It didn't do that before. But maybe I chose option 1 before. Just makes it harder to plough thru it all. Just for clarity, I do get a Guardian Force folder as below - but I can't see any NSP...

 

[Levine91]

I never thought that it could be that hard to get custom Saturn titles running using hactoolnet/hacpack.
For me it's just not working...

So for anyone who is using the USHS approach and successfully creating SAT NSPs:

• Are you using the latest Atmosphere + Sigpatches + FW? // SXOS??
• Do you merge your CUE + BIN files with CDmage prior running the script?
• Custom vs random TitledID in USHS?
• Do you have a naming "scheme"...all lowercase e.g.?
• Custom INI file?
• Linux vs. Windows style linebreaks in CUE file?
• Can you also create working NSPs with Boomerang and Cotton2?
• Version number: 1.0 vs 1000?
• Can you always launch the created NSP? So no black screen after launch?

Thanks for answering!

The romfs overlay in Atmosphere is working for me. But that gives you only 3 custom SAT titles.

- Latest Atmosphere + Sigpatches + FW
- I merge my bin files but this should not always matter.
- I let the script make a random TitleID for me
- I do everything I can to avoid special characters besides parentheses within the bin/cue file name. Nowhere else.
- Sometimes I use a custom ini, sometimes I don't.
- I use spaces if that is what you are referring to.
- You can create NSPs with the 3 pack (all 3 spots) OR individual ones using the standalones of all 3 games as a base.
- Once I confirm an NSP is working, there is never an issue afterwards.

THIS was exactly what I needed. An idiot proof guide. Crystal clear. Unfortunately it still didn't work In fact, shit got weirder and there is an echo in the script now. I assumed maybe I had another copy of USHS open/running but if there is I can't find it. Totally confused...
View attachment 280742

Put your file somewhere that DOES NOT have any special characters in the filepath.
The " ~ " and parentheses in your filepath (NOT the bin/cue filename) as well as " [ " and " ] " (this one in the bin/cue file name) could be causing the problems. I often run into special characters killing the build for me.

 

[Prb]

Sure- but it seems to being doing it in duplicate. It didn't do that before. But maybe I chose option 1 before. Just makes it harder to plough thru it all. Just for clarity, I do get a Guardian Force folder as below - but I can't see any NSP...
View attachment 280752

that folder is just the decompiled
you select the output folder ?

 

[helvetinperkeles]

By the way i also combined my all bin files into one bin file with cdmage and it works great. I there any pros or cons for havin one bin versus multible other than it's "cleaner" look?

 

[shadow256]

By the way i also combined my all bin files into one bin file with cdmage and it works great. I there any pros or cons for havin one bin versus multible other than it's "cleaner" look?

This seems to not change anything.

 

[helvetinperkeles]

This also is unclear to me that now that i have made couple of games and if later i want to change .tex files and ini setting in some game what is the easiest way to make the edit? Do i need to create the nsp file again from start?

 

[Zomorph]

- Latest Atmosphere + Sigpatches + FW
- I merge my bin files but this should not always matter.
- I let the script make a random TitleID for me
- I do everything I can to avoid special characters besides parentheses within the bin/cue file name. Nowhere else.
- Sometimes I use a custom ini, sometimes I don't.
- I use spaces if that is what you are referring to.
- You can create NSPs with the 3 pack (all 3 spots) OR individual ones using the standalones of all 3 games as a base.
- Once I confirm an NSP is working, there is never an issue afterwards.




Put your file somewhere that DOES NOT have any special characters in the filepath.
The " ~ " and parentheses in your filepath (NOT the bin/cue filename) as well as " [ " and " ] " (this one in the bin/cue file name) could be causing the problems. I often run into special characters killing the build for me.

Feels like I'm getting closer. I just skipped the debug mode and hit enter like Shadow 256 suggested. I made my filepaths short as previously suggested but then just made the rom folder on the desktop as per Prb. I'll look back for any parentheses or symbols and remove. Thanks for this.

 

[Zomorph]

that folder is just the decompiled
you select the output folder ?

Yeah, I did give the script an output. Just nothing in the folder. But weird that the decompiled folder appears

 

[EddieRiggs]

This also is unclear to me that now that i have made couple of games and if later i want to change .tex files and ini setting in some game what is the easiest way to make the edit? Do i need to create the nsp file again from start?

Use LayeredFS. Just open SD card, go to Atmosphere/contents/, then create folder of your game ID and romfs subfolder inside.Then place files (and folder) you want to change the same way like in uncompressed GF folder in USHS.

 

[Zomorph]

Checked the filepaths and removed any special characters that I could. Still getting an error messgae. It looks like the NSP should be in the output folder but there's not actually anything there...

- Latest Atmosphere + Sigpatches + FW
- I merge my bin files but this should not always matter.
- I let the script make a random TitleID for me
- I do everything I can to avoid special characters besides parentheses within the bin/cue file name. Nowhere else.
- Sometimes I use a custom ini, sometimes I don't.
- I use spaces if that is what you are referring to.
- You can create NSPs with the 3 pack (all 3 spots) OR individual ones using the standalones of all 3 games as a base.
- Once I confirm an NSP is working, there is never an issue afterwards.




Put your file somewhere that DOES NOT have any special characters in the filepath.
The " ~ " and parentheses in your filepath (NOT the bin/cue filename) as well as " [ " and " ] " (this one in the bin/cue file name) could be causing the problems. I often run into special characters killing the build for me.