Sega Saturn Core in Development

[rhester72]

I'm using this spreadsheet to track progress but are there other ones with more granular breakdown like this N64 spreadsheet? That Saturn spreadsheet is too binary and frankly not very useful to track down progress and issues. For example, Daytona USA and other Sega games do run on my setup but music and sound drop out. Is that my issue or is it how it is for the core currently? You can't tell from the spreadsheet. Which games can be completed? No idea.

I can tell you. It's your issue - very specifically, your RAM.

[KennyL]

I'm using this spreadsheet to track progress but are there other ones with more granular breakdown like this N64 spreadsheet? That Saturn spreadsheet is too binary and frankly not very useful to track down progress and issues. For example, Daytona USA and other Sega games do run on my setup but music and sound drop out. Is that my issue or is it how it is for the core currently? You can't tell from the spreadsheet. Which games can be completed? No idea.

I can tell you. It's your issue - very specifically, your RAM.

That goes without saying lol

[Vara]

Can someone please tell me how I change from CD1 to CD2 with the Saturn? Thanks

[Ikefix]

Hi there, first of all I have read the spreadsheet, I have the last core release and I do know that the saturn core is not stable yet, but, is it normal that I do not have sfx (or not systematically) and/or music on titles like Clockwork Knight or Earthworm Jim 2? I swear I remember have listened to the EJ2 music but it does not appear on my system (volumes 100%) at the Esoterica Channel

Can any body tell me a single title where the sound is perfect or almost just to determine if it is my setup's fault (RAM, boot.rom, init etc)?
Single RAM btw.

Thanks

EDIT: someone answered, the sound is good for him/her
thanks

[Chris23235]

Can someone please tell me how I change from CD1 to CD2 with the Saturn? Thanks

The original Saturn hardware did a reset and returned to the menu when opening the drive door, so any multi CD games had to save before changing the disc. On the core you can simply mount the second disc and reset.

[Ikefix]

Can someone please tell me how I change from CD1 to CD2 with the Saturn? Thanks

From discord, (lots of info there)

Gotta keep both disc files in the same directory

So all .cue and .bins can't be separated by folders?

Yes. They must be separated by their own folders. Except for multi disc games

[rhester72]

Hi there, first of all I have read the spreadsheet, I have the last core release and I do know that the saturn core is not stable yet, but, is it normal that I do not have sfx (or not systematically) and/or music on titles like Clockwork Knight or Earthworm Jim 2? I swear I remember have listened to the EJ2 music but it does not appear on my system (volumes 100%) at the Esoterica Channel

Can any body tell me a single title where the sound is perfect or almost just to determine if it is my setup's fault (RAM, boot.rom, init etc)?
Single RAM btw.

Thanks

EDIT: someone answered, the sound is good for him/her
thanks

I'll make it super easy. It's your RAM. Missing music is always RAM.

[virtuali]

I'll make it super easy. It's your RAM. Missing music is always RAM.

Alright but, for a single SDRAM setup, it's "just" a matter of supporting a certain speed, or it's something else as well?

My SDRAM is 2.5, and it tests for 1 hour at 144 mhz, which I guess is good, (most sellers of 2.9/3.0 usually warrant at 140 mhz, rarely more) but I still have music missing or stopping after a while in some games. So, the issue is 2.5 is surely not going to work, regardless of passing the test with a good speed?

[FPGA64]

I'll make it super easy. It's your RAM. Missing music is always RAM.

Alright but, for a single SDRAM setup, it's "just" a matter of supporting a certain speed, or it's something else as well?

My SDRAM is 2.5, and it tests for 1 hour at 144 mhz, which I guess is good, (most sellers of 2.9/3.0 usually warrant at 140 mhz, rarely more) but I still have music missing or stopping after a while in some games. So, the issue is 2.5 is surely not going to work, regardless of passing the test with a good speed?

V2.9 and above gives the best results. V2,5 tends so far to have sound issues regardless of speed.

[DaveGeorge]

Can someone please tell me how I change from CD1 to CD2 with the Saturn? Thanks

The original Saturn hardware did a reset and returned to the menu when opening the drive door, so any multi CD games had to save before changing the disc. On the core you can simply mount the second disc and reset.

If I remember correctly (been quite a few years) Deep Fear doesn’t give you the option to save at the end of disc 1. Just a prompt to open the drive door and put in disc 2. System of course resets when opening the drive door but somehow (maybe with help of some form of temporary save) it worked and booted right into continueing the game. Not sure how this would work on the core though.

[rhester72]

Alright but, for a single SDRAM setup, it's "just" a matter of supporting a certain speed, or it's something else as well?

It's design. Saturn does parallel SDRAM access that older chips just can't handle, regardless of tested speed.

[Hydrochaeris]

I'll make it super easy. It's your RAM. Missing music is always RAM.

Alright but, for a single SDRAM setup, it's "just" a matter of supporting a certain speed, or it's something else as well?

My SDRAM is 2.5, and it tests for 1 hour at 144 mhz, which I guess is good, (most sellers of 2.9/3.0 usually warrant at 140 mhz, rarely more) but I still have music missing or stopping after a while in some games. So, the issue is 2.5 is surely not going to work, regardless of passing the test with a good speed?

It's not the speed, it's something else that the memory test doesn't measure (viewtopic.php?p=79790#p79790). I had the same issue as you with a v2.5 RAM stick. It still tests faster as my new v3.0, but the v3.0 runs all the Saturn games just fine, while the old stick had tons of sound issues and many games wouldn't even boot.

[MiSTer Consoles]

Are there still separate RBF files for single and dual RAM setups or does the current core that is pulled in from the Update_All script cover both? I tried using the old saturn_ds-updater-workflow-builds script to grab the dual RAM version of the core and it apparently downloaded a single RAM version dated 10/4/23 instead. The one from Update_All is newer (10/18/23) and I'm wondering if the core can now detect whether there are two RAM sticks and utilize both.

[rhester72]

update_all applies only the single-stick version. You can manually build the dual-stick RBF with Quartus, but given there's practically no performance advantage any longer (with properly functioning SDRAM), there isn't much reason to.

[MiSTer Consoles]

update_all applies only the single-stick version. You can manually build the dual-stick RBF with Quartus, but given there's practically no performance advantage any longer (with properly functioning SDRAM), there isn't much reason to.

Gotcha. I was hoping to find a pre-compiled RBF for the dual SDRAM as I've never messed with compiling my own. On the GitHub page it mentions that using two RAM modules is recommended for better compatibility. Is that no longer the case?

Saturn.png (38.58 KiB) Viewed 28219 times

[rhester72]

Gotcha. I was hoping to find a pre-compiled RBF for the dual SDRAM as I've never messed with compiling my own. On the GitHub page it mentions that using two RAM modules is recommended for better compatibility. Is that no longer the case?

That is indeed out of date. The same effect is now achieved by parallel accesses to a single module (which is also causing the weird artifacts for some like missing or glitchy sound, games that won't start, etc.).

[MiSTer Consoles]

That is indeed out of date. The same effect is now achieved by parallel accesses to a single module (which is also causing the weird artifacts for some like missing or glitchy sound, games that won't start, etc.).

Nice! That certainly makes things easier.

[Vara]

Can someone please tell me how I change from CD1 to CD2 with the Saturn? Thanks

From discord, (lots of info there)

Gotta keep both disc files in the same directory

So all .cue and .bins can't be separated by folders?

Yes. They must be separated by their own folders. Except for multi disc games

I was in discord and the info I got from there (incl. from development team members) is that this has not been implemented yet, you cannot change to a CD2. If you are able to do that, I'd beg you for a youtube video to teach me because I have been doing what you said and it still does NOT work.

[Ikefix]

Can someone please tell me how I change from CD1 to CD2 with the Saturn? Thanks

From discord, (lots of info there)

Gotta keep both disc files in the same directory

So all .cue and .bins can't be separated by folders?

Yes. They must be separated by their own folders. Except for multi disc games

I was in discord and the info I got from there (incl. from development team members) is that this has not been implemented yet, you cannot change to a CD2. If you are able to do that, I'd beg you for a youtube video to teach me because I have been doing what you said and it still does NOT work.

I think I did not full understand your problem, AFAIK discord user Kuba has successfully changed to CD2 in panzer dragoon saga, but this is not your problem, isn't it? sorry for the inconvenience if not.

Unfortunately, you may have problems with music in games and maybe with running some.
Ikefix — hoy a las 8:05
thanks Kuba, and just another question please, have you successfully changed to cd2 in panzer dragoon? there are users who say that that's impossible, that this has not been implemented yet...
kuba — hoy a las 8:06
yes, it's possible

He has even uploaded a photo with the cd2 already loaded...

[JakubH]

From discord, (lots of info there)

Gotta keep both disc files in the same directory

So all .cue and .bins can't be separated by folders?

Yes. They must be separated by their own folders. Except for multi disc games

I was in discord and the info I got from there (incl. from development team members) is that this has not been implemented yet, you cannot change to a CD2. If you are able to do that, I'd beg you for a youtube video to teach me because I have been doing what you said and it still does NOT work.

I think I did not full understand your problem, AFAIK discord user Kuba has successfully changed to CD2 in panzer dragoon saga, but this is not your problem, isn't it? sorry for the inconvenience if not.

Unfortunately, you may have problems with music in games and maybe with running some.
Ikefix — hoy a las 8:05
thanks Kuba, and just another question please, have you successfully changed to cd2 in panzer dragoon? there are users who say that that's impossible, that this has not been implemented yet...
kuba — hoy a las 8:06
yes, it's possible

He has even uploaded a photo with the cd2 already loaded...

This is possible in Panzer Dragoon Saga , because the game uses a game save at the end of each disc. However, it is not possible to open and close the lid, which makes it impossible to start the second disc in some games, such as Deep Fear.

[Ikefix]

Thank you for the long answer, good luck to all of us...

[Vara]

Yeah it is Kuba that I had contact with. I sent him the save file from Deep Fear. I am sure they are addressing the issue. Personally, I think Saturn went too early to update_all, but, I welcome it ofc and highly praise it. Just wish you could be finishing multi-CD games.

[FPGA64]

Update all is not a sign of a finished Core. Its a way to distribute a core. The core is strill Alpha and so it is a privellege to test it and not a right

[virtuali]

I had the same issue as you with a v2.5 RAM stick. It still tests faster as my new v3.0, but the v3.0 runs all the Saturn games just fine, while the old stick had tons of sound issues and many games wouldn't even boot.

I've replaced my v2.5 with a v3.0 now, which also tests very good (80 minutes at 147 mhz and still running now), and yes, all Saturn games that had music stopping after a minute or even less (Cotton2, Nights, Sega Rally, etc.) now works just fine, with music and all.

[Primeira_Fase]

Update all is not a sign of a finished Core. Its a way to distribute a core. The core is strill Alpha and so it is a privellege to test it and not a right

We have'nt updates for long time, do any chance of this core be finished anytime?

[rhester72]

We have'nt updates for long time, do any chance of this core be finished anytime?

Probably faster if Russia stops attacking Ukraine.

[Megahurtz]

I had been struggling with audio dropouts using a v2.5 128MB ram module that tested at 144 MHz. I ordered a new v3 module that is only testing at 141 MHz, but has greatly improved the sound.

I still occasionally will load a CHD and have it recognized as an audio CD instead of a game. Usually I can reset a few times and it will eventually boot. I think I had that problem with the old ram as well though.

[Chris23235]

Can someone please tell me how I change from CD1 to CD2 with the Saturn? Thanks

From discord, (lots of info there)

Gotta keep both disc files in the same directory

So all .cue and .bins can't be separated by folders?

Yes. They must be separated by their own folders. Except for multi disc games

I was in discord and the info I got from there (incl. from development team members) is that this has not been implemented yet, you cannot change to a CD2. If you are able to do that, I'd beg you for a youtube video to teach me because I have been doing what you said and it still does NOT work.

Have you tried to go into the core menu, select the mount image menu entry and then press BACKSPACE? This unmounts the image and reloads the BIOS, kicking you back to the Saturn menu just like the real machine. From the look of it should be the same as opening the drive door on the Saturn. If you go to the system settings you will see that your Backup Ram still contains the save from the previous disc. Afterwards it should be possible to simply mount the next disc.

Does anybody know how to use the backup cartridge instead of the internal memory? I am not able to save to anything else besides internal RAM in Panzer Dragoon Saga and this means copying over the save file after changing the disc.

[natadiem]

Hi, is there a way for Saturn Core to be full screen on non-16/9 screen?
I have a LG Dual Up 2880x2560 (16:18 ratio), with v-scale set a 0 it works with all cores as long as I put full screen/stretch.
However, it's not working only in Saturn core, anyone found a work around? Thank you.

[Ikefix]

Hi, is there a way for Saturn Core to be full screen on non-16/9 screen?
I have a LG Dual Up 2880x2560 (16:18 ratio), with v-scale set a 0 it works with all cores as long as I put full screen/stretch.
However, it's not working only in Saturn core, anyone found a work around? Thank you.

Fastest way? an scaler like the gbs control or a cheap extron