Sega Saturn Swap Method FAQ Written by TyRaNiD -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This faq will try and explain how to play cdrs and hk backups of saturn games on your console using a swap disc method. DISCLAIMER -=-=-=-=-= I will take no responsiblity for damage you may do to your saturn using procedures explained in this document. This includes the modification of hardware to fit a door switch and the swap methods themselves. I have yet to damage my saturn but that does not mean that you will not. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!! IMPORTANT NOTES -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- There are three main models of the Saturn. The 2 swap methods here should work on all three however the timing is slightly stricter on the model 3 saturn apparently. It is not critical to identify the model however its more a warning for you. Plus you cannot determine the model type of 2 and 3 without opening up the saturn (however if your going to fit a door switch you will need to anyway). Type 1 is identified by the CD access light to the right of the eject button. Type 2 and 3 do not have this light. To determine between type 2 and 3 you need to open up the saturn. Type 2 is identified by the joypad ports being on a seperate board with a white ribbon cable connecting them to the main board. Type 3 is all one board. There are many other differences between the saturn but this method is the easiest to work out if you are not doing a country / NTSC-PAL modification. Type 1: Can use the swap method with quite a degree of freedom in the timing Type 2: Same as type 1. Type 3: Most models I have encountered need a more specific swap timing otherwise it will not work. Before the swap methods can be successful you need three things. First the ability to play different country formats i.e. US/UK/Jap. This depends on what game you are playing. This is due to the swap methods inability to defeat the country protection of the discs. I would recommend a switch to do this however it might work on par / gameshark (however im yet to try this. I have a feeling it wont work). However you can modify the disc iso when copying to make the saturn believe it is a different country disc but you can only do this if you are actually copying them yourselves and not getting silver hk discs. This would however allow you to buy imports, copy them with a patched version and then use a swap method to boot them. This tho is another story entirely. Coupled with this it is often necessary to have an NTSC/PAL switch as some NTSC games do not work correctly in PAL. (and vice-versa). Second you need an original for the machine to boot from. I have found demo disks to be extremely good as they seem to be coded for all regions. If you haven't got one then you need an original game from the country of origin of the Pirate i.e. UK for UK etc. Finally you need a override switch for the Door Open switch. This is so you can leave the drive door open while swapping discs. In Type 1 models this is easy to fit as you only have to take the lid off, however in type 2 models this requires disassembling the whole unit! Fitting a door switch. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Type 1: Open up the saturn and take off the top of the case. On the left hand side of the lid is a small microswitch with two wires running from it to the cd unit. Solder a two way switch in parallel with this switch so whenever the switch is on the saturn will believe the door is closed. Type 2: Disassemble the entire console until the main board can be removed from the bottom of the case. Make sure you remember how it was put together. The switch is a metal post on the lft hand side coming up from the main board. Find the connections from the switch on the topside of the board on the bottom of the board and solder a two-way switch in parallel across the contacts (it might be useful here to check the switch connections with a multi-meter to ensure that it is correct). Carefully reassemble the console making sure you don't trap the wires connected to your new switch. You will proably need to drill a hole in the case to facilitate the switch or you can chop a hole in the side. You can just tape the door switch closed which will work but it means you cant make the saturn believe the door is open at any point then. (This will make the first swap method take about twice the amount of time to perform as the disc will spin for a long time trying to read the protection). The Swap Methods -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Background : On the saturn the copy protection is located on a special track on the outer edge of the disc. If you look at an original disc you will see a track with SEGA written in it. This is the protection track. This is important in the swap method because you want to make sure that when the cd laser goes to the ouside of the disc (when it is going to read the protection) you want an original disc inserted. It is is easy to determine when this happens because you can see the lense move away from the inside of the disc. There are 2 main methods of swapping on the saturn. The first one is very easy but can take anywhere up to 40 seconds while the 2 method is slightly harder and if your going to damage your saturn it more likely with this method but it is faster. However (although this is yet unconfirmed) a slight variation on the 2nd method is required to boot copies on a saturn with a Pro Action Replay / Gameshark because you cannot reset the machine to allow it to boot directly. Both methods allow complete music table of contents to be read so unlike the the playstation swap methods the game music will be correct. Method 1: Single Swap Method -=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-= Step 1: First turn on the saturn without a disc in the drive making sure the country of the console is set to the one of the disc and that the door switch is open. Step 2: When the Saturn had booted to the cd player insert the copyied disc and close the door switch. The disc will spin for quite a long time (approx 30 secs or so). It will seem to be struggling with the disc but this is normal and is nothing to worry about. Eventually the disc will come to a stop and the cd player will indicate the the number of tracks on the disc. You will notice that the start app button is now play CD-G which means its not bootable. Step 3: Now replace the copy with an original cd and then reset the saturn. The disc will seem to slow down and you will see the laser lens move to the ouside of the disc. After a few seconds the laser will come back in and the disc will speed up again. At this point remove the original cd and replace it with the copy. The game should now boot. The timing on the last step, at least on the model 1 and 2 saturns, is not too important. Generally if you do the swap within 3 seconds of the disc speeding up it should work. However I have heard on the model 3 saturns it is more critical. Oh and before you say "but you swap the discs twice why is it single swap?" I do not count the swap when the disc is not spinning as you can do no more damage to your saturn than sega orginally planned for. After all even with originals you have to replace cds when they are stationary. Method 2: Double Swap Method -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Step 1: With the saturn turned off insert your copied disc and close the door switch (making sure again that the country is correct). Step 2: Turn on the saturn and the disc will start spinning. It will spend a bit of time in the inner portion of the disc. When you see the laser move to the outside swap the disc for an original. Step 3: The cd will slow down while its reading the protection and finally the laser will come back to the centre. At this point the disc will speed up again. Replace with the copy. This step is exactly the same as the single swap method (same timing etc.). The game should now boot. Variations -=-=-=-=-= These are two variations on the double swap method. -=Double swap inside the cd player=- This method is almost exactly the same as the double swap except you do it in the cd player menu. It is a way of doing the swap without resetting the machine or booting from power on (will only be neccessary on saturns with a par / gs where the par menu is started automatically without being able to just boot a cd automatically.) Step 1: First turn on the saturn without a disc in the drive making sure the country of the console is set to the one of the disc and that the door switch is open. Step 2: Insert the copy and close the door switch. When the laser goes to the outside of the disc swap for the original. The cd player should now show the correct tracks but unlike the single swap method the play app icon will be there instead of the play CD-G. Step 3: Use the controller to click on the play-app button and when the laser returns from the outer edge of the disc (when the cd starts to spin faster) replace the disc with the copy and the game should boot. -=Pseudo Single Swap Method=- Ok I said it was a variation on the double swap method but I was lying. This is actually just a cheating way of doing the single swap method without waiting for the disc to load in the cd-player. It is done straight from boot up. However this method does not give the correct table of contents for the audio so any gamez which use cd-da tracks will either play the music incorrectly or no audio at all (depends on the boot disc you use) plus there is a good chance that the game will just crash. But if you are impatient and dont want to swap twice for every game then this method is for you. Basically just follow the double swap method except start the system with the orginal disc inserted and miss out step 2 (i.e. swap the disc after the laser has gone to the ouside edge and come back again). However as I have said I wouldnt recommend this method especially if you can just do the single swap method. END -=- Greetz and thanx -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alucard : For umm I cant remember :) Tunek : For making me rewrite this properly. Mookie : For making me write this document in the first place eventhough the person didnt ever us it. Gato, dus, blAckglass, ElmerYud : The IRC posse. You know what you guyz do :P Copyright stuff -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You may freely copy this document as long as you do not modify it it any way. You also may not use this for a commerical publication without written consent of me.