/vr/ - Retro Games

>>3254172
SSF works with almost everything and is still updated semi-frequently, but gets a lot of hate for having a bit of a clunky interface, not having built-in iso loading and being Windows only. Just grab Alcohol/DaemonTools/VirtualCloneDrive or whatever and you'll be all set pretty much.

Every other current Saturn emulator is shit. Ignore anyone who recommends Yabause.

>Any /vr/troopers know something google doesn't?
>what is reading the sticky

Fuck's sake, here comes the fucking spoonfeeding, open wide

http://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Sega_Saturn

Saturn emulation being shit is a terrible meme that won't die. If you have a windows machine and aren't completely computer illiterate SSF works perfectly fine.

SSF might be a little awkward and requires you to use a third party disc mounter but when you get it to work, the emulation of the games actually works, which whatever particular grievance you might have with the emulator and its features, when it all boils down, that's what actually matters.

If you don't have windows, yabause is your only alternative, but I don't particularly recommend it. Yabause in the recent years is getting better, but if you're going down the Yabause road check a compatibility list first, because it's probably going to be a 50/50 coin toss if a game actually runs decently on it. And with 50 hours RPGs you're probably going to run into some issue eventually down the road. If you just want to play NiGHTS or the other more popular titles it probably runs fine though. It's like the N64 emulation, it's okay for the popular titles, but if you stray too far from the main path you're going to start finding a lot of issues.

Most of the Saturn emulation grievances can be boiled down to the fact that for some reason most of the Saturn rips out there are fucking dogshit and will not run well on emulators (or in the actual hardware for that matter), because they weren't properly ripped or have bad cue files, or just don't have audio tracks, or they come with mp3 tracks instead of wav, etc. And before you ask "well where's a good place to get a proper rip", well there isn't. Try to get from multiple sources or fix the files yourself.

To get you started try googling "neo fighters sega saturn" and you might find something interesting.

>>3254182
>>3254183
Thanks for taking me to school, boys.

>>3254183
Yeah, the state of Saturn rips is appaling. Trying to find rips of obscure Japan-only titles with redbook audio is next to impossible, and usually requires finding some torrent with 1 seeder.

It's even worse since I use real hardware for this, so many fucked discs I had to discard due to bad .cue files.

>>3254402
Yep. I learned to try and emulate first and see if the audio is in order before I tried to burn it.

Mega drive is the best console

>>3254402
>Yeah, the state of Saturn rips is appaling

Only If you are some moron who googles for direct downloads.

Get the darkwater set, includes all USA games, almost all PAL games, all the better JP games, and all is in good bin/cue.

>>3254183
>If you don't have windows, yabause is your only alternative
nah
at least under Wine on Linux, SSF runs beautifully
use gcdemu to mount discs, and remember to mount the game before opening SSF since SSF doesn't open if it doesn't detect a disc drive

>>3254462
Well yeah, but finding a good torrent for that wasn't easy since UG went down, not sure about now though. Also, I always liked digging through some of the more obscure JP titles and Darkwater rips don't exist for many of them.

>>3254472
If by "beautifully" you mean "shows a corrupted window and then crashes", yes. Never gotten SSF to do shit under Wine.

how hard is it to mod a saturn to play burned games on it? this seems like it would be the best option.

>>3254524
Extremely easy. Tape down the door switch and learn the swap trick.

And don't listen to the hamfisted kids that suck so bad at doing the swap trick that they somehow break their Saturns doing it. I've done that shit for years and years and never damaged anything because I do it carefully but effectively.

>>3254524
Google saturn swap method, it's the easiest and fastest way.
But if you're don't do it properly you can easily fuck the disc rotor and it stops reading discs.
I don't know how rough I handled it but I fucked mine pretty quickly, but I've seen people here saying they've been doing it for years with no problem so far.

If you have an Action Replay you can also mod the cartridge to run pseudo-saturn.

And then obviously there's the modchip.

>>3254476
>Well yeah, but finding a good torrent for that wasn't easy since UG went down,

All the major rom torrent sites have them, has had them for as long as UG did. And UG is still around under a new name.

>>3254487
>Linux

Why are you using a server OS for gaming?

>>3254528
Note that this won't let you play games that aren't for the region your Saturn is (e.g. JP games on US Saturn). But there is a tool that changes regions on Saturn images so you can just change it to your Saturn's region, burn it, and swap that shit in there.

>>3254532
>Windows/Mac
Why are you using a spyware OS for gaming?

Fucking /g/ paid Windows troll reject.

>>3254538
Linux is just as unsecure as Windows.

>>3254532
>>3254538
>OS Wars

BUCKLE UP

HERE WE GO

>>3254539
Yep, you're a paid Microsoft troll. Please leave.

>>3254528
>>3254531
i don't want to risk breaking my Saturn so ill probably install a mod-chip

is there something similar for Saturn like the PS2 modchip that doesn't require soldering? cauae thats what i use for my ps2 to play cdrs

>>3254552
> modchip that doesn't require soldering
Not that I know of.

But as I said, you can also try the action replay/pseudo-saturn combo. It's easily the safest and less intrusive way, And probably cheaper than buying a modchip.
But you'll lose the action replay saving functions though.

There's also an SD card mod I think, but quite frankly I don't know much about it.

>>3254552
If you take care doing the swap trick you won't break anything. I'm sure there is some sort of modchip for it but I doubt it's solderless.

>>3254532
>>3254538
>>3254540
First of all, I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

2nd of all, native gaming on Linux has become much more common as of recent years with steam plus various source ports released over the years.

3rd, wine is generally hit or miss, however ssf seems to be working good under a more recent version of wine
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=4688

>>3254554
>pseudo-saturn
yeah ill probably do this, assuming some games that have the ram expansion wont work either?

>>3254580
>assuming some games that have the ram expansion wont work either?
That I'm not sure honestly, but I'm sure you can google it.

Also to be clear you'll to do the swap method at least once so you can burn a cd to patch pseudo-saturn.
Don't worry, even if you do it roughly there's no way you can fuck your rotor in just one use.

>>3254579
Using latest wine and it reliably locks up. Telling that the WineHQ pages show that there are more Garbage results than anything else and they're all tests from ancient versions of Wine.

>>3254580
Ram still works, flashed it a few days ago
Use the media alpha flasher

>>3254552
Installing a modchip has a higher chance of breaking the unit as doing the swap trick, since you have to solder a power cable. But it's worth it a lot more than dicking with swapping every time you boot, or going through the Pseudo menu every time you boot.

>>3254580
RAM expansion works except for some SNK games that break with the 4mb cart (only work with 1mb expansion), and the two games that need unique ROM carts.

However, in-game saving will not work. You have to save to internal memory, switch to a backup cart, copy over the save, then switch back to Pseudo. It's a fucking chore.

>>3254550
>Yep, you're a paid Microsoft troll. Please leave.

Hey, you are the one having compatibility problems, not me. The only payment I'm getting is having a good laugh.

>>3254657
I've resigned myself to the fact that my Saturn saves are ethereal

>>3254657
Pseudo-Saturn's lack of support of ingame saving was reason enough for me to go the modchip/official memory cartridge route instead, since the saving issue really sucks for some games with huge save files. Also, there is that one shoot-em-up creator game which requires a memory cartridge to work since the saves are too large for the internal memory.

>>3254183

Classic passive aggressive poster who loves acting the big man throughout his entire post while delivering information in a snarky and patronising manner.

You're potentially ruining discussions that you and others could enjoy. However, your information is solid.

Feel free to ask more OP.

>>3254874
There's one line of passive aggressiveness there, which is to check the sticky, which OP should have.

Don't be so thick skinned when you get some snarky comment on 4chinks, when you fuck up learn how to take the heat. As far as I'm concerned OP took it like a champ, so no harm no foul.

Video Games.

>>3254183
>It's like the N64 emulation, it's okay for the popular titles, but if you stray too far from the main path you're going to start finding a lot of issues.
I remember the time I tried to play random N64 pachinko games. Most of them didn't even load to the title screen and the ones that did had totally fucked geometry and were basically unrecognizable as games. I think maybe one of them ran reasonably fine.

Makes me wonder if there's any rare Japan-only Saturn or N64 gems that aren't known in the english-speaking world simply because the emulation doesn't work for them.

>>3254874
OP here. He pretty much summed it up for me. I'm about to throw Daemon back on here and see what's going on with it.

>snarky ass faggotry
This is 4chan, not plebbit. His being a dick while explaining how this shit works is necessary to preserve the neutral balance of the site. Imagine if anon was helpful /and/ nice.

That's a world I don't want to live in.

>>3254913
Today OP wasn't a faggot

>>3254907
>Makes me wonder if there's any rare Japan-only Saturn or N64 gems that aren't known in the english-speaking world simply because the emulation doesn't work for them.

A terrifying thought that will surely keep me up at night

>>3254897
Almost forgot:

>sticky
Sticky deez nuts in your mouth, motherfucker.

>>3254913
>Daemon
NO

Pirate Alcohol 120%

Daemon is chink spyware at this point

>>3254929
http://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/SSF#Free_Virtual_Drive_Software

Alternatively Virtual Clone Drive seems to work as well

>>3254929
>Daemon is chink spyware at this point

Learn to read the fucking installer instead of just clicking yes yes yes. You can untick all the toolbar crap it wants to install.

At least it was like that last time I had to install it.

Also, use Daemon Tools LITE, not the regular version.

>>3254941
Not the other Anon but I read a lot of conversations that even if you don't install that optional shit it still spies on the user.

I'm not really sure how true that is or just your typical 4chan folklore that passes around from mouth to mouth without any actual source, but at least it warrants my suspicion.

>>3254907
>Makes me wonder if there's any rare Japan-only Saturn or N64 gems that aren't known in the english-speaking world simply because the emulation doesn't work for them.

The handful of games that don't work right on SSF are almost all western releases (like Doom, NBA Live 98, Rayman, Croc). The one Japanese game I recall that doesn't work all right is Astal, but I think that one only required some special setting to boot.

>>3254949
>Not the other Anon but I read a lot of conversations that even if you don't install that optional shit it still spies on the user.

I'm having Daemon Tools Lite installed and it doesn't even touch the internet - never got any prompts from it on my firewall.

So that's just FUD.

>>3254956
https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/3zveee/stay_away_from_daemon_tools/

in b4 >reddit

This is the closest thing I got to a source.
Maybe it's not daemon.exe that you have to worry about but other shit that it installs.
I got nothing on my computer though that matches what this guy is saying, so who the fuck knows.

>>3254949
>Source: 4chan

What the PHUCK?!

>>3254965
That's normal daemon tools, not the Lite version.

Also, you can just use an older version. I'm using the same version since 2013, absolutely no issues, malware or otherwise.

>>3254990
>I'm using the same version since 2013
Yeah that's probably the smarter move, just to be cautious.

>>3254929
Just wrapped up the installation of Alcohol 120%, waiting on Shinobi Legions to get here. It's a US game; hopefully I can avoid that problem with shitty disc rips or whatever.

>>3254950
>>3254907
There's some problems with games that don't interfere with playing but are annoying.
Like the opening movie for Legend of Heroes III won't play, but the game seems to run fine besides that. So basically you watch the opening on youtube and then play the game.
And the Phantasy Star collection has audio noise kick in after a music track has been playing for a minute or so. The workaround for that is why are you emulating PS on a Saturn instead of MS & MD?

>>3254897
>>3254913

No worries, lads. Content of the thread is excellent, but I just got trig'd after reading OP's genuine post and seeing him get semi-bashed right after it.

>>3254931
>Doesn't support .mdf/.mds files. This is kind of a big deal, since quite a few of the Saturn's popular titles are only available as mdf/mds.
>Can't mount .cue files. DON'T mount the .bin instead, as SSF will boot you back to the bios whenever it feels like it if you do. Instead, make a .ccd/.img copy with CloneCD and another virtual drive program.

if anyone hasn't set compatibility to max in the SSF settings, go do that now
I haven't seen a not-netbook tier machine unable to run SSF at max compatibility, and a couple of the issues I hear people have with SSF are quite likely to be due to them leaving the compatibility settings at default.

in particular, Guardian Heroes locks up if you don't do this

>>3254487
yikes
been working just fine here, although maybe I had some actual Microsoft DLLs installed via winetricks that let it work
can't be arsed to bring that machine up at the moment, I'm on my Windows laptop

>>3254931
I've had hilarious issues using VCD -- games will boot, but that's about the only guarantee you get, and a lot of them seem to just crash at the title screen when mounted with it.

>>3254614
FYI that is pasta as old as 4chan.
Lurk more

>>3257295
Maybe you should lurk more yourself and read the whole context of the conversation, and his whole post.

>>3254462
>some moron who googles for direct downloads
Like most emubabies?

>>3254172
>>3254182
>>3254183
Can one you guys actually help me, I still can't get this shit working. And before you attack me, yes I read the links and I'm still confused as fuck, especially since half that shit seems outdated, doesn't work, sites are down etc.

I downloaded SSF, already has Virtual Clone Drive, and grabbed a Tempo zip, containing a BIN and CUE. Now I saw on the wiki that SSF doesn't play nicely with BINs so I downloaded RedFox CDClone like it recommended. Whenever I try to convert the file (which one by the way, the BIN or the CUE? The BIN seems to have the real meat so I was assuming that) I can't make it come out as anything but a DVD, no option for CCD or IMG file types. Couldn't figure that shit out, got mad, say "Fuck I just wanna see if the thing works, I'll just mount the BIN and try that", so I mount the BIN open SSF and have no fucking idea what comes next - there's a options to open/close a CD tray, but no fucking way to specify it's meant to be the emulated F: drive. Shit is driving me crazy. I just wanna play some Saturn games.

>>3257532
Okay scratch some of that shit. I turned the BIN into an IMG but manually specifying the output to be a img file even though I still selected the DVD icon, and I retardily forgot to specify the SATURN BIOS in the options where I found the drive changer. Although something tells me this is still gonna fuck up.

Fuck I've been spoiled by earlier emulators that did all this shit for you.

>>3257532
>SSF doesn't play nicely with BINs

You've misinterpreted that. The .bin contains the data while the .cue contains the disc layout which is deceptively important. Just mount the .cue in VCD and it'll automatically fetch the data it needs from the .bin.

A bios is needed but it sounds like you've figured that out. The other thing is that the region of the game needs to be correctly set in the options menu.

Stick with it anon, you're nearly there.

>>3257532
Ok, check this out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II05imBW6OY

I'm using Alcohol, so I have no idea what's going on with your disc mounting issue. I just mount the disc there, open SSF, and the game plays.

>>3255002
>It's a US game; hopefully I can avoid that problem with shitty disc rips or whatever.

All the US Saturn games have perfect dumps.

>>3257557
Now if only every rom site hosted them instead of the shitty rips.

>>3257550
>A bios is needed but it sounds like you've figured that out.

SSF runs without a bios, and even sets the region automatically if you do that.

Using a bios supposedly improves compatibility, but I honestly don't remember any game that needs it.

>>3257560
Which sites don't host them? I remember checking one or two a long time ago and was pleasantly surprised that they all used the darkwater or tosec rips.

>>3257563
Oh? That's cool. I remember that used to be an issue, so I guess I'm way out of date with this stuff these days.

OP here
>>3257557
I've had no problems so far. You guys, plus a quick YT SSF setup guide, really came though. Have even had success with Jap and Euro ISOs. They tend to be a bit shaky, but whatever. They're playable.
>>3257560
What gypsy-ass rom site are you going to? Seems as though you're in need of some kind of emuparadise of sorts.

>>3257550
I got it working by using the IMG version of the BIN... Until I tried saving and loading a state to make sure it was working, then I got booted to the main screen. Dunno if that's cause I fucked something up, the state system doesn't work or I mispressed the F1 or F2 key though.

I can't load up CUE files in CloneDrive... Or at least the version I've got, which is a free version so maybe that's the issue?

Also I got a Saturn Bios, but the thing also has a space for a ST-V Bios... What is that exactly? Do I need it?

>>3257532
Well first of all if you want my help just get Daemon Tools Lite and reject all the third party shit during the installation. I don't use Virtual Clone Drive so I don't want to complicate this further by going around and school you how change a perfectly fine rip into another format that Virtual Clone wants.

If you're uneasy about dt just download an older version. Besides you're just complicating things by using virtual clone, it's very limited, it supports only a handful of file types.

Now download from here to make sure you're using a proper rip:
https://www.neofighters.info/forum/showthread.php?14031-Sega-Saturn-NTSC-U-248-248-83-4GBs-PAL-243-243-90-9GBs

Again, as have been said multiple times in this thread, most of your problems and grievances with saturn emulation stem from the fact that people are using shit rips.

>BIN or the CUE

You load the CUE file, which tells your disc mounter which files to load, but you need both files obviously.
Usually the files in a proper saturn rip is 1 bin file, 1 cue file and sometimes a bunch of wav files. If you're having problems you probably need to edit the cue file.

And you don't need BIOS, in fact using a BIOS will just make you need to set the region manually every time you play a game from a different region.

Now just get SSF and get it over with, it works out of the box. Don't forget to mount the image before opening SSF. And if you have a physical cd drive you'll need to change it to the virtual drive in the settings.

Personally I've been having screen flickers on the most recent version, so I recommend the former, but who knows it's maybe just me.

Guess I'll ask here, does this run well and am I fucked if I don't know jap?

Bump
Also what are the must okay Saturn games?
Nights
Clockwork Night
Panzer Dragon
Sonic 3D Blast (for better music/special stages)
What else?

>>3259259
Guardian Heroes
Blood Factory
Virtua Fighter Remix
Die Hard Arcade

Crusader No Remorse looks pretty sweet, but I haven't actually got to sit down with it.

Anyone else have some must plays? Anything to avoid?

>>3259205
Just play that on Mame.

>>3259382
>Blood Factory
I mean it's an okay game, but it's neither a Saturn exclusive nor that good to be called essential. Also why not just call it by its western name, Loaded.

>Virtua Fighter Remix
Why this when you have Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighters Megamix

>>3259421

>>3260205
>by its western name
1. I'm working A-Z through the library. Can you guess what letter I'm on?

2. Blood Factory is a WAY cooler name.

Also thanks for letting me know there's an English language version. It's not unplayable in Japanese, but I'd like to know what's going on.

>>3260250
Well I'm working slowly on this recommendation website, feel free to look.

http://saturn.16mb.com/

Still pretty barebones and all the games I want to put aren't there yet, but take a gander.

>>3260261
My phone refuses to load the page. Will definitely check it out when I get back to a computer.

>>3260263
Well it's a little heavy so if you don't want to blow your traffic I wouldn't recommend it either. And I just resized and recompressed the images into thumbnails, it was worst before.

Considering getting a Saturn if emulation isn't good enough.

Saturn modchips aren't hard to install, right? Last I checked you just put a small board on the ribbon cable between the motherboard and the drive, and then soldered it to power.

How about making my console output 60Hz, is that easy to accomplish?

>>3260506
You can get an action replay and patch that to enable burnt games, also has the added benefit of the expanded ram being installed on the card so you can play the Capcom/SNK fighters. Just get a 60hz model, the 50hz pal model sold like shit so is actually more expensive than getting a Japanese model, at least in Australia (though you will need a power converted).

>>3257630
ST-V stands for Sega Titan Video, which was the arcade counterpart of the Saturn much like Naomi was the arcade counterpart of the Dreamcast. Most good games which were released on ST-V have better Saturn versions,(ex: Radiant Silvergun, Puyo Puyo Sun) but there are some exceptions.

I'm pretty sure you only need the BIOS if you intend to play the arcade versions. I'm not sure if SSF is any better at this than MAME.

>>3260515

Yeah, I heard about pseudo-saturn. I think I'm gonna need one of those carts juts for save data.

It's not too hard to find a PAL Saturn here in Britbongistan which is why I was asking.

>>3260517
Personally I got a Japanese Model 2 since most of my games are Japanese, it's 60hz natively without needing any mods and step-down transformers are easy to come by. If you use a modchip, you have to change a game's region to your Saturn's.(so no legit US games on EU/JP unless you use an AR/Pseudo)

Also, the one fatal flaw of Pseudo-Saturn is the lack of ingame saving support much like the Action Replay. It's not too big of a deal if you only play arcade titles which don't require much space, but if you intend to play games like Shining Force III the ingame saving option with the memory cart is a godsend. Other than that, Pseudo-Saturn is a great option if you don't want to mod.

>>3260524

I'm not really planning to use any legitimate games. I assume I can patch burned games to whatever region I like, right?

>>3260527
Well, sure, but now you need to mod the console and patch every game you want to play, as well as buy a ram expansion card (2 if you want to play both the snk and capcom games, which aren't cross compatible outside of the action replay).

To me, it is just easier to get a jap saturn and action replay, but I'm lazy I suppose.

>>3260537
You can always combine the two, an AR or Pseudo is still immensely useful even if you modded your system.

>>3260550
Wait, how is pseudo saturn useful if you have a modded system. An AR yeah of course, but I don't get your point on the pseudo.