Sega Saturn Satiator - Info, my thoughts, and other trials and tribulations.

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

Please note that this is really not meant as a How-to guide, but info is here if you need it. It may be all over the place, so I'll frequently edit this.

First off, let me say that I LOVE this little device. The Sega Saturn is my all-time favorite console, and this device is my all-time favorite device/peripheral to use on it.

If you don't have one, go out and get it!

https://www.satiator.net/Satiator_p_12.html

Most of y'all here should know what this device is, but for those who don't know, it's an ODE to allow someone to easily inject disc images in the console to play. It requires NO modding of the console, no soldering, no opening, no tinkering. All you do is plug it in the back port where the MPEG video device goes and play.

Here's mine. It's freakin' cute.:


THINGS TO NOTE:

It's damned pricey. $259.99 isn't the cheapest solution, but paying for convenience, it's the simplest.  If this is a major turn-off, there's other solutions that are far cheaper, although you do need to open up your Saturn.

• YOU DON'T NEED MICRO SD CARDS.  You can if you want to though. Mostly "any" regular SD card will work. And I say "Any" as there's actually some stipulation to that. More on that later.
• You're ordering from Australia, and it's Paypal only. More on that too.
• Given that it's from Australia, the parts and shipping is from the U.S. My particular ODE came from California, so shipping wasn't too bad. Your millage may vary though.
• Keep on the look out, It comes in a red bubble mailer. At least mine did. 
• Not all Saturns are created equal. Think of it like getting in a car that's identical as yours, You may be exactly familiar with it, but the little minor idiosyncrasies will make it "off" enough to let you know that it's not EXACTLY the same. More on that later too.

Okay, a little story time. I missed out on this day-one when it came out the first time. I vowed not to miss it again. 

When I got conformation that a new batch was coming out, while at work, I quickly grabbed my phone and attempted to buy one right away, as I didn't want to miss-out in fear that it would be sold out again. Frantically, I stumbled trying to buy it, Paypal would NOT process my money. I tried numerous times (at work mind you, which is a big no-no for me, but I couldn't give up!) then I get a call from my bank.

They thought someone from Australia was scamming me out of my precious $300.00. Filled with anxiety due to the thought of me loosing my Satiator, I told them that it was me and went though the conformation.

After that nightmare, I went back and Paypal STILL did not want to process my moolah. I went into Paypal (couldn't remember my password, great-- more time wasted not getting the Satiator) reset my card info, then BAM! Payment processed.

I then checked my account in case I somehow accidentally bought the device multiple times. It was thankfully cleared with only one transaction.

So in lieu of getting your own Satiator, know this: 

• Paypal is a pain sometimes.
• Your bank may ding it as a fraudulent purchase being that it's a lot of money so far away. Which is a good thing, good safety protocol and all, but infuriating if time is of the essence.  
• As of now, time wasn't of the essence. The second batch didn't run out as fast as I'd anticipated (and is still up). lol

So I waited, and finally it arrived at my doorstep, which is quite scary since it's hot out, and I live in the ghetto. I was so happy that it arrived.

In anticipation of this event, I went out and bought some memory cards. I've got a full HDD of Saturn ISOs, so it's an easy drag-drop and plop, right? Boy, was I dead wrong.

Let me tell you something about memory cards.

Most people online will just tell you "Oh, get any micro SD card with an adapter on it, it'll work fine." While that may be true in most cases, as I've mentioned before, it doesn't have to be a micro SD card with an adapter as the Satiator has only a regular SD card slot. You also need to know what kind of SD card reader and OS you have BEFORE getting a memory card.

Oh yeah, this was my new nightmare. Long story short, I bought a 256GB SDXC memory card, formatted it to the proper format, and it only gave me 15GB. I thought Walmart sold me a bootleg card or something. Got a refund, bought a 128GB SDXC card from Gamestop. This time it was only 23GB out of 128GB. I've tried reformatting with 3rd party programs, I've tried using MAC instead of PC, still has a lower capacity. I understand that you can't get the FULL amount on cards or any storage, but this much off? So what gives?

Apparently, there's a difference between SDXC and SDHC, and the reader use to format it. SDXC ("XC" is for "Extended capacity") is for cards that can store higher than 32GB and up to 2TB. (They also have a faster read speed when used properly) That's IF you don't have an older card reader. I think ones that support up to a 3.0 should work. If not, formatting these cards will turn SDXC into a SDHC ("HC" is for "High capacity") which doesn't yield anything over 32GB. 

So bear in mind:

• If your card reader hardware is too old, you may not be able to fit the entire library on a single card.
• You may want to get multiple SDHC cards if this is the case. They don't go over 32GB, but you can sort multiple cards with ISOs like A-D, E-H, I-L, etc. (which is what I did) They're a bit cheaper too. Even more so if they aren't micro SD.
• Windows 10 may not have the means of formatting to exFAT or Fat32. exFAT is good for holding and managing 4GB files a bit more safer, but it shouldn't matter. Saturn games don't go up to 4GB anyway. Some good applications to help you format your card would be "GUI Format", "HP USB Format", or "SD Card Formatter". 
   

Once you get it going, you're good to go!

Now there's the part about the Saturns being used. Ultimately, the one I'm using. A little backstory:

I've acquired my Saturn from this insane gamer collector guy's unpaid storage unit. (Lucky score, eh?) Dude had these modded cables for Vita with an esoteric Japanese-only pinout, PS2 trade demos, and a Japanese Sega Saturn (among other things). This poor console's laser was loooonng dead, which was one of the reasons why I wanted to get a Satiator.

Well, running the Satiator is a bit of a pain on this console. A war of attrition sometimes. Think of it like trying to get a NES game to run on a beat-up old toaster with crappy pins. It's THAT annoying. It is said that if your Satiator's backing-out to the main dash you either have to get a new battery and/or take the Satiator in and out of it's connector, which helps connectivity (much like an NES cart). It's also best to check to see if you have a good ISO dump.

My Saturn's battery was going flat. Yet, my Satiator was working fine. It's weird, it goes to the dashboard, then loads the Satiator menu no-problem. I did ran to some problems, so I thought my battery was at fault. I got a fresh battery, same thing happened. It will flip-out and act like it's trying to read a disc while thinking it's constantly being opened and closed, and sometimes the little left block on the dashboard (used for stereo) is bloated and red. Sometimes the games will run fine if I have the drive door opened (?) and sometimes I have to remove and insert the Satiator in order for it to work, some games freeze on the Saturn logo, the Sega logo, it's a mess. 

This may be a problem with my particular Saturn, but keep in mind that again, your mileage may vary and there's constant updates so keep that in mind. Since my laser is dead, it can't move properly causing something to flip out internally? I'm not sure, but once I get my other Saturns from storage (I own a US model 1 and 2, as well as a white Japanese Saturn) I'll be sure to update this.

Here's mine flipping out, not as bad as usual, but still I have to fight this wild thing. Also, Linkle Liver Story is pretty awesome.  :
 

Update! Apparently wherever I got this Sega Saturn, it had a mod chip already installed in it-- which conflicted with the ODE.  I was a little hesitant on removing this mod (the main reason why I got the satiator, I didn't want to probe around with a soldering iron or anything) but with a little help, I mustered up the courage to remove it, and now everything works great!

*end update*

So... that's about it! Go out and get yours today! Any questions, hit me up.

Discussions here are welcome! I want to learn more about this awesome device.

Since it's pretty much open to the community, if y'all ever get a chance, please look up a little menu program for the Satiator called "Satiator Rings". I'll be testing this neat little program out with results soon.

Edited June 15, 2021 by BouncekDeLemos
Reason for edit: Updates

[Robot_Ninjutsu | 122]

I've been interested in ways to play Saturn games without using the optical drive.  I knew there were replacements that replaced the laser with an SD Card reader, but I didn't know there were "Plug and Play" ones.

Windows 10 can format to exFAT, but "SD Card Formatter" is a wonderful for times when Windows isn't playing nice/SD cards aren't formatting properly.  I can't recount all the fun I had with flash drives, Linux distributions, RaspberryPi's and reformatting.

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

4 hours ago, Robot_Ninjutsu said:

I've been interested in ways to play Saturn games without using the optical drive.  I knew there were replacements that replaced the laser with an SD Card reader, but I didn't know there were "Plug and Play" ones.

Windows 10 can format to exFAT, but "SD Card Formatter" is a wonderful for times when Windows isn't playing nice/SD cards aren't formatting properly.  I can't recount all the fun I had with flash drives, Linux distributions, RaspberryPi's and reformatting.

Yeah, it's a neat device. The story behind it's inception is pretty neat.  Basically a literal back door solution. Who would've thought? lol

 As far as SD card formatter, yes that one was one of the best out of the ones I've mentioned. It still didn't fix the card I had, and that's just due to me having old hardware. I still have a 128GB SanDisk SDXC that "thinks" it's a 20-something GB SDHC. However, it still worked in my Satiator, although at a smaller capacity. I can probably restore this card, but I'd probably need the right hardware to do so.

The "worst" formatting program was the one that came with my old Toshiba. It's not bad, but the only "bad" thing is that it made my PC think my cards were a disk drive of sorts rather than a card-- indicated only by the icon displayed. 

I'm running Windows 7 pro (which has some pretty good formatting options) on a laptop I have from 2006. Dual Core processor, not even Dual Core 2. 2GB of RAM. 2.0 USB. So my integrated card reader on it might just be a bit too old for SDXC cards to say the least. lol 

So, the newer the better. Didn't know Windows 10 has formatting options. (Outside of diskpart in DOS?) I've never used Win10 for much of anything, but I kept reading that you have to use either an older OS, formatting programs, or a MAC to format to FAT32/exFAT. 

Edited May 6, 2021 by BouncekDeLemos

[Robot_Ninjutsu | 122]

I just found out that Windows 10 can format FAT32 is you use the command prompt/PowerShell.  I haven't really had anything that required FAT32, so I learned something new!

And you shouldn't need to format the higher capacity (over 32GB) SD cards, they should come formatted as exFAT.

But you are indeed correct with your SD card reader. SDXC didn't appear until 2009, so your laptop *is* gimping your cards.

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

^Good-to-know stuff here. Not just for you and I, but anyone reading this.

SDXC's in my laptop won't even give me the option to use them as SDXC in the exFAT format right out the box. It's only made for HC's, so it treats XC's as such.

So yeah, cautionary tale for anyone out there with old tech. lol

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

Accidental copied double post due to a sending glitch. Ignore.

Edited May 6, 2021 by BouncekDeLemos

[OptOut | 8,881]

4 minutes ago, BouncekDeLemos said:

Accidental copied double post due to a sending glitch. Ignore.

You sure it's not because of your old piece o' junk laptop, lolol!

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

3 hours ago, OptOut said:

You sure it's not because of your old piece o' junk laptop, lolol!

LOL!!

I used my phone for that reply... but I don't have the best phone either. lol

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

So I did a thing... Made a teeny-tiny box for my SD cards! And labels too! This is something I came up due to the fact that I can only format SDHC cards due to my old ass hardware. lol

The tiny box holds up to 4 cards. The materials I used are: card stock, Avery Sticker paper, Scotch single-sided laminating sheets, glue and clear tape.

The labels are blank, but I made a nifty little box to write-in whatever to help distinguish them. I left a little room just enough for the micro SD card to fit. 

If y'all wanna DIY, just drop me a PM. I would post the PDFs I've made here, but the files are too big, so I'll have to email them to whoever wants 'em.     



Organized my cards "A-C", "D-E", "E-H", "I-L", "M-P", "Q-T", "U-Z", and "MISC".


Forced perspective to make it look like I have two Satiators.  

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

So some news, and kinda a weight off my shoulder: My Satiator was indeed conflicting, and that was because there was a modchip in my Saturn!!!:
 

So yeah, that's fun. Who would've thought there'd be a conflict between a modchip and an ODE?! lol

I knew it had to be a Saturn problem rather than the Satiator. Which is why I said that most Saturns aren't always the same as they seem. In this case, it's moreso the modchip than anything else, but to my credit, I did get this Saturn out in the wild.

If anyone here has any problems with any sort of ODE, and you're not sure where your Saturn came from, just open 'er up like I did. 

Hopefully I can get this chip removed. I don't need it since my laser is dead (I think this chip allows playback to backups and games from other regions?) If I botch this up, I'll just dig up my other Saturns from storage.