BouncekDeLemos

Hey guys! Okay, long story short, I happened upon a modchip from a Saturn I acquired that I need removed and need some advice on doing it.

Short story long :

In one of my topics on the Sega Saturn Satiator, I mentioned that not all Saturns are the same, and the one I had in particular is conflicting and fighting against my ODE.

Had a suspicion that the problem might be something inside that's gunked-up that made it think that the door's not being shut right, something with the laser (It's long dead), or worse case a modchip conflicting with the Satiator, so I figured I opened it to peek and see if it was something wrong, and well...

Hello there! Is that a region bypass mod? (I'm seriously asking here, I'm not sure)



There's a long-ass conductor from the board to the PSU's 5v (I think it's 5v? I'm no modder or expert or anything.)


Here's a closer look at the work here. I personally don't think it's the best (actually it looks a bit awful IMO), but it's holding up in there pretty good. Dunno for how long though. I went ahead and checked the caps, none seem to be bulging or leaking or anything which is good. They oddly have this white stuff under them, which I hope is some factory glue?



This particular chip has one ribbon cable going to the drive on one side, and one to the main board. Tried looking up info, and most modchips have them all on one side, or use a connector on one end. Dunno what kind of chip this is (Possibly a cheapo brand?) 


If the PSU didn't scare me, this does. I mean, the caps are sitting right on top of the Saturn's shielding-- in fact the whole entire chip is!-- with no type of insulation to keep anything from shorting out while it's banging on the corner. There's black electrical tape, but that's just to hold it down. 


Dunno who this "APE" is, but man... I hope this was just a personal project for the previous owner, because this type of thing is scary if this was done as a service. Now, that may sound too mean, and even though I'm not a modder or repair guy, I can still tell if it's good workmanship or not.


However the main focus is that I really want this removed regardless of how well it's installed. lol Just painting a picture to where I'm at now on this.

What are my options from here? Do I remove it and plug the OG cable back into the main board? I've never removed solder from anything, especially a power supply, which is scary to me. I haven't even dug to the bottom of the main board yet to check if there is any spaghetti going on. Do chips like this require additional wiring/bridging? I can provide more pics if need-be. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated.

Hopefully restoring this will stop the conflict with the Satiator ODE.

And hey, anyone who helps me out, I'll send you the modchip over your way for free. lol

It's a messy situation, but I'm sure it can be fixed in an update. At least I HOPE they fix it. It sounds a simple as something like disabling trophy functionality while still allowing games to be played if both the servers and the battery don't sync up correctly--which I'll be fine with that compromise. 

Let's let's face it, if an update like that were to happen and the console and it's network no longer is a priority to sony, trophies wouldn't matter anyways. I think the only problem we'd have to worry about then is lasers wearing out, bad caps, and hard drive heads breaking down. 

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.  

Agh, a failed opportunity to title this "My GIF to you..."

Very cool! 

Got scared for a second there, I almost thought there was always a splash screen and somehow my browser forgot my password wor something.

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

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

^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

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. 

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.

They got some demos out if y'all wanna try 'em. 

NES:
https://www.second-dimension.com/downloads/eyra-demo-nes

GENESIS/MEGA DRIVE:
https://www.second-dimension.com/downloads/eyra-sega-demo

Broken Gameboys are a fun project to clean and restore, and 10 bucks isn't bad.

Pac-man, Megamania, Breakout, E.T. on the 2600, then centipede on the 5200. I mostly admired the artwork/box art and thought the characters of the games lived in the pins on the cartridges like tiny cells (Think of it like something from Wreck-it Ralph from today's era.)

I would say that the console that got me really into video games was the NES. 

lol! Dang! Even cheaper coming from China!!

It's been so long, I don't know why I'm thinking 70 (I was guessing 74ish?)

Tried to look back in my records, but I didn't have a bank back then, and my Paypal only goes as far back as a few years ago.

I'll check my email records for receipts since I never really delete anything there. It's a mess though, dunno if I can find anything.

3 hours ago, Ferris Bueller said:

I was just talking the other day how crazy those sales were. All three batches went live at like 2-4AM in the US, and the Gift Edition was a really low run number and I forgot how I ended up getting mine. 

I can't remember how I got mine either. I remember there was a lot of help with the NA community, since 87Arts wasn't too good with English and he had some problems with selling them via Ebay (I think? I could be wrong about the Ebay part, it's been 7 years, I can't remember the details. lol)

I can recall it being something like 70+ bucks for the standard edition? 

True story: Iicr, when it was debuted, the title screen 87Arts posted before the carts were made showed up as a typo "Star Keppr" (or maybe "Star Keper"? I forget). I mentioned this to him, and he fixed it before release. Possibly days before. lol He thanked me and told me I found a "major bug".

Just imagine, if I haven't mentioned it to him, all of us that own a cart would have that typo on the title screen! Hahaha.

I doubt that I still have them, but if I can find the old pictures from NA that he took down, I'll post them up. 

I still have my cart somewhere. It's been put away, and because of covid I haven't been able to get to it. Long story. I haven't gotten around playing it yet either, mainly because my Nintendo needed repair, and all I had was clone consoles to play NES games on (and this game don't play on some clones, especially mine since mine ran via emulation)

I do remember laughing at the bit of one of the enemies in the game mentioned in the manual. The fact that he "shits on you" is something I'd never thought I'd see in a video game manual. lol

People can charge if they want to. Some do it for free while others do it to fund other projects, eat, or just do it for the sake of having mo' money. It's fine either way.

There are three primary orientations artists/creators could live by, money's one of them. Without getting too much into it, an artist can make something to express themselves, show something amongst their peers to get recognition, and/or create something for commercial use. If they want to. It's all up to them.

I rank it an 8/10, but a very high one. More like an 8.5. Only because I rank the Saturn much higher.

Genesis was my jam growing up. Still continues to be one of my all-time favorite consoles.

Getting the Fight 'N Rage with the soundtrack (PS4), Panzer Dragoon (PS4), and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Classic Edition (PS4).

I am so glad there's finally a physical release of Scott Pilgrim. I'm not missing out this time! Sucks that some characters are locked behind a sign-up thingie. Not a big deal, but just annoying.

Also, It's been months since I last logged in. How are you guys?

I'm selling video game related artwork via a Redbubble! What's Redbubble? It's a Print-on-demand site that takes an artist's artwork and transforms them into tee-shirts, buttons, stickers, cases, etc. Keeps me from having to worry about materials and storage as they do most of the work for me!

This'll be an on-going thing as I plan on making some more cool game-related art! Be on the look-out for some more stuff!

Please check out my store!

https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/54284812

Current game-related artwork: "Bowsette"!

I wanted to make a "Warrior-Queen" of sorts, sporting an arsenal of powerups. The crystal on the top of the staff was inspired by the SMB movie's meteorite crystal, although I haven't used any direct reference to it. 

Stickers available:


Buttons:


Graphic Tee's:




Scanned image (Original pencil artwork also for sale -- PM me!)

Got mine!

I've already made scans of these. I kinda wanted to see if I can make a regular Genny case from this. The only thing I haven't scanned was the newsletter/poster and the entire manual. lol If anyone needs any, hit me up. I also took measurements of the clamshell insert. 

And yes, it DOES indeed have a reversible cover! It shows the EUR cover, however it strangely has the black grid version rather than the blue spine one. 

Bad lighting on my camera isn't doing my bed sheet any justice. lol

16 hours ago, Sumez said:

I'm not sure what you're missing, because that element is probably more rampant than ever. Have you even seen the Vita library?

I don't mind sexy characters (I like bobs as much as the next guy), but turning it into pandering or cheap cash grabs is juevnile and embarassing.

Haven't seen the Vita library much. I'm sure it has it's share of censorship and unrealeases over to the west due to Sony's strict guidelines. 

7 hours ago, koifish said:

The irony is that as graphics have gotten better and systems more impressive, the content that is allowed has grown more repressed, as it suddenly looks "too real" and is not acceptable. In particular, CERO is heavily against sexual imagery in games as of late, and it affects all kinds of things which were seen in the past as being more innocuous. It''s the main reason that Mai Shiranui doesn't show up in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, for example. Plus games are taken a little more seriously as "big business", it's not just a bunch of guys doing what they see as temp work without much value behind it.

I'm actually surprised that Bayonetta is in Smash. Did they make her a bit more different/less lewd in the way she wears and "uses" her outfit? 

I miss the old days man. When the term "sex sells" meant something. lol

Okay, folks. Need of some replacement cover sleeves.  Original or high quality (Preferably marked) repros, doesn't matter. 

List:

XBOX 360:
NBA 2K11
Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Stand Alone NON-Forza 2 version)
Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare (Stand Alone)
Halo 3 ODST
DJ Hero
Battlefield Bad Company
Call of Duty World at War
Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare
Conan
Minecraft
Gears of War 1
Gear of War 2 (x3)

Nintendo Wii:
Ice Age

DVD:
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Playstation 4:
Fallout 4

I found a Genesis cover of a full scan, no such luck on a source though.