Saturn emu problems/solutions

[GuyInDogSuit]

After reading pkt-zer0's Cassini guide, I've tried some of his suggestions, and it usually gets it to work. I've read a few of the Saturn threads on here as well, but I think it would be good to compile all the info into one thread. I'm compelled to start compiling a list of problems and solutions, from running the games to actually burning them and playing them on the Saturn. One issue I have is differentiating games that are Mode 1/2352 or Mode 1/2048. Bin files also seem to run more often than not, yet people still rip them in iso format. This problem would very well make burning the games a pain in the ass as well. Can someone explain these to me?

[pkt-zer0]

I believe the ISO format is exactly the same as BIN, just without a CUE. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
Plus, you can rip the audio tracks as MP3 files so they'll consume less space, and there you have you're usual ISO+MP3 without a CUE combination. Even though it would be easy to include the information and tools necessary for converting it in the compressed file, most people don't do that.

[AKUMA™]

I believe the ISO format is exactly the same as BIN, just without a CUE. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
Plus, you can rip the audio tracks as MP3 files so they'll consume less space, and there you have you're usual ISO+MP3 without a CUE combination. Even though it would be easy to include the information and tools necessary for converting it in the compressed file, most people don't do that.

ISOs are a little different from BINs in that BINs have all the wav files in them, and ISOs usually have the wav files seperate (but not always). Also, if you are going to burn a game or mount it the mp3s MUST be converted first, otherwise it won't work. This is why I think it is stupid to upload a game in ISO+MP3 format cuz once you get it you still have much work to do to get it to run or burn, and a lot of people have trouble with the whole process as it can get confusing to the inexperienced.

[GuyInDogSuit]

Well, thanks to my experience with wrestling Dracula X: Chi no Rondo until the damn thing worked, I'm quite familiar with ISOs and WAVs, but the one thing that confuses me is the 2048/2352 bit.

[pkt-zer0]

ISOs are a little different from BINs in that BINs have all the wav files in them, and ISOs usually have the wav files seperate (but not always).

I was just wondering if ISOs were no different that MODE1/2352 BIN files. I know that individual tracks can be extracted from a disc, but that doesn't have anything to do with the format.
But, through the use of Winrar (which is supposed to open some ISO files, too), I got to the conclusion that even though some files have the ISO extension, they're not necessarily in that format, they could be just BIN files without a CUE. Now THAT is what I call evil.
And, re-ripping an ISO image into CDRWin standard CUE/BIN, I found out that ISOs don't store those extra bytes of info, so they're smaller. (Still, it could be identical to a Mode 1/2048 BIN, I honestly don't know)

[GuyInDogSuit]

I was just wondering if ISOs were no different that MODE1/2352 BIN files. I know that individual tracks can be extracted from a disc, but that doesn't have anything to do with the format.
But, through the use of Winrar (which is supposed to open some ISO files, too), I got to the conclusion that even though some files have the ISO extension, they're not necessarily in that format, they could be just BIN files without a CUE. Now THAT is what I call evil.
And, re-ripping an ISO image into CDRWin standard CUE/BIN, I found out that ISOs don't store those extra bytes of info, so they're smaller. (Still, it could be identical to a Mode 1/2048 BIN, I honestly don't know)

ISOs also differ according to what program is used to rip them. Some CAN be opened in WinRAR, but not all. Not sure how that affects the file, but they can be burned the same way like any ordinary ISO. BIN, on the other hand, is just another BINary compressed file format. Neither format has to do with the 2048/2352 thing. It's more along what the cue says the file needs to be burned as. What I want to know is what the difference is, and how to tell which games are which "mode." If you burned a game in the wrong "mode," let's say you burned a PSX game in Mode1/2048, it's not recognisable, therefore it won't work. PSX games are ALWAYS mode2/2352, thankfully making it MUCH easier, but Saturn is either Mode1/2048 or Mode1/2352, whether it's BIN or ISO. That sucks.

[AKUMA™]

ISOs also differ according to what program is used to rip them. Some CAN be opened in WinRAR, but not all. Not sure how that affects the file, but they can be burned the same way like any ordinary ISO. BIN, on the other hand, is just another BINary compressed file format. Neither format has to do with the 2048/2352 thing. It's more along what the cue says the file needs to be burned as. What I want to know is what the difference is, and how to tell which games are which "mode." If you burned a game in the wrong "mode," let's say you burned a PSX game in Mode1/2048, it's not recognisable, therefore it won't work. PSX games are ALWAYS mode2/2352, thankfully making it MUCH easier, but Saturn is either Mode1/2048 or Mode1/2352, whether it's BIN or ISO. That sucks.

I think CDmage is able to figure out what mode the image is in, cuz I had a few that didn't include a cue file and I wanted to scan them for corruption and it read the disc and created a cue for it.

EDIT- Yes, I was correct. I ran CDmage, clicked on Open File, selected RAW Image type, then attempted to open an ISO that I purposely removed the cue for, and it auto-detected the mode for the image and created a cue file accordingly.

[pkt-zer0]

Well, since the 2048 and 2352 modes only differ in the number of bytes per sector, you might be able to identify games by their size, or that, when mounted, 2352 type discs contain seemingly less data than the size of the image, since some of that data is "invisible", just there for error correction. Only 2048 of those 2352 bytes are actually part of files.

[GuyInDogSuit]

I think CDmage is able to figure out what mode the image is in, cuz I had a few that didn't include a cue file and I wanted to scan them for corruption and it read the disc and created a cue for it.

EDIT- Yes, I was correct. I ran CDmage, clicked on Open File, selected RAW Image type, then attempted to open an ISO that I purposely removed the cue for, and it auto-detected the mode for the image and created a cue file accordingly.

Nice! I think I'll give that a try! Thanks, Akuma!

[AKUMA™]

Nice! I think I'll give that a try! Thanks, Akuma!

No problem, a small note on the cue's CDmage creates though, it adds the entire directory path to the image on your hard drive into the first line of the cue, so it looks like FILE "C:\Games\ISOs\gamenamehere.iso" BINARY.

[EvilRyu]

I have a problem with converting a game (Bust A Move 3 Eur) who is on iso+mp3 format to bin/cue.Note that i manage to convert many saturn & sega cd games to bin/cue.So i know the process but i have a problem with that and with other 2 but i dont really want them so lets stick with that.

First here is a screenshot contain the extracted from rar files in iso+mp3 format.



And after i do what i have to do i open cdrwin to do the final step for converting the iso+mp3 to bin/cue but cdrwin shows this error message to me



I tried also with alcohol 120% but similiar problems

[pkt-zer0]

Just convert the MP3 files to WAV, and create a CUE with Sega Cue Maker. Mount and re-rip. More details in my guide.

[GuyInDogSuit]

No problem, a small note on the cue's CDmage creates though, it adds the entire directory path to the image on your hard drive into the first line of the cue, so it looks like FILE "C:\Games\ISOs\gamenamehere.iso" BINARY.

Problem: It brings up "Track Detection Options," with the choices CD-ROM, Audio, Mixed Mode, and Video CD. I assumed that I'd choose Mixed Mode, as wavs go with the file, but it didn't work. So I chose CD-ROM, then it worked, but the cue didn't include the wavs. So, um... yeah.

[EvilRyu]

Originally Posted By pkt-zer0

Just convert the MP3 files to WAV, and create a CUE with Sega Cue Maker. Mount and re-rip. More details in my guide.

As i said i know the process but because all the time i am using the tool included in cassini (saturn mp3-wav converter)i use the program you suggest for that job but still cdrwin & alcohol 120 causing me the same problems.

Anyother ideas?

[pkt-zer0]

As i said i know the process but because all the time i am using the tool included in cassini (saturn mp3-wav converter)i use the program you suggest for that job but still cdrwin & alcohol 120 causing me the same problems.

Anyother ideas?

Post the contents of the CUE file, that might shed some light on the situation. That defines what types of tracks should be on the disc, and which format they're stored in.