SEGA Saturn cracked at last

[eXeler0]

Man, give this dude a "Geek hacker of the year - medal" or something.
Love this stuff..

[ Show youtube player ]

[stevsurv]

True aussie genius!

[ransom1122]

I've always thought it was cracked or you could play your backups on it without crack.

[Gzegzolka]

It was cracked long time ago, but those old-cracks require to open Saturn and manually modification it hardware by attaching something inside and connecting cables here and there. It was hard process. New crack is based on some plug-in video port, You just need to insert cart with special board and that's all. It's simpler and do not require knowledge about hardware modification.

[DamienD]

There was more info posted on MameWorld a while back

July 12, 2016

Sega Saturn....20 Years After

http://hackaday.com/2016/07/11/cracking-the-sega-saturn-after-20-years/

[ransom1122]

Originally Posted by Gzegzolka

It was cracked long time ago, but those old-cracks require to open Saturn and manually modification it hardware by attaching something inside and connecting cables here and there. It was hard process. New crack is based on some plug-in video port, You just need to insert cart with special board and that's all. It's simpler and do not require knowledge about hardware modification.

Cool thx Gzeg.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Gzegzolka

It was cracked long time ago, but those old-cracks require to open Saturn and manually modification it hardware by attaching something inside and connecting cables here and there.

This new system is a complete replacement for the optical drive, which is a step on the right direction. I wish we could do the same with our CD32s, relying on the lasers is a recipe for future disaster.
Also the modchip system of yonder was much simpler in operation (something like "does the wavy mark exist on the disk? no? well doesn't matter"), this is a much more complex development that required, as explained, years of reverse engineering and figuring shit out. Now teh way the copy protection works and how the CD drive controller functions is truly cracked.

[Zeph]

Originally Posted by DamienD

There was more info posted on MameWorld a while back

At least partially factually incorrect. He didn't connect a game boy flash cartridge, he got the idea from those.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Gzegzolka

those old-cracks require to open Saturn and manually modification it hardware by attaching something inside and connecting cables here and there. It was hard process

?? Undo the case screws, unplug the CD loader ribbon cable, plug the mod chip inline, clip the +5v to the PSU. Screw back together.As long as you got the right mod for your Saturn CD loader (or more likely the right Saturn for your mod chip) it's a 10 min task

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by alexh

As long as you got the right mod for your Saturn CD loader

And that's a big IF, I used to have a Saturn and got rid of it because I never was able to find a modchip for my oval-shaped-buttons model (was that 20 pin?).
I doubt the back then more common modchips are still widely available. A new solution is more than welcome and one that doesn't require anything but plugging in a cartridge, MUCH better.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Akira

I used to have a Saturn and got rid of it because I never was able to find a modchip for my oval-shaped-buttons model (was that 20 pin?).

Yes. 20 pin Saturn's were only available for a very short time outside Japan. But as you say. If you wanted a mod chip in your Saturn you bought a round button, 21 pin Saturn (the most common by far) for next to nothing. 21 pin mod chips were reverse engineered about 10 years ago, improved and made in high numbers and so they became cheap and readily available even in the UK.

[Zeph]

Originally Posted by alexh

?? Undo the case screws, unplug the CD loader ribbon cable, plug the mod chip inline, clip the +5v to the PSU. Screw back together.As long as you got the right mod for your Saturn CD loader (or more likely the right Saturn for your mod chip) it's a 10 min task

Still relies on the drive being in working condition. Watch the video

[Cobe]

Nice mod. But first when I saw a news I thought that by some miracle he managed to make software crack to play backup cds without modding or swapping discs.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Still relies on the drive being in working condition. Watch the video

I watched the video over a week ago when it was first reported. It's amazing work but like last year's Saturn ODE's Phoebe and Rhea it's going to cost a lot of money, probably over £100

[dlfrsilver]

oh by the way, a little trick for people owning the Victor RG-VC3 video module (the best one sold) for Saturn :

If you own it, or want to plug it inside your Euro Saturn, just cut the lead ball on the side of the module (that's the thing making it impossible to plug on the euro saturn).

It works very nicely, Lunar works great with it

[Nibbler]

So awesome

[Higgy]

No doubt, the new development is great. Especially as it does not use the CD drive.

For CD use there is another option - Pseudo Saturn. It involves flashing the Action Replay (or clone cart) with some custom software. You can then run back-ups.

It took me quite a while to get the Flash disc to boot as you need to do the 'swap trick' but once the Action Replay cart is flashed you just load your back-ups as a normal disc

http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/...-saturn.52526/

[trixster]

Can you still use all of the features of the AR though?

I just bought and fitted a modchip to mine, that way I can use backups and still benefit from the AR features.

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by Akira

This new system is a complete replacement for the optical drive, which is a step on the right direction. I wish we could do the same with our CD32s, relying on the lasers is a recipe for future disaster.
Also the modchip system of yonder was much simpler in operation (something like "does the wavy mark exist on the disk? no? well doesn't matter"), this is a much more complex development that required, as explained, years of reverse engineering and figuring shit out. Now teh way the copy protection works and how the CD drive controller functions is truly cracked.

There is no reason it cannot be done as well for the CD32.
Moreover there is no copy protection there and TonI probably knows enough to at least give a few starting hints to whoever would be interested and competent enough.

The problem being that getting competent and motivated people to be interested by the CD32 is quite a challenge. It does not have the mystique of the Saturn.

[Amiga1992]

Nobody gives a shit about the Amiga and it's sad. A CD32 CD drive replacement would be perfect. Also an NVRAM replacement with more than 1KB of space.

One can only dream...