Saturn Region Switch

[JerryTerrifying]

I just installed a region switch and everything is working fine. Really excited about it. Haven't affixed it to the case yet. I've got a VCD card in my saturn so there's no extra room back there. I'm thinking of cutting a hole through the battery cover to run the wire through then attaching a project box to the battery cover and having the switch hooked up to the project box. So there'll be little box with a switch stuck to the back of the battery cover.

[Warp2063]

I've seen them mounted all over - the rear of the case, the side of the case, the battery door itself... a few even linked to the Reset button.

[Rogue]

Yeah... for an old console like the Saturn, we have seen a lot of mods already for sure...

As I don't like mods, different Saturns seems the best option, though.

[JerryTerrifying]

Oh man I'd rather just spend $5 on parts and a half an hour with the soldering iron than buying an import system.

[RetroVidya]

I actually just had my samsung saturn (yes, a SAMSUNG) modded for RF. Apparently you used a switch, but the mod I got done was done to the BIOS so it didn't require the chip. It's up to you really but if you're not too big on mods or on possibly messing with the case then this is the way to go if you still want to go region free.
Also, before anyone freaks out -
1) The samsung saturn board is pretty much just the same as a US model 1 board
2) the mod was done in a way so that if requested it could be removed with the use of soldering tools.

[Warp2063]

How was the BIOS being modified? To my knowledge, there isn't a way to modify the BIOS. If there is, I'm quite curious. For a region switch, you don't use a chip - you only need a modchip to play backups if you're not using the swap trick. The modchip has nothing to do with playing games from other regions.

The region mod is done by designating the system's region code through certain soldered jumpers on the mainboard. You can either permanently change the region of the system with a soldering iron, or install some kind of switch to selectively link the jumper points.

A third option for playing imports is through use of a Action Replay Plus cartridge.

[RetroVidya]

That's kind of what I meant, I believe the jumpers were modified. I'm not particularly sure as to how it happened as I'm not the one doing it. I think the BIOS can play backups but I'm not too sure. I check on what the guy changed when I get it back.

[Warp2063]

The question becomes this - what region was the system modified to? There isn't any combination of jumper settings that allows for all regions, as some of the combinations are mutually exclusive. Therefore, to have a system that can switch between regions, you need some kind of switch. Usually people attach physical switches to the case, but I have seen a few mods that use microcontrollers and the RESET button to do region switching.

As for backups - unless there was some kind of replacement for the BIOS (none exist to my knowledge), a modchip has to be installed in order to play backups - it overrides the BIOS' built-in authenticity check. Otherwise, you have to perform the swap trick.

[RetroVidya]

I think you and I may be mistaken. It is, in fact, a RF BIOS. It's attatched to the BIOS/Region chip that came factory installed, when it's activated through soldering it in the right ports (possibly the jumpers you were talking about) then it can play all regions. Like I said I'm not sure how the mod works but I'm rather certain everything is controlled internally and as such a region switch isn't required.
I can put you in contact with the guy who did the modification for me, and you can ask him about it.

[Warp2063]

I've since done a Google search - looks like there is indeed a custom, region-free BIOS now. It seems to be a more recent development (past two years), which is why I was unaware of it - the news simply hasn't been spread very far, and I haven't been looking for it.

It's an interesting thing, to be sure, and nice because it's completely switchless (unless you do the 50/60Hz mod as well). However, I don't think I'd do it - I'd want more confirmation that it will work correctly with all games, as it is a full BIOS replacement. Also, in some ways, it's a much more difficult mod than the region switch, as it requires the removal of the entire chip from the mainboard, and a new one to be attached in its place. I don't feel that I have the skill for that.

If the chip did other things as well, such as playing backups or showing the boot screens of some of the other systems or giving additional options for the system, I'd be much more likely to go for it.

[RetroVidya]

Well, that's strictly up to you if you don't want to do it. You also don't actually have to remove the chip, you can actually just deactivate the main one instead. Anyways, from what I've seen, it essentially just removes all the region restrictions through the BIOS - so it should work with just about every game. Also, you can modify the boot screen on the chip as well. My chip has the US screen on it because that's the one the real samsung saturn uses.

[Warp2063]

"Deactivate the main one"? The only way I can think of to do that would be to cut some of the leads from the original BIOS, and then sort of piggyback the replacement BIOS on top of it, as well as running some wires around... and that would be a messy, problematic solution. Are you sure it's possible to install it without removing the original?

Anyway, my concern stems from the fact that they modified the original BIOS code. I'm afraid that they might have made a mistake or changed something that had some unforeseen consequences. I read that one thing they attempted to do with the replacement BIOS was to enable it to play backups. However, this attempt failed, and they decided to deploy it anyway.

I already have a US Model 1 Saturn that has graphical issues with some of the Saturn's software (for example, the PlanetWeb browser, the parts of the NetLink games based on the browser, and NiGHTS... all of which work perfectly on both of my Model 2 systems), and I'm concerned that there could be other issues introduced unwittingly with such a replacement BIOS. Not that those video issues are necessarily related to the BIOS - there could be some other faulty part of my system.

No, I don't plan to do this modification, although I will keep my eye on it.

As for boot sequences... my favorites are the standard Japanese Saturn's and the HiSaturn's.

[RetroVidya]

Yeah, It's piggybacked and the only real issue is that it's kind of large, but the guy tightened it down closer to the board and whatnot so it should be fine.

Your concerns are true, it is possible for a mistake to happen, just like if you were to forget or add the wrong code in a program - but these chips are usually manufactured with some type of quality standard - the people who sell them are usually very knowledgeable and test the chips or allow a refund/repair to take place should the chip not work. I know you aren't too keen on such an idea but id you are just go with someone reputable (I'd recommend APE or Bad_Ad from ASSEMblergames) and I think you'll be good to go as they are really good in terms of making/installing chips. They also test for quality, making sure they work and work well.

The US model 1 saturn you have with graphical issues are mainly due to a issue unrelated to region locking. My guess is that there's something wrong with one of the processors or the video area if you're getting bad graphical/picture quality. Not to mention, netlink stuff is mostly meant to be dead, so you should expect the web browser and some portions of netlink not to work.

If the BIOS is replaced right, then you will not have any problems. Like I said, the people who offer the service typically do a great job at it or will fix it if anything happens. You just gotta go with the right people.

Do keep an eye on it. It's doing great right now and most of the kinks have been worked out despite what you have said.

As for boot sequences, I like em all. Mainly the US, V saturn and Hi saturn.

[Warp2063]

I know the video issue is unrelated to the region unlocking - I was trying to create an example of something that could go wrong, but failed to word it properly. I had attempted to post a reply hours before, but for some reason, it never submitted (I was having intermittent power issues at the time which later became a five-hour blackout, so it's possible the network went down while I was posting), so I was forced to rebuild the message as best as possible from memory.

I'm also aware of parts of the NetLink service not being available - I've been working with the NetLink and the Saturn and this forum for five years now. (There's a reason I have "League Veteran" by my username.) The software itself works fine (at least the parts that don't require the unavailable services) - but there are odd graphical issues. A long time ago I posted some example images. I don't know if it's due to a failure of the video hardware or what, but these issues only appear in certain games, and always in the same place, so it's very unlikely to be a read issue, especially if my other Saturns don't display the same errors. Perhaps there was a fault in the video chipset since its manufacture. I have no way of testing any of these theories.

I'm getting off topic. My point was this: if minor mistakes were made in the creation of the BIOS software (or flashing of the chips, but that's not what I was talking about), perhaps errors like this could occur in certain software - perhaps not noticeable without a full test of every piece of software available for the Saturn. If I'd only tested Sega Rally Championship on my Saturn Model 1, I never would have noticed the odd graphical issues that my system has. However, playing the NetLink Edition, I discovered them. The same thing goes for NiGHTS, but the graphical issues are very abundant and apparent with that game running on that particular system. So, the same goes for a modified BIOS - perhaps there's some game out there that will snag and crash or behave abnormally on a piece of modified BIOS code, but it just hasn't been discovered yet. With more people testing the BIOS and not having problems, you're increasing the body of evidence that the new BIOS is sound, but you're not proving it.

I'm just being nitpicky. I'm sure that the people involved did a fine job, and there may be no problem with this replacement BIOS for most, if not all games.

[JerryTerrifying]

I've since done a Google search - looks like there is indeed a custom, region-free BIOS now. It seems to be a more recent development (past two years), which is why I was unaware of it - the news simply hasn't been spread very far, and I haven't been looking for it.

It's an interesting thing, to be sure, and nice because it's completely switchless (unless you do the 50/60Hz mod as well). However, I don't think I'd do it - I'd want more confirmation that it will work correctly with all games, as it is a full BIOS replacement. Also, in some ways, it's a much more difficult mod than the region switch, as it requires the removal of the entire chip from the mainboard, and a new one to be attached in its place. I don't feel that I have the skill for that.

If the chip did other things as well, such as playing backups or showing the boot screens of some of the other systems or giving additional options for the system, I'd be much more likely to go for it.

I'm right there with you man I don't think I have the skill to swap a BIOS chip. As easy as the region switch is to build I'll just stick with that for any future Saturns I choose to mod. It is cool that there are options and that people are still tinkering with the Saturn.