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Pseudo Saturn Kai official thread
vbt - Nov 4, 2015

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  Jtretheway16 Apr 23, 2023
I've been using this for the last few years with no problem, but now I keep getting this message at the bottom of the screen every single time I put a burned CD-R or an original SS game. When I try the Saturn without the Action Replay cart and have a real SS game, everything works perfect.

So, I know it's not the laser, but for whatever reason, I can't boot games anymore. I'm currently trying to update the firmware flasher for the Pseudo Saturn Kai, but even that won't boot. Should I just get another AR cartridge and try from scratch?

Thanks for any help,
Jeremy

 cafe-alpha Apr 25, 2023
It's not a problem related to laser because in that case the contents from CD-ROM would either be unreadable at all or the disc would be spinning strangely etc.

As you can see on the screen capture, there's a difference of 16 characters between the corrupted characters displayed on screen and their expected value. (Example : W-16 = G, u-16 = e, q-16 = a)
So I suspect something wrong happening on D4 pins of your cartridge : if it is returning random signals on the data bus at random timings then the read result from CD-ROM is likely to be corrupted because cartridge and CD Block share the same data bus.

-> Please try to cleanup the connector of your cartridge, and to re-seat it in your Saturn. If needed, please also use the secret technic of lifting the cartridge by around 0.5mm or 1mm after inserting it in your Saturn.
(Please insert/remove your cartridge when Saturn is turned off. Doing that when Saturn is turned on may damage it)



  my2k2zx2 May 11, 2023
I just got a Saturn that does not read discs. I got a PSK cart and this is the error messages. Any hope for this console?

 dibz May 11, 2023
Pretty sure the most common things to do with a saturn with a bad cd-rom are, in no particular order:
  • Repair the CD-ROM
  • Replace the CD-ROM using a donor from another broken Saturn
  • Replace the CD-ROM with an ODE
    • ODE's currently on the market:
      • Fenrir
      • MODE
      • Satiator
      • Rhea/Phoebe
Personally - I would just slap a Fenrir in it.

 my2k2zx2 May 12, 2023
So the errors are probably the cdrom drive being faulty? I've now got a fenrir on order, hope that gets this back in business.

 dibz May 13, 2023

my2k2zx2 said:

That would be my guess, though I'm not much of a hardware person. You could always visually inspect it, check the cables, etc.

 my2k2zx2 May 13, 2023

dibz said:

Fenrir is on track for Monday delivery. Will see what happens when I get that put in.

Nope, still doesnt work with the fenrir. Boots to the system menu and is forever stuck at "checking disc format".

 retro_gamer May 25, 2023
Hi I am new here, I have a problem when trying to flash my AR cart, the flasher always detected an UNKNOWN flash ID as below 0145 2041:

even I tried many times cleaning contacts of the cart, re-sit trick, the result was the same and always failed to flash the cart.

I opened up the cart and found that the flash chip is AM29F010, as below:

why it is not detected correctly (AM29F010 flash ID is 0101 2020)? Any help please.

 retro_gamer May 30, 2023
one thought: will the modchip affect the flasher utility in chip detection?
the id 0145 2041 when compare with post#244 which id is 5345 4741 the last 2-digits are the same!! Will that help answer to my problem, any ideas?

 slunlucky Nov 2, 2023
Hey friends, just bought a all-in-one cart with Kai Lite 6.483 but it always stuck at "Stage 3a ..."
It can read original discs perfectly but I couldn't pass this Stage 3a thing with my burned discs.
I googled it like crazy but couldn't find a solution.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance

 privateye Nov 3, 2023
@slunlucky... : First troubleshooting step is to apply shielding to the inside of your cartridge as explained here: PPCenter :: Pseudo Saturn Kai Compatibility List...

 Ace_of_DiscaL Nov 29, 2023

slunlucky said:

I realised (the hard way) that different systems prefer different types of CD-R media. Meaning that the brand will make a BIG difference when you are burning images to disc.

TDK works 100% on Model 1s, and maybe (just maybe) KODAK CD-Rs. Stay away from Verbatim & SONY discs.

 cafe-alpha Jan 2, 2024
It is a pleasure to announce that Pseudo Saturn Kai v6.541 is released and available on my homepage

In addition of Action Replay and other clones of cartridges, Pseudo Saturn Kai also supports some optical disc emulators so please have fun with it even if are not using a cartridge.

Rough changelog :

- When using Action Replay cartridge : many cheat codes added and/or fixed. Compatibility is fixed for some few games.

- When using Rhea or Phoebe ODE : it is now possible to list the disc images in virtual folders by using slash character in game description when generating rmenu.ini file.

- When using Fenrir ODE : speed improvement when exporting save data to SD card.
How to install : copy fenrir.kai.iso in the root folder of SD card used by Fenrir.

- When using Gamer's Cartridge : addition of per-game saves feature which prevents to flood Saturn internal backup memory after playing several games.

- When using Satiator : selection and loading of a disc image is now possible. In addition to that, Pseudo Saturn Kai standard features (cheat codes, in-game reset) are available. Loading of a disc (original or burned) from CD-ROM drive is possible.
How to install : copy autoboot.iso in the root folder of SD card used by Satiator.
When using both Satiator and Action Replay cartridge, it is recommend to erase the ROM of that cartridge. This is possible by using the last entry ("Erase cartridge ROM") in flasher feature of Save Data Manager.

 metroidtalon Jan 3, 2024
Any chance for screenshots support like Fenrir has?

 mhmetalheart Jan 19, 2024
Hello,
I use the satiator ODE now. I have an issue of the save manager. When I insert my save cartridge. I cannot export the saves from memory device (1st option), and also, the export saturn backup ram (2nd option) doesn't work. The export from cart options 'seems' worked. But after I checked my SD card, nothing there. The 'import' option will flash, but nothing happened. After I remove the cart, I'm good on the 1st and 2nd option. and 'import' works great.
The error information is: writable media not found. I need connect pc link or SD card. But... I'm using the satiator, I have the SD card in it, otherwise I cannot run the autoboot, use the save manager, right?

 privateye Jan 20, 2024

mhmetalheart said:

Correct, that error message should not appear because Save Data Manager can write to the Satiator SD card. Before troubleshooting SDM, could you please try Save Game Copier to see if that works for you?
https://github.com/slinga-homebrew/Save-Game-Copie...

Make sure to read the instructions here:
https://github.com/slinga-homebrew/Save-Game-Copie...

 mhmetalheart Jan 20, 2024

privateye said:

I tried SGC, confirm works good. from cart to: SD, Saturn ram. -OK. From saturn ram to: cart, to SD. - OK. From SD to: cart, to saturn ram. - OK. ALL PERFECT.
I also tried SDLoader. Works good also. I have that tool.
And I have another question, after I exported saturn backup RAM saves to SD card (use SDM in satiator), the saves are vinished in the saturn backup RAM. Is that usual? Is that mean, I 'move' the save to SD card? Not, copy? Because of that make me scared: Everything missing! Hope you can change the program just COPY, not MOVE. Everybody know how to delete. Can do that by themselves.
BTW, I was testing to make sure the saves can import/export from: Saturn RAM (and cart)<>Saroo<>MiSTer FPGA saturn core. That's a very hard job until now. Need use a lot of tools and programs. So, I just got the satiator from my friend to let my testing easier. I reported and give some suggestions to Saroo team to keep updating their save program (that program was horrorable, very difficult to use.).

 privateye Jan 20, 2024

mhmetalheart said:

That's not the normal behaviour, the only time that saves should be removed is when using the "Delete" or "Move" functions. In the Save Data Export menu, which of these features causes saves to be deleted from internal memory?
  • Export Save(s) from Memory Device(s)
  • Export Saturn Backup RAM
I know that SGC is working fine with your SD card, but could you please try with a different SD card to see if SDM works better with that? Please format with Rufus... using the settings shown in the attached picture.


mhmetalheart said:

I'm not 100% sure but whole memory dumps produced by SDM should be directly compatible with MiSTer :
  • Internal memory : Save Data Export -> Export Saturn Backup RAM
  • Cartridge memory : Save Data Export -> Export Cartridge Backup RAM
You may have to change the file extension from .bin to whatever MiSTer uses, and I'm not sure how saving works on Saroo so I can't comment on that.

 mhmetalheart Jan 21, 2024

privateye said:

I just tested. Use 2 new SD card, 128G, confirm formated by rufus.
1. when cart out: everything all OK. Both the statiator using SD card, and 2 new ones just formated. All OK. Should be some stupid things happened. Especially: the saroo.

2. but when cart insert: import option still just give me a flash. Stop nothing happened.
Then, I tried "export save(s) from memory device(s)". it not looks like the manu like 'no cart'. It creat 2 files in my saturn ram:
_CARTDMPDAT / 107 BYTE / use 433 block
_CARTDMPHDR / 0X002C0000/ use 2 block
and 3 of my saves missing in the ram.
It seems dumped full ram and 'cannot' find the SD card to save them. So, it automatically removed some saves in my ram and put them in.
The Export Saturn Backup RAM still ask me insert SD cart. Can do nothing.

About the MiSTer, save is 64KB. but SDM dump is 32KB. So, it doesn't work. (change *.bin to *.sav) I must export single save, and use other tools insert into the MiSTer's save.
MiSTer can load cartridge, the PSKAI full and lite works very fine. But I don't think use full version, export the file is a good idea. As the it already create game save for me...

 cafe-alpha Jan 21, 2024
_CARTDMPDAT and _CARTDMPHDR are saves generated by "indirect dump" feature of Save Data Manager. This feature allows to export the contents of a backup memory cartridge to another cartridge on the same slot by using Saturn internal backup memory as a temporary copy area.
As a consequence, the saves that were initially in this temporary area (Saturn internal backup memory) are deleted.


Indirect dump feature was convenient when I developed it (around 2017 IIRC) but now that Satiator and Fenrir allow to write to their SD cards, the contents of backup memory cartridge can be exported to SD card without the need of this feature.
Maybe indirect dump feature should be removed (so that the problem of backup memory being cleared won't happen) but on the other hand I prefer to keep it in the case someone wants to make a backup of their old memory cartridge without having to mod their Saturn with a Fenrir or to afford a Satiator.
-> Similarly to the format of Gamer's Cartridge SD card from Pseudo Saturn Kai, I will make Save Data Manager to request a "triple confirmation" before using this indirect dump feature so that hopefully this problem should never happen again.

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